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 LOSS OF THE TIGRIS.
 
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 THE 
 
 LOSS OF THE TIGRIS 
 
 A POEM. 
 
 IN TWO CANTOS. 
 
 WITH NOTES. 
 
 INSCRIBED TO THK 
 
 COMMANDER, OFFICERS, AND MEN OF THE 
 EUPHRATES EXPEDITION. 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY RICHARDSON, A. B. 
 
 Ineubuere mari, totumque a sedibus imis 
 
 Una Eurusque Notusque ruunt, creberque procellis 
 
 Africus, et vastos volvunt ad litora fluctus. 
 
 Ponto nox incubat atra. 
 
 Praesentemque viris intentant omnia mortem. — jEii. i. 31. 
 
 LONDON : 
 .1. IIATCJIARD AND SON, 187, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1810.
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BV IBOTSON AND PAJWWKR, 
 
 SAVOY STREET.
 
 
 
 The following Poem is intended as a trifling tribute of re- 
 spect to the memory of the brave men who perished in 
 the Euphrates Expedition by a calamity sudden as awful, 
 and which no human foresight could have prevented ; and 
 it is inscribed with esteem to the gallant commander, and 
 the intrepid survivors, who, through circumstances of un- 
 paralleled difficulty and danger, ably accomplished the 
 objects of the enterprise. 
 
 7755'
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface ...... Page ix 
 
 Canto the First — The Euphrates .... 1 
 
 Canto the Second — The Hurricane . . . .1? 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Notes to Canto the First . . . . 37 
 
 Notes to Canto the Second ..... 45
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Yes — I admit it folly — even worse 
 In these prosaic days to write in rhyme ; 
 Who in their senses now will scribble verse : 
 The age e'en nauseates its jingling chime ; 
 Nor can we count it strange, so short the time 
 Since high bards roam'd its richest fields along ; 
 Calling each blossom rare, and theme sublime ; 
 Leaving for all the humble minstrel throng 
 Nought but a barren waste, those masters of the song. 
 
 II. 
 
 First he ! whose mind ungovern'd ne'er at rest — 
 Reckless and mauly to the heavens cast 
 Thoughts — morbid venom of a selfish breast, 
 Perverting principle — a mental blast,
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 Scattering false views and errors free and fast : 
 Whose satire, like the lava's burning stream, 
 Flowed to its point to wither, and to last — 
 Whose talent versatile, grasp'd every theme — 
 Still the freethinker spoke, and what was Faith ? — a 
 dream ! 
 
 III. 
 
 Then he ! whose magic song can never die, 
 Whose witching strain can never be forgot, 
 Engraved upon the mind of memory, 
 To live and charm till memory is not. 
 Thy wizard lay, thou true enchanter, Scott. 
 And the wild shepherd bard who loved the gloom 
 Of mist-capped mountain, glen, and fairy grot; 
 And she ! the muses' child — alas ! her doom — 
 When will the tear be wiped they dropped on Hemans? 
 tomb ? 
 
 IV. 
 
 And living and illustrious bards there are, 
 
 Whose harps have charmed and will, whose numbers 
 
 run 
 Soothly and sweetly, may they proudly wear 
 Their garland wreaths, for garlands they have won —
 
 I'RKFACE. XI 
 
 Proud they may be, for bravely they have done : 
 And what is he, who dares their praises ring? 
 A son of song, but eke its weakest son — 
 One who so loves the craft he needs must sing, 
 But strikes a lyre so rude, it jars on every string. 
 
 V. 
 
 Then farewell Poesy ! if o'er thy fire 
 To quench its blaze a flood of scorn is flowing ? 
 Still would I rake the ashes round my lyre, 
 Haply to keep one dying ember glowing ; 
 Though vain the task, nor w r orth the time bestowing. 
 But scorn not lays — proud England, ere so tame, 
 Acts of high worth and gallant bearing showing — 
 Scorn not the bard, who fans the slighted flame 
 To sparkle round a daring deed, and flash upon its fame.
 
 THE 
 
 LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. 
 
 CANTO THE FIRST. 
 
 THE EUPHRATES. 
 
 " And the fourth river is Euphrates." 
 
 Gen. ii. 14. 
 
 I. 
 
 Tt came — the wild Typhoon ? — the Hurricane ! 
 With fury lashing on each maddened wind — 
 Mischief and havoc — ruin in its train — 
 Chaotic darkness and confusion blind 
 The blessed eye of day, to veil from sight 
 Their deeds of horror in the clouds of night ! 
 
 Such were the storms which on th' Euphrates' side 
 Scattered in olden time destruction wide, 
 O'erwhelmed his conquering force, and humbled 
 Julian's pride. 1 
 
 1 Tradition still asserts that a large portion of Julian's fleet was destroyed 
 
 15
 
 2 I'HK I.oss OF THE TIGRIS. [CANTO I. 
 
 Or like that hurricane which Sibyl lore 2 
 Aflhnis shook mighty Babylon, and bore, 
 With force impetuous and a power divine, 
 False Baal's tower to earth, and crushed his impious 
 shrine. 
 
