THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 25 



full of interest, and I meet there M. de Malzac, who 

 had arrived the day before from the Upper Nile. He 

 had been secretary to Count de Bayneval, French 

 Ambassador in Borne, and he had abandoned diplo- 

 macy for the adventurous and perilous life of an ele- 

 phant hunter in the Djours' country, between the 6th 

 and 7th degree, ten days march inland, to the west of 

 the "White Nile. His cargo of ivory will bring him 

 in about 1,600. 



IV. 



"Upon the 20th of January the Viceroy orders 

 preparations to be made for a start, and we are to 

 commence the journey in a week, traversing the vast 

 desert of Bayuda, on the left bank of the Nile, as far 

 as Dongola. This desert is much less inhospitable 

 than that of Korosko, and we are to follow at the foot 

 of the lofty mountain chain a series of valleys which 

 are well cultivated, watered, and inhabited. It seems 

 indeed as if this vast tract, described as a ' great 

 desert,' upon the map, is not a desert at all. 



" In the meanwhile we propose to make an excur- 

 sion of two or three days up the Blue Nile, five or 

 six leagues above Khartoum, to visit the ruins of 

 Sheba, an ancient city of Ethiopia, perhaps the capital 

 of the famous queen whom Solomon wished to have as 

 his 301st wife. 



" I advise the Yiceroy to send for horsemen from a 

 tribe in the province which, as I had been told, had 

 armour and equipments for their horses similar to that 



VOL. II. D 



