peared; although shorter sketches of the results were published in 1838.

The two steamers prepared were of 50 and 20 horse power, respectively. When they reached Antioch, in April 1835, so many difficulties were imposed by the Turkish authorities and others, that several months passed before the pieces of the steamers could reach the Euphrates at Bir; and it was not till March 1836 that all was ready for the river voyage. As they proceeded, eaclı day's labour comprised a careful series of soundings, bearings, and trigonometrical measurements, tending to give an exact knowledge of the river and its shores. After descending 509 miles, a hurricane suddenly foundered one of the steamers, the Tigris; many officers and men were drowned, and the expedition lost the boat best fitted of the two for the intricate navigation of the river. Captain Chesney proceeded, however, in the other boat, the Euphrates, and reached the Persian Gulf in safety on June 19. The steamer was then repaired at Bushire; and Captain Chesney proceeded to explore the river Tigris as far up as Bagdad, and the smaller channels which connect the Tigris with the Euphrates. On returning to Kornah, at the junction of these two great rivers, he took charge of the homeward India mail, and ardently hoped to bring it safely to England by the Euphrates route; but in this he was disappointed; his steamer was too large and heavy, her engines became useless, and he had the mortification of taking back the mail again to Bombay.

The expedition was broken up in January, 1837; about 30,000l. had been expended on it; and the possibility of descending the Euphrates in a steamer had been demonstrated; although the means of braving the difficulties of the route had yet to be devised. It had been ascertained, also, that good fuel was procurable on the banks, and that the natives were willing to cultivate a trade in any commodities which they had to sell. The point of the Euphrates which is soonest and most easily reached from Scanderoon or Antioch, whether at Bir or at Balis, is several hundred feet higher than the sea; and this will continue to be one of the gravest difficulties connected with the route. The country from Alexandria to Suez is almost a dead flat; and this has had much to do with the adoption of the Suez route. Balis is in 36° 1' N. lat., 38° 7' E. long. ; 101 miles from the Mediterranean in a straight line, 118 miles via Aleppo and Scanderoon, and 123 miles viâ Aleppo and Antioch; the river course from Balis to Bussoralı (near the Persian Gulf) is 1096 miles. The Euphrates at Balis is half a mile in width, with a minimum depth of seven feet in the middle at the low season. There are only two really formidable obstacles in the 1100 miles of the Euphrates' course from Balis downwards; viz. hidden rocks at Karabla, and shallows at Lamlum. The former might be removed by blasting with gunpowder; the shallows would require either transhipment into very small boats, or the cutting of a canal 23 miles long.

The writer in the Edinburgh Review admits the possibility of the Euphrates route being made more expeditious than the Suez route;

D

and this opinion is pretty generally entertained; but the arrangements must be very gigantic to prepare for this result. If a railway were formed from the Mediterranean to Balis, the rocks cleared away at Karabla, and the shallows superseded by a canal at Lamlum, the distance from Southampton to Bombay might perhaps be traversed in 21 days (= Southampton to Antioch 12, Antioch to Bassorah 4, Bassorah to Bombay 5); and if the Trieste route were adopted between Southampton and Antioch, the time would be still shorter. But if the land transit be by horse or dromedary, if the Karabla rocks so remain that the steamers cannot travel by night, and if transhipment take place at Lamlum-the advantages are lost, and the Suez route becomes quicker and easier than the Euphrates route. The latter will, in this case, be important rather in a commercial than a postal sense; for it is the transmission of mails which is here under consideration.

INDIA MAIL-RED SEA ROUTE.

The same Committee of the House of Commons which recommended the Euphrates expedition, also recommended the establishment of a monthly mail to India, viâ Alexandria and the Red Sea. The government accordingly arranged for a mail steamer to begin to start in January, 1835. Mail packets had been accustomed to arrive at Malta from Falmouth, about the 20th of each month; and it was proposed that the new steamer should meet the packet at that island, and carry the mails on to Alexandria: the steamer would thus be employed in carrying mails to and fro between Malta and Alexandria. The government at the same time suggested that the East India Company should provide steam conveyance for the mails from Suez to Bombay; and sought the good offices of the Pacha of Egypt to facilitate the transit across the Isthmus of Suez. The East India Company shrank from the burthen of bearing the whole expense of the transit from Suez to Bombay, and suggested that the government should bear part of it. Two new steamers were built by the East India Company, of about 600 tons burthen each, to assist the Hugh Lindsey steamer in performing the service of the SuezBombay route. The Company still required the government to bear half the net cost of the system; but the government hung back from this arrangement.

A new system arose out of an offer made by a proposed company in 1836, afterwards the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. They offered to despatch monthly from England a steamer of competent size and power, to Cadiz, Gibraltar, Malta, and Alexandria, with the Peninsular, Mediterranean, and India mails; that they would also send a monthly mail from Suez to Bombay, in connexion with the former, and would make arrangements for the land transit over the Isthmus; that they would raise a capital of 250,000l. in building the requisite steamers; that they would bear the whole expenses of conveying mails, despatches, and passengers; that they would look for a return for their capital from three sources-passengers' money paid by the public, and fixed specified sums paid annually by the government

and by the East India Company; and that they would expect to have the monopoly of the Anglo-India mails placed in their hands, in return for the great risk incurred by them. Correspondence ensued during 1837 between the government and the East India Company, respecting this proposition; but the Company declined to place the Suez-Bombay route in the hands of a private company, and repeated the former offer, that the government and the East India Company should perform the service between them, and share the cost. The Post Office authorities were then consulted, and conferences held between all the official bodies interested. After much negotiation, a plan was adopted nearly on the basis of the East India Company's proposal; and thus the mail service was performed throughout 1838.

