Notices of Egypt. 27 
The place is called Barage, and it is in contemplation to build a 
city there, to be laid out after the European fashion. They will 
acquire immense water power, and intend to erect mills and manu- 
factories of all kinds, and Grand Cairo, will, doubtless, find at the 
Barage, a formidable rival. The whole is now under the superin- 
tendence of Mahmoud Bey, late Governor of the former city, and, 
next to him, of Mon. Lenon the only engineer. ‘The latter is a 
Frenchman, and is self-taught, but a gentleman of great skill and 
acquirements. We found Mahmoud Bey in his rich striped tent, 
and were entertained by him with the greatest hospitality ; bemg serv- 
ed with fruits, confectionary, coffee and tobacco, in pipes set with 
diamonds. He is the wealthiest individual in Cairo, and from his 
appearance, I should think Mon. Lenon would find him an agreea- 
ble coadjutor, although several of the Beys, from jealousy or ignor- 
ance, have tried to throw every obstacle in his way. 
Before dismissing the subject, I will add an interesting fact, com- 
municated by Mon. Lenon, that in their digging here, they have 
found bricks, at the depth of sixty feet from the surface of the 
ground. : 
Canal 0 yf Mahommadie. 
1 
This is another of the great works that shew the expansive mind 
and enterprizing genius of the present sovereign of Egypt. Fif- 
teen years ago, there was a scarcity of grain in Europe, and an abun- 
dance in Egypt; but the shallows at the mouths of the Nile embarras- 
sed the government in its attempts to supply the market. Mahom- 
et Ali then conceived the plan of a canal for the river, to the port 
of Alexandria. He sent his soldiers into the country ; the natives 
were driven down in crowds, and in a few months, more than one 
hundred thousand men were at work, along the course which his 
engineer had selected. ‘hey had not even hoes, except to break the 
hard upper ground ; when they came to the softer parts, it was dug 
out by their fingers, worked into balls, and passed from hand to hand, 
and thus, in the course of two years, a canal was finished, which 
has few to rival it in any country. It is fifty miles in length, about 
six feet in depth and will average about eighty or ninety feet in 
width. ‘The waste of human life was prodigious. No provision 
had been made for the workmen, and between twenty and thirty 
