The New York Herald Newspaper, June 2, 1873, Page 3

SUDAN RAILITAY. Modern Times. The Viceroy of Egypt’s Proposed Rail- road to the Equatorial Regions. Elaborate Report of the Great English Engineer, Mr. John Fowler: From the Second Cataract of the Nile, Along the Bank, Across the River, Traversing Deserts and Terminating at Shendy, Ships and Steamers To Be Hauled Two Miles Overland. A Road 889 Kilometres Long, with 66 Engines and 1,100 Cars. THE BRIDGE ACROSS THE ILE. An Enterprise Costing Twenty Million Dollars To Be Com- pleted in Three Years. The Earthworks, Permanent Way, Viaduct, Arches, Telegraph Lines, Stations, Roll- ing Stock and Engineering, A Journey of Sixty Days Re- duced to Fifteen. NOVEL FEATURES OF THE ENTERPRISE, The Vast Wealth that Will Ac- crue to Egypt. THE FUTURE EMPIRE OF KING COTTON. An Exhaustive View of the Re- sources of the Soudan. Traits of the Native Pop- , ulation. A NEW ROUTE TO _ INDIA. This Mrouxass tux Vicrwoy—Vouons! What is there tn Northern Airica to justify the building of these 675 mules of railway? All the ts of India can be crown there and worked there, The calturable land 8 millions upon millions of acres: the soil is virgin, and once a ratl- way, pames thrwerh Stand tho intetior commerce must up; peoples new remote and unfriendly to exch Ciher will be bound in amity aad mutual me rest by the Fail; a general contact and dispersion will enste ; money and’ material prosperity will arrive, and then (said His Highness, with ‘a glow of plenstire aud a burst of elo. quence)—then ehold my corner of Africa! A railway Will conmect the Nile with the Red Sea, The same in- Huences which have brought prosperity to the doors of the humblest fellah in Lower Egypt to-day will invade the Soudan with the locomotive, and the races you have en years Yshall seen in ‘savagery and poverty will, Decome a thritty, united community. Build the road coute que coute. 1 ouly and then the operations shall begin. Hyman ‘Correspondant with the Viceroy of Egypt, August 18, “Tam gratified,” said he, “that you have come among The world hins forgotien Af and the name of the Soudan is not known beyc e fertility isdisbelieved. You ha purself what there is, and you can write to your great journal what ‘our futtire must be. Ho vou see that splendid soil (point- ing to the plain stretching back to the interior)? We je more than 20,000,000 of weres of such I shall ave Ni soil. machines (cotton Egy ew years amouniing to $25,000,000, eloped to ity tullest extent, thoroughly terigated, witha ‘Administration, is capable of producing 40,0000 i les of colton of the American size.” HxKauy correspondent with the Goreraor General of the Soudan, at the trelith degree of north latiturte, : ‘Las hommes et les affaires ont leur point de per ena qu'il fant voir de pris pour en bien juger, on ne juge jamais si bien que quand on’ est ctoign Foucavin. The Viceroy of Egypt has fulfilled his promise— the long projected railway to the Soudan is about to be undertaken. This magnificent enterprise, preceded by telegraphic lines which now reach almest to the heart of the African Continent, is a project which has few parailelsin history. It is put another example of the lofty purposes of the illustrious Ismail Pacha, who has linked the Red Sea to the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal; who has lined the shores of the Nile with vast sugar plan- tations and refineries; who has made a garden spot ef 5,000,000 of acres of desert soil in the Delta provinces; who has rendered Alexandria a second Venice in the dynasty of Eastern cities, and who has changed the squalid and filthy character ef Cairo to the dignity and elegance of a European sapital. It requires lit@e introduction to this vast scheme in order to impress upon the reader that, succeed- ing Sir Samuel Baker's expedition to the Equator, Ut is the first practical attempt to develop the isolated but productive regions of the African tropics. In our day there is no use of discussing the opening and civilization of new and barbarous countries without laying down the desiderata— telegraphs and railroads. ‘avan progress has long been the bane of the East, but the present Viceroy has been the first to put his foot down and say, jutres dont —Rocim- "or MUST HAVE, I WILL HAVE RATLROADS,"? Physical obstacles alone nave long prevented him from laying the rail to the accepted sources