1824.] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Hints fo facilitate the Execution of the 
Design now in progress at Bombay, 
for establishing a direct and rapid 
Communication between Innta and 
Great Barrain, dy Steam Packets, 
to navigate the Arabian Gulf or Red 
Sea, and the Mediterranean and Le- 
vant Seas. ; 
HE magnitude and utility of the 
proposed plan call upon every 
_ man, who is possessed of local informa- 
tion concerning the old route between 
India and Europe, to contribute his aid 
to its execution. The necessity of ap- 
plying steam navigation to the sea pas- 
sage between Bombay and Suez, is evi- 
dent from the fact that the whole voyage 
is within the monsoons, or subject to 
periodical winds that are influenced by 
the monsoons, which have hitherto re- 
tarded for half the year a voyage that 
may in the other half be performed in 
a few days. We have a remarkable in- 
stance of this unfitness of the Red Sea 
for ordinary navigation, in the ob- 
stacles it offered to Buonaparte’s pro- 
ject of invading British India, by forces 
to be sent from Egypt, the promised 
arrival of which in India excited Tip- 
poo Saib to the war, which cost him 
his life, and dethroned his dynasty ; it 
was in the season for traversing Egypt, 
which is between the annual inunda- 
tions of the river Nile, and the periodical 
wind of the Red Sea did not leave with- 
in the reach of Buonaparte any vessels 
for the conveyance of his artillery and 
other heavy stores to India; all the 
ships\of that sea had then sailed for 
Mocha, Medina, and the other ports near 
the Straits of Babelmandel. 
The next portion of the route lies 
within Egypt, and there the advantages 
of steam navigation upon the Red Sea 
would again raise the question, whether 
Suez or Kosseir should be the station 
for the packets? The shoalness of the 
Red Sea to the northward of Kosseir, 
where a dangerous reef of rocks already 
bears the name of an English ship that 
was lost upon it, has occasioned the 
land route between Kosseir and the 
Nile to be preferred to the route be- 
tween Suez and Grand Cairo, in mo- 
dern times, though the distance by Kos- 
seir is rather the longest; but with 
steam navigation, that is not liable to 
the perils, which beset ordinary sailing 
vessels, the route by Suez may perhaps 
be again preferred. 
Permanent liberty and security of 
passage between the Red Sea and the 
Steam Packets between India and Great Britain. 
199 
Nile may be confidently relied on, be- 
cause the commercial spirit of the pre- 
sent vigorous government of Egypt is 
not the mere result of the individual 
character of the Pacha, but is the ne- 
cessary effect of certain territorial pre- 
rogatives of the government, which 
allow him to monopolize the chief pro- 
ducts of the soil, and therefore make 
it his interest to encourage a commu- 
nication through Egypt with other com- 
mercial countries. 
The navigation of the Nile is so fa- 
youred by nature, that steam-boats are 
not absolutely necessary to it, though 
at a future period they may be intro- 
duced with advantage. The prevailing 
winds of Egypt, with few and short in- 
tervals, are from the north and north- 
west, running counter to the direction 
of the stream of that river in the Cano- 
pic or Rosetta branch, on which the 
proposed communication will be main- 
tained, and being rather more of a side 
wind on the Pelusiac or Damietta 
branch ; hence the quick passage of a 
djerm or boat of that country (by Bruce 
called a canja) is ensured either up or 
down the river almost at all times: be- 
cause for ascending it the wind is gene- 
rally fair, and in descending the broad- 
side of the boat is kept across the 
stream, and the current bears her down 
against the wind; no more sail is set 
than is sufficient to keep the boat under 
steerage-way, somewhat in the manner 
in which ships drop down the Thames 
by the force of the tide against a con- 
trary wind, but not by backing and 
filling the sails as they do; such an 
operation would not be practicable with 
the lateen sails used in the djerms, 
which, however, enable them, in a su- 
perior degree, to avail themselves of 
the reaches or bends in the course of 
the Nile, and of every expansion of its 
waters, where the stream is weak, by 
spreading the whole of their canvas. 
In this way the passage from Boulac (a 
suburb of Grand Cairo, situated on the 
banks of the river) to the Mediterranean 
Sea, is usually performed in three days, 
and often in less time, though the djerms 
usually lie by for the night at one of 
the many villages on the banks of the 
river; and in a like proportion of time 
to distance is performed the passage to 
Upper Egypt, when it is intended to 
disembark there and proceed to Kos- 
ser. The rapidity of the passage in 
descending depends, of course, more 
or less upon the strength of the stream, 
which is weakest in the early months 
of 
