94 THE BAGHDAD RAIL JV AY. 



and its right bank followed to the Gulf. The great 

 centres of pilgrimage — Kazimin, Nejef, and Kerbela — 

 will be passed, and high expectations are set on the 

 receipts which it is anticipated will accrue from the 

 vast numbers of pilgrims, estimated at 100,000 annually, 

 bearing an average number of 60,000 corpses to be 

 entombed in proximity to the departed saints, — the 

 Imams Musa, Ali, and Hussein. At first sight it 

 would appear that land transport could never compete 

 successfully with the existing water-way from Baghdad 

 to the Gulf; but it must be remembered that, so far, 

 British diplomacy has only succeeded in obtaining per- 

 mission for Messrs Lynch to run one steamer a-week on 

 these waters, while the only other company running 

 steamers, being Turkish, need hardly be considered. 

 Even in face of this puny competition the promoters 

 have proved their business capacity by securing under 

 article ix. of the Convention of March 1903 the right 

 during construction to acquire and use steam and 

 sailing vessels and other craft on the Shatt-el-Arab, 

 the Tigris, and the Euphrates, for the transport of 

 materials and other requirements, while under article 

 xxiii. the company has the right of establishing ports 

 at Baghdad, Basra, and the terminal point on the 

 Persian Gulf. 



In making any criticism of such a line, it must be 

 remembered that those responsible for it were con- 

 fronted by a variety of considerations. The obvious 

 route from Adana, for instance, along the coast to the 

 port of Alexandretta, thence over the Beylan Pass to 

 Aleppo, had to be discarded on the grounds of its 

 exposure to attack from the sea, similar considera- 

 tions being responsible for the refusal of the Sultan to 

 sanction a permanent branch to the coast. I have 

 italicised the word temporary in this connection, 



