MR LOCK'S TOUR.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12470, 22 February 1909, Page 3

MR LOCK'S TOUR.

■ ■ - .-. ■ • - * ; ; - - . The steamer looked at times to be perilously close to the banks of the canal, and likely to touch them at any moment. Such a misfortune, however, did not occur, for these canal pilots have been through too often. By the by, the plots usually travel about half way through, and then are transferred to steamers coming-in the opposite direction. If "it should happen that they don't meet another steamer about the half way station, they go on and are transferred- to the nrst passing steamer, or at the passing station they are relieved and board a swift - steam launch and return to Suez. Usually there is not much difficulty in catching a steamer, as they are continually passing to and fro. We arrived at Port Said at 1.30 a.m. after a pleasant and what was considered a lucky run through the great^ "canal. The only delay we experienced was: the hour and half previously mentioned. The night ill the canal was comparatively cool, in fact, I had to bring the blankets into requisition, which I discarded while near Colombo and in the Red Sea. It was a welcome change after the temperature of the Red Sea. The upkeep of the canal being so «ost-j ly manes- it imperative for the com-: pany to levy pretty stiff charges forressels using it. I understand that; it cost our steamer about £1000 Tori the passing through. The charges' are made acording to the tonnage,' and our steamer was a fairly large one 1 (over 8000 tons). Of course, the steamship companies make the ;ps s-i sengers pay these dues indirectly. It may be worth relating that whilst at Aden a number of pasengers, including myself, purchased boxes sayp-.'td to contain decent cigars. They certacly looked all right on top, but .they were fair "corkers," and I must : ad-: mit that we were all "had," as also were scores of passengers to whom we g&ve them /the next day. . It -was really an amusing spectacle to watch them pulling and puffing and making all sorts of endeavours to make them smoke, and though many matches were consumed, never a puff of smoke could be got through any of the cigars. ;They were distributed purely as a joke to any of thepassengers who would- accept them. I thought of the incident where one Jew offered another Hebrew a cgar, and before accepting the man's unusual generosity, he said to the giver, "What's the master' with it?" Arriving so early at Port Said and being very dark, I could not for some time get any mates to go ashore with me, but just before 2 a.m. I got fa couple of shipping fellows to go with ine, a New Zealander and an Australian, and we had rather a bad' time, being besieged the moment we got through the Customs officers' gate by a lot of low looking Arabs tugging at us to buy their wares, which mostly consisted of necklaces of beads,obsc©ne post cards, and combination • ornaments, pipes, etc., nearly all of- which had a, kind of glass or imitation crystal on the top, through which could be seen very vulgar, if not indecent, miniature photographs. . One of our party had his pockets picked, and we had other evidences that we had struck a very warm and disreputable crowd, so we made tracks back with as little, delay" as possible, being followed by the "barterers" as well fas some others who were anxious to take us to a concert and dance . at three o'clock in the morning. One gave jus to understand that the highest class of dancing was to be seen at the hall commonly known as the "Red Lamp. '"' "No, siree, we don't want to see your high class' dancing nor the Red lamp." Notwithstanding my threatening to call the police,, they followed us up to" the Customs officers' "gajfce, where we had to take a boat to return to the steamer. None of these gentry dared to come through the turnstiles. Being'e'arly morning we had to pay the Customs double fare for our trip from the steamer to the landing stage a*nd back. On oxir.way back, and wheii a short distance put, the" two dusky sind wily Arabs who were pulling bur boat, ceased, and demanded "baefcsheesch," or "money for the boat;" etc. As -we had already paid double -fare we were not inclined to..:be bled again. My friends gave them some language, certainly not choice^ but_ very expressive, and, l thought, .effective.,, as. the Arabs resumed pulling! Soon, however,; I could see they were not making for the steamer, 1 We remonstrated, and again some strong language was us)ed, but they sat' still, determined not; to move until we parted with some more cash. Our party were equally obstinate, and at last one of my friends threatened to throw' them • ' overboard if they did not at once make for the steamer: ' They still hesitated- until he grabbed one by the neck (he would also have had him by. the pants had he worn these garments) and have : thrown him overboard had they not Immediately resumed pulling in. the proper direction. No sooner had ;we landed on the gangway then the Arabs began v to swear; at the same time placing their fingers to their noses. The above may seem a very small and somewhat insignificant incident, but it was interesting to us while it lasted, and we were glad to get safely oh board again, registering a vow that Port Said would never see lus again in the dark, no matter what attractions: were held out to us. Our steamer coaled- at this port, and it is claimed that vessels can be coaled there with greater despatch than at any other port in the world, and that these coolies can put on board" 40Q0 tons of coal an hour. Of course, jth'e comparison must only be from hand labour or coolie point of view. It iwas very interesting to watch - them j at work, and it struck me that the work was being performed very fast ; indeed. "Swarms of coolies .ran up narrow planks with. small baskets of .coal weighing, I' should guess, about (half H ; hundredweight. A few traders came alongside the steamer, offering fruit, books of flowers from the Holy Land, Turkish delight, bead and coral rieck-; lets, etc. These tradersjooked andihad the' smartness and persistency of. the Cingalese we met at Colombo. There was a "take it or leave it" style with them, but they were amusing. They called themselves American, Scotch,- and Irish; nameSj and gavte an occasional phrase in imitation off the Copkney Scot; or Yank they were (supposed to represent.. All-on board appeared to enjoy this very much.. They were very reasonable in the prices of their wares. I purchased two large boxes of figs and two boxes of Turk- : ish delight for one shilling, apricots for 3d per lb, and large boxes containing one hundred of the "real Mackay" cigarettes for two shillings. As ; I only remained at Port- Said a short; time, and it was dark most of jthat time, I was unable to see muchJ but from the little I saw and heard I ani unable to say anything good about the city. I ' shpuld think it was ; a pretty lively place, o for when; y/& dropped anchor at 1.30 in the morning we could see a number^of places illuminated, bands were playing in -the sa-> loons, and the voices of men 9nd_w;df men could be distinctly .heard. This-. v e nt coins until between four; andfivfai. I was satisfied^ was a fa,stplace, with a mgrahty, of the lowestorder. Lookuig from the steamer at daylight the view was not uninviting,/ fact it was rather good. ; '■(■'■