Four thousand miles of African Travel. A personal record of a journey up the Nile and through the Soudan to the confines of Central Africa. ... With map and illustrations

Front matter

ZtM be ifZrtf.Jhn.w, i _ if'....- I ) SHOOTING A HIPPOPOTAMUS F/rmt •Y//// FOUR THOUSAND MILES OF AFRICAN TRAVEL: A PERSONAL RECORD OF A JOURNEY UP THE NILE AND THROUGH THE SOUDAN TO THE CONFINES OF CENTRAL AFRICA, EMBRACING A DISCUSSION ON THE SOURCES OF THE NILE, AND AN EXAMINATION OF THE SLAVE TRADE. BY ALVAN S. SOUTHVVORTH, Secretary of the American Geographical Society. isBliilr Pap an_ Illustrations. NEW YORK: BAKER, PRATT & CO., PUBLISHERS 142 and 144 Grand Street. LONDON : SAMPSON, LOW & CO. i87S- Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five. By ALVAN S. SOUTHWORTH, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. WEED, PAR50NS AND COMPANY, PRINTERS AND STEREOTVPERS, ALBANY, N. V. TO WILLIAM H. WEBB, Esq., who, as a SHIP-BUILDER, HAS FURNISHED THE SWIFTEST MEANS OF TRANSIT TO THE TRA VELER BY THE SEA ; who, as A CAPITALIST, AND AT PERSONAL PERIL, HAS JOURNEYED AMONG THE ISLES OF THE FAR PACIFIC, TO ESTABLISH NEW OCEAN HIGHWAYS FOR AMERICAN- COMMERCE; AND WHO, IN A LIFE SPENT IN ALL PORTIONS OF THE WORLD, HAS DEVOTED HIS ENERGIES TO GRAND ENTERPRISES, flu gittt^or lugs to |nsiribe tljis IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF THE PRACTICAL LESSONS TAUGHT BY A LONG AND USEFUL CAREER.

I esteem the traveler who instructs the heart, but despise him who indulges the imagination. A man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a phi losopher ; but he who goes from country to country, guided by the blind impulses of curiosity, is only a vagabond. — Goldsmith.

Preface

. To this record of the author's travels in Africa is added an examination ot the problem of the sources of the Nile. While he has believed that the study of the people of the globe, and not the globe itself, is the more interesting, an effort has been made to set forth the physical characteristics of the White and Blue Nile regions, which, as extended alluvial empires, are unsurpassed in the world. Awaiting, with confidence, the day when capital and Anglo-Saxon energy will release the degraded negro peoples from their ages of bondage, and convert them into intelligent artisans and industrious tillers of the soil, the immediate lesson he has deduced from 4,000 miles of travel between the Mediterranean sea and the torrid regions of the Soudan, is this: that a few bold, rapid strokes of humanity and enterprise on the part of the Christian powers, would add 70,000,000 producers, now self-consumers, to the modern arts and industries.

In a word, Africa should be Americanized; the cruel wrongs suffered by her people should be atoned for by practical measures of relief, and a guardianship — not unliice that extended over India by Great Britain — should in all haste begin. South America has been largely reclaimed from her long stagnation. Africa is another South America — promising greater substance, demanding prompter energy. Rooms of the American Geographical Society, Cooper Institute, New York, Fettruary, 1875. THANKS. The thanks of the author are first due to Mr. James Gordon Bennett, who, with unstinted liberality, sustained the journey recorded in the following chapters, and for whose journal — The New York Herald — the author was a traveling corres pondent To His Highness the Khedive of Egypt, Sherif Pacha, Nubar Pacha, Moontasz Pacha, Ismail Yagoob Pacha, M. Versa!, Dr. G. W. Hosmer, Dr. Demetri, Col. Geo. H. Butler, Gen. Charles P. Stone, and all the Americans in the Egyptian service, he owes grateful acknowledgments for kindnesses innumerable.

