The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-26 00:00:00

THE SUEZ CANAL.

A piece of rising ground, sloping gently upwards towards
the rear, marks the site of the quarry. It has been opened
up in two places, in each of which a steam crane at intervals
lazily lifts a block of atone into a truck. Scattered about,
in the quays and on the piers, when I visited the place a
couple of days ago, there were some twenty Arab labourers
intermixed with some half dozen Europeans, by whom the
work seems to be carried on in a slow and easy sort of way,
very different from the active and bustling I had been led
to expect.
The quantity of the stone seems to vary much. A large
proportion looks soft and friable, and in many places it
appears to consist of blocks imbedded in sand or gravel.
Some masses of stone were, however, pointed out to me,
presenting the appearance of hard and solid rock. I was
informed that the quarries are expected to yield 100,000
cubic metres ; but I must confess that, had I ventured upon
an estimate of the apparent area and depth, would cer-
tainly have fallen short of ono-fourth or even of one-fifth
that quantity. At all events, I should imagine that no per-
son could visit the place without cw.st-a is, *ho coistausion
mat me quarry will go but a short way towards furnishing
the stone required for the gigantic works spoken of, while
the expense of excavating and carrying it to its destination
must be something very considerable.
The delegates of the Viceroy oharged with winding up
the affairs of the late Miami Pasha have fairly commenced
work, and it may interest some of your readers to know that
what remains of the splendid stud of Il llami's father, the
late Viceroy Abbas Pasha, is about to bo brought to the
hammer. The desire to collect a stud of horses that should
bo unrivalled throughout the whole world was one of
Abbas Pasha's great hobbies, and the challenge he once
sent to the English Jockey Club will doubtless not be unre-
membered. In the fulfilment of his object the question of
expense was never allowed to be of the slightest considera-
tion. Whenever a horse remarkable for pure Arab blood
was heard of a confidential person was forthwith despatched
to the spot, wherever it might be, with carte blanche to pay
any price, but, at all hazards, to secure possession. Thus,
among others, there still exists an Arab, now, however,
pretty well stricken in years, bought for an officer in India,
Colonel Blood I believe, and which is said to have cost the
Pasha £4,000. The horse, lam informed, is now any-
thing but striking to the general eye, but some of his stock
are represented as magnificent animals. During Abbas
Pasha's lifetime the entrance to the stables was guarded
with the utmost jealousy, hardly inferior to that which so
rigorously closes the gates of a Turk's harem ; but, since hi■
death there have been great changes, though, according to
the advertisement of sale, there still remain some 280 full-
bred animals, consisting chiefly of brood mares, a small
number of stallions, and upwards of 100 fillies and colts,
The auction is advertised to commence on the loth of
December.
The decision upon the claim advanced by Il Hami Pasha
for the proprietorship of the Alexandria and Cairo Rail-
way, constructed by his father, was rendered against him,
and the present Viceroy was, of course, one of the young
Prince's most strenuous opponents ; yet, strange t o say, he
has settled upon his own son the ownership of two lines
constructed by his own Government, and leading to the
cotton districts of Lamanoud and Zagazig. The laying
down of a second lino of rails on the embankment of the
Cairo and Alexandria Railway has also been commenced,
and this, it seems, is likewise to be assigned to the Vice-
roy's son as his private property. The thing would really
seem altogether incredible were it not for the still stranger
but positive fact that at this moment, independent trains
are run by the Viceroy's private household upon the old
single line of the Government railway administration, vir-
tually in competition with its regular traffic, and for the

private account and benefit of the Pasha's son. I must

add, however, that certain changes are spoken of as about
to be effected. It is not unliksly, therefore, that the

utter incongruity of the thing will make itself mani-
fest, and that these arrangements will be reversed,
otherwise, as the railway administration, like
every other department of the Government, is subject to the
sole and absolute control of the Viceroy, it is evident that
the entire traffic may, with the utmost ease, be driven away
to these "independent trains."
The thing affords a singular illustration to the remarks I
lately made on the anomalous position of the Egyptian
Viceroys, who, during the period of their government are
invested with unlimited control over the resources and re-
venues of the country, with the sole exception of having to
remit a small annual tribute to the Imperial Government,
while at the same time they have to make provision for
their own family or personal heirs, whose chance of suc-
ceeding to the Government is always more or less remote
This they can only do by refraining from all expenditure
for public purposes and transferring the money to their own
private coffers, or by investing with the name of private
property everything produced under their Government. It
is hard to say which of those courses will produce the least
ruinous effects upon a country which like Egypt depends
for its popularity so entirely upon the due preservation and
extension of its public works—canals for irrigation, embank-
ments, and means of communication.