of the Nile, and these obstacles have been of a nature and an extent that few can appreciate who are fot familiar with the Valley of the Nile from the ea to Khartoum, the capital of the Soudan. The general character of Africa's surface renders any scheme of engineering not only very expensive but algo dimcult to accomplish. IMPEDIMENTS. Speaking at large, the continuous flow of water in the river is impeded by rocks and cataracts, ‘and the immediate country surrounding these ob- structions will not always permit the construction of ship canals; the deserts are vast and mountatn- ous; the arable land is higher than the level of the Nile; fuel is scarce for steam engines and river navigation ; skilled labor can omly be obtained by ‘importation; there are no native instruments or engineers; and every etfort made with the popula- tion is one addressed to people who care as little for progress as they do for missionaries. Hence every attempt made by the far-seeing Viceroy to push his dominion fartuer inte Central Africa has * been accompanied by all the evil results which these numerous drawbacks necessarily engender. Mf his purpose had peen a railroad tothe city of Mexico or to the Pacific, as from New York, to him it would be as easy a problem as for ourselves. But his subjects differ from Americans, in that tney are hampered by a religion opposed to a general commingling of the peoples, and teaching a@ leisure and anindolence sadly at variance with our ideas of industry and thrift. ‘With us an idea has ruled, and that idea—pro- One of the Greatest Surveys of NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY JUNE 2, 1873—TRIPLE SHEET. THE LOWER NILE the Viceroy. Take away the whole generation now existing and prevailing in America, and material Progress would march on unfettered; but let the Viceroy die ana the high order of improvement that he has inaugurated would relapse. It is to him, therefore, tnat those interested in the fate of that continent must look for @ revival of the an- cient glory and prestige of Egypt. IN ALL HIS ENTERPRISES the Viceroy has constantly sought the co-operation of European skill. No traveller of note who haa ever visited his domain has been permitted to de- part without having been invited to give his views as to the best means to modernize and elevate Egypt. Mechanics, engineers, soldiers, writers and statesmen have laid before His High- ness their impressions and eXaminations, and where he has found them in the least degree practicable they have been reduced to writing and preserved in the archives of the Ministry. It has been his constant habit to demand accurate infor- Mation; to listen to new ideas and once, in posses- sion of these, to place them in the hands of thor- ough and competent engineers for surveys and re- ports. In this way he has availed himself of the finest talents and the ripe judgment of the respon- sible and experienced travellers who go to Egypt for serious purposes, The tourist who lands at Alexandria, prepared to do the journey up the Nile, is not the average individual found running around the capitals of Europe. The trip is too expensive and surrounded by too many impediments. Hence, when it is decided to go to Egypt, a purpose other than that of ordinary sight-seeing is generally in view. Thus for years the Viceroy has been receiving and digesting the ideas of the best minds of the world, so that he hag become thor- oughly informed upon the abundant resources and the necessary improvements required to develop them. After bringing 3,000,000 of acres of cotton and sugar lands to the highest degree of cultivation in the Delta provinces, where he and Said Pacha have constructed more than eight hundred miles of rail- way; alter intersecting this beautiful territory with navigable and irrigating canals; in fine, after having provided the entire population with the means of a generous subsistence, he now turns to the Soudan, more than a thousand miles in latitude from his capital, and resolves to connect that iso- lated population, variously estimated at trom 7,000,000 to 25,000,000 (if the White Nile be include) , with Cairo by means of the rail. It is in itsell a matter of seme surprise that the Viceroy has been enabled to govern that Central African territory as well as he has governed it since he ascended the Viceregal throne. From the capital ot Lower Egypt to