 II. 
 
 With the lurid gloom 
 
 Ol' the fell Simoom," 
 With its blight and deadly banc, 
 
 With wreck and wrack 
 
 Tn its headlong track, 
 It rushed on Syria's plain : 
 
 And the blast of its breath 
 
 Was fraught with death — 
 It came — the Hurricane ! — 
 
 By lightnings fed, 
 
 With fury it sped; 
 Trees up by the roots it tore ; 
 
 on the Euphrates by a hurricane in his memorable expedition to Persia ; and 
 Gibbon in his Roman history states, on the authority of the heroic Xenophon, 
 that the loose sand of the desert was frequently raised by the wind into clouds 
 of dust : and a great number of the soldiers of Julian, with their tents, were 
 suddenly thrown to the ground by the violence of an unexpected hurricane. 
 
 2 Josephus relates, upon the testimony of a Sibyl, that the gods threw down 
 the tower by an impetuous wind, or a violent hurricane. — Hist. Jud. 1. i. c. 4. 
 
 3 The Simoom is described as a mass of clouds of intense blackness, and 
 moving with impetuous velocity, with their edges of a fiery red, supposed to 
 be occasioned by the refraction of the sun's rays through the sands of the 
 desert, which it raises in immense volumes.
 
 CANTO I.] THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. B 
 
 And it scattered the dust 
 
 With a whirling gust, 
 As it raged the desert o'er ; — 
 
 And its frowning brow 
 
 Shot an angry glow, 
 And it howled with wrath and ire ; 
 
 And it came like night 
 
 (Save a meteor light) 
 With clouds and darkness dire : 
 
 O'er Bactria vast, 4 
 
 It widely cast 
 That meteoric gleam ; 
 
 And held its course 
 
 With electric force 
 Down famed Euphrates' stream. 
 
 III. 
 
 And there Britannia's conquering flag was flying, 
 Raised by a few bold hearts, her warriors brave ; 
 
 And there her gallant steamers, swiftly plying, 
 Explore a passage down its classic wave. 
 
 4 " According to the traditions of antiquity preserved in the sacred books 
 of the Parsees and in the Shah Nameh, the immortal poem of Ferdosee, there 
 existed in the most remote ages, with sacerdotal institutions akin to those of 
 India, a mighty and extensive empire in Bactria or Eastern Persia ; the 
 branch of the Caucasian stem, called the Indo-Persian race, spread over Iran, 
 the country between Babylonia and India. Its chief seat was Bactria." — 
 Dr. hardness Outlines of History. 
 
 15 2
 
 I THE Loss OF THE TIGRIS. [CANTO I. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Hail to the bright red cross ! — in Asia's skies 
 Not as of yore it flaunts with bow and blade ; 
 
 It waves the harbinger of peace ; and flies 
 To herald no fanatical crusade. 
 
 V. 
 
 But friendly intercourse — And hail ! to thee 
 
 Great stream ! above all others famed and blest, 
 
 For thou didst flow from Paradise — didst see 
 Man in full innocence and virtue dressed. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Through Eden's groves thy limpid waters purled, 
 And our first parents may have bathed them in, 
 
 Before their fall to Satan curst the world 
 
 With thistles, thorns, death, anarchy, and sin. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Then came the deluge, when the deadly flood 
 O'erwhelmed e'en Paradise, and night and day 
 
 For live long moons upon the earth it stood ; 
 But still it might not wash that curse away. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Still in the buoyant ark sin found its birth, 
 Embarked with Noah to his race to cling — 
 
 To dwell defiling human kind on earth, 
 Till sainted sacrifice destroyed its sling.
 
 CANTO I.] THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. 
 
 * 
 
 IX. 
 
 Yes, sin remained man's heritage— remains — 
 But from its thraldom Mercy 'fore the flood 
 
 A ransom promised to lost man, who gains 
 
 Redemption purchased with his Maker's blood. 
 
 X. 
 
 O precious boon ! by faith 'tis thine — 'tis mine — 
 Mysterious gift, past mental scope to scan ! — 
 
 Bow and believe — what may weak sense divine 
 Of wisdom's works — the Maker and the man ? 
 
 XI. 
 
 Yes, sin remained — and did thy proud stream mark 
 The secret feelings in man's bosom lurking, 
 
 His fierce ambition, thoughts and passions dark, 
 His vain presumptuous spirit wildly working? 
 
 XII. 
 
