France and England (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1848 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER III. Immediately on lying down I felt great pulsation in the arteries reposing on the pillow, and kept turning over and over on my couch in the vain hope of putting an end to the inconvenient tumult, reflecting meanwhile on all I had just seen and heard. First, I repaired to Egypt in the company of my new friend Dr. Lebon. I saw the Abyssinian beauties, the ostrich and cameleopard hunt, the washing of golden sand, and the shores of the Red sea. Then my imagination ranged through India, Thibet, China, Japan. My ideas became more and more confused, and I fell asleep; or rather under the influence of haschish passed the rest of the night in an intermediate state between waking and sleep. After traversing in succession the isles of Sunda and Java, the English colonies of Australasia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and the Oceanian Archipelago, I reached America through California, crossing the Rocky Mountains by rail, and afterwards lakes Huron, Michigan, etc., where I was spectator at the recognition of two new states, Wisconsin and Iowa, which, no longer simple territories, were incorporated among the States of the Union; next, I was one of the earliest passengers by the Canal of Panama, and, at last, after visiting the Cape of Good Hope, Timbuctoo, and the Mountains of the Moon, I descended the white Nile, the cataracts, and reached Alexandria. On arriving there I was astonished at finding in full activity the canal joining the Nile with the Red sea, by way of Suez, across the valley of the Pilgrimage, the last traces of the ancient canal, open to commerce from time immemorial, halfcovered with sand. Then I ascertained that the caravan from Bagdad to St. Jean d'Acre had just arrived by the railway. It seemed impossible that so many...