Mimaut, consul-general of France at Alexandria, sent him several books, among which was the memoir written upon the Suez Canal, according to Bonaparte's instructions, by the civil engineer Lapere, one of the scientific members of the French expedition.
Mehemet Ali, who was the viceroy of Egypt, owed his position, to a certain extent, to the recommendations made in his behalf to the French government by Mathieu de Lesseps, who was consul-general in Egypt when Mehemet Ali was a simple colonel.
Proceeding to Alexandria as assistant to the British consul-general there, he devoted himself to Arabic and its various dialects, and made himself master of Eastern manners and usages.
In 1890 General Maclean, the British consul-general, reported that there were 650 silk, 40 carpet and 320 shawl looms at work.
Mr Crowe, consul-general in the island, in 1885, stated that " the institution was rapidly dying, - that in a year, or at most two, slavery, even in its then mild form, would be extinct."