 Then thou didst see him tempt, and heaven defy, 
 Build Baal's lofty tower and Babylon, 
 
 With palaces and hanging gardens high, 
 
 Which seemed their rival clouds to rest. upon. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 And thou his greatest, grandest works hast viewed, 
 And seen them sink and perish stone by stone — 
 
 His generations passing — lost — renewed — 
 
 His states and empires— rising — fall'n — gone —
 
 6 THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. [CANTO I. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 His pomp, vain-glory, might and majesty — 
 
 His hosts, fleets, armies, battles lost and won — 
 
 But all regardless of man's vanity, 
 
 Ever the same Great Stream, thou rolledst on. 
 
 XV. 
 And thou unmoved hast seen as captives led 
 Israel's sons, and e'en his lovely daughters, 
 When, mourning Sion's days of glory fled, 
 They sat and wept heart-broken by thy waters. 5 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Their silent harps they hung thy banks along, 
 On branches of the willow's weeping tree : 
 
 Their cruel captors bade them sing a song 
 Of Sion's ancient, sweetest minstrelsy. # 
 
 XVII. 
 
 But how could they their mournful voices raise 
 Obedient to the harsh, ill-timed command ; 
 
 Too sad to sing, though e'en Jehovah's praise, 
 In abject bondage, in a stranger's land. 
 
 xvni. 
 
 Ah stiff-necked race ! once blest and now most curst — 
 A living prophecy fulfilled — fulfilling ! 
 
 5 By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered 
 thee, Sion. Psalm 1 37.
 
 ? 
 
 CANTO I.] THE LOSS OF THE TIGEIS. 
 
 Blest as by heaven's special favour nursed — 
 Now curst in blood, a holy Saviour's spilling. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Scattered and scorned — the pity of the good — 
 Haste, reassemble, rouse thy tribes and come, 
 
 Repent — be cleansed in that Saviour's blood, 
 And wait with faith his bright Millennium. 
 
 XX. 
 
 But when in wrath and ire great Cyrus stood, 6 
 And for thine arrogauce did madly dream 
 
 Of cutting into puny rills thy flood ! — 
 
 Say — did the monarch humble thee, proud stream 
 
 XXI. 
 
 No ; — for collecting all thy waters' power, 
 
 And bursting o'er each weak and feeble fence, 
 Thetoil and v. ort of myriads — in an hour 
 Thou laugh'dst to scorn that vain king's impotence. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 But still thou ever didst thy powr's combine 
 With human kind in aid of human good ; 
 
 And led by man wouldst calmly mingle thine 
 With thy twin-brother rapid Tigris' flood." 
 
 6 Herodotus relates that the great Cyrus caused the Euphrates to be cut by 
 his army into 360 channels, in childish revenge upon the river in which one 
 of his sacred horses was drowned. — See Gibbon's Roman History. 
 
 7 These works, objects of admiration for the skilful in all ages, were more 
 useful than magnificent. In the beginning of the summer, on the sun's melting
 
 8 THE LOSS OF THE TIG1US. [CANTO I. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 And now along thy rich and fertile shore 
 Britannia's steamer ships are swiftly plying, 
 
 And thou hast heard her echoing cannon roar," 
 And seen her conquering banner proudly Hying. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 River of Asia ! records old and rare, 
 
 And mythic annals, speak thy praise and glory ; 
 And tales of strange and wild enchantment are 
 
 Mingled and blended with each mystic story. 
 
 the snow on the mountains of Armenia, there arises a vast increase of waters, 
 which, running into the Euphrates in the months of June and July, makes it 
 overflow its banks, and occasions such another inundation as the Nile does 
 in Egypt. To prevent the damage which both the city and country received 
 from these inundations, at a very considerable distance above Babylon arti- 
 ficial canals were cut, which turned the course of these waters into the Tigris. 
 And to secure the country yet more from inundations, and to keep the river 
 within its channel, they raised banks on both sides, built with bricks cemented 
 with bitumen, which began at the head of the artificial canals, and extended 
 below the city. To facilitate the making of these works, it was necessary 
 to turn the course of the river ; for which purpose to the west of Babylon 
 was dug an artificial lake 40 miles scpiare, ICO in compass, and 35 feet deep, 
 according to Herodotus, and 75 according to Megasthenes. Into this lake 
 the whole river was turned, by an artificial canal cut from the west side of it, 
 
 8 " Having this day terminated our labours for the present, I could not 
 refuse the gratification to myself, and of all who have supported me so 
 zealously, of firing a gun for each year that the King has been spared, and 
 long may his Majesty reign over the most devoted subjects." — Extract from 
 a letter from Colonel Chesney to Sir John Hobhouse, dated Bussora, 19th of 
 June 1830".
 
 CANTO I.] THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. 9 
 
 XXV. 
 
