My Early Travels and Adventures in America and Asia ... With two maps and two photogravure portraits

Chapter I

The Tongue of the Egyptian Sea — The Commerce of the Ancient Egyptians — The Ancient Canals — The Circumnavigators of Africa — Napoleon Bonaparte's Ideas of a Direct Ship Canal — The Estimates of Lepere — The Greatest Idea of the Nineteenth Century .

Chapter II

The Egyptian Napoleon — Mehemet Ali and the Ship Canal — Linant Bey's Project — The Constructor of the Canal Appears — The Deed of Concession — The International Commission and their Studies of the Route — Their Report and Conclusions — The Formation ofthe Suez Canal Company — British Opposition — The Auxiliary Canal — The Construction of the Maritime Canal — The Filling of Lake Timsah — Preparations for the Ceremony of Opening the Canal .

Chapter III

The Maritime Capital of the Suez Isthmus — Its Workshops and Concrete Block Manufactory — The Harbour, Quays and Piers — The Naval and Mercantile Fleets — Arrival of Royalties — The Ceremony of Blessing the Canal — The Illuminations . CONTENTS. VI

Chapter IV. Page

The Greatest Drama in Egyptian History — The Empress's Yacht Starts — List of Vessels in the Procession — The Canal, Scenes on the Banks — The Land and its Associations — Arrival at Lake Timsah 49

Chapter V

Ismailia — A Glimpse of Goshen and the Wilderness of Shur — The Viceroy's Hospitality — A Grumbling Briton — A British Shipowner and his Prejudices — The Bedawi Manœuvres before the Empress — What the Arabs think of Eugtfnie ..... 62

Chapter VI

A Modern Guide for Travel on the great River, and grand fluvial Contrasts — From Cairo onward — The Halting Points, and Shore Scenery — The Guests of the Khedive — Sight-seeing — Whom they met and how they were amused ....... 74

Chapter X

Jealousies Excited by the Explorations below Jerusalem — The Discoveries Underground — Ophel — A Remarkable Underground Passage — The Shaft near the Golden Gate — The Foundations of the Temple of Solomon — Beautiful Corner Stones — The Tyropean Valley — Going down to Explore — The Great Sea — Summary . . . . . . . .158 CONTENTS. VII

Chapter XI. Tage

Constantinople to Sinope — Samsun — Kerasunde — Trebizond, its History and Trade — Gifford Palgrave — The Necessity of studying Geography — Batum — What an Error in Spelling cost the Russians — Poti — The River of the Ancient Argonauts— A Seed-bed of Ague — Fifty Nationalities — The Castrati of the Caucasus — The Fate of a Spy — Mark Tapley's Eden — Kutais and its Governor — Easter-Day and its Festivities — Soldiers as Navvies — Arrival at Tiflis . . 183

Chapter XVII. Page

The Ancient Royal City of Kasvin— What the Persian Table-land is like — Villages and Canauts — The Haunts of the "Old Man of the Mountains"— The Elburz Range— Terrible Heat— A Strange Hotel Proprietor — Arrival at Teheran — Anecdotes about the Shah — The Shah's Palaces — His Thrones and Jewels 279

Chapter XVIII

The Bazaar of Teheran — Persian Dogs — The Royal Falconers — Rivalry between the Russian and British Embassies — The Negaristan Palace — The Royal Menagerie — Fath Ali Shah — Kasr-i-Kajar

Chapter XIX

The Indo-European Telegraph — Hospitalityof the Officials — The Stations between Teheran and Isfahan — Day and Night Travel — The Salt Desert — Kum — " Prussia and France " — Pasangun — Sin-Sin — Terrible Heat —Kashan — Shrubless Plains — The Approach to Isfahan ........ 320

Chapter XX

Isfahan — The City of Euphemisms — Its Gardens, Groves, and Golden River — The Sun darkened by Locusts — The Palaces, Royal Colleges, and Meidans — The Palace ofthe Forty Pillars — View of the City from the "Sublime Gate"— The Eighth Paradise— The Thousand Valleys — Rustam's Throne — Hill of the Fire Worshippers — The Rocking Minarets — The Road to America — The Bazaars of Isfahan — Julfa

Chapter XXI

Farewell to Isfahan — The Bust of Hercules — The Grotesque Town of Yezdekhast — The Ruins of Pasargadae — The Tomb of Cyrus . . . . . CONTENTS. IX l'AGE

