The

Khazrá, an eastern continuation of Mareotis. The Rev. Mr. Davis, chaplain at Alexandria, denies that the English here let in the sea and ruined the land. He contends that all that they did was to cut the sweet-water canal connecting the two neighbouring Nile-arms; moreover, that the deepest parts of Mareotis, being below the level of the Mediterranean, were always flooded by percolation. blunders on both sides were more conspicuous than in most battles: we might have avoided severe losses by marching along the lakelet, and by turning the enemy's flank. It is not generally known that Abercrombie, after receiving his death-wound, was carried to the little Mosque of Ramleh. We can hardly expect to find the humble monuments of our gallant countrymen, where the "Soma" of Alexander and the Sanctuary of Saint Mark are forgotten the Evangelist, as is well known, was removed to Venice, neatly packed in a bale or barrel of pork.

The trains passing the abattoirs, where the Pariah dogs are not safe, especially at night and early morning, halts at one of the Palaces which now stud the length and breadth of Lower Egypt. The Court never visits it on account of its being the scene of domestic bereavement. It was burnt down, and, between building and rebuilding, it cost, they say, a million sterling. In 1853 visitors to

Ramleh still pitched tents on the sand-ridge overlooking the cool, soft blue sea; and presently they began to build the broken line of bungalows on the cliffs, which are now threatened with destruction by the waves. The land belonged to no one, but some fourteen tribes of wretched tentdwellers, one-part Bedawin and three-parts Felláhín, smelt piastres and, as is the universal custom of these people, managed to make out a title. They are still employed to act as "Ghafírs," or guards; whilst the Ramosi, the Paggi and other clerks of Saint Nicholas, formerly paid to refrain from robbery, have died out of Bombay. Ramleh has her little wooden station, apparently of Japanese style, her haunted house, her "Folly," and her hotel, the Beauséjour, which has thriven since poor Bulkeley's death; and she still maintains the traditional hospitality for which Alexandria, unlike Cairo, has ever been famous.

The lesson which we learn at Alexandria and repeat at Cairo is, that the more foreigners are employed in Egypt the better for her interests. In 1840, there were 6150; in 1871, 79,696; and in 1877 we may safely lay down the total as over 80,000. The Rev. F. Barham Zincke, in his sensible volume with a corrupted title, pointedly observes that the Nile-Valley, between the days of the Pharaohs and the Khedivs, has never

flourished except where autonomous; such being the logical effect of her peculiarities in position, her formation and population. I will go still further, and assert that to complete Egypt, Syria should be restored to her. Let me hope that she will soon achieve her independence, and express my conviction that when she regains her birthright— Liberty, her progress and development, now arrested only by subjection to Stambúl, will surprise the world. She has outlets for her population, not only in the rich lands of the Isthmus, whose type was and still is "Goshen," and in the Upper Nile region; but also westward throughout Dar-For, Waday, and the Somali Coast about Zayla' and Berbera; and she has occupied Harar, which will speedily become an important station on the Main-trunk-road between the Red Sea and the Lake Regions of Central Africa. A land whose winter climate is delicious, and whose air brings out latent gout, should appeal strongly to the British heart.

The run between Alexandria and Cairo shows a country marvellously like the Surrey plains. Both towns and villages retain signs of the prosperity which was forced upon them in 1820, by the great Mohammed Ali, a Prince whose memory will grow brighter with every generation. At Birket elSa'ab, the station between Tantah north, and Benhá south, I inquired about the Kutn el-Bár

niyeh (hibiscus cotton), there discovered by a Copt about 1873; brought forward in 1877; and likely to affect the market in 1878. The Arab name denotes their theory that it is a hybrid between the cotton shrub and the hibiscus. This is evidently impossible, and yet the experiment of planting them together is being seriously tried. Sometimes the "mallows cotton" is a straight single stem twelve to seventeen feet high, bearing from thirty to sixty, and even to ninety pods. It is planted in March, and uprooted in September, and yielding per feddán,* or small Egyptian acre, eighteen to twenty-eight kantár (cwts.), instead of four to five of El-Ashmúní, hitherto held to be the highest quality. The dry specimen, shown to me by Mr. Vetter, of Zagázig, had four stems; and in the flower and the pod I at once recognized the common arboreous gossypium relligiosum, with the loose black seed, and the fine long-stapled lint of Unyamwezi. The variety has, doubtless, found its way from Central Africa by accident, and possibly before the acute Copt thought of collecting it. At Trieste it was carefully examined by my learned friend, Cav. de Tommasini, who agreed with Dr. de Marchesetû in identifying it as above.

Hitherto the new discovery has proved a failure. *The Feddán, an agrarian and superficial measure, represents 4,200 8333 square métres. The Kantár or Quintal (100 Ratls or 36 Okes) is 44'5458 Kilogs.

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In the specimens sent to me by Mr. Clarke, the cotton in seed from the lower stem was good; and it became worse and worse as it approached the summit, where it was quite spoilt. Growers have tried to prove mistake in season of planting, bad management, unfavourable weather, and so forth; but the excuses are not valid. The tall shrub thrives under the humid skies of Unyamwezi; but in arid Egypt it yields a poor staple, hardly equal to the coloured native growth, although the contrary was asserted. Moreover, the luxuriant growth exhausts the ground, and demands more manure than the Fellah, who is compelled to use cow-dung for fuel, can well afford. The experiment remains of planting it earlier in the season upon the richest soils fertilized by the great Father.

The Lower Nile remarkably confirms the law of rivers, first detected, I believe, by the Russians. The stream is deflected westward by the earth's rotation, modified by its difference at every stage along a meridianal line trending north-south or south-north. The observations made by me upon the Indus are confirmed by the engineers of the old French expedition. They predicted a shrinking of volume in the Delta's eastern arm, and now we note that In "Sind Revisited." But the deflection was made eastwards instead of westwards. For this carelessness I was duly and deservedly rated by the reviewers, who were, however, unduly sceptical upon the subject of the law.