Meanwhile, the city of Ismailia and the beach were lit up. The innumerable tents which covered the banks of the freshwater canal, itself covered with the dahabiehs (Nile boats) which had transported the families of the pashas and those great notables of Egypt to Ismailia, formed a line of light which stretched stretched along the whole front of the city, from the Arab village, in the south, to the chalet of the viceroy, in the north; the chalet itself was brilliantly lit. Thousands
of guests were received and followed one another at the tables which had been prepared, on several points, by the munificence of the viceroy.
An Arab feast, as it is probable that Egypt had never seen, stood over a vast space, and while all was joy, songs and joy, the fleet which, in the morning, had left Port Said, following de l'Aigle, came, ship after ship, to anchor at Lake Timsah.
On the morning of the 18th, Lake Timsah, as the central port of the isthmus, was inaugurated by more than fifty Egyptian, French, English, Austrian, German, Dutch, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish ships, all decked out, some representing the power of their country, others its wealth and trade.
The day of the 18th was to be devoted to giving the characters gathered in these places the time to communicate their feelings to each other and to exchange their congratulations. ions. At two o'clock, the Empress, the Emperor of Austria, the Princess Royal of Prussia and the princes who had attended the inauguration crossed the city again, to the sound of military bands, in the midst of the hurrying waves of the population. , between two rows of soldiers, in the carriages of the Egyptian court, to go and pay the khedive, in the palace he had just built at Ismailia, the visit he had paid them on board their yachts. br class='autobr' />In the evening, a brilliant ball still brought together all these august guests of Egypt at the palace.
The Eagle and the royal yachts were to continue their journey towards Suez. It had been resolved that, as further proof of the good navigation of the canal, the small French squadron should drop anchor in the beautiful basin of the Bitter Lakes and spend the night there. Consequently, on the 19th, at half past twelve, the Eagle left Lake Timsah and, after crossing the Serapeum, anchored, at half past four, at the southern lighthouse of the Bitter Lakes. Before dark, fifteen other ships were anchored around him.