CAPTAIN LOCII.—A correspondent of the Bir-
mingham Daily Post says :—" Observing an interesting ac.
count in the Post of this date of the career of Mr. Parkes,
lately taken prisoner and given up by the Chinese authori-
ties, and of his connection with this town, it may add to
the gratification of your readers to know that his companion,
Captain Loch, is brother to the steward of the Duke of
Sutherland, residing at Trentham, in Staffordshire."

AN AMERICAN " DODGV—One little literary
Ganymede came rushing past o& carriage with flying hair,
and distributing right and left a number of printed sheets
that he had hanging over his arm, and threw into the lap■
of the passengers. I read the paper, and found that it
contained a number of critical remarks, or rather pane-
gyrics, on a certain well-known author's Travels in Africa,
extracted from various periodicals. Tbey were merely varia-
tions on the ono theme, namely, that no more interesting
employment could be found in the whole world than to
read this gentleman's books all through, and I had scarcely
got through them than the same little flying messenger
appeared again at the opposite door of the carriage, but
moving with rather more difficulty than before. He was
bearing a pile of these African Ti avels, freshly bound and
profusely gilt, and presenting them right and left, as he
had before dono the criticisms; impressing on the passen-
gers at the same time the fact that each of these splendid
volumes cost only half-a-dollar.—Kohl's .Travels in Canada

A letter from Alexandria, dated October 20, says :
When M. de Lesseps first started his scheme for uniting
the waters of the Mediterranean and Red Sea, the subject
we.s received and discussed with intense interest by the
European public in Egypt. The thing had been presented
in a form to strike the imagination; curiosity was felt in
respect to the political views that might be taken of it by
different nations ; and, in addition to these, another cause
operated in the matter. The Russian war had just then
opened out an era of great prosperity to the country. All
descriptions of produce, goods and property, were daily ris-
ing in value, every one was growing rich, and with the in-
flux of money there was springing up a spirit of speculation,
than which none could be better calculated to insure an
eager welcome to this, or, indeed, to any scheme that might
have presented itself. An immense number of shares were
accordingly immediately taken up ; but, alas, before long a
total change had come over the formerly flourishing state of
Egyptian affairs, and, when M. de Lesseps made his first
demand for something more substantial than sympathising
speeches and fine words, his Egyptian friends, one and all,
closely buttoned up their pockets, and, what is more, ac-
companied their refusal with some very hard remarks upon
their being called to pay down their money when, as they
asserted, the most essential conditions under which it had
been subscribed were altogether unfulfilled. M. de Les-
seps, unfortunately, lost his temper, and roundly charged
the Alexandrians with being a set of gambling speculators,
with whom sordid motives of gain outweighed all the
higher and nobler aspirations with which his shareholders
ought to be actuated. This, of course, did not mend mat-
ters, and down to the present day, I believe, no shares
whatever are held in Egypt, always excepting, of course,
that unfortunate moiety of the capital which ill-luck, or
whatever it may be, has fastened upon the broad shoulders
of the Government or Viceroy.
I have been led into this retrospect by the singular con-
trast afforded between the intense eagerness with which the
subject and everything connected with it was at one time
discussed and the cold indifference with which it is now
treated. In fact, it is this state of general unconcern which
I must plead as the chief excuse for my inability to give
you any precise information as to how things are progress-
ing at the so-called Port Said, or at the more inland sta-
tions of the Suez desert. These places are so much out of
the ordinary tracks of communication that, in as far as re-
gards the obtaining of information from independent wit-
nesses, they might as well be in the interior of Tartary or
on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza. It is true a few
French officials of the company, superintendents and others,
come and go at frequent intervals, but these people have
*got into the way of looking upon it as a matter of course
that everything proceeding from these sources must be
taken aim grano salis ; and, in point of fact, such a spoon-
ful of the condiment is added, that its saline flavour over-
powers all else, and the only result produced is a general
impression that a more or less free expenditure of money is
going on, with very little real or tangible effect.
I can, however, speak with more precision of the opera-
tions carried on at the quarries of Meks, which lie close in
the neighbourhood of Alexandria, and whence, we are in-
formed, tke stone is to be procured for building the im-
mense jetties and harbour of Port Said. The road from
town leads to the westward, along the sea shore, towards
the Fort of the Marabout. The coast and approaches to
Alexandria are here strongly defended by lines of batteries
and detached forts, most of which, I believe, are now un-
armed ; and lastly, with a deep ditch and earthworks run-
ning at a right angle from the sea towards Lake Mareotis.
Immediately beyond this is the quarry given by the Vice-
roy to the Suez Canal Company. A stone jetty, with
tramways, has been run out a short way into the sea, and a
little further west another has been commenced. The two,
I am informed, are at their extremities to be deflected to-
wards each other, so as to form an enclosed harbour, within
which it will be possible to load the stone barges in all wea-
thers.

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