Koenig Bey, formerly the Viceroy's tutor and now his private secretary, is to translate into Turkish the documents relating to the Canal.

CAIRO, November 25th.

The Viceroy had requested me, without assigning any reason, to present myself at the Citadel at nine o'clock this morning. I entered the large divan, where I found my host seated on the very spot where his old father, Mehemet Ali, had often received me, and where one day he described to me his tragedy of the massacre of the Mamelukes. All the public functionaries were to pay their respects to the Viceroy to-day, on the occasion of his arrival at the capital. I came in at the same time as the Consuls-General of the various Powers. M. Sabatier had not yet returned from Alexandria, where he went to be married.

Scarcely had the Consuls, in uniform, taken their places on the divan and made their salutations when, to my great surprise, the Viceroy publicly announced that he had determined to throw open the Isthmus of Suez by means of a maritime canal, and had commissioned me to form a company of capitalists, of all nations, to whom he would concede the right of working this enterprise. He added, addressing me: "Are we not going to do so?" I then addressed the meeting, and briefly commented on the announcement of the prince, leaving him the credit of originating and deciding on the scheme, and taking great care not to offend foreign susceptibilities.

The Consul-General for England appeared slightly embarrassed.

The Consul-General for the United States of America, however, to whom the Viceroy had said, “Well, Monsieur de Léon, we are going to compete with the Isthmus of Panama, and shall have finished before you," had fully made up his mind, and answered so as to convey the idea of a favourable opinion.

The Consuls retired, whilst I remained with the Viceroy. He was struck with the coincidence of my being in the home of the old Institute of Egypt, where the question of

A DRIVE THROUGH CAIRO.

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the maritime canal was first studied. He sent for some of his most intimate friends, to tell them about it, and they congratulated him on the announcement to the Consuls. I told him that I should not have dared to recommend such a course, but that I thought he had taken the best means of anticipating many objections and difficulties by suddenly challenging public opinion on a project the general utility of which is incontestable. He replied: "Upon my word, I hadn't thought much about it; it was an act of impulse. You know that I am not much given to following the usual rules, and that I don't like doing things like everybody else."

I

We went with the Viceroy to his private apartments, and the arrival of Soliman Pacha, who wished to see his Highness, was announced. He was admitted, and I returned to my state carriage with its four white horses. The negro coachman was very skilful in driving at a brisk trot or gallop along the narrow streets of Cairo and across the bazaars. It was like driving a carriage through the Passage des Panoramas. It is true that, in spite of my orders to the contrary, the Chiaous and Sais administered blows right and left to make the people leaning against the walls and shops get out of the way. The poor creatures did not complain, they even uttered admiring exclamations, such as: "Oh, here's a great lord passing, Machallah! (Glory be to God!). Such is the East, such has it been from time immemorial and as it is described in the Bible, where we read, after the acccount of Joshua's massacre of the inhabitants of Jericho, including the women, children, and asses: 66 'So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was noised throughout all the country."

In the course of the day I went to see the three sons of Ibrahim Pacha. The eldest, Achmet Pacha, is a welleducated man, who has successfully followed the course of study at our Ecole Polytechnique. Like his father he is very successful in the management of his immense property, and he converses in French with perfect ease on any subject. He had been to call on the Viceroy on the very The Passage des Panoramas is an arcade of Paris, out of the Boulevard Montmartre.

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morning of his arrival, and had been well received. He knew that I had aided in the reconciliation, and thanked me, and hoped we should be friends.

I have already spoken of Ibrahim Pacha's third son, Mustapha Pacha; as for the second, Ismail Pacha, he is full of sympathy for me, and I was delighted with his reception. He has a fine, intelligent, and distinguished countenance, and he is really of the race of Mehemet Ali. When he ceases to be quite so much addicted to pleasure, I fancy he will distinguish himself usefully. Although only twenty-five years old, he is already father of a dozen children. He inherited the finest palace of Cairo, on the banks of the Nile, and has spent more than a million francs on furniture imported from France. He showed me over the vast and magnificent apartments on the ground floor, and part of those on the first storey, the rest were reserved to the harem. In crossing a grand room, longer than the Salle des pas Perdus in the Palais de Justice, Paris, I saw some tapestry hangings moving, before which eunuchs were on guard.

