It was rich in large steam engines for building and repairing ships. In the arsenal, there were many factories for cannons, shells, and other items, and a printing press with special type and another made of stone. The waters of Lake Mareotis had dried up due to the accumulation of sand, but the English armies, in the narrow land separating it from Lake Abukir, opened a passage in the year 1801, and the sea entered it again. In recent times, Alexandria has returned to its former glory, having adopted many customs and refined manners from the Africans. It has wide, paved streets lit by gas at night and many magnificent buildings. Since Alexandria's commercial and political relations necessitated communication between it and Cairo, and its old canal had been obstructed, the late Muhammad Ali dug a canal, which he named the Mahmudiya Canal, after Sultan Mahmud the Conqueror. This increased the means of its progress, and the late Abbas Pasha connected it to the interior of the country with the railways he established, increasing its splendor and magnificence through the beneficial projects undertaken by Khedive Ismail. It became a great center around which the world's trade revolved, and a hub for the greatest merchants who came from Europe, Syria, and elsewhere. Many great financial institutions for various companies were established there and also in Cairo, providing loans to merchants and farmers with low interest, as is common in Europe. Goods from Europe, America, and elsewhere were imported, including cotton, wool, silk, and linen textiles, jewelry, iron, steam engines, and many other items, as well as furniture, porcelain, crystal, glass, weapons, paper, perfumes, oils, firewood, charcoal, and spirits. Olive oil, tobacco, and livestock, among other items used in the Egyptian provinces, were sent from Syria and other Arab countries. Cotton, which is the most important of its exports, was sent to the Arab countries and inland Africa, followed by grains and other agricultural products. The population consists of Arabs, Copts, and Turks, as well as Egyptians. Its population now numbers 20,000 Israelites, 10,000 Persians, Armenians, Africans, and others, 15,000 Italians, 10,000 French, 5,000 Maltese, 5,000 Syrians, and others, and 10,000 other foreigners, including Germans and Swiss. It includes about 6,000 houses, palaces, inns, caravanserais, warehouses, shops, farms, military barracks, mosques, churches, and the like. It had a high lighthouse, by which ships were guided, and which was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was built by Ptolemy Philadelphus in the northeast of the island of Pharos. Its height was about 400 cubits, and it is said that the cost of its construction at that time was about four million.