DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14563#0101
THE DESERT AND TIIE RAILROAD.
73
and it is difficult for boats to pass through the arch of the
barrage in a strong wind. Going up, they are assisted by a
stationary boat furnished with ropes and pulleys.
The neighborhood of this work presented a scene of great
activity. A detachment of troops was stationed in barracks
on the plain, to preserve order. All the inhabitants of the
adjacent village seemed to be gathered in an out-door
bazaar, and at the distance of a mile, their chattering could
be heard like the confusion of Babel. There was an iron
foundry on the bank, and two huge steam pile-drivers were
anchored in the river. Gangs of men, of about twenty
each, with an overseer to every gang, were carrying earth
in baskets on their shoulders half a mile, to raise the railway
grade to the level of the bridge. There was not a wheel-
harrow or a cart to be seen. All the earth used in the
construction of this vast pile was carried in half bushel
baskets on the shoulders of men, who tramp along to the
measure of a monotonous song. In another place half
naked men were mixing clay with straw, and shaping it into
bricks to be baked in the sun. So no doubt the Israelites
labored under their taskmasters when they built Eameses
just hereabouts, more than three thousand years ago. At
evening a large company of laborers waded from an island
to their homes on the opposite shore, carrying their scanty
clothing on their heads. Cairo shone in the setting sun
with its lofty minarets and its rock-built citadel.
7
73
and it is difficult for boats to pass through the arch of the
barrage in a strong wind. Going up, they are assisted by a
stationary boat furnished with ropes and pulleys.
The neighborhood of this work presented a scene of great
activity. A detachment of troops was stationed in barracks
on the plain, to preserve order. All the inhabitants of the
adjacent village seemed to be gathered in an out-door
bazaar, and at the distance of a mile, their chattering could
be heard like the confusion of Babel. There was an iron
foundry on the bank, and two huge steam pile-drivers were
anchored in the river. Gangs of men, of about twenty
each, with an overseer to every gang, were carrying earth
in baskets on their shoulders half a mile, to raise the railway
grade to the level of the bridge. There was not a wheel-
harrow or a cart to be seen. All the earth used in the
construction of this vast pile was carried in half bushel
baskets on the shoulders of men, who tramp along to the
measure of a monotonous song. In another place half
naked men were mixing clay with straw, and shaping it into
bricks to be baked in the sun. So no doubt the Israelites
labored under their taskmasters when they built Eameses
just hereabouts, more than three thousand years ago. At
evening a large company of laborers waded from an island
to their homes on the opposite shore, carrying their scanty
clothing on their heads. Cairo shone in the setting sun
with its lofty minarets and its rock-built citadel.
7