the capital of the Soudan it is a journey of two months, The Soudan, in addition, has been a penal colony, and the retreat of the worst class of irresponsible Levantines, guilty of all classes of crime. His gov- ernors and officials have robbed him of his right- eous revenues; the Arab tribes have been the victims of oppression and corruption, and all the provinces have suffered from misrule of the most baneful character. AS General Grant wisely re- marked in his last inaugural address, the aston- ishing facilities for mtercommunication and travel have rendered government comparatively easy throughout the world. It is because the Viceroy wishes to control the Soudan trom Cairo and place the inhabitants under his immediate protection that he is determined to build this railway, cOute qui coute, MB, JOHN FOWLER, THR CONSULTING ENGIVEER. Mr, John Fowler, who was invited by His High- ness to prepare complete surveys of a railway to the Soudan, is one of the most eminent members of his profession, It is generally conceded that he isin no sense an enthusiast, but bases ail his reports and recommendations on accurate scientific knowledge alone, To be called by the Viceroy of Egypt to undertake the solution of problems which might well render the most eminent authority diMdent is in itself a high honor. Mr. Fowler has not hastily given an opinion, but, after visiting the Nile coun- tries himself and alter employing an able eorps of assistants, he has collected all the information submitted to him and has prepared an exhaustive report, whieh has undoubtediy met the Viceroy’s fullest approval. Tt shenid be borne in mind that many engineers have sought means or rendering the Nile navigable by blasting the cataracts and by snip canais, but that no one has yet prosecuted the severe inquiry | which Mr. Fowler has so happily completed. It is Mr. Fowler's report which has suggested the pres- | ent article. ; GENERAL FEATURES OF MR. JOHN POWLER’S REPORT. After a brief introduction, describing the circum- stances under which he undertook the survey, Mr. Fowler proceeds to recommend— First—A railway from Wady ae to Shendy, 889 kilometres long. Second—A ship incline at the First Cataract, Third—A bridge across the Nile, Fourth—The avoidance of all construction in- volving tunneis and ferries, Fifth—‘he construction of the entire railway in three years. Sizth—The estimate of the cost is $20,000,000. Accompanying the report is the map showing the construction already completed, including that which is necessary to make the communication complete between Cairo and Khartoum. The rail- way is already in operation for twenty miles above Roda, making a continuons line of more than five hundred kilometres from the Mediterranean due southward, Between Roda and the First Cataract it is proposed, for the time being, to continue to move all products, merchandise and passengers, by the Nile to the First Cataract, which is about nine hundred miles distant from the Mediterranean when following all the tortuous windings of the river. At the First Cataract vessels are to be hauled overland, up a ship incline, a distance of three miles, and again launcned in the placid waters above the rapids. Thence they will pursue their voyage to the Second Cataract, at Wady Halla, when further navigation is impossible because of the obstructions in the river, Then the Soudan Railway begins, and, following the great bend of the Nile, it crosses the proposed bridge at Kohd, and, keeping along the river bank, diverges at Dabbe into the Bahiuda Desert, which it traverses, terminating opposite Shendy, NATURAL ATTRACTIONS ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE PROPOSED RAILWAY. necessary to give a detailed descrip- tion of the wonderfif attractions before reaching the First Cataract. They are almost exhaustless, Temples of the grandest proportions; obelisks bearing inscriptions recounting the history of ancient Egypt; tombs and mausoleums containing the remains of kings and warriors of the remotest periods; sugar plantations, and the still interesting and vivactous Gahwazee, Who make so much scandal for travellers’ books, are among the bright pictures of the gloomy river banks. The trip over the cataract, when your “dahabeah” is hauled through dangerous rocks and made to navigate perilous rapids, is a scene no one forgets who has paid the necessary tariff of $60 