Page 251 - Gulf Precis (VI)_Neat

Chapter XII. 225
225. Captain Selby took chargo of the survey of Mesopotamia in 1855. Ho
had previously done vory important service iu the spring of 1812, by ascending
the Persian Rivers Karun and Dizful in the East India Company’s steamer
Assyria, thus demonstrating their navigability, (a). IIo had with him in the
Mesopotamian survey Lieutenants Collingwood and Bcwshcr as Assistants.
Those officers mado a trigonometrical survey of the region west • of the
Eupliratos, including the Sea of Ncjf, which is fed by that rivor, and embracing
the classic sites of Mcshad Aly, Birs Nimrood, Kerbola, ICufa, and Babylong,
and the portion of Mesopotamia from Samarrah on the Euphrates to a point
10 miles above Baghdad on the Tigris. The formor portion was completed and
sent homo in 1801, with an elaborate memoir by Captain Selby. But both
maps and memoirs were lost through some unaccountablo carelessness. The
original maps and field books have, however, been procured from Baghdad, and
the maps have been redrawn by Lieutenant Collingwood, and are to bo
engraved. Lieutenant Collingwood also surveyed and drew maps of the Sliat-
el-Arab from Basrah to Makil, and of the course of the old Hindiycli Canal
near Meshed Hoossein. It is feared that this valuable work is also irretriev­
ably lost, Captain Selby and Lieutenant Collingwood, while tracing the old
bed of the Euphrates with great care, and surveying the Bahr-ol-Ncjf, were
exposed to much harrassing work among the marshes. They also sent in
accurate plans of the irruptions from tho Tigris, and showed that, before long,
if no efficient steps were taken to check the evil, that river would be as un-
navigable as the Euphrates now is.
226. The latter portion of the survey from above Baghdad to Tol Ibrahim,
and from Tel Ibrahim to Samarrah on tho Euphrates, was commenced in
October 1862. In the end of that year Captain Selby retired, and Lieuten­
ant Bcwsber, who then took charge of the work that had thus been begun,
completed it in 1865. The maps (seven in number) have been engraved in
two sheets, and Bewsher’s memoir (6) contains an interesting account of the
ancient canals which can still be traced, and some details respecting the
humbler modern system of irrigation. The ability and learning shown in
this memoir are proofs that Lieutenant Bewshcr would have boon a worthy
successor of the earlier surveyors ; but he died of diseases contracted during
the service, and the Government abruptly put a stop to tho survey, leaving it
incomplete, and with much work still to be done.

(ii) The Coal Depot at Maaghil.
227. The Coal Depdt at Maagbil was a very old one. The property on
which it stood was held by Colonel Taylor, to -whom it had descended from Mr.
Manesty and from whom it passed to Messrs. Lynch and Co. Its Arab name
appears to be Ma*kal, pronounced by tho English Margheil or Maaghil. Having
been long in English hands, it was also called “ Kut-al-Firenglii.** One of
the houses on it was for a long time occupied by the British Consul, but Mr.
Robertson removed to Basrah town in 1870. A. portion of the property was
used as a coal depot and store house during the Euphrates Expedition and
then by the Euphrates flotilla of the East India Company.
228. On the 13th January 1810, Captain Lynch, of the Indian Navy, then
in command of the Euphrates Elotilla, reported to the Bombay Government
the progress which had been made in putting together four iron steamers whioh
had been sent out by tho Hon’ble the Court of Directors, for tho purpose of
being stationed on the rivers of Mesopotamia, and requested to bo made ac­
quainted with the wishes of Government in regard to the “ Dop6t at Maaghil ”
at the same time observing “ the health of tho people may be benefitted in the
ensuing heats, by drains and clearings, which I could easily make, but hesitate
to take such a responsibility pending tho decision of Government as to whether
it shall be permanently occupied or not. It is tho most convenient place on
these rivers both for ocean and river steamers.*’
229. In reply Captain Lynch was informed on tho 6th March 1840, that
there was no information on the records of Government regarding Maaghil fur­
ther than that it was situated about three miles above Basrah on the right back of
(a) Royal Geographical Society's Journal, vol. xiv, p. 219.
(A) " On tbo part of MeaopotoraU contained between Shcriat-eMlcytlia on tho Tigria, ood Tol Ibrahim," bj
Lieutenant Bawihir, I. N,—Royal Geographical Society's Journal, ixxvii, p. 1G0.
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