Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1851-07-18
From the St. Louis Union.
A Railroad through the African Desert.


Our telegraphic dispatches of Tuesday morning,
containing outline of the news by the Arctic ad-
wise that the yiceroy of Egypt has sanctioned the
project of railroad from Alexandria, by way of
Cairo to the Isthmus of Suez and that the work will
be commenced without delay With the most skill
full European engineers at his command, and able at
any time to summon one hundred thousand Arabs
and Copts to the labor, the energetic and enerpri-
sing Ibrahim Pasha will not allow a long time to
elapse before the whistle of the locomotive will
ken the solitudes of Petra and Mount Sinai,
the marauding Bedoun out of his wits, and render
the Journey from Alexandria to the Holy Land as
easy and rapid the passage from New York to
Buffalo. The traveller will start from the base of
Cleopatras Needle, reach Cairo in six hours refresh
himself at the mammoth depot in the midst of the
waste bowling wilderness" and stand upon the an
cient shores of the Red Sea in two days after leaving
the Delta of the Nile
A railroad through the scene of Israels fight and
Pharaoh's keen pursuit Through regions where
the silence of death has regned ever since, amid
thunderings and loud elemental strife the law was
given from Mount Sna. for the first time in
thousands of years to be disturbed by the clanking
and roar of modern machinery! Here Job drove his
numerous 1Ocks to the great marts OF the South
Over this hallowed ground his contemporary Moses
led the murmurng and mutinous Hebrews to the
land of promise. In this dear solitude, the
hand of cultivated architectural science scooped
magnificent palaces out of the solid rock, and bid
sumptuous mansions and temples and mighty cities
arise at its mandate.
This was the path of the multitudinous hosts of
Amru. the successor of Mahomet, when he led his
fanatica and victorious thousands from Syria to Cal
70 and Alexander, poured his dense dark masses up
on Southern Europe. and aimed to subject the Cross
to the Crescent. These vast and arid deserts, over
which the bald and rocky Sinia frowns in stern
grandeur, long afterwards trembled beneath the
tread of armed millions, whirng like some horrible
tempest through the of Israels trial and pun
ishment. He who from the position of an humble
subaltern, reached the throne of the Bourb0ns, by
series of usurpations the wonderful record
would rival the fame and miracles of the Hebrew
law-giver He eyes the waters that closed over
and engulfed the ehariots and horsemen of Pharaoh
and exhibits the temerity of attempting pass dry
shod through the stormy waters of the Arabian sea
But what this dissertation in comparison with
the painting and coughing of the iron horse within
the view of the spot where the burning bush exhibit
ed its mysterious sign the trembling Noses where
the tables of the law broken into fragments
and over which the pillar of cloud by day. and fire
BY ght, lowered and guided the people of Israel to
the lovely regions of Palestine and the Canantes
The tour of the Holy Land, which, in the days of
the Crusaders, pilgrimage of eminent peril
and accompanied by priva'ion and sutferings little
short of martyrdom. will soon be accomplished by
party from New York st. Louis within the limit
of single season The tomb of Aaron. the site of
Calvary the Mount of Olives, and the shores of the
beautiful of Gallee, will soon be as accessible
| as the Tower of London the Lake of Como are
now and all the scenes of Scripture history become
familiar to the eye, and common places in the mind,
of almost every transatlantic tourist.