and submitted It is hard to the native yells for “vackshich.” From tne First Cataract, through Nubia to Wady Halfa,. is the last section of the Nile travel ever performed by the tourist. He who goes beyond must pierce the not lands of the Nubian ert and prepare for a long camel journey to Berber, distant 425 miles. From Wady Malta or the Second Cataract, then, the railway will commence and push southward along the bank of the river. We will accompany Mr, Fowler in the route he has surveyed, supposing we have bought our ticket to Knartoom, and will take'a brief business trip to the Equatorial regions, Starting from Wady Halfa, we reach, in a few minutes the foot of the Second Cataract, and after winding among the rocks slong the river bank we arrive in half an hour at the station near Sarrus, Leaving this point behind us we enter the it Desert, and for another half hour pm a tortuous and undulating course between rugged mountains rising prectpitately on all sides, and across wila gorges, through which tropical flood waters occa- sionally rush with violence; then “emerging from the desert, we arrive at the station near Ambigole. Following the river bank, @ number of large, iso- lated rocks, like pyramids, rise ahead of us, and we make a@ second run across the desert, where we have occasional glimpaes of the Nile; and alter pass- ing the station at Akasha we go up fora third time the rocky ridges of the desert. Here the mountains are loftier than hitherto, one on the Map Showing the Projected Line of Railroad and Other Improvements. _Longitude E. from Greenwich. premmrmney ~ » \xKo Cobbe 4 R Secona catarac Semneh Hannel 14 y ad Sea PLuxgr a 1 i) (PASSOUAN INCLINE Qe vet Cataract Der $¥ Korosko © WADY HALFA > N RT Aboo Hammes i) B. N oD es SS <A ol DabbeN wa ep WROE f boo Kharraz' As me i) Lake Denbea bee —_ rounded sides and projecting sandstone cap. Once more on the river’s bank, we keep near the villages and patches of cultivated Tand, and speeding by the station at Ammora, we cross the Nile bridge at Koha, some four hours after the time of our start from Wady Halfa. Leaving Kohé and the Nile, we pass for an hour across undulating ravines and sandy plains of the aesert, again reach- ing the Nile near the caravan station at Fakir Ben- der. Passing near the river's bank through culti- vated districts we reach the capital of the province, Dangolo. Our route now lies along the bank of the Nile, across sandy plains studded with mimosa clumps, to Handak, and thence onward to Dabhe. We have arrived at the termini of the caravan routes from Kordofan and Darfur. Another hour's ride across an alluvial district, thickly covered with Halfa grass and shrubs, and we pass Ambukol. Leaving the Valley of the Nile and crossing the Great Bahiuda Desert, we drive forward during five hours to our fimai destination, Shenay. We meet nobody, and we want nothing, not even a drink for the panting locomotive. We pass all varieties of desert vegetation running along the southern bank of a long valley, After traversing plains which, during the rainy season, resemble lakes, we may encounter lofty columns of fine sand, which are always harmless, Thus we arrive at Shendy, the southern terminus of the railway, and a Soudan city, now famous for the crueities of Mek Ninner, What more delightful ride could we wish than this, through wild and desolate regions, sometimes passing the ruins of Roman civilization, sometimes encouatering the warlike Bedouin on his swilt hijeen ? GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE LIN Mr. Fowler has spent much time in elaborating the detatls of the enterprise, and in the gauge and general character of the work he speaks with accu- racy. The exact width of the narrow gauge which has been adopted in India for future railway ex- vensions is three feet three and one-quarter inches. On the vast level plains and valleys where the nar- row gauge extensions will be chiefly made, the gradients will be extremely good, and therefore light engines and rails may be employed. On the Soudan Railway, where gradients of one in fifty must be adopted to economize the cost of construc- tion, great advantage is found in the few inches of additional width of gaage between three feet one aud three-quarter inches and three feet six inches. The Norwegian railways, which have been worked for some years with great economy and success, have