May 26, 185G.] ASIA. 163 



and antiquarian point of view. Ho visited the sites of some of tho 

 most ancient cities upon record, comprising those of Babel, Erech, 

 Accad, and Calneh, mentioned in the Bible ; and, as Sir Henry Eaw- 

 linson has observed, Mr. Loftus may be considered as the discoverer 

 of Wurka, perhaps the Erech of the Bible. Mr. Loftus gives minute 

 details of the country and of the various modes of irrigation. He 

 particularly directs attention to the effect of the Hindieh Canal, a 

 branch of the Euphrates, v^hich diverts the main stream from its 

 proper channel, thereby occasioning drought and causing the inha- 

 bitants of the villages, in the interior of Mesopotamia, to desert their 

 lands. The Hindieh passes through the Bahr el Nedjef, and forms 

 the Semava branch of the Euphrates. The paper contains much 

 important and valuable information. 



It will be remembered that in 1848 a Commission was formed for 

 the purpose of determining the boundary line between the Turkish 

 and Persian empires. Its members were appointed by the English, 

 Russian, Turkish, and Persian Governments, and designated the 

 Turco-Persian Frontier Commission. The chief of the English -party 

 was Colonel Williams, the present celebrated Sir William Williams 

 of Kars, under whom Lieutenant Glascott, r.n., acted as chief sur- 

 veyor, and Mr. Loftus as geologist. We learn from Mr. Loftus, 

 that the surveys extended from Mohammerah to Mount Ararat, a 

 direct distance of about 600 m. ; the operations being trigonometri- 

 cal on an astrcmomical basis. The opportunities which occurred for 

 extending the examination of the country enabled careful route 

 surveys, corrected by nightly observations, to be extended as far as 

 Shiraz on the S. ; along the plains of the Euphrates and Tigris to 

 Zobeir, Meshid Ali, and Mosul on the W. ; and across the mountains 

 on the E., along the high plains of Persia, as far as the tomb of 

 Cyrus, Ispahan, Hamadan, Lake Urumia, and Bayazid. The Com- 

 mission had returned to Constantinople, and were engaged in 

 elaborating the results of their labours when the late war broke out, 

 and a separation of the parties constituting the Commission took 

 place ; the Russians taking with them that portion of the observa- 

 tions which they were contributing. 



The accuracy of Lieutenant Glascott's labours has been remarkably 

 exhibited in working out the triangulation of this survey, and the 

 Society has already been indebted to that officer for his map of 

 Kurdistan on a scale of 6 inches to a degree, accompanied by a list 

 of his astronomical positions, which appeared in the sixth volume 

 of the Journal. 



