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

DR. ABBOTT'S MUSEUM. 103
It would appear that Mohammed Ali, alive to
the advantages of this railroad scheme, yet vi-
brating under the influence of the representations
which have been made to him by those inimical
to such an undertaking, and who have persuaded
him that the British Government would not
agree to pay a postage upon the conveyance of
the mails, caused it to be officially signified about
a year ago that he was ready to commence at
once upon the construction of the Desert Rail-
road, provided our Government would make him a
proposal as to a remunerating postage for conveying
the mails th7'0ugh his dominions. This proposition
was duly communicated to Downing Street, but
it has produced no answering result—no postal
arrangement has been entered upon—and there
matters rest,— more 's the pity
!
November 10.
We are to embark this evening, after dinner,
on our voyage for Upper Egypt, and I have been
employing my last morning in viewing Doctor
Abbott's valuable Egyptian Museum, which has
been carefully collected by himself during a resi-
dence of many years in this country (first as
chief medical officer of the Viceroy's Fleet, and
latterly as a private practitioner at Cairo). It