44 RECOLLECTIONS Of FORTY YEARS. 



they apply. I only refer to the more or less scien- 

 tific consequences. It is clear that the centre of 

 Africa, hitherto almost inaccessible, will be much less 

 so in future. The starting point will be Khartoum, 

 placed beneath a Christian governor at the sixteenth 

 degree, instead of Alexandria or Cairo, and it may be 

 taken for granted that in a near future great explories 

 will be made and great discoveries will be the infallible 

 consequence. The researches, rendered more easy, will 

 bear more fruit. Commerce will gain not less than 

 science, and everything will be ready for a vast de- 

 velopment of these fertile countries when the opening 

 of the Suez Canal brings the coasting vessels of the 

 Mediterranean into the Eed Sea, and especially along 

 the east coast of Africa. In these various ways the 

 ordinances issued by Mohammed Said at Khartoum on 

 the 26th of January open safer and more speedy roads 

 to science, while they at the same time mark a decisive 

 era in the amelioration of those lands.' ' 



" RESIDENCE OF THE VICEROY AT MIT-BIRE, 

 " (DAMIETTA BRANCH), 



" March 1, 1857. 



" His Highness was awaiting me at Mit-Bire, 

 where we at once set to work giving orders for the 

 continuance of the preparatory investigations and 

 surveys. During our absence all the orders had been 

 duly carried out, and as the master was absent no 

 one dared say a word. Captain Pheligret, employed 



