At last the financial and political difficulties were overcome. In 1858, an office was opened in Paris, into which money flowed freely. Lesseps tells good-naturedly some little episodes which occurred. An old bald-headed priest entered, doubtless a man who had been formerly a soldier. “Oh! those English,” said he, “I am glad to be able to be revenged on them by taking shares in the Suez Canal.” Another said, “I wish to subscribe for ‘Le Chemin de Fer de l’Ile de Suède’” (The Island of Sweden Railway!) It was remarked to him that the scheme did not include a railway, and that Sweden is not an island. “That’s all the same to me,” he replied, “provided it be against the English, I subscribe.” Lord Palmerston, whose shade must feel uneasy in the neighbourhood of the Canal, could not have been more prejudiced. At Grenoble, a whole regiment of engineers—naturally men of intelligence and technical knowledge, clubbed together for shares. The matter was not settled by even the free inflow of money. The Viceroy had been so much annoyed by the opposition shown to the scheme, that it took a good deal of tact on the part of its promoter to make things run smoothly. For the first four years, Lesseps, in making the necessary international and financial arrangements, travelled 30,000 miles per annum. At length the scheme emerged from fog to fact. The Viceroy had promised 20,000 Egyptian labourers, but in 1861 he begged to be let out of his engagement. He had to pay handsomely for the privilege. Although the men were paid higher than they had ever been before, their labour was cheap: it cost double or treble the amount to employ foreigners. The Canal, in its course of a shade over 100 miles, passes through several salt marshes, “Les Petits Bassins des Lacs Amers,” in one of which a deposit of salt was found, seven miles long by five miles wide. It also passes through an extensive piece of water, Lake Menzaleh.