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made, to convey the irrigating stream into the Delta. The two principal bridges will be about five miles apart, the whole of which distance must be banked, to resist the constant pressure of this immense head of water. Should this work ever be brought to a happy conclusion-which, without professing a knowledge of hydromancy, I will venture to predict it will not the consequences inevitably must be, that the whole system of canals, dykes, and sluices of the Delta, will have to undergo an alteration, and its inhabitants will be constantly exposed to the risk of being themselves, and (what will then be of minor importance), having their cattle, fields, date groves, and habitations, swept away; either by the river's forcing the dam, or by its making itself another channel.

In a commercial point of view, this barrage of the Nile is objectionable, by presenting a fresh impediment to the navigation of the stream between Cairo and the sea-ports; on military grounds, by affording terrible facilities to an enemy for laying waste the

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country. The first of these objections it is proposed to remove-as far as the trade with Alexandria is affected- by making a canal along the left bank of the Rosetta branch of the river, to communicate between the reservoir, and the existing Mahmoudieh Canal.

The schemes for railroads (for any present use they will be of) are yet more absurd than this great experiment in hydraulics. That which is about to be laid down between Cairo and Suez may hereafter be a profitable concern, but at this moment it occasions a useless outlay of money, that might be much more beneficially employed.

To Egypt, this rail communication offers no advantages at all likely to compensate for the immense expense incurred in its construction; for the trade between Egypt and Arabia is very trifling, and, whilst the scheme of steaming on the Euphrates occupies the attention of the British government, our intercourse with India by this much shorter route is neglected, which may eventually cause

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Mohammed Ali to abandon his expensive enterprise.

He has already (most wisely) given up the projected line of railroad from Cairo across the desert to Alexandria, and indeed the only railway that has yet been completed in this country is one from the quarries of the Mokattan Hill to Boulak, a distance of but a few miles. This has been laid down at the urgent request of the "Père enfantin," to facilitate the transport of building stone for the completion of his benign undertaking of deluging the Delta.

In conclusion, I may say of the government of Egypt, that it is efficient without being tyrannical, which is sufficiently proved by the small amount of crime, Murders and highway robberies are unheard of, and more thefts are committed amongst the Frank population of Alexandria, than in the whole of the rest of the country.

The local authorities experience but little difficulty in enforcing obedience to the laws; but when, as sometimes will happen, a contu

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macious resistance to the conscription manifests itself, the troops are called upon to aid in bringing the refractory Fellahs to order. This is generally effected without bloodshed, and without exposing the soldiers to a shower of abuse and brickbats, until some aged Sheik has been found, who can and will read a riot firman. Neither is the Bim bashee, or other officer in command, deterred from, or delayed in, doing his duty when called upon, by having to consider how the Cadee General's opinion bears upon the case, and whether he may not be bastinadoed for doing what he is taught to consider the first duty of a Mussulman-obeying his orders.

That a despotism is the only form of government suited to Egypt in its present condition is very evident, and fortunate is the country (since it must have a Mohammedan ruler) in having such a despot as Mohammed Ali to govern it.

Of the difficulties he has had to contend against, few except those who have visited Egypt can form an idea; but they are in part

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so accurately described by Machiavelli in Il Principe, that I cannot refrain from quoting the passage.

"E debbesi considerare come non é cosa più difficile à trattare nè più dubbia á riuscire, nè più "pericolosa á maneggiare, che farsi Capo ad introdurre nuovi ordini. Perchè l'introduttore ha per nemici tutti coloro che degli ordini vecchi fanno bene; e tepidi defensori tutti quelli che degli ordini nuovi farebbono bene: la qual tepidezza nasce parte per paura degli avversari, che hanno le leggi in beneficio loro, parte della incredulità degli uomini, i quali non credeno in verità una cosa nuova, sennon ne veggono nata esperienza ferma.”