 But couldst thou every deed or tale recal 
 Or told or done on thine enchanted stream, 
 
 Would any seem more strange — more magical, 
 Than Man's control — dominion over steam ? 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 How may it thee affect ? — the mental eye 
 Views in perspective flag on flag unfurled ; 
 
 Sees countless steamers o'er thy bosom fly, 
 Bearing commercial treasures to the world. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Again thy cities rise — not, as of yore, 
 
 With heathen minarets, or Moslem fanes ; 
 
 till the whole work was finished, when it was made to flow in its former 
 channel ; but that the Euphrates in the time of its increase might not over- 
 flow the city through the gates on its side, this lake, with the canal from it, 
 was still preserved. The water received into the lake at this time was kept 
 there all the year as in a common reservoir for the benefit of the country, to 
 be let out by sluices at convenient times for the watering the lands below it. 
 The lake, therefore, was equally useful in defending the country from inunda- 
 tions and making it fertile. 
 
 " Berosus Megasthenes, and Abydenus, quoted by Josephus and Eusebius, 
 make Nebuchadnezzar the author of these works ; but Herodotus ascribes the 
 bridge, the two quays of the river and the lake, and also two towers at the 
 two ends of the bridge, which had a communication with each other by a 
 vault or tunnel built under the channel of the river at the time of its being 
 dry, to Nitocris, the daughter of that monarch. Perhaps Nitocris might 
 finish what her father left imperfect at his death, on which account that his- 
 torian might give her the honour of the whole undertaking." — See Rollin's 
 Ancient History.
 
 10 THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. [CANTO I. 
 
 The christian steeple crowns thy lovely shore, 
 The gospel triumphs, and the crescent wanes. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 A thousand miles by desert vale and hill 
 Thy waters flow, a channel deep and wide 
 
 To wealth and intercourse, but lost until 
 
 A Chesncy's master-mind the power applied. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Steam ! — in its infancy thy power is styled — 
 When age matures and gives thee all thy rights, 
 
 What wilt thou be, great infant? — giant child 
 Of nature's elemental opposites. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 By fire and water's teeming influence made, 
 As slave to man thy magic power is sent ; 
 
 Formed and controlled by elemental aid 
 To combat, vanquish every element. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 But to our tale 
 
 .... 'Twere hard to say 
 
 What magic placed the steamers there, 
 How carried all the toilsome way 
 
 From Antioch to the fort of Bir. 9 
 
 9 See Appendix.
 
 CANTO I.] THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. 11 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Pontoons were thrown o'er torrents deep, 
 The marsh was drained, the rock was riven ; 
 
 Their boilers up the mountain steep 
 
 Were inch by inch propelled and driven. 1 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 And harassed without intermission 
 
 By the false Pacha's broken faith — 
 By secret plots and opposition — 
 
 By treachery, disease, and death. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 But never from the work recoiling, 
 
 A firm resolve, and courage strong ; 
 Perseverance, ceaseless toiling, 
 
 Had borne them piece by piece along, 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 At length the ships (the Arabs' wonder !) 
 
 Were by their crews, so justly famed, 
 Launched — and amidst their cannon's thunder 
 
 The Tigris and the Euphrates named. 
 
 1 Colonel Chesney states that in many instances, on ascending tlic lulls 
 the only possible way they could propel the boilers forward was by jack- 
 screws .'
 
 12 THE LOSS OF TI1F. TIGRIS. [CANTO [. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Right gallant hearts were those who manned them, 
 
 Bold hearts resolved to fall or stand ; 
 And bravely did their chief command them, 
 
 With reason proud of such a band.* 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 And proud were they of their commander, 
 
 Full well might he their duty claim ; 
 For seldom had a project grander 
 
 Marshalled a gallant band to fame. 
 
 XXXV1M. 
 
 And nobly was that band befriended 
 
 By a monarch brave and wise, 3 
 Whose favour and whose smiles attended 
 
 The chieftain, and the enterprise. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 That chief once down that stream had gone 4 
 To thread its winding course alone, 
 
 Its shoals and depths acquire, 
 And floating on a fragile raft, 
 Nor helm to guide, nor sail to waft, 
 
 Had braved the Arab's fire. 
 
 2 See Appendix. 3 and 1 Ibid.
 
 CANTO I.] THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. 13 
 
 XL. 
 
 Man with his fellow man will brave 
 All that may chance on land or wave ; 
 
 But minds of highest tone 
 Are those, who thus their country serve 
 In danger's path with heart and nerve, 
 
 Unaided and alone. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 He braved rock, rapid, tempest, fire, 
 Dared human, elemental ire — 
 
 Nought could his zeal withstand ; 
 And proved how short a route thus ran 
 Through Persia's Gulf to Hindostan, 
 
 And India's golden land. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 And he on Russia's throne who sat, 5 
 The haughty northern autocrat, 
 
 Had marked that eastern gem ; 
 This was his path to seize, surprise — 
 To grasp and place the envied prize 
 
 On his colossal diadem. 
 
