MR. WILTON.  “Emma, I call upon you for the account of the Persian Gulf; but you seem so intent on the book before you, that I feel a little curious to know the subject of your meditations.”

EMMA.  “You shall hear, papa, although perhaps you may laugh at me afterwards.  I was thinking that it seemed rather absurd for people who are constantly voyaging to the East Indies to go such an immense way round Africa, when by cutting a passage through the Isthmus of Suez they could arrive at the desired haven in half the time.  What is the width of the isthmus, papa?  Would such a thing be practicable, or am I very foolish?”

MR. WILTON.  “Not at all, my dear, as I will readily prove.  The width is about seventy-five miles; and there has been a communication between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.  Strabo, the historian, asserts that a canal was built by Sesostris, king of Egypt; and in February, 1799, Napoleon, then General of the French Republic, accompanied by some gentlemen skilled in such matters, proceeded from Cairo to Suez with the view of discovering the vestiges of this ancient canal.  They were successful:  they found traces of it for several leagues, together with portions of the old great wall of Sesostris, which guarded the eastern frontiers of Egypt, and protected the canal from the sands of the desert.  It was a short time since in contemplation to renew this communication by the same means as those used by Sesostris; viz., by forming a canal for the advantage of commerce, &c.; which advantage is well explained by Mr. Edward Clarkson, in an article on Steam Navigation, thus:  ’The distance from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea by the Suez navigable canal would be from eighty to ninety miles.  The time consumed by a steamboat in this transit might be averaged at five hours.  What is the time now consumed in the transit through Egypt by the voyager from England to Bombay? and what is the nature of the transit?  Passengers, packages, and letters, after being landed at Alexandria, are now conveyed by the Mahmoudie Canal forty miles to Atfeh, on the Nile.  This consumes twelve hours, and is performed by a track-boat, attended by numerous inconveniences.  The passengers, goods, and letters are landed at Atfeh; they are there reshipped, and carried by steamboat from Atfeh up the Nile to Boulac, a distance of 120 miles.  This water transit consumes eighteen hours.  At Boulac, which is the port of Cairo, the passengers, goods, and letters are again unshipped, and have a land transit of two miles before they arrive at Cairo.  At that capital a stoppage of twelve hours, which is considered indispensable to travellers, occurs.  A fourth transit then takes place to Suez from Cairo, across the Desert.  This is performed by vans with two and four horses, donkey-chairs (two donkeys carrying a species of litter between them for ladies and children,) and is often attended, owing to the scarcity of good horses, with great inconveniences.  The distance of this land transit is eighty-four miles, and consumes thirty-six hours.  The whole distance by the present line is thus 246 miles; by the projected line it is 80:  the transit by the present line consumes four days; the transit by the proposed line would not consume more than five hours!’.