218 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



" January 5, 1855. 



" It has rained all night, and as the wind is rising 

 still there is no possibility of moving outside our 

 tents, while, looking in the direction from which the 

 wind comes, we see that a violent khamseen is immi- 

 nent. "While we are discussing the question of the 

 canal, a gust of wind more violent than those which 

 preceded it very nearly blew us out of the tent, and 

 upset all our things. The conversation is renewed 

 when the mischief has been remedied, and we calcu- 

 late that the Sweet Water Canal will be the means of 

 bringing 250,000 acres under cultivation. Just at 

 this moment a messenger arrives with letters from 

 Cairo, one of them being from Admiral Jurien de la 

 Graviere before Sebastopol, while Koenig Bey sends 

 me a copy of the Viceroy's reply to the letter from 

 Napoleon III. when sending him the Legion of Hon- 

 our. In this letter the Viceroy speaks very favour- 

 ably of the prospects of our canal ; while another letter 

 from Sefior Baguer y Eibas, Consul- General of Spain 

 at Cairo, informs me that Mr. Wilcox, one of the 

 directors of the P. & 0. Steam Company, has arrived 

 there, accompanied by a Spaniard, Seaor Zulueta, 

 both of whom will, he considers, be inclined to asso- 

 ciate themselves in my work." 



" January 7, 1855. 



" The weather having at last cleared up, we leave 

 Pi-hahiroth for the north of Lake Timsah, which is 



