The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-24 00:00:00

RED SEA AND INDIA TELEGRAPH.

The expedition of the Telegraph to India Cora
pany which left this country about two months
since for the purpose of repairing such portions of
the Red Sea cable as are not too far gone in dilapi-
dation is, it appears from recent advices, progressing
very favourably with the work, and it is hopedthat
before long some of the most important sections
will bo open to the public. It may be remembered
that at the period of the failure of the Red Sea lines
some sections were reported to be in comparatively
good condition, and it is these portions which Mr.
Latimer Clark and his electrical and engineering
staff are now endeavouring to restore. This, how-
ever, is only one of the objects of the expedition,
for so disastrous has been the experience of sub-
marine wires in the Red Sea that it is the inten-
tion of Sir C. Bright and Mr. Clark, the engineers
of the company, to do away with a large portion
of the sea route altogether by carrying a land
line through Upper Egypt and Nubia along
• the banks of the Nile, and thence crossing
an arm of the Desert (about 90 miles broad) which
separates the Nile Valley from the shores of the Red
Sea. Mr. Latimer Clark's applications to the Pasha
of Egypt to give this scheme his countenance and
protection have been entirely successful, and, as the
Pasha himself has a telegraph up the Nile for nearly
700 miles of the proposed route, there seems no
doubt but that this important link in the line to
India will soon bo completed. With a view to in-
sure the wires being thoroughly and efficiently pro-
tected throughout, Mr. Clark, with Mr. Rolfe and
several of the Pasha's officers, has been up the Nile
to arrange with the Sheiks of the different tribes
through which the lino will pass. The confer-
:.nce with the Sheiks was most successful' and they
are now all pledged to the protection of the
wires. As they have previously been employed
by the Viceroy, with great success, in looking after
his telegraph, there is no reason to doubt their
ability or willingness to do so in the case of the
Indian line, especially as they are to be paid
for it, and there is no inducement to a Bedouin
like a promise of " backsheesh." In the mean-
time other portions of the expedition have been
despatched to examine and report upon that section
of the Cossier and Suez line that extends as far as

the island of Shadewan, at the entrance of the
Straits of Jubal. This portion, from tests taken by
Mr. Laws, was supposed to be, if not absolutely per-
fect, at least in sufficiently good order to be capable
of being worked for a considerable time. To corn-
plete the repairs of this section therefore Mr. Laws,
with Mr. Brunton and Mr. Woods, was sent in the
Egyptian steam sloop Gabari with a strong working
electrical and engineering staff to carry the line as
far as Jubal, and open a temporary station there to
intercept and forward messages from the Indian
mail steamer. The Gabari arrived at the scene of
operations on the 14th Feb., when a very cursory
examination was sufficient to show that the bottom
was of the most unfavourable kind for grappling a
cable, as coral reefs abounded on all sides. But
before any operations could be undertaken the rough
weather which seems to wait upon all telegraph
operations set in in earnest, and the Gabari was
obliged to retire to the doubtful shelter of the coral
reefs to wait for an abatement of the gale.

Ton days lapsed howeverbefore the weather mode-
rated. On the morning of the 24th operations were
renewed, and, after a few casts of grapple, the line
was hooked, but owing to its having been laid out
quite tight it brake iu hauling it to the surface. A
buoy to mark the spot was immediately let go, and
seen after the end was brought on board from 57
fathoms water, and the lifeboat was sent to recover

as much cable as would be sufficient to land the end
on the island of Jubal, about five miles distant. The
work having to be carried on entirely by manual
le.bourond without appliances of any kind, was
necessarily slow and difficult, and at dusk the vessel
had to be anchored and the end buoyed for the night.
It had however been sufficiently long on board to
prove
was in
for all practical working purposes the
ls ) i
io good
order. So much has been said about
the instability
t;,04 olailow
water
submarine lines laid in compara-
facet;the raising of this was
looked forward t
brought to the surface ereat interest wit; yet, when
after having been sub-
jected to the action ri
er the coral
rocks for three years,r ii)teaiaash-i,,e7ivaAe:o (1):
but Qlightl~
altered in outward a
loser examina-
tion showed that in some places tlic w Irea were cor-