THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. g 



College de Sorreze,* and who was very ambitious to be 

 of service to his country. As we went along the banks 

 of the Blue Nile in order to enter the White Nile, 

 we saw long files of dromedaries coming in from all 

 directions, mounted by men of every shade of colour, 

 from chocolate to ebony black, who had hurried 

 to Khartoum from the most remote districts to 

 thank the great prince whose fame had traversed 

 the desert, and who came to bring freedom to the 

 oppressed. 



" In the first bark there were, in addition to Arakel 

 Bey and myself, M. Heuglein, Austrian Consul at 

 Khartoum, and a very learned explorer and naturalist, 

 and Senhor Popotani, Consul-General of Portugal in 

 Egypt, for whom the Viceroy had a great liking. 

 In the second bark were some of our services, the 

 provisions, and the cooking apparatus. "We were 

 becalmed all night at the junction of the two streams. 

 The next morning a brisk wind took us up to about 

 the 15th degree, to the south of Mount Oueli. The 

 White Nile is at this point two or three times as 

 broad as the river is in Egypt or Nubia. Its banks 

 are not steep that is to say, the river is not embedded 

 between two high banks and the ground covered 

 with timber slopes gradually down to the edge of the 

 stream. M. Heuglein tells us that the river, with its 

 numerous islands, was much the same up to the fourth 



::: Note of the Translator. This was the college founded by Pere 

 Lacordaire. 



VOL. II. C 



