The Prince of Wales Visit to Egypt: Alexandria - from a drawing by Frank Dillon, 1862. The future King Edward VII in Africa. This city (so called from its founder, Alexander the Great) is a celebrated seaport near the westernmost branch of the Nile, on the Mediterranean, 112 miles north-west of Cairo, with which it communicates by railway, canal, and the River Nile. Its population is about 60,000, including 8000 troops and the employees in the arsenal. The modern city is built on a peninsula (anciently the island of Pharos), and on the Isthmus connecting it with the continent; the ancient city was on the mainland, where its ruins cover a vast extent of surface. Alexandria has a palace of the Pacha, a naval arsenal, and military hospitals, a customs-house, tribunal of commerce, primary school of instruction, medical, naval, and other schools...There are two ports, in the west and best of which ships anchor in from 22 to 40ft. water. A castle called Farillon, and serving as a landmark to sailors, replaces the famous Pharos of Egypt. Alexandria is the great emporium of Egypt. Alexandria is an important station in the overland route to India, and is connected by railway with Suez. Consuls of the chief European countries reside here. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.