THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 183 



shade of two sycamores, with a delicious carpet of 

 greenery around us, for it is at this season that the 

 wheat is green. I leave the Viceroy there and ride on 

 to overtake Halim. Soon after reaching the magnificent 

 river, which, we are told, has such an irresistible 

 attraction for the stranger who has once drunk its 

 waters, a boat takes us out to the yacht which the 

 Viceroy's predecessor, Abbas Pasha, had built in 

 England at a cost of 100,000. It is quite beyond 

 me to describe the luxurious character of the fittings, 

 the painting, and the furnishing of this vessel, with its 

 doors in oak and citron wood, its locks and fastenings 

 in solid silver, its medallions representing rivers and 

 animals painted by distinguished artists, its staircases 

 with silver balustrades, its divans lined with cloth of 

 gold, its dining-room forty feet long, and its bedrooms 

 like those of a palace. The Viceroy comes in soon 

 after, and after again showing me this floating palace, 

 says that of course he should never have committed 

 such an act of folly as to build such a boat, but that 

 as she is in existence he makes use of her. He places 

 at my service during the two or three days we spend 

 on the Nile to wait for the troops and despatch them 

 to Cairo his ancient old steamer the El Ferusi (the 

 Turquoise), assigning another boat to Halim Pasha. 

 My quarters on the Turquoise consists of a saloon forty 

 feet long, with a large divan decorated with handsome 

 Lyons silk brocaded in gold, of a bedroom, a dressing- 

 room, and a bath-room in white marble. Clot Bey, 



