THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 29 



after, it would not have happened. Soon after this 

 he pretended that the camel which carried mine was 

 tired out, and when the frisky one which he had put 

 in its place kicked up and broke the handsome ser- 

 vice, a gift of his own, he was delighted. Fortunately, 

 I had in reserve what I call my silver service, made 

 of tin and used by me while surveying for the canal, 

 even when princes do me the honour of accepting my 

 hospitality. To-morrow I am going to rejoin the 

 Viceroy at one of his residences upon the Damietta 

 branch of the Nile. 



" It will be as well to give here the memoir which 

 was read at the meeting of the Academic des Sciences 

 in Paris on April 27th, 1857, by M. Elle de Beau- 

 mont, and which embodied my observations relating 

 to the Soudan. These observations, which I put in 

 the form of a letter, were as follows : 



" Monsieur Le Secretaire Perpetuel, 



"' Having received during my stay in Khartoum 

 last January the questions and instructions of the 

 Academic des Sciences, drawn up for the use of tra- 

 vellers seeking the sources of the White Nile, I com- 

 municated them to the Europeans, who were staying 

 in or passing through Khartoum, and handed a copy 

 to Arakel Bey, the Governor-General of the Sennaar 

 provinces, who, by his education, fine feelings, and real 

 worth, will not fail to exercise over these still 

 barbarous countries a most salutary influence. I 