 5 " And if an additional motive be wanting in favour of the Persian Gulf, 
 it cannot have escaped the Committee, that the Euphrates is a highway to 
 India, either to ourselves or the Russians : and being easily defended by the 
 possessor, we must lose the commerce of Arabia, if Russia anticipates us ; 
 whereas if we open it, we secure and shall enlarge our commerce, and by 
 shutting her out of the easiest route to India, we oblige him to resort to a
 
 1! i in: loss OF THE TIGRIS. [CANTO I. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 But now the governed power of steam, 
 Defying adverse wind and stream, 
 
 Might well that path explore ; 
 And England send her heroes forth 
 To curb the giant of the north, 
 
 And guard the treacherous door. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 That other routes there eke may be 
 By Danube, Nile, and Suez' sea, 
 
 Fair time and tide befal, 
 Where is the question — where the doubt ? 
 To bear her royal mandates out, 
 
 Let England open all. 6 
 
 tedious march through Persia, which must employ sufficient time to enable 
 us to assemble a force along the N. W. frontier, as well as strengthen by rein- 
 forcements taken from the Mediterranean, and carried down to the south 
 of Russia by rafts." — Appendix to Report from Select Committee on Steam 
 Navigation to India, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, lAlh 
 July, 1834. 
 
 6 " For all might be rendered available, though each has its advantages 
 and disadvantages. The route by the Danube is estimated as the least ex- 
 pensive, and must be regarded as a cheap and valuable resource, which might 
 be open to us at a moment when convulsions or warfare might close the others. 
 But it is subject to Austrian espionage in opening letters, war, ice, and long 
 land journey. The route by the Red Sea is safe and expeditious, except 
 for four months in the year when the S.W. monsoon blows, during which 
 period it is unavailable. The route by the Euphrates is " easy, safe, and
 
 CANTO I.] THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. 15 
 
 XLY. 
 
 Still higher motives we may find 
 To stimulate a master mind, 
 
 And urge it dauntless on ; 
 Perhaps to raise the fallen state 
 Of Nineveh, 7 of yore so great, 
 
 And Asia's glory — Babylon. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 To guide on unknown streams the helm ; 
 In Iran's long benighted realm, 8 
 
 Extinguish dark idolatry ; 
 And spread amongst Assyria's youth 
 A pure religion — gospel truth — 
 
 And light of Christianity. 
 
 economical." — See Report from the Select Committee on Steam Navigation to 
 India, page 55. 
 
 7 " Nineveh was the Assyrian capital on the Tigris ; it fell GOG before 
 Christ. The Babylonians dwelt on the Tigris and Lower Euphrates, and 
 their industry had made their land the garden of Asia." See Outlines of 
 History, Dr. Lardner. 
 
 8 " The system of religion named from Zoroaster prevailed in Bactria, 
 and the sacerdotal caste stood in rights and privileges nearly on a par with 
 the Bramins of India, who probably possessed originally a similar institution. 
 The idolatrous Arema;an priesthood united itself with that of Bactria :, bnt 
 when the Aremsean or Babylonian dominion sunk, and the Iranian revived 
 in the person of Feridoon, the old religion recovered its dominion: changes 
 of dynasty affected it not, it passed to Medes and Persians, and still was 
 flourishing when the disciples of Mohammed extinguished it in blood. The 
 simple religion of Zoroaster worshipped, under the emblem of light and fire, 
 the Author of life and happiness." — Outlines of History, Dr. Lardner.
 
 ](j THE LOSS t»l THE TIGRIS. | CANTO I. 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 Such were the motives, such the man, 
 Who formed and framed the brilliant plan, 
 
 And organised the scheme, 
 Which caused Great Britain's steamers ply, 
 Iler red cross banner proudly fly 
 
 Adovvn the Euphrates' stream. 
 
 XLVI1I. 
 
 lie who would gain the point at heart, 
 Must act the bold decisive part 
 
 To earn a deathless fame : 
 Long will that classic river's side, 
 And Syria's realms, both far and wide, 
 Where nomadic wild Arabs ride, 
 
 Resound with Chesney's name. 
 
 9 " From the earliest dawn of history the Arabs have led the nomadic life 
 to which the nature of their country has destined them. The numerous 
 tribes under the government of their sheiks and emirs roam the desert apart, 
 now in friendship, now in hostility. The camel and the horse are their com- 
 panions and support. The strangers who penetrate their wilds have always 
 been regarded as lawful prizes : under the various names of Edomites, Ish- 
 maelites, Midianites, we find their tribes in friendly and hostile relations with 
 the nation of Israel, with whom many of them acknowledge kindred. Their 
 religious worship is chiefly directed to the heavenly bodies." — See Dr. Lard- 
 ner's Outlines of History. 
 
 END OF CANTO I.
 
 CANTO THE SECOND. 
 
 THE HURRICANE. 
 
 " And there lies a wreck, on the breakers cast, 
 Marking the spot where the storm had past" — 
 
 I. 
 