a gauge of three feet six inches. It is proposed however, to use a heavier rail than has been adopted either in Norway or India, 80 a8 to procure greater strength and enable mere powerful engines to be employed. The dimensiens and weights are as follows:—Gauge, 3 feet 6 inches; iron rails weighing fifty pounds per yard, with iron sleepers and fasteniag of proper propertion; max- imum inclination of gradients, one in filty; maxt- mum radius of curves, 500 feet. It 18 proposed to have no rock cuttings and the excavations will be inconsiderable, Mr. Fowler believes that the entire constraction can be done by the Egyptians, The line is divided into four parts, thus:— Kilometres, 27 Part I—Wady Halfa to Kohe Part 2—River crossing. Part 3—Kohw to Ambuk: Part 4—Ambukol to Shen Tota ‘The railway involves no difficult engineering work of any nature. It is always kept near to the Nile, passing through villages and cultivable terri- tory, in order to make it available for way travel and transportation. By this means it is hoped the desert Bedouins may be induced to hive on the banks of the Nile and build up handsome and popu- lous cities. In all cases the engineers have avoided mountains and depressions, THE NOVEL SHIP INCLINE AT THE FIRST CATARACT, The great engineering feature of the Soudan Ratiway is the plan by which Mr. Fowler proposes to move the shipping around the First Cataract without @ ship canal or channel. It will be in- teresting to know what our American river en- gress, With Kgypt o man has ruled. agd that man } opposite bank of the hill being remarkable for ite | gineerg have $9 say concprming lus novel expedient, Mr. bowler describes his plan as follows:—I propose to use the me- chanical power of the descending water of the cataract to draw the boats along a ship incline overland, between the top and the bot- tom of the cataract. To accomplish this upon the right bank of the river there will be constructed a ship railway about three kilometres south of Assou- an, and terminating at the top of the cataract in the harbor of Shellal, north of the islands of Biggin and Phil. The boats to be transferred from one end of the cataract to the other will be floated upon & suitable carriage or cradle, constructed to run upon the railway, and will be hauled overboard by powerful hydraniic engines of about four hun- dred horse power, placed near the centre of the railway, These engines will be safe and manage- able, not liable to derangement, and of a class already largely empleyed by myseif and others with success for drawing loaded wagons at a low rate of speed upon railways. The water to work the engines will be ‘pumped up at a high preasure by a pair of large stream wheels, carried upon pontoons and driven by one of the smaller rapids at the lower end of the cataract. A convenient site will be found near Shayl for the erection of workshops, wharves and other conveniences, The total length to be traversed by the boats overland will be 3,687 yards, or about two miles, and the speed will vary from four to eight miles an hour, according to the weight of the boat, Tne machinery will be sum- ciently powerful to haul steamers as well as loaded boats over the incline. The cost of the ship incline, machinery, workshops, wharves and all expenses required to complete the work ready for trafic will be $1,000,000, and Iam of the opinien that the entire work may be completedin one and a half years from the time of itscommencement, The em- cieney and convenience of this proposed ship in- cline for the object contemplated are indisputable, and its cost in comparison with its advantages small, It should, if possibie, precede the Soudan Railway, 80 as to give increased facilities for gen- 1 intercommunication and fer the transport of men and material. Mr. Fowler's plan is certainly a bold one, and it is worthy of study as applicable to our own Ameri- can rivers. A BRIDGE ACROSS THE NILE. During the survey it was observed by the engi- neers that at Kohe an irregular ridge of rocks extends @ considerable distance across the Nile, with a deep Water channel near the centre, afford- ing considerable facilities fur the erection of a bridge. A chart of the river was therefore pre- pared, and these with ether particulars were sent to Mr. Fowler, then at Assouan, and decided that there was the proper point to cross the Nile to the left bank, Sw@bsequent