Isthmus of Suez Canal. Report on the state of the works in a letter to the Chamber of Commerce of Malta

Abstract

To the Vice President and Members of the Chambers of Commerce Malta.

Gentlemen,

In conformity with your wishes, that I should, as your representative, attend the meeting of Commercial Delegates, invited by the President of the Suez Canal Company to inspect the works, now in progress, in the Isthmus of Suez, I proceeded to Alexandria in the early part of last month, and had the honor of being received by Mr. Ferdinand de Lesseps on the 5th April.

I learnt from him that about eighty delegates, of all nations, had already assembled in Egypt, and that our departure for the Isthmus was fixed for the 7th April.

We accordingly took the rail for Cairo on the morning of that day, accompanied by Mr. de Lesseps, Count Sala, Dr. Aubert Roche, and other leading officers of the Company. We spent the following day at Cairo, and on the morning of the 9th proceeded, again by rail, to Zagazig, a populous town in the Delta, not far from the site of the ancient Bubastis. [Excerpt]