delights of the hungry Mussulmans, in
devouring the savoury food cooked with the fat of the beasts of burden
which had transported it.[1]

[1] Ebn-A'bdoul-Hokin.

The account of the canal given by the geographer Makrizy, requires to be
transcribed in his own words, from the accurate summary which it
contains of the later history of this great monument of civilization.
"When the Most High," says the writer, "gave Islamism to mankind, and
Amrou-Ben-el-A'ss conquered Egypt by the order of Omar-ben-al-Khatab,
chief of the Faithful, he cleared out the canal in the year of the
mortality. He carried it to the sea of Qolzoum, from which ships sailed
to the Hedjaz, to Yemen, and to India. This canal remained open until
the time when Mohammed-ben-Abdoullah-ben-El-Hossein-ben-Aly-ben-Aby-Thaleb
revolted in the city of the Prophet (Medina) against Abou-dja'far-Abdoullah
ben-Mohammed Al-Manssour, then caliph of Irak. This prince immediately
wrote to his lieutenant in Egypt, ordering him to fill up the canal of
Qolzoum, that it might not serve to transport provisions to Medina. The
order was executed, and all communication was cut off with the sea at
Qolzoum. Since that time, matters have remained in the state we now see
them."[1] As the rebellion of Mohammed Abdoullah against the caliph,
Al Manssour, occurred between the 145th and the 150th years of the
Hegira, (A.D. 762-767,) the canal had remained open for about 125 years
under the Arab government.

[1] See the extracts of Makrizy in the work on Egypt, and in the
_Notice par Langles dans les notices et extraits des Manuscrits de la
Bibliotheque du Roi_, vi. 334.

We have now traced the history of the canal to its close; and we believe
our readers will allow that we have proved, by incontrovertible
evidence, that a continued navigation from the Nile to the Red Sea
existed from the time of Darius (B.C. 500) to the time of Al-Manssour,
(A.D. 765,) with the interruption of a short period preceding the
extinction of the Roman power in the east. It hardly requires any proof
to establish that system of navigation, and a commercial route, which
remained in use for nearly 1300 years, must have been based on the
internal sources of Egypt, and been regarded as absolutely necessary,
under every vicissitude of foreign trade, to the prosperity of the
country. The great object of the canal was to afford a high-road for the
exportation of the produce of Egypt; and its connexion with the Indi