484 
down the Red Sea, and.called it after 
his mother Berenice: although its pre- 
cise situation is now doubted, yet he 
laid it down im latitude 23° 50'..~ Pliny 
says, it was 258 Roman iniles from 
Coptos, the situation of the modern 
Kypt, then a city three miles from the 
Nile, but which. communicated with 
the river by a canal, of which D’An- 
ville says there are still some remains ; 
and, from Coptos, the goods were sent 
down the Nile to Alexandria, so that 
ships could arrive at Berenice without 
the navigating the sea of Suez; per- 
haps, in the imperfect state of naviga- 
tion, it might be cheaper to send the 
goods from Berenice to Coptos, tian 
from Suez to the Nile. But 1 know 
from an officer of high rank in the Eng- 
lish navy, that the Red Sea is. navi- 
gable up to Suez, and even to behind 
the town, for ships of greater dranght 
of water than asteam-boat. Ptolemy, 
for the accommodation of the caravans, 
built inns, or caravanseries, in the 
desert. of ‘Thebais, where he found 
water; and, through this track, the 
commerce between Berenice andAlex- 
andria was carried on while Egypt 
continued an independent state. 
There can be no doubt but the 
affluence of Thebes, of Memphis, and 
of Alexandria, was in a great measure 
derived from their commerce with the 
Arabian and Persian gulphs, and with 
India; and the Phenicians and the 
Jews, no doubt, were direct and indi- 
rect sharers, in the treasures of the 
Fast. The town that monopolized the 
trade with the East was sure to ac- 
quire wealth with astonishing rapidity ; 
and, wherever the natural rights of the 
people were respected, trade flou- 
rished; but, where the sovereign had no 
deference to any but his own, poverty 
and frightful despotism reigned. 
In the calculation, J have allowed 
iwo days to travel from Cairo to Suez, 
a distance of seventy miles. I am not 
aware that there is at present any ac- 
commodation for travellers by the way, 
and I expect little water is to be pro- 
cured; but, perhaps, water could be 
obtained in several places along the 
route, either by common measures or 
by boring, as is sometimes practised in 
England. If water could be procured, 
three or four caravanseries could be 
built between Suez and Cairo, after the 
manner of Ptolemy, between Coptos 
and Berenice, which would materially 
lessen the inconvenience of the 
journey. 
Proposal for an East-India Steam-Mail, 
[Jan. 15 
The number of camels that would be 
required: to! form the caravan would 
depend «upon the numbers of ipassen- 
gers, luggave, and parcels;adange and 
strong) camels) generally: carry 1000, 
and even 1200: weight, (vide Buffon, ) 
the smaller onvs:6 or/700; and Raynal 
says, the price of asxcamel is:about.two 
guineas, so that /the original cost is 
trifling, and the keep is equally cheap. 
Whoever embarked Jim the» proposed 
scheme, should)keep a sufficient num- 
bertotransmitihecontentsofthesteam- 
mail across the isthmus without delay, 
M. Volney says, “ In travelling through 
the desert, camels ‘are ecbiefly \em- 
ployed because they) consume ‘little 
and carry a great load.: | His: ordinary 
burthen is about 750lbs. his food what- 
ever is given him, straw, thistles, the 
stones of dates, beans, barley, &c. with 
a pound of food a-day, and) as much 
water, he will travel for weeks. In the 
journey from Cairo to Suez, whichis 
forty or forty-six hours, they neither 
ate nor drink; but these! long fasts, if 
often repeated, wear them out.” The 
distance across the desert is not farther 
than from Portsmouth to London, and 
the changed mode of travelling would 
neither be disagreeable ‘nor insalubri- 
ous, and cheaper to the conductors 
than the present stage-coach travelling 
in England. If local circumstances 
would admit the making of an iron rail- 
way, steam-carriages might be used. 
To prove that large burthens have 
been carried across the isihmus, I 
may be allowed to mention, that the 
Venetians sent wood, and other mate- 
rials, up the Nile to: Cairo,: from 
whence they were carried by camels to 
Suez. From this celebrated) port, in 
the year 1508, four large vessels, ‘one 
galleon, two gallies, and three galliots, 
sailed to India. A: similar practice 
seems to have been adopted by Solo- 
mon, who had conveyed wood from 
Cilicia, and Mount Libanus, to Pheni- 
cia, by way of Torsus; and, from_Phe- 
nicia, it was conveyed on the backs of 
camels to Hesion-Geber at the top of 
the Red Sea, near the present, Suez. 
It would be necessary to obtain the 
permission of the Ottoman court, or 
more immediately that of the bey 
governing Egypt, who, for an annual 
sum, would not ovly grant. the. mail 
business to be transacted, but afford 
protection against the hordes of -rob- 
bers that infest several parts of Egypt. 
As there would be interest conferred, 
there need not be much opposition ex~- 
pected 
