POSTSCKIPT. 



Scheme of a Euphrates Valley Eailway. — Of river communica- 

 tion. — The Turkish system of government. — Its pax-tial suc- 

 cess. — Its failings. — A guess at the future. 



It lias l)een suggested to nie tliat I ought to say 

 ix few words as to the possible future of the coun- 

 tries described iu this book, more especially in 

 relation to their supposed destiny of giving us an 

 •overland route to India ; — and first as to the scheme 

 of a railway between the Mediterranean and the 

 Persian Gulf. 



In these days of engineering triumphs, all things 

 are of course possible, and a railway could doubt- 

 less be constructed over any part of the desert. To 

 lay eyes, however, certain difficulties present them- 

 selves, if not in the construction, at least in the 

 working of such a road, while the prospect of its 

 ever proving a financial success, looks like the most 

 chimerical of fancies. A railway follo^^'ing the line 

 of the Euphrates, must pass either along the actual 

 Valley, or the table-land above it. In the first case 

 the flooding of the river and its frequent changes 

 of bed will have to be considered, while in the 

 second an immense amount of cutting and bridging 

 will be required, for the whole of the desert imme- 

 diately bordering the valley is a network of wadys 