CONTENTS. CHAPTEE I. FROM WAR TO EXPLORATION. Origin of the journey — Egypt in colors — A preparatory tour through Europe — Touching the African shores 1-4

Chapter II. Modern Egypt

Americanizing Egypt — The Khedive's characteristics of mind — _____ general view of his domain — Character of Levantine peoples — Dangers and pleasures of his reign — The Egyptian finances, influence of the Moslem faith on the progress of Egypt — The doctrine of extra-territorial jurisdiction — Missionary labors in the East — New Cairo — Diplomacy — A duel — The Khedive's opera 4-48

Chapter III. The Start For The Soudan

Sir Samuel Baker's expedition — Preparing to move toward the Equator — Our dahabeah, its construction and history — The Khedive's hospitality and generous assistance to our party — The Nile "season" and the requisite preparations — Sanitary precautions — An audience with the Minister of Foreign Affairs — His opinion of America and Americans 48-61

Chapter IV

A CHAPTER FOR THE TOURIST. Shooting along the Nile — The scenery along the Nile, and its peculiar advantages for inspection — The joys and pains of the river journey — Nubian music — A bursted gun — The growth and prosperity of Minieh — The abundant game — Americans on the Nile — The Sheik Selim 61-76 CHAPTER Y. THE DANCING GIRLS. The Temple of Venus — Hospitality of the British Consul — Appearance of the Dancing girls — Their movements, song, and morality — From Kennah to Thebes — Reoeption at the divan of the Governor of Esna — Grounding of the dahabeah — Egypt in 1892 75-90 CONTENTS. VIII

Chapter VI. Crossing The Nubian Desert

rAGE. Preparations for leaving the Nile — Perilous adventure at the first Cataract— A river race — Starting on the tropic of Cancer — Arriving at Korosko — Starting across the Desert — Arabs from a practical point of view — Life on the Desert — Structure of the African Continent — Terrible destruction of camels 90-105

Chapter VII. Among The Bedouin Arabs

Splendid scenery of the Desert — Our guide — The Southern cross appears — Mild forms of slavery — The passing caravans — Severe effect of the heat — Mirage seas — Fatal consequences of the illusory phenomena — The gate of the Desert — The romance of travel gone — The Ababdah Arabs — The Moorad wells — A professional convert 105-183

Chapter VIII. Entering The Soudan

Achmed Hussien — Scarcity of water — Mahomet Hussein and his staff — Our escort of Arab warriors — Safe arrival at the Nile again — A true Turkish dinner — Gazelles and hippopotami — A simoom — Stopping at an Arab hut — Skirting the Nile cataracts — A sublime phenomenon — Received at the palace of the Governor 123-134

Chapter IX. At The Capital Of The Slave Trade

Approaching Khartoum — Imposing reception by the Governor-General and Suite— The black warriors of Adam Pacha — AU Effendi— The Nile between Berber and Khartoum — Azar, the American Consular agent — The Soudan infant and peculiarities of his growth — The nationalities — Revolting scenes at a private slave mart 134-14E

Chapter X. Darfodr And Its King

The Sultan's cruelty and piety— A letter to His Majesty — Nady Bey's expedition, his account of Darfour— The case of Dr. Cuny — A letter from the Sultan 149-15!)

Chapter XI. Up The White Nile

Firman — Invitation from the Governor-General to go up the White Nile Moontaz Pacha — Resources of the Soudan — Fertility of the different provinces — The cotton crops — The Governor's message to America — The India of Egypt — Cost of living — Cost of products — Moosa Pacha's reign — The division of the Soudan — Moontaz Pacha's history 159-178 CONTENTS. IX

CHAPTER XI

I. VIVID AFRICAN SCENES. PAGE. The doctors — The race of elephants — The beautiful scenery of the White Nile — Petitions along the route — In the duck country — a violent storm — At Arbah Island — Scenes on shore — The monkeys, how they are caught — Plans for the development and civilization of the Soudan — The beast Use — The recruiting groun d f or Menageries and Zoological gardens — A bird's eye view of that portion of Africa 178-193

Chapter XIII. Life In Khartoum

The author's domestic establishment — Death of the Governor's son, and the subsequent ceremonies — Destruction of elephants — ••• ir Samuel Baker as a chasseur — Lady Baker in her drawing-room — The author's servant Giovanni, and his fondness for a hfe of luxury — He drinks other than wine for wine — A dramatic incident with some Greeks — The domestic life of the Soudan — Effect of the climate on temper and mind 193-304

Chapter XIV. The Slave Trade

Voluntary slavery dead — The traders, their method of capturing the blacks — Attacking settlements — Where the slaves come from — Terrible effects of the abominable traffic — Col. Gordon's work — Final disposal of the slaves — The beauty and simplicity of character of the Abyssinian girls — The ablest black soldiers — Madame La Farque — The Viceroy's intentions — An incident at Fachoda 204-217

Chapter XV Barilla, The Abyssinian Slave Girl

A sad history — The author rescues a beautiful girl from slavery — Her early domestic Use — How she was kidnapped from her lovely home — She is carried across the desert — Her experience in Khartoum — A lesson of her history 226

Chapter XVI. Leaving The Soudan

A monologue — Departure from Khartoum — Ismail Bey — Removing the "sudd" from the White Nile — The author's servant — Prince Zibehr — His three wives — A king founds an empire and gets assassinated for his trouble — Bon voyage — A terrible simoon — Reaching Berber — Hussein Bey — The Bicherine Arabs — A Christian turns Musselman — The pageant — The Catholic mission — At Khartoum 226-240 X CONTENTS.