Chapter XXII

The Ruins of Istakhr and Fortress — Persepolis and its Palaces— Exploration Underground — The Plain of Mervdasht . . . . . . . .371

Chapter XXIII

Shiraz — Travellers' Stories — The Famous Ruk-nabad — The Gardens ofthe Southern Capital — The Pleasures of the Shirazi — Quotations from Saadi, Hafiz and Jami — The Sports ofthe Shirazi — -Saadi's Tomb and Epitaph — The Grave of Hafiz — The Tomb of Bathsheba ! — Diary from Shiraz to Bushire — Arrival at Bushire — The Real Persia ..... 392 Index 41? b TI '. I'l.tl.f. A.Son.. LtinAtott A. l.l-vrr,,„,,l I.Otuh'li . .S'.llllf.KItl fnu Sfuiwtoti A* CoMfHtlt, , i.nnit,,!

Chapter I

The Tongue ofthe Egyptian Sea — The Commerce of the Ancient Egyptians — The Ancient Canals — The Circumnavigators of Africa — Napoleon Bonaparte's Ideas of a Direct Ship Canal — The Estimates of Lepere — The Greatest Idea of the Nineteenth Century. Ismailia, Isthmus of Suez, November iZtk, 1869. THE sandy Isthmus of Suez was considered by the Kings of Ancient Egypt as a good defence against the Assyrians and Persians. The two seas which bound it north and south were almost connected by a chain of salt lakes which occupied every depression on the isthmus. There is evidence enough to prove that in pre historic times the Red Sea and the Mediterranean once commingled their waters, and that the sand which formed the isthmus had been gradually heaped up by action of strong wind and tides. For in the time of Isaiah this process was taking place.

The Bitter Lakes, now so called, were then but the 11. B extreme reach of the Red Sea, and when Isaiah fulminates against Egypt he threatens to cut off the tongue of the Egyptian sea. This reach of sea, according to the laws of nature, was even then being isolated. A bar was forming at the southern ex tremity of the Bitter Lakes, which we find this day to have expanded into the width of eighteen miles of finest sand, and the same process of bar-making was found in operation by the originators of the Canal at about a mile to the southward of Suez. A little eastward of the Bitter Lakes was the famous Bog, in which it was believed several hostile armies had been engulfed. Then came the Bitter Lakes, 23 miles long : Lake Timsah, 2 miles long ; the Ballah Lakes, 3 miles ; and the extensive lagoon of Menzaleh, 28 miles.

Between these lakes ran a sinuous stream towards the Pelusiac marshes, where there were salt pits for the manufacture of salt. To any powerful commercial nation existing about the year 1000 B.C., the plan of a canal through the isthmus would no doubt have been deemed more feasible than in the beginning of the nineteenth century. It only required a trench between these lacustrine links, and the canal was done. But in the year 1000 B.C. the old Egyptians regarded with horror those who navigated the deep and dwelt in ships. Nay, those unfortunate sailors, whose misfortune it was to be wrecked on the coast of Egypt, were imme diately offered up as sacrifices to the god Busiris. The Egyptians possessed no forests wherewith to THE COMMERCE OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 3 build seaworthy vessels. Their Nile galleys were built expressly for river trade between the Delta and the intermediate ports on the Nile.

But they regarded the ocean with horror, notwithstanding that they saw the merchant-ships of Tyre, Sidon, Carthage, and Greece in their ports. The Phœnicians and Greeks swept the seas from the Palestine coast as far as the Pillars of Hercules, from Pelusium to Salamis and the Peloponnesus. Solomon despatched his ships down the Red Sea from Eziongeber to Ophir and Ind, for gold, balsam, and spices. But it was impossible that people naturally brave and great in arts as the Egyptians should long stand aloof from the benefits to be derived from commerce and ocean navigation, and accordingly we find them under Psammeticus rivalling the Greeks and Phœnicians in maritime pursuits. Their corn, linen, and drugs, their exquisite and rich manufactures in gold and silver, were exchanged by them for Cyprian copper, Lebanon cedars, Tyrian dyes, and ships from Sidon and Tarsus.

This mutual reciprocity, which had long before made Sidon a mart of nations and Tyre a maker of kings, made Pelusium a great city, Sais prosperous, and Nauciatis famous. The corn of the Nile and the harvests of Egypt were exchanged for the purple and rich vestments of Sidon and Tyre. Phœnicia waxed strong, and the cities of the Delta became prosperous under Psammeticus. On the fall of Thebes and Memphis the coast cities of Pelusium, Sais, Mendes, and Canopus were established. B The King of Egypt, Necho II. , son of Psammeticus, was a genius for his times. He understood the value of commerce, and his views became enlarged by the prosperity which followed his efforts. He heard of the gold of Ophir, of the precious stones that lay beyond the sea. Could the ships from the Nile but trade directly thither, what treasures might not flow into his coffers !

