Wednesday, April 25th.—­At last the gale has broken.  There was not much wind when I went on deck at 4 a.m., and by seven o’clock it was so nearly calm, that the funnel could be raised and fires lighted, and we were soon steaming straight for our destination.  We could not see Mount Sinai on account of the mist, but made out the place where the Israelites are said to have crossed the Red Sea, and by four o’clock the town of Suez lay right ahead.  The shores are very barren, not a blade of grass nor a scrap of vegetation being visible.  Nothing is to be seen save mountain peaks, rocks, stones, and sand.  But even this barren scene has a special beauty of its own, particularly at sunrise and sunset.  The shapes of mountain and rock are alike striking, the sharp shadows are lovely, and the contrast of reds, yellows, and browns, with the bright blue sea and crisp white waves, is very beautiful.  Even when the sun has set, and the rich tints have faded away, the full moon adds another charm to the landscape.

This afternoon, as we were steaming up towards Suez, I had a chat with Mahomet, one of our Indian firemen, who was fringing a piece of muslin for a turban.  I asked him if it was English.  ’No, Missy; no English—­Switzerland; English no good; all gum and sticky stuff; make fingers dirty; all wash out; leave nothing.’  In the South Sea and Sandwich Islands, and in the Malay Peninsula, the natives make the same complaints as to the Manchester cottons.  At Hongkong some of the large shops had fifty expensive English ships’ compasses on hand; they were all quite unsaleable owing to the liquid having gone bad, in consequence of its not having been properly prepared.  Some American compasses of the same quality were in good order and not in the least affected by the climate.  It will be a bad day when the confidence in England’s honesty as a nation throughout the world, and consequently her well-earned supremacy in commerce, have passed away.  The burden, unfortunately, will not fall on the heads of the offenders alone, but, as usual, the innocent will suffer with and for the guilty.

After four o’clock we came near two steamers lying at anchor, and were shortly afterwards boarded by the captain of the port, the health officer, and sundry other functionaries.  After a short delay we dropped anchor, and just as the sun was setting in ‘purple and gold’ behind the mountains of Arabia, we went ashore in the steam launch.  We landed at the Canal Company’s Office, in front of which there is a bust of Lieutenant Waghorn, the inaugurator of the overland route.

At the office, the ‘Sunbeam’ was entered on the Company’s books, and arrangements were made with the chief pilot for to-morrow, while the children amused themselves by riding a pony up and down, and jumping over the little brooks, and I strolled about admiring the enormous growth of the vegetation since we were here last in 1869.  We next steamed five miles further on to the town of Suez, and landed opposite the big hotel, which is more uncomfortable than ever.  The rooms are dirty, and the cooking execrable.