 Offspring of Ishmael, Arab, desert child, 
 Proudly and patriarchal dost thou dwell, 
 Hostile to all, unaltered, fierce and wild, 
 Thy character prophetic holding well : 
 Marked as the Jew— a standing miracle ! 
 Unconquered and unconquerable, free — 
 Repelling, ever ready to repel : — 
 For Heaven's mandate dooms,— thine hand shall be 
 'Gainst every man, and every man 'gainst thee. 1 
 
 1 " And he will be a wild man ; his hand will be against every man, and 
 every man's hand against him : and he shall dwell in the presence of all bis 
 brethren." — Genesis xvi. 12. 
 
 C
 
 18 THF LOSS OF THE TIGlUs. [CANTO II. 
 
 II. 
 
 Allhamla and Aljanra,- still thy cry ! — 
 Thus by false prophet marshalled to the fight, 
 To make thee great, God granted victory — 
 Willed for a time a subtle dark faith might 
 Eclipse the splendour of the creed of light : 
 Sprung from true seed, but illegitimate — 
 Its law the sword — its motto, " might, not right." — 
 Where was an empire greater or as great 
 As the proud Moslem's undivided Caliphate ? 
 
 III. 
 
 Great shall thy nation be, — Thus spake " the word," — 
 Great was thy nation, sterile is thy land ; 
 But ne'er subdued by the invader's sword, 
 Thy language, manners, garb and customs, stand 
 From central Africa to Samarcand : 
 Preserving independence, race and name, 
 Alone of every Asiatic band : 
 Holding thine own, pre-eminent in fame, 
 For kindling, keeping lit, Freedom's celestial flame. 
 
 IV. 
 
 On Tigris' banks, or Tagus, Shinah, Spain, 
 
 In Araby the barren or the blest, 
 
 Thy stamp original thou didst maintain, 
 
 And in thy native costume armed and dressed, 
 
 2 Allhamla — ■fight. Aljanra — paradise.
 
 CANTO II.] THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. 19 
 
 Cap, belt and boot, and dagger at thy vest ; 
 Thine hand all ready as the vulture's claw 
 To seize on rapine at thy Shiek's behest — 
 Such thy wild character, its bane and flaw 
 Revenge— a principle; unbridled will — thy law. 
 
 V. 
 
 But Christianity would haply win 
 That hand in friendship, point the path to life, 
 Still might ye " dwell your brethren's presence in," 
 Enjoy each social comfort, children, wife, 
 Blessing and blest, nor red that hand in strife : 
 Weed from thine heart false Mahomet's mad creed, 
 Calm thy fierce nature, now for plunder rife, 
 Then on thy " Desert ship," 3 star guided, speed, 
 Or scour the sandy wastes, vaulting thy lightning steed. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Kochlani, fabled steeds, inured and taught 
 To feed on air, hunger and thirst defy ; 
 Bred in the desert wilds of Hadramaut, 
 On torrid plains, beneath a tropic sky ; 
 Traced from the stalls of Solomon, ye fly 
 Swift as the meteor through the desert's gloom : 
 But to portray each wondrous quality 
 By ye possest, would need a wizard plume ; 
 So fare ye well, brave steeds, and we our tale resume. 
 
 3 The camel is termed the ship of the desert. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 THE loss OF THE TIGRIS. [CANTO II. 
 
 I. 
 
 Red was the east, and Asia's sun 
 That morn in ire his race begun, 
 
 Blood-like his beams appear ; 
 And eyes behold its rising bright, 
 That ne'er shall see its setting light 
 
 The western hemisphere. 
 
 II. 
 
 Orb of light which ne'er reposes, 
 Eye of day which never closes, 
 
 Which light and life supplies 
 To the round world, and daily shines 
 Where freedom smiles, or slavery pines, 
 On heathen or on christian shrines ; — 
 
 Sun of the azure skies, 
 Thy beams the rolling world comprising, 
 Ever setting, ever rising, 
 
 On city, fort, or fleet ; 
 In every clime, so wide her sway, 
 Thy setting or thy rising ray 
 
 England's pi-oud flag must meet. 
 
 III. 
 
 And fleecy streaks like spectral shrouds 
 Were fringing all the lurid clouds 
 
 Which load the angry sky ; 
 Thus ghastly pale the brow of ire 
 Oft scowls above the vengeful fire 
 
 Kindling in Passion's eye.
 
 CANTO II. J THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. 21 
 
 IV. 
 
 Blithely the Tigris leads the way, 
 Her chieftain's pennant streaming gay, 
 
 With flag and bannerol pride ; 
 Threading her course with fairy ease, 
 Buoyant as feather on the breeze, 
 
 She skiins the liquid tide. 
 
 V. 
 
 Emblem of life and all its train 
 Of futile fancies, frail and vain, 
 
 Which nought we trust can sever ; 
 At morn o'er Hope's smooth wave we sail, 
 Spread all our canvass to the gale, 
 
 At eve we sink for ever. 
 
 VI. 
 