Chapter XVII. On The Way To The Red Sea

_Aa__. Gorgeous scenery — Fascinating life of the Arab — His home on the burning sand — M. Vavsel and his servant — The caravan in great danger from loss of water — Availability of the Nubian desert for future development—Suggestions as to how it should be begun — Pilgrims to Mecca — Eroded rocks — Sixty soldiers perish from thirst 240-254

Chapter XVIII. The Arabs Of Northern Africa

The Arab camps at El Bok — The author makes friends with the beautiful Fatima — The value of an empty bottle — The social and political condition of the Arab tribes — Their population — Aristocratic Arabs — Aboo-Sim — The native products and workmanship — Hardships on the desert — An island in a tempest — The dog Daboose fancies an Arab woman — A model husband — The first view of Suakin — The history of this pretty seaport 254-266

Chapter XIX

A WAR-LIKE DEMONSTRATION AGAINST ABYSSINIA An observation on the heat of the Red Sea — A visit to Massowah — The plot to annex Abyssinia — The author investigates — A cursory view of Abyssinia — Activity of the Jesuits and Protestant missionaries — Cassah fights for a crown and wins — The way he treated his enemy — Splendid spectacle on the plain of Axum — A Queen goes to war and is beaten — The Khedive's hunger for Abyssinia — The intrigues — The pretext for war — Chronic desire to be King of Abyssinia on the part of wandering adventurers. .. 266-286

Chapter XX. Johannez's Kingdom

Gen. Kirkham. commander-in-chief of the Army — His mission to Europe and its result — Meeting with the Genera] in London — His account of Cassah and his kingdom — Characteristics of the natives — Demand for aid from the European Powers — The king's qualifications as a ruler — Products, imports and exports 286-299

Chapter XXI. The Sources Of The Nile

The lake region of Africa — The old and the young explorers — The American officers in Egypt — The discovery of Col. Long — Commercial importance of the discovery of the sources of the Nile — Quarrels of travelers and criticisms of Geographers — Sir Samuel Baker and his qualifications as an explorer — The various European nationalities in African discovery — American effort in the heart of Africa — The real discoverers of the sources of the Nile — Lieut. Cameron's achievement — The Tanganyika — The Nile problem as it stands 299-318 CONTENTS. XI

Chapter XXII. At The Tomb Of Eve

PAGE. Arrival at Jeddah — Moral atmosphere of the Arabian seaport — A vain attempt to visit Mecca in disguise — Character of the Arab gentry in Arabia — How they regard the speculative Christians — The author's Dutch friend with his blind horse — At the tomb of Eve — Conversa tion with the Sheik — His wonderful knowledge of pre-historic times — Some of the important scats performed by Adam — Keeping a "tomb" 318-325

Chapter XXIII Audience With The Khedive

Arrival at Suez from Central Africa — The author pays his respects to the Prime Minister — Invitation to an audience with the Khedive — At the palace — Surroundings ofthe Khedive — Preliminaries to the interview — The formal introduction — Anxiety of his Highness about the fate of Sir Samuel Baker — The Viceroy's dissatisfaction, and what he wishes to do with the Soudan provinces — His opinion of the sources of the Nile — The cataracts of the Nile — The machinery of Egypt's river — The Central African Railway — Plans for consolidating Egypt — The future cotton and sugar empire — Agricultural greatness — His relations with Constantinople — The blacks and the Arabs — General Stone — Drinking of the waters of the Nile — The author retires — Intellectual qualities of the Khedive _ 325-350 A parting word 350 THE SOUDAN AND VALLEY OF THE WHITE NILE.

