PORT SAID, a town and seaport of Lower Egypt, which owes its existence to the Suez Canal (1859-69), and was named after Sa'id Pasha, patron of the enterprise. It lies on the west side of the canal, on the low narrow, treeless, and desolate strip of land which separates the Mediterranean from Lake Menzaleh (see plate XXXVI., vol. iv.); the supply of fresh water brought from the sweet-water canal at Ismailia by a conduit is barely sufficient for the wants of the town, which is regularly laid out and has some streets of substantial houses. The population rose from 12,332 in 1880 to 16,560 in 1882. Nearly half of this number reside in a miserable native suburb about 500 yards to the west of the town proper. The British subjects (405) are nearly all Maltese. Port Said, having no direct means of communication with the interior, is essentially a coaling station for steamers, and is entirely dependent on the canal trade. The steamers from Alexandria to the Syrian ports call here, and there is a daily steamboat to Ismailia. The outer harbour is formed by the terminal piers of the canal, and the inner harbour comprises three sheltered basins,—the commercial dock, the arsenal dock, and the Sherif dock. The third is flanked by buildings originally erected by Prince Henry of the Netherlands as a depot for Dutch trade. Besides a Catholic and a Greek church, the town contains a hospital and five schools, one of which is maintained by the Capuchin friars, and another by the freemasons.