May 11, 1857.] RAWLINSON ON MOHAM'RAH. 355 



of Moham'rah, and of the respective claims upon it by Persia and 

 Turkey, he thought he might pass on to the second portion of his 

 subject, and read his notes on the ancient history of the place ; after 

 which he should feel himself more at liberty to discuss any general 

 matters relating to it. He might explain that these notes, written 

 off hurriedly, and merely referring to the ancient geography of the 

 country, could not be expected to excite much interest ; but (here 

 were two points contained in them to which he particularly wished 

 to direct attention. One was the evidence they afforded of the 

 whole of the country at the mouth of the Euphrates being new. He 

 should be able to show that the great capitals of the countiy at the 

 commencement of history were far up the river, about here 

 and that century after century, with a fresh accretion of land, 

 a fresh emporium was formed lower down the Euphrates, until 

 we descended to the present day, and ^ saw successive villages 

 rising, one after the other, as the sea receded, and new lands were 

 available for cultivation. That was one point. Another matter to 

 which he desired to draw attention was, that this particular district 

 of Moham'rah was, some 2000 years ago, the seat of a very famous 

 Greek, or quasi-Greek kingdom. Although the present village of 

 Moham'rah might not exactly occupy the site of the old capital, 

 still the country dependent on it formed the kingdom of Characene, 

 which was of much political impoi^tance in its day, and the Greek 

 coins of which were still in great request among antiquarians.* 



If the meeting would allow him he would say a few words with 

 regard to the modern question, and endeavour to introduce them to 

 a better acquaintance with Moham'rah under its present aspect, and 

 with the surrounding country. They knew exactly where Moham'rah 

 was situated, and before he proceeded farther, he would give them 

 some information as to ihe condition and appearance of the modern 

 town. 



Sir Henrj'- then read an account of the fort from his notes, 

 and explained the reasons which influenced Sir James Outram 

 in selecting Moham'rah as his point of attack. So long as he re- 

 mained at Bushir he could only act on the defensive. He could 

 not proceed inland or adopt any offensive measures for two very 

 sufficient reasons ; firstly, because he had no carriage, and secondly, 

 because the passes which barred his progress were impracticable to 

 an army. To have remained therefore in position at Bushir would 

 have been a mere idle demonstration, leading to no result; yet Sir 

 James Outram, it must be remembered, had no reason to suppose 



♦ Sir H. Kawlinson here read his notes on the Comparative Geography of Moham'rah 

 and the -vicinity, which will be published in due course in the Journal. — Ed. 



