The Sun.
London, England, 1836-08-27 00:00:00

PRICE, 7D.

BRITISH, SCIENTIFIC
ASSOCIATION.

BRISTOL, TUESDAY, AUG. 2:3,
STEAM COMMIiNICATION'WITH INDIA. ,

Dr. LARDNER proceeded to deliver a lecture on this
questinn. The subject to which he wished more particu-
larlyto .address himself this evening was the application of
steam to communication between Great Britain and, India.
There. wereseverai routes by which a corntnunication cohld
be effecteda the pnly route which• was in, a continued lirie
of navigation was the ordinary voyage by the Cape. That
had been•'already tried by steam:, but if it had not, they
weresufficiently conversant with the properties of the pre-
sent steam-engine-to know that that voyage was perfectly
impracticable—that it was incapable of ,being worked.
profitably. The voyage was attempted by the Cape by
the Enterprise, and it was perfarmed in 113 days, but only
64 days worked. by steam ; it afforded evidence that to
establish a line of steam communication by that rbute was
out of, the question. The other routes were partly by
land, and partly by water:. One 'froth Great Britain by the
Nile across Germany, by the Danube, the Black Sea, across
Turkey to the river Euphrates, descend to the Persian
Gulf, and then pass on to India ; but this route was out of
the question, from the difficulties to be encountered. The
real practical courses, then, which presented themselves,
were only two, and those were common to a certain point.
They proposed starting from Falmouth, and proceed to the
Mediterranean, indeed we did that already to Malta, there-
fore it was not necessary to discuss the practicability of that
route. From Malta they would adopt either of two courses
—one would be through the Straits of Gibraltar, then to
proceed to Alexandria, a distance of 800 miles, and quite
within the present limits of steam power, as 1,600 miles
had already been performed. They then proceeded to
Syria, and descended the Euphrates. So far as Alexan-
dria there was no practical difficulty. They then proceeded
to the Red Sea, by land, or, partially by the Nile ; then to
Cairo. -If they would refer to the plan of the Isthmus of
Suez, the road to Cairo followed the banks of the Nile.
The only difficulty they had to encounter here, was the
Isthmus. They would have to proceed to Suez by a sandy
desert, but about the centre of it there were springs of fresh
water, and the distance did nbt exceed 70 miles, and was
now performed in less than twenty-four hours. It was,
however, suggested that
•a canal might be cut across,
and the idea had been thrown out that a railroad might be
constructed. Now, there were other modes of crossing
the Isthmus which were deserving of notice. The gene-_
ral character of the Isthmus between the Mediterranean
and the Red Sea, was very peculiar. When we proceed
due north, we pass over three miles of land very little ele-
vated above the surface of the Red Sea. We then come
into a narrow valley, bounded on each side by hills,
and in the centre of this valley we find the distinct trace of
a canal, which is known to have existed in former times,
and with the history of which we' are well acquainted.
The anal now existed in many places in as perfect a state
as many of the old canals in this country ; but one of the
remarkable peculiarities was this—that a great portion of
its surface was not only below the level of the Red Sea,
but, still more remarkable, was below the level of the Medi-
terranean ; now the valley from the point three miles to-
wards the Mediterranean was below both. That this val=
ley was, at some time or other, filled with water connecting
the two seas, was rendered probable by the fact, that it
was lower than the level of both the two, and that the
water which remained was, in fact, salt, and was called the
bitter lake. That portion of water was, in fact, a part of
the ancient canal. Coming to a point midway between
Suez and the Mediterranean, we found two other lines of
hills. The canal was conducted into the hill near Cairo, and
had connected Suez with Cairo. One-third of that canal
now existed, and only required to be cleaned out, and the
other portion could be restored. This canal was begun by
Sesostris, and was the channel by which European commerce
was conveyed to the-East. But this stupendous work could
only be used two months out of ten, for the ancients were
unacquainted with our contrivance of locks ; nevertheless,
during those two months the trade of Europe passed in
this canal to Suez.• During the other ten months the com-
merce passed up the Nile, and then to an ancient port, where
they embarked on the Red Sea. Now it was proposed to
open that canal and to lock it. As far as Suez no physical
obstacle arose. The Red Sea was the next- point for con-
sideration, and much bad been said about the difficulties
which existed in the transit through this sea, owing to the
beds of coral, but they were confined to the coasts, and
well known to the local pilots, and created no more difficul-
ties than the rocks which existed on our own coasts. The
steam navigation of the Red Sea was practicable and conve-
nient, and there were several safe harbours. Proceeding
downwards, they came in a run of three hundred mileS to
Cosseir, from whence they could go three hundred or four
hundred miles further to Jedda, on the opposite side of the
coast, where was the port of the city of Mecca. There
was another town, Mocha, where there was a safe road-
stead. On the coast of Arabia there were two or three
harbours, all of which were convenient. So far there was
no practicable difficulty. He should state,- however, that
the voyage from north to south of the Red Sea was more easy
than from south' to north For ten months the' north wind

