Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 4.djvu/79



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A paper was read, entitled, " An Account of a line of Levels, carried across Northern Syria, from the Mediterranean Sea to the River Euphrates." By William Taylor Thomson, Esq., with. Geo- logical and Botanical Notes, by William Ainsworth, Esq. Com- municated by Captain Beaufort, R.N., F.R.S., &c.

The operation of carrying a line of levels across Northern Syria, from the Mediterranean sea to the river Euphrates, v^^as undertaken by Colonel Chesney, at the time he commanded the expedition sent to that river in the year 1835, chiefly with a view to determine the capabilities of the intervening country for the establishment of com- munications by roads, railways, or canals ; but it was expected also that the examination would afford information of much historical and geographical interest. It was commenced in August of the same year, by Lieutenant Murphy and Mr. Thomson, assisted by Sergeant Lyne, R.E., Gunner Waddell, and some Maltese : but most of the party being disabled by sickness, and their numbers re- duced by deaths and removals, the levelling was at length conduct- ed principally by Mr. Thomson, with the assistance, in the latter part of the work, of Mr. Elliott, commonly called Dervish Ali. The result of this great labour was to determine the bed of the Euphrates to be 628 feet above the level of the Mediterranean.

The whole of the district over which the line of levels was carried naturally divides itself into four regions, each of which is character- ized by its relative elevation, its peculiar geological structure, its vegetation, and the manners and habits of its population.

The first region, commencing from the Euphrates, comprises the country of the upper chalk and conide limestones, which averages an elevation of 1300 feet, and is but slightly undulated. The soil is light, somewhat stony, and of no great depth, and is highly productive in crops of com and cotton. These uplands are inhabited by stationary Turcomans and Arabs, who are a mixed race of Fellahs. The large plains of this region are studded over in every direction with numerous mounds, of a more or less circular form, called by the Arabs Tets, and by the Turcomans Heuks, the origin of which appears to be partly natural and partly artificial. A village is found at the foot of almost every one of these monticules.