surveys have also been made in order to determine if a steam ferry would not be more practieable, but the original plan was found to be the best and least expensive. The erection of a bridge has, therefore, been decided upon, and in those deserted regions, whe an engineer has done no work for 2,000 years, it will, indeed, be a curious spectacle to find the mighty river spanned by @ Work planned by the most eminent of Eng- land's engineers, Ambukol, where the river’s bank is unchangeable, and where tue ancients have left remains of a pier of masonry, isthe point of di- vergence across the Bohiuda Desert. An excel- lent harbor exists at this point. Inall the terri- tory contiguous to the Bohiuda Desert there are rains left by the ancient Ethiopian Empire. Too remote for travelling archeologists and too unwholesome for scholars like Mr. George Smith, rich qualities of historical lere lie buried in stal- low grfves throughout this territory soon to be included within the zone of civilization. ESTIMATE OF TIE CosT. The estimates for the censtruction of this railway have been very earefully elaborated, They include outlays for the purchase of material in Engiand, its carriage to Alexandria and unloading there, freight from Alexandria to Cairo by sail and carnage by river to Wady Halfa; for the Nile bridge at Kohé, Jor Wiaducts. arches aud culverts, for a new tgle- SAN ni ¥ Me) jeMECCA Yo S17 N- pe A sQONDAR | Fisk A MUSSELLNY, | ean line, fer stations and wor! Biopk: tdolndiny water stations in the desert and for rolling stook, prising sixty-six engines and 1,100 carriages. Every incidental expense is included, not except- ing the item of engineering and superintendence, which comprises draughting and preparations oj all necessary designs. The general summary of the estimate is in the following figares:— Per Mile, $2,019 Earthwork ... Ferimanent way Total expense.. In the “cutting to bank" there is but 29,000 cubic metres of hard sandstone, schist and basaits, and 23,000 cubic metres of trap granite rock, of por- phyritic or metamorphic types, and quartz; and in “cutting to spoil,’’ 23,000 cubic metres ef hara sandstone sehist and basalts, and 18,000 cubic metres of trap granite rock, of porphyritic and metamorphic types, and quartz, RESOURCES OF THE SOUDAN. Mr. Fowler naturally shrinks from attempting to give, in accurate figures, the resources of the Sou- dan, As he asserts himself, they are practically without limit, The chief traMe which may be ex- pected northward, however, after the estadlish- ment of the railway will be in grain, sugar, cotton, gum, senna, dates, ebony, skius, aromatic woods, potash, gold, ivory, ostrich feathers, animals, mats and negro laborers; and the trafic to the Equate- rial regions will be in cotton goods, machinery, cutiery, tools, tobacco, furniture, cotfee, rice, earth enware, beads and fire arms. Figures prepared under the eye of the Governor General at Khartoum, and in our possession, give the actual resources now available in the Soudan. Tiiey are as us ‘Two productive States, each larger than Two hundred millions of acres of cotton, and grain lands. A semi-civilized population of 6,000,000 souls A semi-civilized population variedly estim: from twelve to thirty million sou Aclimate unequalled during eight months of the year. Blasting the cataracts already begun. A telegraph line to Cairo in work™g order, One million five hundred thousand camels, Six millions of beeves dnd sheep withsut aum- ber. Ten steamers, Four bundred barks, A navy yard at Arbah Island, rth latitude, Six thousand soldiers, Infantry; All the trades and industries represented by eign mechanics, The port of § sugar twelfth degree for- akin and camel routes delivering by the Nile and Red Sea. Two million acres already under aurrah, corn and melons, 5 N cultivation by &e, THE SOUDAN EGY? Mr. Fowler says Assuming the working ex- penses of the Soudan Railway to be sixty per cent of the gross receipts (which is seven per cent higher than the average working expenses of all the Indian ratiways) it can scarcely be doubted that the traffic from the local and through sources enumerated wil) yield a satisfactory return upon the small cost of the proposed railway. Under any circumstanses @ large increase to the national wealth of Egypt must necessarily follow such an opening up of its undeveloped resources, One of the national