238 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



which had been purchased by the Canal Company, 

 and upon the 25,000 acres of which ten thousand 

 Arabs were already employed. 



My intention was to obtain Abd-el-Kader's consent 

 to superintend the cultivation of the 150,000 acres 

 which had been conceded to us to the west of the 

 Canal, from Lake Timsah to Suez, and through which 

 we had already cut a sweet-water canal. But the 

 policy which had in vain endeavoured to prevent the 

 execution of the maritime canal still continued to 

 stimulate the suspicions of the Viceroy of Egypt, who 

 begged me to abandon my scheme, which I did with 

 the concurrence of Abd-el-Kader, whose behaviour 

 was, as usual, very loyal and disinterested. 



When Commander Eoudaire was charged by the 

 Trench Government with the mission of completing 

 his researches as to the possibility of making an in- 

 land African sea, Abd-el-Kader, as I have already 

 mentioned, sent a circular to the Arab chiefs, enjoin- 

 ing them to assist him. And when I recently under- 

 took a voyage of discovery to the same region, the 

 Emir sent me a fresh message, which may be regarded 

 as a noble testament on his part, for he intended it 

 to help to pacify our African possessions, and to attach 

 to us by links of kindness the three million Mussul- 

 mans who are subject to our laws. 



"Praise to the only God ! 



" Abd-el-Kader ben Mahiddin, to all the Arab 



