THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 219 



the central point of the isthmus, and I can at once see 

 how well advised Linant was in proposing that there 

 should be an inland port here. This basin is sur- 

 rounded by hills, and it forms a magnificent natural 

 port, six times larger than that of Marseilles, and all 

 the more useful because it can easily be placed in 

 communication with the cultivated portions of the 

 land of Goshen and the interior of Egypt, by means 

 of a canal branching off from the Nile. The steamers 

 which cast anchor there will find means of revictual- 

 ling as well." 



" January 8, 1855. 



" We begin to descry to our left Lake Mensaleh, 

 formed partly by a rising of the Nile and partly by 

 the waters of the Mediterranean, the shore of which 

 has several breaks between Damietta and Pelusium. 



"We halt at noon to breakfast in an oasis, the trees 

 of which have a very pleasing effect upon the eye 

 amidst the boundless desert. I counted twenty-three 

 date-trees in this oasis, which the Arabs name Bir-el- 

 Bourj (the Well of the Tower), there being amid the 

 date-trees a well of brackish water, and upon the hill 

 the remains of what might have been a tower. 



" We wait there for the passage of our caravan, and 

 then we wend round the eastern limit of Lake Men- 

 saleh, where we see a quantity of white lines formed 

 by swans, pelicans, and flamingoes. 



" We then reach the foot of a hill on which was 

 built the ancient fortress of Magdol, of which the 