What new lands might not be conquered ! Before such visions of boundless wealth, with the means of realising them at hand, Necho determined upon constructing a canal that should connect the Nile with the Red Sea, which should start from Bubastis, the then capital of Egypt, by Pathumos, through a natural sandy ravine, past Necropolis and into the Bitter Lakes, which at that time were separated from the Red Sea by only a sand bar. The canal was to be wide enough for two ships to pass each other freely when abreast ; and to be sufficiently deep for the largest ship of the period. Though a most roundabout canal for Phœnician and Tyrian ships to sail to India, yet it was practicable, as Bubastis was but sixty miles from the Bitter Lakes. One hundred and twenty thousand slaves were employed on the undertaking for three years, at the end of which time it began to be suspected that when the canal would be completed the Red Sea would overflow Goshen, inundate the Delta, and ruin Egypt.

Necho was therefore warned that by con structing this canal for navigation, even should de struction to the land by salt water not be the result, NECHO1 S CANAL. 5 barbarous invaders from unknown lands would by its means invade Egypt. The work, though so near its completion, was therefore reluctantly re linquished. Traces of this canal have been discovered not far from Suez, with banks in some places lined with brick and granite. Necho seems to have had a most enterprising character. Perceiving the danger of persisting in his first project, Necho commanded his pilots to search for some other channel by which the Nile might find an outlet to the Red Sea. From Eziongeber these daring sailors set sail, steering down the Red Sea, keeping close to the Egyptian coast, stopping at each port as they came to it for trade.

After passing the Equator they could find no people with whom they couldtrade or from whom they could purchase provisions ; so they had to lay up their ships, plough land, sow, reap, and with the seed of the harvest provision their vessels for the continuation of their voyage. In the third year they came to the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar and the opposite African mountains), and saw their own friendly sea before them. Continuing their voyage along the shores of the Mediterranean, past Mauritania and Carthage, they arrived at King Necho's city after an absence of three years. Such a long voyage could not be repeated in the life of a king already far advanced in years. This was the first voyage round Africa. Hanno tried it subsequently, but failed ; for before reaching the Equator he had to return, owing to the scarcity of provisions.

According to Herodotus, Necho abandoned his efforts to construct a canal that he might direct his mind to the defence of Egypt against the Assyrian king. A deep trench was ordered by him to be cut from the Bitter Lakes to the mouth of the Nile, near which Pelusium, the frontier post, stood. It was intended as a defence against the Assyrians, but through its influence the land through which the sweet waters flowed bloomed like a garden, and the arid desert, hitherto but a vast waste, teemed with spontaneous vegetation. The canal from Bubastis to the Bitter Lakes displaced the briny element which formerly filled them with Nile water, and the trench from the Bitter Lakes to Pelusium being filled with the river water, was not only a defence to Egypt against predatory armies from Palestine and Arabia, but served to transform a large tract of land from sterility into fruitful plains.

After the death of Necho II. the idea of connecting the Nile with the Red Sea was again mooted and carried forward with considerable vigour. The work was continued as far as the Crocodile Lakes, as the Bitter Lakes were afterwards named. These lakes, being filled with Nile water, became famous for the large number of crocodiles, water fowl, and fish, which had migrated hither with the flood flowing from Nubia and Abyssinia. Nectanebo I., in the year 380 B.C., when rebelling THE CANAL OF PHILADELPHUS. 7 against the Persian power which had been established by Cambyses, had recourse to the same mode of defence originated by his great ancestor Necho II. in 618 B.C., viz., to dig trenches from Pelusium to the Bitter Lakes, and to strengthen his fortress in the Delta ; and so well were these water defences planned, that in the fall, when the periodical overflow came, the Nile completed what Nectanebo had begun, and Egypt was thus delivered from the Persian yoke.

In the year 284 B.C. Ptolemy Philadelphus became King of Egypt. Among the great works of his reign are the erection of lighthouses on the Isle of Pharos and the construction of a royal burial-place at Alexandria. He also turned his attention to the navigation of the Red Sea, which presented a great difficulty to sailing vessels, inasmuch as the wind blew from the north during nine months of the year, and the Arab captains found it impossible to beat up the Red Sea as far as Eziongeber. The ship captains, in order to avoid this difficulty, were obliged to contract with merchants that they should meet them as far south as possible with caravans, by which mode com merce ran through other channels, and new cities constantly sprang up on the southern coasts of Egypt, such as Suakin, Cosseir, and Massowah.