Paper read before the American Geographical Society March 25, 1873, giving a comprehensive view of Northern Africa from the Mediterranean to Central Africa 351-367

Appendix

. THE CENTRAL AFRICAN RAILWAY. A complete exposition of the enterprise 367-380 Sources of the Nile 380 Animals .'....'. Xakffled, s/arsonsd. &*ld%anzf,%.& SKETCH MAP ol A F R 1 C A FROM WAR TO EXPLORATION.

Chapter I

The Commune had closed. Passing through the bitter campaigns which finally disrupted France and overwhelmed her people with sorrow, I found a further stay in Paris neither cheerful nor exciting. It was in this frame of mind that I glanced over the map of the world for new fields of adventure ; but this time in peace, not in war. During my reverie — for my map was of imaginary outlines — I was tapped on the shoulder by a friend. The place was the vestibule of the Grand Hotel in Paris. " Come," he said, " let us stroll down the Boule vard!" I assented, for the day was bright and sunny — one of the July glories of the capital. We met acquaintance after acquaintance, bowing and passing on. At last, near the Madeleine, we were stopped by a portly man, who gave an enthusiastic "How are you ! " to my companion.

A stranger to me ; intro ductions followed. The gentleman was a traveler FROM WAR TO EXPLORATION. from Egypt. Conversation soon turned on the country where he had lived for more than a year. I do not now remember how it ran, but it was some thing like this : " Egypt is the most marvelous country in the world ; the Khedive is the most wonderful man ; the Nile the most astonishing river ; Cairo and Alexandria the most amazing cities ; Africa, all told, the most curious continent." I did not will ingly relinquish a colloquy so much to my taste ; for, while I had read many stories of the renaissance of Egypt, words from the lips of a traveler are far more fascinating than books. So we walked on, and talked and talked until we grew hungry. Dinner at Bignon's followed, and it was late that night before the last glass of Chambertin was drained to future adventures on the Mie.

My wishes were soon afterward made known to Mr. Bennett, and I was directed toward the East. It was a lingering journey, however; one of four months' duration. First I went to Baden-Baden, and passed through some of the closing chapters of its gay, sparkling life as a bijou watering-place. Leaving the follies of its Conversation Hall to those painfully abstracted people who go there to make delusive efforts against roulette and trente et quarante, in the hope of leav- FROM WAR TO EXPLORATION. ing in the possession of large fortunes, I passed on to Vienna, expecting to find in the Austrian capital the new Paris of Europe. Again, disappointment ! Hungary and Italy consumed the next three months of my time. Finally, on a cold morning in Octo ber, I bade adieu to my friend Mr. J. A. Mac Gahan, the author of "Campaigning on the Oæus," with whom I had hoped to make an extended journey over the world, and took the cars for Naples.

My companion was Mr. Gouverneur Morris, Jr., of New York. Together we had participated in the social festivities of Vienna ; together we had made up our minds to brave the cicerones of Italy ; together we had decided to visit Egypt, and discover for our selves in how far the marvelous stories of its pro gress might be true. Five days on the small steamer from Naples brought us to the African shore. What supervened is the old story, a custom house, donkey boys, an unsatisfactory hotel; a Turkish bath, a visit to Pompey's pillar, and crowds of clam orous tourists. But this experience I shall pass over. It is worse than flat, stale and unprofitable ; it is always the first chapter of a book on the Nile.

Chapter II. Modern Egypt

Before passing to a narrative of my travels and adventures, I shall glance at Egypt as she is. The Viceroy * wishes to Americanize his people. First, however, to achieve any great result for civilization, all foreigners who go there must be Egyp tianized. They must adapt themselves to the manners and customs of the people, because a small colony cannot overcome a great race. His High ness, in desiring the presence of Americans in his dominion, is convinced that they combine energy with prudence, and superadd the essential qualities of thrift and intelligence. But he calls for an article which seldom emigrates from America — capital. He told General Starring in an interview, shortly after our arrival : " I do not wish agents, but prin cipals. Let the manufacturers come here and see for themselves.

Let them judge of the wants and demands of my people, and then say for themselves * The reader should remember that the Khedive is the Viceroy and the Vice roy the Khedive. By the natives he is called Effendina. The title Khedive was manufactured from the Persian in order to exalt the Egyptian ruler. if they can satisfy them. I wish my country to profit by American industry and invention, but the mechanical genius of your nation must be adapted to the peculiarities of Egypt. The Arab cannot be Europeanized in a day. Competition with the Eng lish manufacturers is what I would also like to establish, for this is the spirit of true commerce." In fine, the Viceroy, who is perhaps a greater merchant and producer than he is a diplomatist or ruler, offers a golden field to honest, well-meaning men, guaranteed by their own money.

