On Aden the Desert Suez the Canal
Travel Impressions
In 1882, Jose Rizal was on his way to Spain. It was his first trip abroad, and being such a keen and interested observer, he brought his sketch book along and made pen and ink sketches of most ports his ship visited. In Rizal's letter to his family he notes the heat: "The ground, like the sun, is hot and hard, the wind, loaded with burning sand, disturbs now and then the quietness of its well made and deserted streets." He said that only men can live there because "everywhere else is death, neither a root nor a leaf" can exist in Aden's environment. What intrigued Rizal was the method and special effect of conserving the water in such a dry place: "There are the cisterns or reservoirs. These are some large cavities, whitened with stucco formed by the mountain and a wall which, with the rock, form a receptacle." He was astounded by its size comparing the length to five times the size of a dam "like that we have there." He depicted the huge reservoir in his sketch.
The town is composed of numerous hillocks and rocks, all bare and arid, without even a plant, on which stand some lonely and gloomy houses, white indeed, but with a funeral aspect. The ground, like its sun, is hot and hard; the wind, loaded with burning sand, disturbs now and then the quietness of its well-made but deserted streets. At intervals and as if forcing itself to enliven those places, can be seen camels walking majestically and rhythmically, tall and big, forming a contrast to the humble asses, some of which are very short, like a hog, of abrupt and somewhat hasty pace. Everywhere is death, neither a root nor a leaf. Only man, perhaps in order to give a proof of his power, lives there, plants cannot; but, alas, it's only to give a spectacle of his poverty and degradation, compelled as he is to contend with the granite for his existence. But English power is worthy of its name and it opens there two beautiful tunnels, one of which is as long as the distance from Capitana Danday's house until that of my brother-in-law Mariano, and the other is one half less. These bore through live rock and when one is in the middle of the first, one finds himself in complete darkness. If by any chance one sees a space of ground as large as a dish in which a little grass grows, it is a phenomenon that attracts everybody's attention. Within the town proper can be seen some limp and rickety trees of which the tallest is not more than three varas. Besides the tunnels there are other things that call the attention of the travelers and they are the cisterns or reservoirs. These are some large cavities, whitened with stucco, formed by the mountain and a wall which, with the rock, form a receptacle. Imagine some five dams with the wall that, instead of being of stone like that we have there, is of very hard granite, there being a granite mountain here, but all whitened, with stone railings and very well made stairs of granite also. Beside this, instead of abaca plants as we have there, there are tiny plants whose leaves can be counted and some signs that prohibit the picking of a flower or leaves. Instead of water and its beautiful and boisterous falls, there's nothing but complete aridity, not even a drop of water, and the hottest sun. At one place there is a well of about one hundred varas deep whose bottom cannot be seen and from where five Negroes get water, which takes two minutes to come up to the surface. In the shops are found skins of lion, tiger, panther, and leopard, ostrich eggs and feathers, and some children whose occupation is to fan the travelers.
The Canal, opened in the middle of that desert of sand and stone, is 85 kilometers long and probably some 80 varas wide. A boat that was grounded in the middle obstructed our way and we stopped three daysthree days of ennui and grumbling. At last this morning we went on and I believe we shall arrive at Port Said. Probably we shall not reach Marseille until the 15th.
Travel Impressions