In 1839 the Admiralty proposed to expedite the mails by an overland route through France, on the following basis: that a mail should leave London on the 4th of every month, reach Calais on the 5th, and arrive at Marseilles on the 9th; that a steamer should start from Marseilles between the 9th and the 11th, making allowance for detention; that she should reach Malta on the 13th (if starting from Marseilles on the 9th), and Alexandria on the 19th; that a return mail should leave Bombay at such a time as to reach Alexandria about that date, and that the two mails should be there exchanged; that the return mail would leave Alexandria on the 23rd, and would reach England about the 9th of the following month. The Peninsular Company was at the same time pressing on the government the consideration of a plan of considerable magnitude. A capital of one million sterling was to be raised; steam ships of 2,000 tons burthen were to be built; the whole service was to be performed by that company; and Calcutta and Madras were to be brought within the range of operations. A steamer was to start from England on the fourth Saturday in every month, call at Gibraltar and Malta, and leave the mails at Alexandria; after crossing the Isthmus, the mails would be taken by other steamers belonging to the same company from Suez to Calcutta; the mails to Bombay would be taken by smaller branch steamers from Aden; and the Ceylon and Madras mails would be left at those places by the Calcutta steamers as they passed by. The company undertook to carry out fully these very comprehensive arrangements; and engaged to do it for a period of ten years, for a stipulated payment of 100,000l. a year from the government and the East India Company jointly. It was calculated by the company that the time from London to Bombay would be 35 days, to Ceylon 37 days, to Madras 40 days, to Calcutta 45 days.

The East India Company declined at that time to enter upon this plan; but in 1840 the Peninsular Company contracted with the government for the line from England to Alexandria; and this service was performed by powerful steamers, which ran the dis.. tance in an average period of 13 days. In 1841 the company made renewed offers to the East India Company in respect to the Calcutta route; and this was followed by an offer from the latter, that if the former would maintain a monthly steam communication be

tween Suez, Bombay, and Calcutta, the East India Company would contribute 20,000l. per annum for five years towards the expenses; the vessels to be of 1,600 tons burthen, and about 500 horse power. This offer, with a few modifications, was accepted, and was acted upon till 1847: the steam ships Hindostan and Bentinck being soon afterwards placed upon the route. The first voyage under the new regulation was made in December, 1842. In 1844 the Steam Company proposed a new arrangement, which would have relieved the East India Company of the responsibility of maintaining the Suez and Bombay steamers (which they continued to do throughout these negotiations). According to this plan, the homeward India mail would arrive at Suez from Bombay in 15 days, Suez to Alexandria 3 days, Alexandria to Marseilles 6 days, Marseilles to London 4 days-or 28 days from Bombay to London. The Oriental and the Great Liverpool performed the distance from England to Alexandria; the Hindostan, the Bentinck, and the Precursor, were proposed for the Red Sea route; while the Lady Mary Wood and the Pacha were to be subsidiary steamers. The outward mail would leave on the 6th of the month, leave Marseilles on the 10th, arrive at Alexandria on the 17th, Suez on the 20th, and Bombay on the 6th of the following month. But the East India Company still refused to give up the Bombay and Suez route.

The provisional agreement with the East India Company with respect to the Calcutta route was for a mail every two months; but the Steam Company in 1844 proposed a new arrangement for a monthly mail. According to this plan the outward mail, reaching Suez on the 20th, would reach Calcutta on the 15th of the following month. Government about this time received favourably the proposals of the Steam Company to extend the mail line from Ceylon to Singapore and Hong Kong. After much complicated negotiation, in which the East India Company showed a disinclination to bear so large a portion of the expense as the government deemed desirable, a plan was at length agreed upon, and a contract signed. By this contract the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Ship Company undertook to maintain a monthly mail between England, Ceylon, Calcutta, Singapore, and Hong Kong; receiving 90,000l. per annum from government, and 70,000l. per annum from the East India Company. This agreement was signed towards the close of 1844, and was acted upon in the spring of 1845: the duration of the contract being for seven years.

The mail contracts in force with the Peninsular and Oriental Company in the beginning of 1849 were three. Ist, Southampton to Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz, and Gibraltar, three times a month; distance of the voyage 2,400 miles; annual payment 20,500/. 2nd, Southampton to Malta, Gibraltar, and Alexandria, twice a month; distance of the voyage 6,084 miles; annual payment 44,0251, 3rd, Suez to Aden, Ceylon, Madras, Calcutta, Penang, Singapore, and Hong Kong, once a month; distance of the voyage 15,590 miles; annual payment 160,000l. The Southampton and Alexandria contract expired in January, 1849; whereupon a new tender was sent in by the company, and another tender by a newly formed company, the India and Australia Mail Company. The government eventually made a new contract with the old company, on lower terms than before.

It may be interesting to note the duration of the voyages of this company, under ordinary circumstances :

a

Besides the steamers on the main or Alexandrian route, this company also keeps up monthly communication with Constantinople, Samsoun, Sinope, and Trebizond, on what may be termed the Black Sea route.

The steamers on the register in January 1849, belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, were the following. Although London is the place of registry, Southamp

ton is the port of departure from England :

Canton (iron)

173

348

These steamers have been employed, and most of them are still

employed, in maintaining the mail service between England and

Gibraltar, Gibraltar and Malta, Marseilles and Malta, Malta and