THE OVEELAND EOUTE 281 



as one's head the Colocynth was the only plant visible, and that 

 sparingly, so like the soil it straggled over, that the great yellow 

 apples alone betrayed its position. At Suez, 



as the position of the transit of the Children of Israel, one 

 could not help looking about, and trying to grasp one natural 

 feature that should afterwards vividly recall the spot ; but 

 there was none ; looking N., an arm of the sea wound up to 

 where a canal in the more glorious days of Egypt connected 

 the Nile and the Eed Sea. 



A score of years were still to elapse before de Lesseps 

 renewed that glory of the ancient empire, and incidentally 

 swept away these wearinesses of the old Overland route. 



The Governor- General's party were comfortably installed 

 in the hotel long before the ordinary passengers began to arrive, 

 130 in all, in detachments of six or eight vans every four hours 

 through the night. Next day they embarked on the Moozuffer. 

 This was ' a noble ship,' as large as the Sidon, but although 

 the captain gave up everything to Lord and Lady Dalhousie, 

 the Indian Government had made no proper accommodation 

 for the large party : 



the rest of us have to fig it out in the ship's armoury, a dirty 

 place, next to the engine, intolerably hot and smothered 

 with coal-dust. We lie on mattresses on the deck, and it 

 is all we can do to turn out tidy for meals in the cabin. 



In consequence, as he writes later from Madras, 



I have lost nearly all my collections (particularly that made 

 at Aden) from the salt water in our wretched dormitory on 

 board this ship. Not only were much of my collections 

 destroyed, but my spare paper ; so that at Point de Galle 

 I could not collect a single thing. 



Aden itself was ' the ugliest, blackest, most desolate and 

 most dislocated piece of land of its size that ever I set eyes 

 upon, and I have seen a good many ugly places.' Unsatis- 

 factory also was the Indian Ocean, ' the most uninteresting 

 sea I ever crossed ; without birds or any fish but flying fish 

 to relieve the monotony of the cruise.' 



