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

RAILROAD TO SUEZ. 99
inmates of a slave-ship. They are then packed
into vans provided by the Transit Company, in
which they are jumbled across the Desert, and
generally reach Suez in . the space of twenty-
four hours or so, their baggage, provisions, &;c.
being sent upon camels and asses. At Suez
they are at once embarked in the Red Sea
steamer, et vogue la gaUre ! The passengers
coming from India exactly reverse this line of
march, but they are exposed to greater suffer-
ing and inconvenience ; for, after a long sea-
voyage, with its concomitant miseries, they are
hurried across the Desert without delay, and
such among them as are in too invalid a state
to be able to support the rough vans, are put
into a sort of sedan chair, which is suspended
between two donkeys, and thus they are trotted
across the dreary waste.
Now, could the great desideratum of a rail-
road across the Desert be accomplished, all this
suffering would be obviated, for in less than
three hours the Indian passengers would be
transported, baggage and all, from Cairo to
Suez, and vice versa. In short, the terminus
would be established at Boulac, the port of
Cairo ; and the rail-road would thus run with-
out interruption from the Red Sea to the Nile,