strategical aspect our great highways of oriental traffic ought, other circumstances alike, to be as far withdrawn as practicable from positions involving complications of policy and rival interests, that might arise hereafter. The deserts of Khorasan constitute a stronger boundary against aggression than seas, or mountains, or embattled walls; and if ever the hordes of northern Autocracy are destined to meet in conflict the merchant "kings of the east," the basin of the Upper Euphrates, or valley of the Jordan, is most likely to become the battle-field. This may not be; such misfortune be afar! But why should we construct a path for possible hostility, if a more southerly route offers superior advantages in shortness and facility of construction; and such a route (less by about 540 miles than that of the Orontes and Euphrates) is suggested from the Bay of Acre to Hilla, and thence by steamer to Busra; the lower reach of the river being comparatively free from those obstructions, the removal of which from the upper stream, in order to render steam navigation practicable, would be a work of many years. It may be observed, also, that both engineering science and financial prudence dictate the commencement of improvement at the embouchure, and thence extending it upwards, according as development of resources justifies additional outlay. Commencing, then, at Acre, and passing along the foot of Carmel,* through the historic plains of Esdraelon,† the line would cross the Jordan in about the thirty second degree of latitude, and continue on same parallel as direct as the nature of the surface admits to the Euphrates. Burckhardt and Buckingham affirm, that for several days' journey east of Zaele the land is still capable of its ancient culture; water, the principal element of fertility in that climate, being found abundant at a depth of four or five feet. And even beyond this district, in the more intractable desert, small settlements occur, though few and far apart, where, in the midst of scant pastures, vegetables are raised within shelter of the villages, partly for local consumption, and partly for barter with the Bedoween. After crossing the singular oasis of Anna, the line is linked with the Euphrates, traversing in its latter course the route of the great caravans which, 3,000 years ago, travelled between Babylon and Tadmor, when Solomon's shortlived empire was in the zenith of its glory. See Maps, which have been expressly prepared for this paper. + Hebrew Jezreel. The Geological structure is carboniferous, large masses of chalk being scattered over the surface. Hilla is within traffic* reach of the rich plain enclosed by the bifurcation of the rivers, and it only requires the irrigating canals to be repaired or partly reconstructed, to render the soil as fruitful as of old, when Strabo† described the millet as attaining the height of twelve feet. Whether the line should be extended (making a detour to avoid the pestilent marshes on the river banks) to some deep harbourage on the Arabian coast, thus linking with the accessions of Arabian commerce the advantage of a more advanced starting-point for India-bound ships, is matter for deferred consideration. The route traced on the accompanying map would border the trading community of the Beni-Shammar, pass through the agricultural districts of the Beni-Tameem, and, touching the great oasis of El-Ahsa, through which the whole traffic of El-Nejd passes to the gulf, cross a narrow strip of sandy waste to some terminus near ElKatif, opposite the pearl coast, and within the spacious portage of Bahrein. Bearing in mind that this essay is communicated to a learned society, in the first maritime city of the globe, I would deprecate, as inadmissible, the plan of a railway to the Indus along shores, nine-tenths of which are sandy wastes, in preference to a shorter route by steamer. Independently of our ascendancy in Eastern waters, a world-wide experience proves that the ocean is, and must always remain (at least under the present material dispensation), the more suitable highway for the exigencies of commerce; and circumstances do not warrant the expense of constructing a dictinct route for passenger transit. The navigation of the gulf is less perilous than that of the Red Sea, and the telegraph rope, linked at Busra with the trans-Syrian wire, and at Currachee with the Indian lines, will lie securely within its depths, forming a stronger and more enduring bond of union with England than the united strength of all her military and naval ISH MOLEAY OXFORD C LIBRA |