SOCIAL STATE OF THE ARABS. 346 



to Bir or Beles, and thence across the Desert to the 

 Mediterranean at Scanderoon, or the mouth of the 

 Orontes, a distance of sixty-seven miles. Captain 

 Chesney, who surveyed that celebrated river, con- 

 sidered it navifrable for steamers as high as Bir ; 

 and that a constant supply of fuel might be found in 

 the wood, charcoal, bitumen, and naphtha, of which 

 abundance is to be had throughout the whole line. 

 The distances and time necessary to accomplish 

 this route he estimates thus : — 



From Falmouth to Malta, 



— Malta to Scanderoon, . - - 



— Scanderoon to Bussora, 



— Bussora to Bombay, 

 J^ecessary or incidental delays, 



6036 42 i 



The other route is by the Red Sea, the advantages 

 -and practicability of which have been advocated by 

 Captain Head. The only physical point on which 

 there seems to be any doubt or difference of opinion 

 is the overland conveyance between Egypt and the 

 Arabian Gulf. Suez and Cosseir are certainly the 

 most favourable ports ; but the former has the dis- 

 advantage of shallow water, while the other would 

 occasion a delay of ten or twelve days in ascending 

 the Nile to Keneh, and crossing the intervening 

 desert. The following is the calculation as to time 

 and distance by this line of conveyance : — 



From Falmouth to Malta, ... 



— Malta to Alexandria, 



— Alexandria to Suez (by Cairo), 



— Suez to BabelMandeb, 



— Bab el Mandeb to Socotra, - 



— Socotra to Bombay, 



The most formidable impediment in the way of 

 this project, as we have already stated (vol. i. p. 79), 