benefits which will be conferred by this great work will be the facility of transport- ing, under proper regulations, the surplus labor from Equatorial Africa to the cultivated districts of Egypt. * * * In conclusion, I think it my duty to state how well the orders of His Highness the Khedive were carried out, in the assistance which was always afforded to my surveyors by COMMER: LOWER BETW AND eVery official between Cairo and Khartoum. * * Not @ single quarrel! or unpleasantness or accident occurred throughout the whole period of conduct- ing this great survey. Ab presemt trade ig thg Sogdan laborg under Many embarrassments. The province of which Khartoom is the capital has been made to pay the expenses of Sir Samuel Baker's expedition. Hence there is not now over $2,000,000 in coin in the en- tire region, while the proprictorial value is esti- mated at $50,000,000, But labor is abundant, and the annual yield of ivory and gum esontinues un- diminished. CONCLUSION, Egypt is the strongest power in Africa. In fact, it is the only one possessed of geographical post- tion, vast extent of interior territory and naviga- ble streams, together with treops and officers suitable to the sultry climate and vast deserts, With Egypt, therefore, must begin the civilization of that continent. Though we may deplore the fact that it is Mahommedan conquest aequiring new peoples and rich countries, we must remember that it is not the Saracenic influence which desolated Southern Europe centuries ago, and by which all mankind might have been repeating to-day the single phrase, “There is but one God and Mohammed is His prophet,” had there been no such man as Charles Martel. Moslemism has progressed with the age. The locomotive has soitened the jealous, Vindictive nature of the Arab, and where Bruce found himself a solitary wanderer in Lower Egypt nearly a century age, without welcome or co-opera- tion, we find Europeans in authority and infu- ence. Look at the map of Africa. No other Power has penetrated more than skin-deep into the Conti- nent, All settlements—French, Portuguese, Dutch, English and Spanish—are purely cot colentes, But with Egypt it is different, Mohammed Ali, near the beginning of our centary, had lead an army almost to the Equator, and had the money he spent in making war in ria, under Ibrahim Pacha, been devoted to the development of the Soudan, there might have beem avery small field indeed for African exploration now. But it is not alone in the fact that the Viceroy may fairly claim nearly one half of Africa, but that his domains are drained by the matchless Nile and governed by such invariable meteorological laws that Egypt may fairly be said to be tne only country in the world where you can safely foretell the morrow, In whatever direction, therefore, the Viceroy is the natural master of Africa, and the religion of which he is @ temporal and a liberal head in Egypt is best adapted to the negro, who never believes in one wife or in a for- mulated system of theology manufactured by men learned in the universities and skilled in Biblical polemics, His railroads, with a single exception, are the only ones in Africa; his jurisdiction now extends to the Equator, and the bound. aries of his empire include a territory 2,000 miles from North to South and 800 miles from East to West, which sustaing nearly thirty millions of people, civilized and savage, What an iniuence it will give to Africa when the locemotive pushes through this neglected and forsaken continent! What may not be the sit- uation of the 70,000,000 of people who inhabit one-fifth of the territorial surface of the earth when the journalist sits down tn the year 1,900 to recount the principal events of the expiring cen- tury! Will not people begin to wonder that, whiie a man may travel around the world in ninety days, there are still millions and maillions of people in the heart of great continents whose very name: are unknown? Let us acknewledge that this rail- road of the Viceroy is the first practical attempt to solve the mysterious preblems which daunted the Cwsars and Ptolemys, and have ever since perpiexed the curiosity of the scientific world, ‘Tracing it to @ natural end, we may live to see locomotives rushing along the line of the Equator, a busy commerce on the Albert und Victoria Nyanzas, and the rail pushed southward to the Cape of Good Hope. We may behold the