Heretofore he has conceived no very favorable opinion of the Americans, who have preyed upon his fortunes, and have put upon him machines that are dead to action; guns that will not fire, and instruments which can be employed only to measure the highest altitude of swindling. He is well aware that his patronage can be bestowed upon worthy Americans, however, and he is anxious to supplement this squad of brazen adventurers by men of character and responsibility. Let me illustrate : One American had a gun-carriage to sell. It was shipped to Egypt, and, when it arrived, the gun for which it was bought could not be mounted, because the two were not born as twins. Saw-dust cartridges have been furnished to his Highness by an American con tractor dwelling in Vienna, tender for the comforts of the Turkish army ; and other beneficiaries have manifested a like desire to provide wares of an economical cast.

It is needless to say that the Viceroy does not command twice, from the same maker, after his unfortunate experiences. Hav ing made a careful survey of the country, not for the purpose of noting its peculiarities and antiquities in my private journal, but to measure precisely what field there is for capital and labor, I am convinced that there is every opportunity for a frugal, industrious man, whether he be a capitalist or an artisan. Let us look at Egypt, then, and see what its much misunderstood condition will show ; what its status is among the nations of the earth; how its finances are administered; its soil handled and cultivated ; its manufactures fostered and improved, and how its people are losing their cunning and fanaticism, and assimilating them selves to the modern ideas of Ismail Pacha.

Eleven years have sufficed to draw Egypt from the depths of centuries, and this important result has alone come from the prodigious mind of one man. The Viceroy is Egypt, and Egypt is the Viceroy. In this statement may be found the identity of 1,500,000 acres of sugar land, an immense cotton crop, 2,000 miles of telegraph, 700 miles of rail way, a territory extending from the Mediterranean to the equator, and an empire which finds its high est type of civilization in the navigation of the Suez canal, and its lowest form in the dreary deserts of the West. There are many curious facts concerning the career of the Khedive unknown generally, and which furnish us the true index to his charac ter, and explain to us by what means he took the province of Egypt in 1863, then saddled with all the most obnoxious phases of orientalism, oppressed with the heaviest burdens of taxation, and suitable alone for the abode of licentious princes, and raised it to such a puissance in the Turkish Empire that Constantinople may well have fears of Cairo.

He and Mustapha Pacha were born on the same day, of different mothers, but, according to Turkish law, are brothers. Ismail Pacha was the ranking infant, because he had begun life as an independent body two hours before Mustapha. Both princes were well educated in Europe, and each developed a taste for government and an intellect of extraordinary force. Both hoped to rule Egypt. One had the natural right so to do ; the other imagined that it was suited to him self to govern, better than to see his brother govern. From the beginning of the reign of Said Pacha till the hour of his death, and even afterward, the present Viceroy, in order to preserve his legitimate rights, was in a constant struggle against treacherous intriguers and low conspirators. It is useless to go over the disgraceful events prior to the accession of Ismail Pacha to the vice-regal throne.

They were only characteristic of the state-craft of the East, and among Easterns, possibly, are regarded as exem plars of political purity. Ismail Pacha had inherited a vast fortune. He was, probably, the richest man in Egypt, even before he came into power. His palaces were as splendid and as numerous as those of the reigning prince. The production begun under Mohomet Ali became his pride and ambition, until he made the banks of the Nile almost the richest sugar and cotton producing region in the world. He lived in great state, and was free with money, and imbued with those qualities which induce personal popularity. When Said Pacha was about to die at one of his palaces in Alexandria, the Viceroy was in Cairo, and Avas fully informed of every phase of the health of his predecessor. The doctor at the sick-bed, the servants, the operators of the English telegraph, made known every turn of the malady.

The story is still told that the operator who hurried away to his palace, after midnight, to address the Khedive as " your Highness the Viceroy of Egypt," was not meanly rewarded. Not long after his administration made it clear that he was the wisest monarch Egypt had known in modern times, plots to murder him were freely canvassed. Finally, as he was riding through the streets of Alexandria one day, a vicious bomb was thrown at his carriage. Twenty-four hours afterward Mustapha Pacha had fled Egypt. Next to the desire to harm his person, the Khedive is pursued even to this day, by people who would harm his purse. That is to say, almost every man who stops a month in Cairo, who lives at " Shepard's," and is not overwhelmed with the -toggery of travel, has a claim against the Viceroy. It is popular to have " claims " against his Highness.

