THANSACTIOXS OF THE SECTIONS. 197 



chuen (popxilation 15 millions), nnd in whicli Frtncli Jesuit mi?sionaries Imve lon^ 

 been settled. The coimtiy towards the frontier of Tarlarv "uas in such a disturbed 

 state, and for the most part oveiTun by multitudes of rebels (not the Tae-pings), 

 that the travellers, being imsupported, were obliged to return by the river to Hang- 

 kow and thence to Shanghai. 



A Letter from the Colonial Office, on the Ea'jiloratlon of N.W. Atistralia, 



under Mr. Geegokt. 



Sir R. I. Mui-chison communicated the substance of a letter he had received from 

 his Grace the Duke of Newcastle (Colonial OiRce), assenting to the recommenda- 

 tions of the Roj-al Geogi-aphical Society, that a sum of money exceeding that which 

 was originally contemplated woidd be guaranteed to Mr. Frank Gregory to complete 

 his explorations of North-Westem Australia. That traveller was to go northwards, 

 turn the north-west corner of the continent, and proceed as far as possible east- 

 wards towai"ds Cambridge Gulf. The colonists of Western Australia who first re- 

 commended this exploration had a moi'e limited object in view, wishing merely to 

 extend their feeding-groimds. The proposed exploration was one of the utmost 

 national importance at the present moment ; for the land thus explored was where 

 cotton grew as a native plant, and in abimdance. It was part!}' with a view to 

 ascertain some of the cotton-gi-o'ndng capabilities of this neighbourhood that the 

 exploration was about to be undertaken. The feat of M'Douall Stuart in crossing 

 the continent from South Australia to the northern watershed was one which the 

 Royal Geographical Society had recompensed by awarding to him their gold medal. 



SeinarJcs on the Proposal to form a Ship Canal hctween East and West Loch 

 Tarhert, Argyllshire. By John Eamsat. 



The length of the proposed canal fi'om high-water mark on the one side to high- 

 water mark on the other would be IGOO yards. On the voyage between the Clyde 

 and West Highlands the distance saved would be fully sixty miles. Eighty years 

 ago the difficidties and dangers of the navigation had led to the consideration 

 of this proposal, and it was again brought forward in 1846, when the probable 

 expense was estimated at £101,267 18«. Qd. 



On the Direct Overland Tclccjraph from Constantinople to Kurrachee. 

 By Colonel Sir Henry C. Rawlikson, K.C.B., D.C.L., F.R.S. 



In 1858 the Turkish Government imdertook to execute, at its own expense, a 

 line of telegraph from Constantinople to Buesorah, which would form an integral 



f)ortion of the great line connecting India ^\-ith Europe. It was foreseen that the 

 ine would be convenient both for the requirements of the Turkish trade and the 

 purposes of the Turkish Government, and would thus benefit the empire ; but the 

 money return for the outlay was to be sought in the tariff established for British 

 messages transmitted along the line towards India. The British Government en- 

 gaged, as soon as there was a fair prospect of the completion of the Turkish under- 

 taliing, to carry on the communication from Bussorah to India at its ovm expense. 

 Some of the officers originally engaged in the imdertaking had retired ; but three of 

 Lieut. Holdsworth's cmphyes, ISIr. Carthew and the brothers M'Cullum, remained 

 in the country, and, mainly o^^^ng to their zeal and sldll, the line was now in a 

 working and eflacieut state the whole way from Constantinople to Bagdad. The 

 Porte had declined to accede to a proposition that Her Majesty's Go\ernment 

 should incur half the expenses of the improvements, Ijut had formally engaged to 

 carrj' out all Col. Kemball's recommendations for giving greater efliciency to the 

 line at his own expense. A submarine cable from Pera across the Bosphorus 

 having been frequently damaged by the anchors of vessels, it was proposed to 

 suspend a wire from the European to the Asiatic side at the narrowest part of the 

 strait — a distance of not more than 1000 yards. Precautions had been taken as 

 security against interruption from the Arabs, Kurds, &c., bj' the line of telegraph 

 being taken from INIarden along the chain of the Masius, where there are located a 

 great body of Jacobite Christians. Col. Keniball reported favom-ably of the pro- 



