the head of the Gulf of Akabah. In a letter to myself he thus
dilates upon the scheme:--

"Here is the subject which I am interested in if it could be
done. The reasons are:--

"1. We are in Egypt supporting an unpopular sovereign, whose
tenure ends with departure of our troops. We offer no hope to the
people of any solace by this support, and by the supporting of
the Turco-Circassian Pashas, who I know by experience are
_hopeless_. We neither govern nor take responsibility; yet we
support these vampires.

"2. We are getting mixed up with the question of whether the
interest of L90,000,000 will be paid or not.

"3. We are mixed up with the Soudan, where we provoked the
rebellion, and of the responsibility of which government we
cannot rid ourselves.

"4. We are in constant and increasing hot water with the French,
and we gain no benefit from it, for the Canal will remain theirs.

* * * * *

"On the other hand, if we get a Firman from Sultan for the
Palestine Canal--

"1. We lose the sacred sites of Jordan River, Capernaum,
Bethsaida, and Tiberias, Jericho, not Engedi.

"2. We swamp a notoriously unhealthy valley, where there are no
missions.

"3. We cut off the pest of the country of Palestine, the
Bedouins.

"4. We are free of all four objections _in re_ occupation of
Egypt.

"5. We gain the fertile lands of Moab and Ammon.

"6. Cyprus is 150 miles from the Mediterranean _debouche_.

"7. We get a waterway for large ships to within fifty miles of
Damascus.

"8. We can never be bothered by any internal commotion, except
for the twenty-five miles from Haifa to Tiberias, for the
waterway of the Canal would be ten miles wide, except in Arabah
Valley, where there are on both sides wastes and deserts.

"9. We get rid of unhealthiness of a narrow cut with no current,
which is the case with Suez Canal now, where the mud is
pestilential from ships' refuse and no current.

"10. It would isolate Palestine, render it quiet from Bedouins;
it would pave the way to its being like Belgium, under no Great
Power, for religious views would be against Palestine ever being
owned by a Great Power.

"11. Up the ladder of Tyre to Gaza would be 10,000 square miles;
population 130,000