352 RAWLINSON ON MOHAM'RAH. [May 11, 1857. 



Gulf. It might be remembered that in the first instance the ex- 

 pedition of General Stalker had landed at Bushir, and that from 

 that place a second expedition had subsequently moved on to 

 Moham'rah. The line from Bushir to Moham'rah ran across the 

 northern part of the gulf to the mouth of the Euphrates, Moham'rah 

 itself being placed at this point, and the only practicable mouth of 

 the Euphrates being here, and when he called this a practicable 

 mouth, he might add that it was not practicable in our ordinary accep- 

 tation of the term — that is, it was not practicable like the Thames. 

 He believed, indeed, that in the highest tide there were never more 

 than three fathoms on the bar, and generally the depth of water was 

 but from twelve to fourteen feet. He remembered on one occasion 

 when he sailed into the Euphrates in her Majesty's ship ' Clio,' Cap- 

 tain FitzJames, the vessel grounded on the bar to the great horror of 

 the captain, who immediately assailed the old Arab pilot for his care- 

 lessness in not keeping the ship in deeper water. The pilot, how- 

 ever, was by no means disconcerted ; he very composedly sat himself 

 down on the quarter-deck, with his pipe in his raoiith, and replied as 

 follows : — " Eeally," he said, " I did not make the ' Clio,' nor did I 

 make the Euphrates ; if you will come here in a big ship like this, 

 and go across the bar, jou must expect to get into the mud. But it 

 will not hurt you," he added ; '* if you only wait here quietly till the 

 tide rises you will get otf without damage." And such was the case. 

 The mud was so soft that no inconvenience whatever was expe- 

 rienced, and as soon as the tide rose the vessel floated off and pur- 

 sued her way up the river. 



On the present occasion he understood that the entrance channel 

 at the mouth of the river had been buoyed throughout, so that the 

 vessels would probably have all crossed the bar without grounding. 

 If any of the ships had, however, run aground in the mud, they 

 would get off again without injury as soon as the tide rose. There 

 was but one practicable entrance to the Euphrates. Very few of 

 the river beds marked upon the map as forming the Delta of the 

 Kariin and Euphrates, were navigable ; most of them, indeed, were 

 entirely dry. The only channel practicable for vessels of any con- 

 siderai3le draught was the most western mouth of the Euphrates. 

 From the embouchure the distance to Moham'rah was about forty 

 miles. In proof of the difficulty of entering the Euphrates it 

 might be observed that the flotilla which left Bushir on the 19th of 

 March was only enabled to attack Moham'rah on the 26th, a full 

 week afterwards, although the actual distance was imder 200 miles 

 and the transports were towed up by steamers. 



After he had read his notes upon Moham'rah he should describe 



