32 The Means of Transit in India. [Jan., 



Calcutta, to Aziingunge, opposite to Hoorshedabad ; it was opened 

 on the 21st December, and traffic carried on throughout the follow- 

 ing year, though not to so great an extent as was anticipated. The 

 same company has also obtained a concession of an important 

 system of railway communication in Oude and Bohilcund, and con- 

 siderable progress has been made on a section between Cawnpore 

 and Lucknow, in which case the gauge of 5 feet 6 inches has been 

 adopted, as on the main lines. 



In the south of India a branch line has been constructed by the 

 Indian Tramway Company, from the Arconmn junction on 

 the Madras Eailway, to Conjeveraro. This line, which is 19 miles 

 in length, was opened on the 1st August, 1865 : light rails have 

 been employed, with a gauge of 3 feet 6 inches, and the total cost 

 amounted to about -1.000/. a mile. 



A few words, en passant, concerning telegraphic communication 

 in India. In the early part of 1852, the working of an experi- 

 mental line of electric telegraph between Calcutta and Kedgeree 

 having proved entirely successful, it was determined to construct a 

 complete system of telegraphic lines throughout India, and the 

 aggregate extent of wire now in operation amounts to not less than 

 about 14,000 mile?. After an interruption of more than three years, 

 British Burmah was, during 1864, once more connected with 

 Calcutta by the construction of a land hne through Arracan, in lieu 

 of the deep-sea cable, which, after a short trial, utterly foiled. 



In 1858-59, schemes were proposed for establishing telegraphic 

 communication between England and India, both by way of the 

 Eed Sea and the Persian Gulf. The line was laid, and messages 

 were actually transmitted by the former route ; but after a short 

 period the signals failed, and all attempts to restore the communi- 

 cation for any length of time proved fruitless. Greater success has, 

 however, attended the construction of the alternative, or Indo- 

 European line, which, proceeding from Kurrachee in a westerly 

 direction, along the Mekran coast by Gwadur to Bunder Abbas, and 

 thence up the Persian Gulf to Bushire and Fao, at the head of the 

 Gulf, has a total submarine course of nearly 1,500 miles : a land 

 line has also been constructed as far as Gwadur. From Fao the hne 

 is conveyed overland to Bussora, and thence across Turkish Arabia 

 to Bagdad, Mosul, and Diarbekir, whence it proceeds through Asia 

 Minor, by Siras. till it joins the European system at Constantinople. 

 The length of the whole line from Kurrachee to Constantinople is 

 about 3,000 miles, one-half of which is submarine. From Bagdad 

 another line has been taken through the heart of Persia to Teheran, 

 and thence southwards to Ispahan, Shiraz, and Bushire. 



With regard to the future, whatever may be said in favour of 

 canal navigation in India, the experiments hitherto made in that 

 direction have not been of so decidedly successful a character as to 



