200 
of the year preceding July, at which 
time the annual rising of the Nile be- 
gins to show itself in Lower Egypt; 
just before that period, the waters of 
the Nile are sometimes so low, that 
occasional inconvenience has been found 
from the shoalness of some parts of the 
Rosetta branch; but the Damietta 
branch is deeper, and free from all such 
impediments. The general fairness of 
the wind for ascending the river, besides 
being subject to occasional short in- 
terruptions from a southerly wind, 
is also liable, at least in Lower Egypt, 
to be suspended, from a little be- 
fore midnight until after sun-rise the 
next morning, by the land breeze, com- 
mon to all coasts within the neighbour- 
hood of the tropics, and by the calm 
which intervenes before the return of 
the almost regular northerly winds, 
about nine o’clock for the rest of the 
day and the first part of the night; 
notwithstanding this, the ascent to 
Grand Cairo is usually performed in as 
short a time as the descent to the Me- 
diterranean. 
The land route between Rosetta and 
Alexandria is about thirty-five miles, 
and lies through the Lybian Desert ; 
the first part of the route, as far as 
Lake Edko, is well marked by piles of 
rude brickwork: thence the road pro- 
ceeds upon aneck of land, or dry sand- 
bank, which divides Lake Edko from 
the Bay of Aboukir, but is intersected 
by the entrance of that lake, and also 
by the entrance of Lake Aboukir, over 
which there are ferries; from the ferry 
over the latter, the road is along a 
tongue of land, which lies between Lake 
Aboukir and the Mediterranean Sea. 
That steam navigation is absolutely 
necessary in the Levant, must be evi- 
dent from the prevalence of north- 
west winds, and the frequency of long 
calms, though it may be observed that 
the land breeze which prevails at night 
along the whole northern coast of 
Africa, affords great facility to ships 
sailing between Europe and Egypt; as, 
however, the intended steam navigation 
-would probably be carried on between 
Alexandria and Venice, or some other 
port in the Adriatic Sea, no great value 
need be attached to this local conve- 
nience, because a vessel bound from 
Alexandria to the Adriatic must soon 
quit the African shore, and would 
thereby lose the benefit of the land 
breeze,. which extends but a few 
leagues to sea. In steering north-west 
towards the entrance of the Adri- 
atic, she would be liable ta be be- 
Steam Packets between India and Great Britain. 
[Oct.1, 
calmed under the island of Candia, 
where, as in other parts of the Mediter- 
ranean Sea, ships have been so long de- 
tained by calms, as to have, in a great 
degree, exhausted their stock of fresh 
water; hence appears the absolute ne- 
cessity for applying this powerful inven- 
tion to the whole of the passage from 
Alexandria to Europe: for in respect to 
the Adriatic Sea itself, whether we con- 
sider its narrow entrance, its confined 
breadth, the dangers of its navigation, 
or the long delays which attend the 
prevalence of any particular wind for 
want of sea-room, it seems more pe- 
culiarly to call for the use of steam 
navigation The question whether An- 
cona or Ravenna, or any other of 
the small ports between: Ancona and 
Venice, would be preferable for the 
station of such steam packets, must 
be decided by consideration of the 
eligibility of the land routes through 
Italy and France, or by way of 
Germany to the Straits of Dover, 
which may vary with political circum- 
stances ; but when it is considered that 
the Ionian Islands, as British depen- 
dencies, would be improved and en- 
hanced in their value by partaking of 
the benefits of the proposed communi- 
cation; and that Greece, when eman- 
cipated, would be, as it were, brought 
nearer to England, there is collateral 
inducement for the adoption of the 
proposed plan; thus a direct and fre- 
quent communication would be main- 
tained between India and Britain, in 
much less time than is usually occupied 
in a voyage to Rio Janeiro, though that 
place is but one-third of the way to 
Bombay by the ordinary passage round 
the Cape of Good Hope. ‘ 
P.S. Lateen-sails and lug-sails being 
the fittest for vessels occasionally pro- 
pelled by steam, the writer has invented 
a method of masting and rigging such 
vessels, by which lateen-sails and lug- 
sails will work themselves, like gaff- 
sails, without any more trouble than that 
of shifting the sheet rope; and the 
masts will present less surface or re- 
sistance to the wind, and will require 
less rigging than common masts. This 
method of masting and rigging is suit- 
able for steam-vessels of between 350 
and 400 tons measurement, or any lesser 
size, and is consequently fit for India 
and other steam-packets, and also for 
a new class of small cruizers, that would. 
supersede all brigs, schooners, cutters, 
and common luggers, in the navy and 
revenue services. - safe Ke 
J. M, 
