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| Official Journal of the French Empire Wednesday 1 December 1869 (n°330 p1535) |
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| The canal continues down a deep defile and into Lake Timsah.
There, suddenly, the two banks drop and you find yourself on a
large expanse of water which used to be just muddy flats but
which as a result of the canal have become a sort of receptacle for the waters of the Mediterranean
with a present surface area of at least
2,000 hectares and a circumference of 15Kms. On the banks of this lovely lake into which the flotilla of the princes emerged, the Khedive had built a beautiful villa. First one passes the building sites with their huge vessels; then, in the distance, the chimneys of big factories can be seen, as well as, far away, the surfaces of the Bitter Lakes. Then you are in Ismailia which is a real town and the most important stop on the whole canal between Port Said and Suez. Ismailia looks like a European city. It has elegant houses, mosques, churches, walks and a bridge over the fresh water canal which separates the town from Lake Timsah. This point, it seems, will soon be developed a great deal more. And at the very moment when the Aigle was spotted as it was leaving the trench of El Guisr and sailing across Lake Timsah, many steam ships and rowing boats went out to meet it and she was saluted by the canons of the big ships awaiting her arrival. |
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