381

HISTORICAL ANNOTATION 1009

tion with ethnology continued in the postwar years, as evinced in an 1869 oration
titled "Our Composite Nationality," delivered in Boston, and in an 1884 article in
which he used the common origin of all races to predict the eventual elevation of
blacks in the United States. Charles A. Gardiner et al., "The Future of the Negro,"
NAR, 139:84-86 (July 1884); Douglass Papers, ser. 1, 2:497-525, 3:570-84,
4:240-59.

427.6 Port Said] The Douglasses departed Naples on 12 February 1887 on board
the steamer Ormuz and arrived at Port Said on 16 February. The Egyptian seaport of
Port Said lies at the Mediterranean Sea entrance to the Suez Canal and had a popula-
tion of approximately 10,000 at the time of the Douglasses' visit. French architect
Ferdinand de Lesseps selected the site for Port Said in 1859 and had breakwaters
constructed to make it a safe harbor for oceangoing ships. FD Diary, reel 1, frames
26-27, FD Papers, DLC; John Murray (Firm), A Handbook for Travellers in Egypt;
Including Descriptions of the Course of the Nile through Egypt and Nubia, 4th ed.
(London, 1873), 244-46.

427.9 Stromboli] Part of the Lipari island group. Stromboli lies about forty-five
miles north of Sicily in the Tuscan Sea and contains an active volcano on its western
coast. Augustus J. C. Hare and St. Clair Baddeley, Sicily (New York, 1905), 62, 91.

427.10-11 the straits of Messina] Separating Sicily from the Italian mainland, the
Strait of Messina is about twenty miles in length and varies in width from two to
eleven miles. Hare and Baddeley, Sicily, 63-70.

427.11 Mt. Etna] An active volcano near the northeastern coast of the island of
Sicily, the snow-covered summit of Mount Etna at a height of over 10,800 feet is vis-
ible from the Italian mainland. Hare and Baddeley, Sicily, 1, 86-92.

427.12-13 Suez Canal] Opened in 1869 after a decade of construction by a
Franco-Egyptian company headed by Ferdinand de Lesseps, the 100-mile-long Suez
Canal allowed oceangoing ships direct passage from the Mediterranean to the Red
Sea. The British government purchased the controlling interest in the canal company
from the Egyptian khedive in 1875 and by the time of Douglass's tour had established
a protectorate over the entire Egyptian nation. Murray, Handbook for Travellers in
Egypt, 231-47; D. A. Farnie, East and West of Suez: The Suez Canal in History,
1854-1956 (New York, 1969), 55-80, 229-46, 282-324.

427.15 brought Australia within forty days of England] In 1877 the steamer
Lusitania of the British Orient Line used the Suez Canal route to sail from London to
Adelaide in forty days for each direction, cutting the previous average sailing time
around the Cape of Good Hope in half. Farnie, East and West of Suez, 345.

427.17 Cape of Good Hope] The Cape of Good Hope is the southernmost point
on the African continent. Prior to the opening of the Suez Canal, ships sailing east had
to pass all the way around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope to reach such destina-
tions as Australia or the East African coast. Cohen, Columbia Gazetteer, 1:1132.

427.22 "Ormuz."] Built in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1866, for the Orient Steam
Navigation Company, the screw-driven steamer Ormuz was 465.5 feet long and 52.1