 And hearts are there which fondly dwell 
 On feelings pure ; affection's spell 
 
 Still binds where'er we roam ; 
 Whose dreaming thoughts and visions flee 
 To what they ne'er again shall see — 
 
 Wives, children, lovers, home. 
 
 VII. 
 
 For now the end of toil was nigh ; 
 Fame was near, and hope was high ; 
 
 Their onward course was plain :
 
 2-2 THE l.oss OF THE TIGRIS. [CANTO II. 
 
 When, as to cross their glory's path, 
 Armed with electric fire and wrath, 
 It came — the Hurricane ! 
 
 VIII. 
 
 They see it coming, hardly see, 
 Ere it is on them, rapidly 
 
 As scathing lightning's flash ! 
 And scarce may orders issued he 
 When, loud as heaven's artillery, 
 
 In thunder bursts the crash. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Tongue may not speals, or pen indite, 
 Its fearful fury, clothed in night — 
 
 Description all were vain : 
 None but who saw it can conceive, 
 None but who felt it may believe 
 
 Its force — that Hurricane !' 
 
 X. 
 
 " Bear up for land, all hands make fast, 
 Anchors down till the storm is past," 
 
 The signal flies for land : 
 But scarce th' Euphrates holds her own, 
 Superior power of steam alone 5 
 
 Saved Estcourt and his band. 
 
 4 See Appendix. Notes, Canto II. 
 
 5 The steam-power of the Euphrates was treble that of the Tigris, and in
 
 CANTO II.] THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. 23 
 
 XI. 
 
 A gallant chief and gallant band, 
 And well they met it heart and hand, 
 
 And instant to the shore, 
 The sailor's last best friend and hope, 
 Anchors, cables, chain, and rope, 
 
 And grappling-irons bore. 
 
 XII. 
 
 And see the Tigris strikes the side, 
 But, with the shock recoiling wide, 
 
 Back in the surge is driven ; 
 The anchor falls, the rattling chain 
 Flies clanking — crashing — all in vain — 
 
 From bows and capstan riven ! — 
 
 XIII. 
 
 And roaring, raging, furious, fast, 
 Broadside upon her falls the blast, 
 
 And bears her down the wave : 
 That blast must every effort mock, 
 No human skill can ward the shock, 
 
 No arm but Heaven's can save. 
 
 making the land she was obliged to back her paddles to avoid running foul, 
 as the Tigris was drifting across her bows : and with great difficulty she again 
 gathered way. Her escape was next to a miracle, and can only be attributed, 
 under Providence, to her superior steam-power and the exertions of her 
 gallant crew. — See Appendix.
 
 2J THE Loss OF THE TIGRIS. [CANTO 11. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Fore and aft, on every side, 
 
 The breaking wave's o'erwhelming tide 
 
 Each port and hatchway drinks : 
 Then passed the word, " Let every man 
 Save himself — and save who can 
 
 God for us all she sinks!" 
 
 XV. 
 
 Oh ! what an awful moment, when 
 Dark fate comes rushing thus on men ! 
 When, brief and sudden notice given, 
 Death grasps his prey, and life is riven ; 
 'Tis then the valiant face the blow — 
 'Tis then the coward grovels low — 
 'Tis then we see true courage shine — 
 Then mark the force of discipline — 
 All calm and cool the steady band 
 Firm at their quarters take their stand, 
 
 No hearts were there to flinch : 
 Inspired by those with whom they served, 
 Nerved by a courage such as nerved 
 
 A Chesney, and a Lynch. 
 Brave Lynch, who did not then forget 
 He owed stern duty still one debt,
 
 >a 
 
 1 
 
 . mSBSBm 
 
 \$ 
 
 td 

 
 CANTO II.] THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. 25 
 
 When human skill could naught avail, 
 And the fiei'ce fury of the gale 
 
 Might crush all power of thinking — 
 Vessel and crew the wild waves' sport ! — 
 Still bore in mind he should report 
 
 The fated ship was sinking. 
 Right gallant spirits those — and high — 
 Which thus at the door of death comply 
 With discipline's formality — 
 Bv his commander's side he stood, 
 With him to live, or perish in the flood. 
 
 Then passed the word " to save :" 
 And now dispersed each warrior crowds 
 Where'er he lists, in tops or shrouds, 
 
 To shun a watery grave : 
 And they upon the after-deck 
 Wait their fate in the sinking wreck, 
 Which labours in the desperate strife 
 As though it were " a thing of life ;" 
 And as the billows o'er it fly, 
 Trembles and strains convulsively, 
 And heavily from side to side 
 Rolls deep, as if it vainly tried 
 Thus to disgorge the whelming tide. 
 The deck heaves up, beams, stanchions sever — 
 Down, down the Tigris goes for ever! — 
 And England's banner shredded, torn 
 In fragments, on the blast is borne — 
 The chieftain's pennant high is tost
 
 0(J Till; LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. [CANTO II. 
 