The staircase railing is of carved rosewood inlaid with silver, with crystal balusters by Baccarat.

I went thence to see Prince Halim Pacha, who lives in one of Mehemet Ali's residences, approached by an avenue, a league in length, shaded by huge sycamore trees, which were very beautiful when I last saw them and now form a thick green canopy. This fine avenue was planted by the French in 1800. I was most graciously received by Halim Pacha, who is delighted with his brother's announcement to the Consuls on the subject of the Suez Canal. He has the bearing and vivacity of a Frenchman from the south, with a very pure Parisian accent.

Later I visited Herr von Hüber, Agent and ConsulGeneral for Austria. He spoke to me of the interest taken by his Government in the opening of the Suez Canal. He has instructions to support the scheme heartily when the proper time arrives.

Herr von Hüber had just dined at home with Mr. Bruce, Baron Pentz, Consul-General for Prussia, Count Escayrac, a French traveller, Linant Bey, &c.

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Clot Bey has become my guest. The Viceroy invited him to stay with me through Zulfikar Pacha. He introduced his children's tutor to me, a young poet of twoand-twenty, from Marseilles, M. Reynier by name, with a charming face and frank pleasing manners. His father is public librarian at Marseilles. He very obligingly offered to assist me with my writing, and I found him a first-rate secretary. After having made a few copies of my report and firman, he no longer required the originals to make others, for he knew them by heart.

November 26th.

To-day I received a visit from Talat Bey, First Secretary of Turkish Affairs to the Viceroy; Koenig Bey, who holds the same office for European Affairs, accompanied him, and acted as interpreter.

I went up to the Citadel at ten o'clock, and the Viceroy invited me to breakfast with him. The conversation turned on what he calls my affair. It was arranged that Mougel Bey should be associated with us in the survey. we are to make with Linant. His Highness made some objections on the ground of the difficulty of getting these two engineers to agree, but ended in consenting to my proposal, which I had very much at heart.

I then returned to Setti Zeneb, and received a visit from Achmet Pacha, whom I like more than ever.

Other visits followed, including one from our fellowcountryman, Arnaud Bey, the traveller who ascended the White Nile for 1200 leagues, no one before him having advanced further than 900 leagues. He gave us some very interesting details of his strange excursion. The expedition was sent out by Mehemet Ali, who placed 800 men under Arnaud's orders. He could not go further on account of the opposition of some of the officers. All the expenses were covered by the elephants' tusks with which the boats were loaded on their return. Arnaud spoke highly of the reception given to them by the negro populations through which they passed, who had never before seen a sailing vessel. Not one of the soldiers was killed by the natives. As he ascended towards the equa

tor, which he neared within two degrees, the people of the country told him that the river was navigable for four degrees beyond the equator, but that it would take a month to traverse them, on account of the winding of the river, representing some 150 leagues. In the lofty regions on either side of the Nile are vast forests, inhabited by elephants, lions, and all sorts of animals. Arnaud's party sometimes fired upon the herds of hundreds of elephants, which hurried rapidly along without ever looking behind them. But they took no more notice of the bullets than if they had been pelted with sugar-plums, not even quickening their pace after the discharge. On one occasion an elephant was surrounded, and dashing up to a man he lifted him with his trunk and tossed him in the air. The animal, however, finally succumbed to a volley fired at close quarters.

V.

To MR. BRUCE, HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S Agent and CONSUL-GENERAL IN EGYPT.

November 27th.

I HAVE already had the honour of conversing with you on the Viceroy of Egypt's project of cutting a canal through the Isthmus of Suez. His Highness, who intends to authorise me to form a compagnie universelle, to which will be accorded the right to execute the works and carry on the business of the new route, has requested me to forward you a copy of the report, drawn up at his desire, on this question, in which he is anxious to consult the interests of England, as well as those of other nations.

Everything which leads to the extension of the commerce, industry, and navigation of the world has a special interest for England, a Power which outweighs others by the importance of its navy, its manufactures, and its commercial relations.

A deplorable prejudice, founded on the political antagonism which unfortunately so long existed between France and England, has alone countenanced the opinion