Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/697

Rh E U P H II A T E S 671 land will ever admit of tlieso marshes being drained, and ! certainly in its present condition a more unproductive and ! unpromising tract of country than the lake region can ! hardly be conceived. The navigation through the long lines of reeds is subject to constant interruption, the climate is pestilential, the inhabitants wild and inhospitable, and yet there are many mounds and ancient sites among the marshes that would well repay excavation, dating as they do from the earliest Chaldean times. The antiquities, indeed, of the lower Euphrates are all of the highest interest, for here were established the earliest seats of civilization, and here accordingly were localized the tradi tions of a terrestial paradise. Erech (modern &quot;Warka) and &quot; Ur of the Chaldees &quot; (now Mugheir) were both in the immediate vicinity of the river, the banks of which, below the junction of the Samawd branch, the outpour of the Hindieh waters, everywhere bear evidence of a teeming population in ancient times. From Korna, where the Tigris and Euphrates at present unite, the river sweeps on in its majestic course to Bussorah; it is here 1000 yards in width, and from 3 to 5 fathoms deep, so as to be navi gable by vessels of war, which not unfrequently ascend as far as the junction. Bussorah, which was formerly a very considerable city, but has now dwindled to a small town of 10,000 inhabitants, lies in a creek at a distance of a couple of miles from the river. Off the mouth of the creek, however, the Euphrates usually presents a somewhat animated appearance, the head-quarters of the Turkish naval force in the Persian Gulf being here established, and several mercantile steamers from Bombay and Baghdad being also not unfrequently anchored in the roads. The native craft is likewise numerous, and occasionally the port is visited by a vessel of war from the British squadron in the gulf. From Korna to Bussorah the banks of the river are well cultivated, andthe date groves are almost continuous. Twenty-five miles further down the river Karun from Sinister and Dizful throws off an arm, which seems to be artificial, into the Euphrates. This arm is named the llaffur, and at the confluence is situated the Persian toAvn of Mohamrah, a place which is most conveniently placed for trade, and which in the future is likely to become a place of much consequence. In the vicinity of Mohamrah was situated, at the time of the Christian era, the Parthian city of Spasini-Charax, which was succeeded by Bahnw.n Ardi shlr (now Banmhir) under the Sassanians, and by Moharzi. under the Arabs. The left bank of the river from this point belongs to Persia. It consists of an island named Abadan, about 45 miles in length, which has been formed by the alluvial deposits brought down by the river during the last fifteen centuries. New land, indeed, is yearly rising at the mouth of the river; and Fao, where we nave established our telegraphic terminus connecting the Bombay and Constantinople wires, although at present on the sea-shore, is not likely long to remain so. The entire length of the Euphrates from its source near Diadin to Fao cannot be less than 1600 miles, and for three-quarters of that distance, or as far as Bir, it is more or less navigable by light boats and rafts. &amp;gt;li- The Euphrates valley, independently of its great natural advantages, has attracted some attention in recent times from its geographical position, forming as it does the most direct line of transit between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, and thus offering an alternative means of communica tion with India, not greatly inferior to the route through Egypt. During our wars with Napoleon, early in the present century, and indeed up to the time when the introduction of steam navigation rendered the Bed Sea accessible at all sea sons of the year, the political correspondence of the home and j Indian Governments usually passed by what is called &quot;the ! Euphrates route,&quot; swift dromedaries conveying the mails j across the desert from Bussorah to Aleppo on one line, while Tartars on post horses on the other rode from Baghdad direct to Constantinople ; and even to the present day these postal lines are kept up with some modifications for the conveyance of correspondence between Baghdad and Europe. The greater facilities and the greater expedi tion of the Egyptian route, especially since the construction of railways from Alexandria to Suez, and yet more recently the opening of the Suez Canal, have, it must be allowed, established that line in. popular estimation as the high road to India, but still not entirely to the exclusion of the Euphrates valley route. Various plans, indeed, have been suggested and partly executed at different times, with a view to opening up communication between the Mediter ranean and the Persian Gulf. The British Government commenced in 1835 by sending out Colonel Chesney at the head of an expedition to Syria, with instructions to transport two steamers from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, and after putting them together at Bir, N.E. of Aleppo, to attempt the descent of the river to the sea. One of these steamers was lost in a squall during the passage down the river, but the other performed the voyage in safety, and thus demonstrated the practicability of the down ward navigation. Following on this first experiment, the East India Company, in 1841, proposed to maintain a permanent flotilla on the Tigris and Euphrates, and sent two vessels accordingly, the &quot;Nitocris&quot; and the &quot;Nimrod.&quot; under the command of Captain Campbell of the Indian Navy, to attempt the ascent of the latter river. The experiment was so far successful that, with incredible difficulty, the two vessels did actually reach Beles, about the same parallel as Aleppo, but the result of the expedition was to show that practically the river could not be used as a high road of commerce, the continuous rapids and falls during the low season, caused mainly by the artificial obstructions of the irrigating dams, being insurmountable by ordinary steam power, andthe aid of hundreds of hands being thus required to drag the vessels upthe stream at those points by main force; and all subsequent experience Las confirmed this view, so that at the present day, although many of the dams have been cleared away, and the naviga tion of the river has been generally much improved, the Turkish authorities do not attempt to run their steamers up and down throughout the year, but content themselves with a few trips between Beles and Hillah, while the river remains in flood from April to August, with the political object of controlling the riverain tribes rather than for purposes of commerce. The unsuitability of the Euphrates for continuous steam navigation was no sooner clearly ascertained than public attention began to be directed to a communication between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf by rail, and from that time to the present, under a hundred different forms, the Euphrates valley railway has been under the consideration both of the political and the commercial world. In the year 1872 a select committee of the House of Commons reported generally in favour of the line, remarking that about 10,003,000 sterling would probably be sufficient to cover the expense of a railway along the shortest route between the seas ; and adding that the principal advantages to be derived from such an expenditure would be: 1st, the more rapid transmission of the mails between England and India ; 2d, the posses sion of an alternative and more rapid route for the convey ance of troops; and 3d, tho great extension of commerce which would follow from the opening up of such a line of communication between India and England. How tho money was to be obtained, however, the committee did not venture to recommend. They merely suggested that the English Government should enter into communication with the Turkish Government, with a view to some