THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 31 



Don Angelo Vinco, and which is now almost as 

 important as the mother house at Khartoum. 



u ' The mission has lost within the last eight years 

 twelve of its members out of thirty-six. It is at Khar- 

 toum that the climate is the most fatal to foreigners, 

 owing to the prevalence of low fever. In 1839 

 Mehemet AH lost in a week thirteen of the sixty 

 persons who accompanied him, and the Viceroy the 

 other day lost half of his escort of seventy Albanians 

 who were encamped outside the town. They all 

 died in the space of three days, during which the sun 

 had been very hot. 



" ' The outskirts of Khartoum need being drained, 

 as the stagnant water which accumulates in the low 

 ground after rain is the chief cause of mischief to 

 Europeans. The city, founded by Mehemet Ali forty 

 years ago, has now between 35,000 and 40,000 inha- 

 bitants. It is the centre of an important trade, and 

 the very wise arrangements which the Viceroy has 

 just made will certainly add to its salubrity and 

 prosperity. 



" 'M. Heuglein has ascertained it to be 1,060 feet 

 (French) above the level of the sea, and its latitude 

 you know. Khartoum, in Arabic, means elephant's 

 trunk, and the name is derived from the comparison 

 of the two branches of the Nile which meet here 

 being like the two cartilages or snouts at the end of 

 an elephant's trunk. The waters of the two rivers 

 do not mix directly after their junction, those on the 



