UNSUITABLE BOATS. 97 



quired in tlie sea and Delta navigation, which 

 Mr Bourne appears to have found to his cost. 



"It is incorrect to state that Mr Andrews' 

 boats are similar to those of the Government. 

 The latter are deficient in power, and having 

 to perform the sea voyage from Kurrachee to 

 one of the mouths of the Indus, they necessarily 

 draw too much water, and are otherwise ill- 

 adapted to navigate the shallow waters of the 

 Indus above the Delta. It is to be borne in 

 mind that Mr Andrews' flotilla will neither 

 have to encounter the sea, nor the dangers in- 

 cidental to Delta navigation, as they will start 

 from Hyderabad, the upper terminus of the 

 Sindh railway, the principal object of which is 

 to connect the port of Kurrachee with the 

 Indus above the Delta, substituting 100 miles 

 of railway for 230 miles of dangerous sea and 

 Delta navigation. One of Mr Andrews' boats 

 was publicly tested on the Thames, and was 

 found to have great power, combined with a 

 draught of only one foot ten inches, and was 

 pronounced by Colonel Turner, chief engineer 

 of the province, and Sir Proby Cautley, to be 

 the best boat hitherto built for the navigation 

 of the north of India. 



VOL. I. 7 



