Hebrews. Again I saw the mining works of the Greek, the Roman,
and the Nabathaan, whose names are preserved by Ptolemy; the
forty cities, mere ghosts and shadows of their former selves,
described in the pages of the mediaeval Arab geographers; and the
ruthless ruin which, under the dominion of the Bedawin, gradually
crept over the Land of Jethro. The tale of her rise and fall
forcibly suggested Algeria, that province so opulent and splendid
under the Masters of the World; converted into a fiery wilderness
by the representatives of the "gentle and gallant" Turk, and
brought to life once more by French energy and industry. And such
was my vision of a future Midian, whose rich stores of various
minerals will restore to her wealth and health, when the two
Khedivial Expeditions shall have shown the world what she has
been, and what she may be again.

I was invited to resume my exploration during the winter of
1877-78, by the Viceroy of Egypt, Ismail I., a prince whose
superior intelligence is ever anxious to develop the resources of
his country. His Highness was perhaps the only man in his own
dominions who, believing in the buried wealth of Midian, had the
perspicacity to note the advantages offered by its exploitation.
For the world around the Viceroy pronounced itself decidedly
against the project. My venerable friend, Linant Pasha, suggested
a comparison with the abandoned diggings of the Upper Nile;
forgetting that in at least half of Midian land, only the
"tailings" have been washed: whereas in the Bishari country, and
throughout the "Etbaye," between the meridians of Berenike and
Sawakin, the very thinnest metallic fibrils have been shafted and
tunnelled to their end in the rock by those marvellous labourers,
the old Egyptians. In the Hamamat country, again, the excessive