blew so violently that no steam-packet could face it' ; but in
that case they must land the passengers at Cairo. They now
came to the real point of difficulty in the case. When they
proceeded from the ports on the Arabian coast they had a
long run to get to the nearest port of India, namely, Bombay,
that being 1,200 miles. Now, when they had to encounter
a run of this kind,, which' approached very near the extreme
limit of our present powers of steam navigatimi, it became a
question of the last degree of importance whether or not
they should have average weather. Now, the seas between
Arabia and Africa and India were subject to periodical
vicissitudes, which were unknown in our climates. There
-was a periodical wind which blew as regularly as the sun
rose and set, and blew with an intensity with which we were
tittle accustomed. They were known by the names of the
northLeast•and south-west monsoons: The south-west blew
from June to September: They' would readily 'perceive
there would exist no steady -atmospheric current of that
kind without having some counter-current to produce an
atmospheric' equilibrium. Accordingly they found the
counter-current flowing in the opposite direction between
November and March, but although they blew about equal
times, they were very different in intensity, and in their
effects on the waters. The north-east monsoon was a wind
Against which a steam-vessel could go without any diffi-
cUlty.• . Consequently, during. the months from June to
September the. navigation was impracticable from Bombay,
'but it .was practicable during all the year from Europe'
to BOmbay. The swell for , eight hundred miles from
Bombay was such, that if they attempted to use sufli
eient power to propel the vessel, it would drive her- into
the sea. The valley he had mentioned as the land was the
land.of Goshen, inentionedin the Scriptures. The other
foute was from Malta to any part of Syria, and was without
difficulty from those ports to' the banks of the Euphrates ;
liut 'then. there were some other- difficulties : the passage
was pot across a sandy desert, but it was infested by savage
.tribesovlio Were not professed robbeis, 'but would not stop
Much -to consider the propriety or impropriety of robbing
you. ,The town which has been suggested as the point of
departure was Burr, 1,200
.miles from the mouth of the
river. Now this river was One which presented many eir-
mumitances extremely questionable for the application of
steam navigation ;. the average speed of the current of the
river was no greater than three miles an hour ; at certain
,points, hoWever, t rose to 'seven miles an hour. The
'magnitude of the river they might form a notion of when
he told them, that at Burr the breadth was something
like the Thames at Lambeth, and down as low as Babylon
it' floated like the Thames at Deptford. The depth of the
river'was quite sufficient for safe and speedy,
,Pavigatiop ;
but thii :river was subject to a low season; during Which
there were some difficulties;-it existed only in a part of the
river. Passing Babylon and Bagdad you came to a village
called Elkain, a distance of about 170 miles, and in these
170 miles were included all the physical difficulties.
There were 15 or 16. shallows and rapids, which •in
the low season were difficult ; but it 'did so happen that
' the low season of the Euphrates was the very season during
which the north-east monsoon blew—the impracticable sea-
son of the one was during the practicable season of the
other. It was proposed to navigate by iron vessels, and
coal might be obtained from Wales at a cost 'of about' 21.
per ton. In ancient times the communication between
England and India was by the Euphrates, step and by step
the very route they were now thining of resuming, and it
was a remarkable circumstance how the progress of eiviliza-
tion seemed to sport with our endeavours. Before the dis-
covery of the Cape, our merchants found their way to.
India by the Euphrates, and a Portuguese was immortalized
'for the discovery ; but another discovery was made by
means of the steam-engine; and that sent us down the.
Euphrates again in the old way to India. It was appa-
rent that if we chose both lines; the communication, would
be uninterrupted throughout the whole year, and the voyage -
-by either route from Falmouth 'to Bombay might be done
in seven weeks.

THURSDAY, A uG. 25.
SECTION OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE.
Mr. CHATFIELD read a long essay on naval architecture