SUEZ, TEL-EL- KEBIR AND CAIRO. 235 



chief. There are evidences of former life a.id activity, 

 but the docks and storehouses are nearly all in ruins. 



Prior to the opening of the canal, this was the great 

 emporium for all goods from the East for shipment up 

 the Mediterranean. From here in the olden times 

 camel-trains, miles in length, did the work now done 

 much more quickly by the railway and the canal. 

 We spent some hours looking about this poor old 

 town. If I must needs go to the penitentiary for five 

 years or live in Suez exclusively for that time, I pray 

 you (as Carlyle would put it) send me not to Suez. 

 We left at 1 1 a.m. for Cairo, which we reached a little 

 after dark. 



Tel-el-Kebir is about half way between the two. 

 This famous battle-ground is, as I take it, just on the 

 dividing line between the land of Goshen and the 

 desert. I am astonished at the fertility of the soil all 

 the way from Tel-el-Kebir to the Valley of the Nile. 

 No one is surprised at the productive power of the 

 Nile valley, for that is replenished every year by the 

 overflow of the river. 



When you look at the fertile land, however, beyond 

 the valley, and remember that it has been tilled for 

 3,000 or 4,000 years, you are surprised at its long con- 

 tinued fertility. We saw luxuriance which would have 

 been creditable to virgin soil in any country. 