To obviate the difficulty of navigating this sea, and at the same time to secure the commerce which sought an outlet in Egypt, Philadelphus built a city and called it Berenice, after his sister, 200 miles below Cosseir. From Berenice caravans of camels would convey the merchandise to Bubastis, the capital of Lower Egypt. He also rebuilt Cosseir, the ancient Ennum, according to Strabo. Finally, Philadelphus built a city near where Suez now stands, and called it Arsinoe, after his youngest sister, and re-opened the canal upon which Necho II. and Darius Hystaspes had spent their energies. By means of this canal ships were to pass between Arsinoe and Bubastis. He re-opened the canal successfully as far as the Bitter Lakes, which, through the neglect of previous governments, had been considerably filled up by the encroaching sands of the desert.

The completion of the undertaking was prevented by engineers, who declared that the waters of the canal would be several feet lower than the Red Sea, and for that reason would be a sea canal, which would neither benefit commerce, irrigate the fields, nor furnish cities with fresh water. The next time history records an incident con nected with this canal is when Cleopatra, " Egypt's foul disgrace, the firebrand of Rome," after the disaster at Actium seeking a means of escaping from dread Octavius, suggests to Mark Antony that they should convey their ships across the isthmus to the Red Sea and fly together to unknown lands. Had it not been for the despair which had seized Antony it is probable that the canal, which must have been open at the time, would have been used by the royal fugitives to transport their riches and their faithful TRAJAN'S CANAL. 9 few to another shore, where another empire might have been founded.

Trajan, in the year no A.D., caused the canal first made by Necho, and reconstructed by Darius and Philadelphus, to be opened once more. Trajan's engineers commenced it from a place called Babylon, near Memphis, which was nearly fifty feet higher than from Bubastis, that it might pour into the Red Sea, obviating in this way the dreaded danger of an inundation of Egypt by the Egyptian sea. It passed by Heliopolis, Heropolis, and Serapeum, and, joining the Bitter Lakes, emptied into the sea ten miles south of Arsinoe. The continual shifting of the sands had already, in the brief space of three centuries, com pletely separated Arsinoe from the sea which, it will be recollected, was built by Philadelphus as the port of his canal. Whether the canal was kept open by the Roman prefects during the occupation of Egypt by the Romans, history does not relate.

We are left to surmise that so long as they continued to be masters of the world such a work, so conducive to maritime wealth and prosperity, could not have been neglected. The last time history speaks of this celebrated canal is in the year 638 A.D., in connection with the conquest of Egypt by Abu Amrou, General of Caliph Omar. Amrou, wishing to surprise his master with the vast riches he had acquired by the possession of Egypt, re-opened the canal along its whole length and sent so many shiploads of grain to Clysmon that, to use the exaggerated words of the Oriental historian, it required a train of camels from the holy city of Mecca to Clysmon to convey the corn away. From the above it will be perceived that a canal across the isthmus has for ages been considered a necessity for Egypt ; and that after being constructed it became choked up whenever it was neglected ; and that a century or so was sufficient to obliterate almost all traces of it.

The utility of a canal across the isthmus, which would permit ocean ships to cross from sea to sea, was as apparent to the French Directory and Napoleon Bonaparte as it had been to Pharaoh Necho and Philadelphus. At first Bonaparte thought it would be best to re open the work of Necho, but after much investigating and surveying which occupied several months, the question flashed through his mind, " Why not connect the two seas by a direct canal, which shall float frigates and warships ? " The vastness of the under taking, the important results which would inevitably accrue from the canal, dawned upon him ; and it was then in a moment of enthusiasm, we presume, that he uttered the celebrated dictum, " Whatever Power holds the Isthmus will be Master of India." While staying at Suez, Napoleon intently studied every aspect of the question.