It is also profitable. It makes no difference how just they are ; he, as a rich man, doesn't care to be bothered ; and the chances are that the shrewd scoundrel who works up a case of injured feelings or rejected contracts, can filch enough money to pay for a liberal debauch in Europe. The Viceroy liquidates on the same principle that a man had rather pay a swindling cocher an extra half franc, than expend an extra half hour in wrangling before a police court. But the real, fine art of getting money from his High ness, was practiced by the manager of a theatre in Cairo. An unloaded bomb was placed under the Viceroy's chair, and was suddenly discovered by the manager ; but the trick was too trans parent, and the executive of the green-room retired from the Viceroy's dominions, to travel and reflect in other and more appreciative lands.

During the early years of his reign, the Khedive was forced to be very discreet with his person. Even now it is said he never eats any thing when he goes to Con stantinople, not cooked by the hand of his mother, who watches over his life with a mother's fidelity. It seems that the day of drugs and venomous distil lations has not yet gone by in the East, though there is much exaggeration about the use of poisons. In the morning the Viceroy's attendants do not know where he may sleep at night ; and he moves about from palace to palace according to the whim of the moment. His personal habits may be called good. He is up at daylight — often before — and from that time till long after midnight he is attending to his gigantic estates ; figuring at the complex finances of his nation; working at his diplomatic relations with Constantinople and the world ; directing his interior affairs ; doing every thing, even to the minutest degree, for his family of 5,000,000 of people ; receiving his ministers, officers, and distinguished foreigners and consuls; an hour on the road ; a scene at the opera ; a glance at the circus — such is the compound of business and recreation in the daily life of this extraordinary man.

His character is not easy to portray, because it has been shaped and moulded by so many peculiar circumstances. A life-time arrayed, by neces sity, against the intrigues of a deft and powerful brother, is not apt to sweeten any man's nature ; yet that of the Viceroy has not greatly changed from its original frank and manly cast. He has made for himself a position, where dissimulation and humility would mean baseness and dishonor. He, therefore, prefers the reputation of being truthful to the stigma of being false, and the name of a proud monarch to that of a sujyplicating prince. It is because he is inherently honest that he is so outspoken to those in whom he seeks a confidence, and to them, and such as they, he explains his embarrassments, and details his lofty purposes. He would never have been what he is to-day, had he not have been educated in Europe.

His best recognition of this fact is, that his children are receiving the best instruction of England and France. As an administrator he excels. His executive faculty is the same that characterizes the prefecture system throughout France — police, police, police. His organization is bounded only by insurmounta able barriers. The telegraph has supplied him a weapon, and the smallest circumstance is laid before him. If a traveler be lost up the Nile, the Viceroy knows all about it, and directs what action may ensue. Every visitor present in Egypt is described to him, and he knows their aims and furthers them, if he judges it expedient so to do. He is particular about minutiae; knows, for instance, how the parts in an opera should be dressed, and dictates himself what changes are desirable in the cast.

He is the manager of his own household, his own army, navy and foreign concerns, and, while his ministers are able men, their duties are dictated by himself. His government is vice-regal and paternal; and, while both, is personal in the most absolute sense of the term. No minister ever offends Ismail Pacha needlessly (twice). I am told that the Viceroy is very imperious, while meaning to be very kind. This comes from his capacity for quick judgment and ready invention. His energy renders him impa tient of delay, and his keen perceptions make him fatigued by the eminent snails who prolong minutes into hours. Cairo, for a European or an Ameri can, is the closest approximation to lazy laziness, hence it is a pleasure to find that there is one man in the capital who notes the rising and setting of the sun ; and that man is the Viceroy.

Six years ago he ordered an officer to survey a caravan route between Kennah on the Nile and Cossier on the Red Sea. The officer went to that region and did as he was ordered. The report was presented to the Viceroy ; he reflected a moment ; " Build a telegraph from Kennah to the Red Sea, in six weeks ; report to me at the end of that time." The wires were in working order before the day appointed. This is his manner of doing business. To-morrow he might decide upon cutting the Sahara desert in twain "by a railway ; if so, the work would begin day after to-morrow. Is it yet in the forget fulness of the world that the Suez canal was begun in the days of the Ptolemies, and that men of feeble purpose strained at its construction before the days of Ismail Pacha ; aud that when it was carried on under this Viceroy, he made it a serious enter prise .