Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE PIONEER OF THE OVER- LAND ROUTE. The Overland route, between England and India, has now long been one of the great highways of the world. Instead of the long voyage round the Cape of Good Hope ih sailing ships, there is constant and rapid communication by rail and steam. Mails to the East are made up and despatched, vid Brindisi, ever)- Friday evening, and a letter posted in London is delivered within eighteen days in Bombay, in Madras in twenty days, and in Calcutta in twenty-one days. Thousands of passengers are constantly traversing the route, instead of the tens of olden times. A trip to India is a common occurrence of modern travel, and the tourist arrangements are as easy and complete as they formerly were for the shortest continental excursions. Of the multitudes who employ or enjoy the overland route, through Egypt and the Suez Canal?merchants and traders, civilians and military men?there are few who know anything of the origin and the history of this great and busy scene of the world’s travel and traffic. Let us recall to the memory and the respect of a new generation the services of one who was the prime actor in this mighty movement, and who deserves to be called the pioneer of the Overland route, Lieutenant Thomas Waghorn, of the Royal Navy. It is not generally known that Lieutenant Waghorn was also the real projector of the
Suez Canal, nowoccupying so important a place in the communication between Europe and the East. At a banquet, given in Paris in November 1883, to the venerable and distinguished Baron de Lesseps, in celebration of the completion of the Canal, the Baron said? Great is the honour that falls to me this day. I would be less than a man did I take to myself the full measure of the eulogies that have been passed upon me and my work. I wou…