The isthmus was ex plored and reported upon for a direct canal between Pelusium and Suez. But again the engineers fell into the traditional error of believing that the waters LEPERE'S ESTIMATES OF THE COST OF A CANAL, n of the Red Sea were thirty-two feet higher than the Mediterranean, though the two seas were but ninety miles apart. An engineer named La Place and the mathematician Fourier protested against the opinion, asserting that such ideas were against accepted theories of the system of the globe and ocean equilibrium. Later hydrographical experiments demonstrated the falsity of the opinion which had been maintained with such obstinacy for two thousand five hundred years. Napoleon's engineers proposed the reconstruction of the old canal of the Pharaohs. The remains of it had been discovered at several places running from the modern Zagazig or ancient Bubastis in the direction of the Bitter Lakes, and the work of recon struction would cost, according to Lepere, between 20,000,000 and 30,000,000 francs, or between £800,000 and £1,200,000.

For such a modest sum it is not likely that Lepere could have entertained the idea of building a ship canal of any depth. Lepere made his estimates even after the brilliant idea of a direct ship canal had been broached, because great difficulties would prevent its accomplishment. He believed Suez destined to the same fate as had overtaken Arsinoe two thousand years before, or as Clysmon two hundred years later. Suez, in like manner, in another half century would be completely isolated by the desert ; for even then the distance between the town and roadstead was three miles. The other " insurmountable " difficulty was the port of Pelusium. No human engineering could ever prevent the creation of sand bars, which would always nullify efforts to establish a deep harbour. Since no engineer or mathematician was able to controvert these theories of Lepere, the idea of a direct ocean canal was given up ; and other circumstances finally prevented Napoleon re-opening Necho's canal.

All Napoleon's aims and desires, hopes and am bitions, in the Orient were annihilated by Nelson and Sir Ralph Abercrombie at Aboukir. The neck of land which connected the continents of Asia and Africa was but ninety miles across and consisted mostly of pure sand. While looking at the map of the eastern world and tracing the route vid Suez between England and India, France and Cam bodia and Cochin China, Spain and the Philippine Islands, Portugal and Goa, Holland and Java, Asiatic Turkey and Arabia, Europe and Eastern Africa, it almost seems superfluous to dwell upon the advantages likely to be gained by the cutting of the isthmus. With the incalculable advantages and benefits depending upon the excavation of a canal, it was not possible that the nineteenth century, which had inaugurated its advent with the proclamation of the most startling ideas and the birth of mighty projects, could permit this one greatest idea to sleep, while the whole world cried " Progress !

" — while the American continent was about to be banded with iron ■ — while the oceans were ploughed by thousands of steamers, and the deep seas were about to be bridged with electric cables. Progress cried out against this MEHEMET ALI AND THE SHIP CANAL. 13 barrier of sand, and proclaimed that Africa must be severed from Asia, and that the Red Sea should be connected with the Mediterranean. I am about to relate how it was accomplished.

Chapter II

The Egyptian Napoleon— Mehemet Ali and the Ship Canal — Linant Bey's Project — The Constructor of the Canal Appears — The Deed of Concession — The International Commission and their Studies of the Route— Their Report and Conclusions — The Formation of the Suez Canal Company — British Opposition — The Auxiliary Canal — The Construction of the Maritime Canal — The Filling of Lake Timsah — Preparations for the Ceremony of Opening the Canal. Ismailia, November iStli, 1869. Mehemet Ali deserves to be called the Napoleon of Egypt. While he lived success attended him in almost every war he undertook, though England proved too strong for him, as she had proved to Napoleon. Among the many vast designs which he cherished was the construction of a ship canal from the Nile to the sea, and the re-opening of Bubastis and the Bitter Lake Canal.

Had a really sensible plan been proposed to him there is not the least doubt that he would have exerted all his autocratic authority for its execution. But the numerous schemes proposed to him were all in connection with the Nile and the Red Sea Canal, which his practical sense rejected. The experiences of twenty-five cen turies were not lost upon him. Egyptian history informed him how often the Pharaohs, the Ptolemies, the Romans, and the Caliphs had devoted their energies to constructing and reconstructing that canal, and demonstrated to him the fruitlessness of continuing it. Soon after the peace of 1833, by which Mehemet Ali was confirmed in the hereditary possession of Egypt, a party of Englishmen explored the isthmus, among whom was Major-General Chesney who, after a casual inspection of the localities, asserted before a Commission that the idea of a difference between the level of the two seas was completely erroneous.