I: negroes become thrifty agri- culturalists, We may flud them abjuring heathen- ism and embracing a responsible religion, We may note the progress of medicine among them; that the naked have become clothed; that the roofless have become housed, and that finally a disorderly continent has become of t! he worthy habitations ofman. The only continent which is an isiand,. and the only one where the ‘main population ig hemogeneous because o! biood and temperament, standing across the highways to the East, with systems of railways and great internal improve- ments, there is no reason why Africa should not become one of the tlelds of sustenance for the £,085,000,000 of people who dweil In the world. It may m like adulation to assert that all this can be plished within the lifetime of the present Yet nothing is easier. Every sea that washes an African shore is white with steam. 1d sul; Egypt is withina week of nearly every capital in Europe; her resources are boundless, and the Khedive laughs at outlay, and wes extravagance. The report of Mr. Fowler comes to us, therefore, at & moment when we are glad to give generous space to his undertaking—oue in which 80 many interests of humanity and progress are conspicuous, It has always been the pelicy of this journal not only te suggest, but to encourage every grand enterprise which promised well to our race, But fh the majority of instances when the HERALD has been the advocate of projects now a successful part of the vast machinery of this busy world, they have been purely Ame: n. Now we go 7,000 miles from home, and offer to the Viceroy of Egypt the benefit of these columns, Which have so oiten sum tained undertakings of the importance of which the world was entirely ignorant, There is a daring and yet a wisdom connected with the Soudan Ratl- way Which belongs to America, The labor and ex- pense which it will invelye will be great, but the results growing @ut of its operation will be greater still, Let us hope, therefore, that the present decade will t ose before the tourist, driven from Paris by the wintry blasts of December, can, twenty days afterwards, enjoy a tropical Winter on the bordera of the sweet water lakes of Central Africa, LITERARY CHIT-CHAT, TE Pail J Gaztte points to Palmerston, Brougham, Sur David Brewster, Walter Savage Lan- dovand Thiers as examples of men who have got the most pleasure out of life, and were still young as tour-score years. It adds that “there are no better gifts, and none whieh lend keener enjoyment to youth, thaw pugnacity, self-confidence and vigorous animal spirits; all ef which were pos#essea by these octogenarians, Tomas H. Dyer, who has written up Pompeil for English historical students, will soon publish @ new work on “Ancient Athens, its History, Toe pography and Remains.” Tue WATERING PLACE enthusiasm ts manifest In the almost simultancous publication of two sep. arate werks on the “Isies of Shoals.” Mrs, Cella haxter's dainty volume gives us the poetry of the litule islands, while Mr. Jenness will publish @ history of tuem, illustrated with pictures and maps. Miss EMILY Fareiec. will give her “Impressions of America and Americ through the nouge of Riams, NEW PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. From D, Appleton & Co. “The Mineral Springs of the United States and Canada, with Analyses and Notes on the Prominent Spas of Europe and a List of Seaside Resorts.” By George E. Walton, M. D. From Lee, Shepard & Dillingham, New York:— “The Year.” By D. C, Colesworthy. From P, O’Shea:—“Cardinal Wiseman's Works— Victor & Co., during the early Fall. Essays.” Two volumes. From T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia: “Lorrimer Littlegood, Esq.’ By Frank E, Smedley. From Dodd & Mead :—‘‘Questions of the Day.” By the Rey, Jon Hall, D. D. From Sheldon & Co.:—"The Anabasis of Xeno phon, with Notes, a Map of the Expedition and @ €omplete Vocabulary.” By Asahel ©, Kendrick, LL. v. A BOSTON BANK MESSENGER'S LITTLE RAKE, Boston, June 1, 1873. The messenger of the Revere National Bank, Allen, disappeared last beh Nag sand draft to about $30,000, 3 and drafts amounting Paap te aid with se che: which he raised $5,000 cash. remainder is unknown. It is ible he may have converted the paper into money otherwise than at bunks. Just before eevee bank on aa morning he was informed his services would not be required there alter June i,