A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

98 RAILROAD TO SUEZ.
unlovely in the eyes of the gay and thought-
less, and is calculated to repel rather than to
attract,) the hardest and most impenitent hearts
must be touched by the beauty of a faith so
full of charity and good works, and be persuad-
ed not only to believe, but to ''go and do like-
"*
wise !
Since I have been here I have had an op-
portunity of hearing the great question of a
railroad across the Desert to Suez much dis-
cussed. It would be presumptuous in me to
venture an opinion of my own as to its prac-
ticahility, but I can bear full testimony to its
being a most desirable object, not only as re-
gards the commercial interests of England, but
in facilitating the progress of the overland tra-
vellers to and fi'om India, and converting that
which is now the most fatiguing part of the
journey into the easiest and most agreeable.
It generally happens that the two mails meet
here, the steamer belonging to the Transit Com-
pany at Alexandria bringing the Indian passen-
gers who have landed there from Southampton,
and depositing them at Cairo, where they are
allowed a very short time to enjoy themselves,
after having been stowed away in the Nile
Steamer for thirty-six hours closer than the