In 1840, another survey was made by the English, and Chesney's opinion was confirmed by scientific inquiries. In February, 1841, Linant Bey, Chief Engineer to Mehemet Ali, in conjunction with Messrs. Anderson (of the Peninsular and Oriental Company), John and George Gliddon, formed a company to construct a ship canal from Pelusium to Suez. Inquiries and laborious surveys had demonstrated its complete feasibility, and no one now entertained a doubt respecting the project. But the capital required for its construction was too large for the period, and the company soon broke up without accomplishing anything. In 1846, Linant Bey's scheme of a canal was taken up by a new company, of which the great Stephenson, Negretti, Paulin, Talabut, and M. Enfantin were members. The organisation of this company was THE SURVEY OF THE CANAL ROUTE. 15 mainly owing to the efforts of M. Enfantin.

The Societe d'Etudes du Canal de Suez had for its purpose the making of "a kind of a Bosphorus through the desert of Suez." From the series of reports which were drawn up by European and Egyptian engineers relative to the respective seas, the features of the isthmus, the nature of the soil, and all that might be said for and against the feasibility of construction and advantages of the canal, a member of the company drew up an elaborate review to be submitted to the association, and likewise sketched a plan of a canal which would run from Suez to Cairo, follow and cross the Nile and debouch into the port of Alexandria. But as this project was for a most indirect route it is needless to say that it was overruled and quashed. Though these later surveys had followed one upon the other quickly, and the truth of the general theories advanced, many still remained in doubt, because the Commission of 1799, under Bonaparte, had formed such widely different ideas.

To satisfy the doubts of those whose interests would be promoted by the Suez Canal, another survey was made, likewise under Linant Bey, and the results verified the previous investiga tions. The level of the two seas was proved to be the same and when this fact was established it became the basis of all future projects. For seven years the Stephenson Company had done little except measuring, analysing, comparing and surmising. In 1853 we hear of a new man appearing on the scene, in the person of Monsieur Ferdinand de Lesseps. This gentleman was born at Versailles, November 19th, 1805, and is consequently sixty-four years old. In 1828 he was appointed Consul at Lisbon, and in 1842 was transferred to Barcelona. In 1853, when on a visit to Mohammed Said Pacha, he proposed to him the plan of constructing a maritime canal across the isthmus which should run from sea to sea.

Said listened to him kindly and asked him to draw up a statement upon the features of his scheme and its advantages. In the early part of 1854 his cele brated memorial upon the Suez Canal was drawn up and delivered to the Viceroy under the title " Perce ment de l'lsthme de Suez : Expose" et Documents Officiels." From the character of the Egyptian Pachas, which was once proverbial, the world would not have been in the least surprised had the Viceroy contented himself with simply pocketing the docu ment and returning for answer to Lesseps an invitation to smoke a pipe and take a cup of coffee. But Mohammed Said Pacha, who succeeded Abbas, his nephew, was an enlightened prince, and he loved to gather celebrated men around him. Koenig Bey, secretary of Said Pacha, was a German ; Linant Bey, and Mougel Bey, Chief Engineers of Public Works, were Frenchmen ; Galice Bey, who constructed the Alexandrian fortifications, and Monet Bey, Captain of Engineers, were also Frenchmen.

Mohammed Said had been educated in Paris. He was well acquainted with Monsieur de Lesseps, and he confidently DE LESSEPS APPEALS TO ENGINEERS. 17 entrusted him with the task of creating an ocean way from sea to sea. The deed of concession for the construction of the ship canal was signed towards the end of November, 1854. A complete specification of the grant was drawn up and appeared at Cairo, March 25th, 1855. The two engineers, Linant and Mougel Bey, were the authors of the documents. The grand question to be solved definitely before commencing the gigantic task was, " Is it possible to make an artificial Bosphorus without locks between the two seas ? " M. de Lesseps appealed to the best engineers of Europe for their decision. This was another of De Lesseps' great ideas — this appeal to a scientific assembly of Europe, to which the ablest engineers of the world were invited to attend.

On the part of England attended Messrs. McClean, C. Manby, and Captain Hewitt, eminent engineers. Austria sent Chevalier de Negretti, Councillor of State, and Inspector-General of Railroads. From Piedmont went M. Paleocapa, Minister of Public Works at Turin ; from Holland, M. Conrad, Chief Engineer of the Water Staat ; from Prussia, M. Leutze, Director of the works on the Vistula ; from Spain, Don Montesinos, Director of Public Works at Madrid ; while France was represented by Rear-Admiral de Genouilly, Captain Jaures, member of the Board of Bridges and High ways, and M. Lieusson, Hydrographer and Engineer of the Navy. II. C ■8 THE SUEZ CANAL. This International Commission met for the first time at Paris, October 30th and 31st, 1855. It was decided that the Commission should depart from Marseilles the following week, 8th November.