VOTAGE OUT. 9 The applause was deafening even at the very first, and when she finished her song, it was repeated over and over again. One reason for staying so late was the inconvenient hour the postal launch starts down the Canal, viz. midnight, and it was only after a good deal of trouble that, getting the baggage to the wharf, we started with several other passengers, all crowded up in a small saloon. We might have stayed till next day, but were in a hurry to see my husband, for we were much startled by hearing he would have to go to the Soudan almost immediately. What a night we had of it! The seats were narrow; the people were many of them foreigners, who would try and shut out all ventilation; the sides of the cabin were straight up, and so gave no rest to one’s back; and we had to go on all night, not arriving at Ismailia till nearly 7 a.m. At that place there is a rather nice little hotel close to the water, hut by mistake we passed it, and went on to a small French one, where luckily they gave us a decent breakfast, and at 11 a.m. got into the train for our final day’s travel. Before quite leaving off all notice of the great salt-water Canal, I could not help thinking what a splendid instance this was of the late Khedive’s power of will, and how lucky it was for the world he had this will, for without him the Canal could not have been made. It is as well not to look too closely at the history of its construction, nor the lives lost over it, amounting to hundreds of thou-