 A moment ilickers, and is lost. — 
 Like autumn's leaves on winter's blast, 
 The crew upon the Hood arc cast. 
 Now life or death — ply every limb — 
 Life is the stake — for life they swim : 
 Can swimming save, or aught avail, 
 In such a sea and howling gale ? 
 Wave on wave with fury lashing, 
 Billows bounding, breaking, dashing — 
 White spray borne upon the gust 
 Thick as the desert's drifting dust, 
 And darkness all 
 While fierce the squall 
 Rushed hurtling, tearing by : — 
 Some upon the torrent driving, 
 Struggling, panting, plunging, diving- 
 Clutched by their comrades, die. 
 Then came the tug, 
 And the deadly hug, 
 Friend grappling friend 
 Till their struggles end. 
 Love the object loved will clasp, 
 Hate its hated victim grasp ; 
 But where a hold more constant than 
 The griping clutch of a drowning man ? — 
 
 They sank ! 
 Nine with their leader gain the bank, 
 
 The rest, beneath the blow 
 Which plunged the Tigris in the wave,
 
 CANTO II.] THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. 27 
 
 All found a deep and hurried grave 
 
 In the " Great River''' low. 6 
 The squall passed on, and ten alone 
 
 Of all that band were seen ; 
 And the sun shone bright, with a laughing light, 
 
 Where the ship and her crew had been. 
 Clear and high 
 
 Lovely it shone in the stormy sky, 
 Dispelling the mist of the hurricane's breath, 
 And lifting the veil from the work of death. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 And it ever will shine with the same clear light, 
 Though Death should be busy from morn till night ; 
 Should a mist or a cloud obscure its view, 
 Darken its beams as they pierce it through, 
 Death ! — cares not he for a single spark, 
 Spoiler alike in light or dark. 
 And wherever it shines, Death ever is seen 
 Mowing his harvest ripe or green : 
 And still must it shine with a light as true, 
 Though Death should be busy and bloody too, 
 As he was on the plains of Waterloo : 
 What recks the sun for the life's short span 
 Of sin's ephemeral offspring — Man ? 
 He who hath made it, hath bid it shine, — 
 Hath told it, " Thou hast no will but mine." 
 Shine ever then bright, shine ever thy best, 
 6 See Appendix.
 
 28 THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. [CAiNTO II. 
 
 Till He that hath made thee, shall hid thee rest. 
 Thus hright and high, 
 Lovely it shone in the stormy sky, 
 Ere minutes few and oriel* were spent 
 By death and the furious element. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 And thus o'er the soul 
 Will fieree thoughts roll, 
 And madly hold their reign ; 
 If for a season 
 Darkens reason 
 In passion's hurricane ! 
 And as the sun, all bright and high, 
 Shone out again in the stormy sky ; 
 So reason gains its wonted sway, 
 When passion's gale has passed an ay : 
 But oft, alas ! too late, 
 She gains it, and she grieves ; 
 For reason mourns to contemplate 
 The wreck that passion leaves. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 May not the muse one name reveal 
 
 Of all thus reft of breath ? 
 Were none of note, though true as steel, 
 Mere cogs on fortune's fickle wheel, 
 
 To work for faille and death i 
 Let not thy brow indignant burn,
 
 CANTO II.] THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. 29 
 
 Soldier ! we all are such, and learn 
 In nature's wide machinery 
 Of union and society, 
 
 We are together bound : 
 We all alike are toiling through it, 
 Each hath a duty, let him do it ; 
 We check, or urge each other on, 
 Pass and repass, now here, now gone ; 
 We tread its circle, turn in turn, 
 Eat bread which sweat of brow must earn, 
 
 And so the world goes round. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 " High names will hallow song," did proudly sing 
 
 The noble and first poet of the age : 
 Then Cockburn !* let thy fate and memory fling 
 
 A glimmering halo o'er this humble page. 
 Thy path was bright and promising ; for he 
 Who set cowed Europe's struggling nations free, 
 Hurled from ambition's head the forfeit crown, 
 And dashed proud Gallia's tow'ring eagle down, 
 
 For thee high interest made. 
 
 7 Lieutenant Cockburn, Royal Artillery, was one of the deplored sufferers. 
 Great interest had been made for his appointment. He joined, and soon after 
 left the expedition from ill health ; but his mother, who is a lady of superior 
 mind, on his getting better, urged his return ; he did so and perished, and she 
 consequently is inconsolable. When last seen, he was holding on by a car- 
 ronade.
 
 •'30 THE LOSS OF THE TIG HIS. [CANTO II. 
 
 Yet ! what avails it now ? Thy life is riven. 
 Vain, vain the world's, true interest is with Heaven. 
 He could not swim, and may perhaps have sighed, 
 " My fate is fixed, vain battling with the tide !" 
 True to the service which he loved, he died 
 Grasping a carronade ! 
 
 XX. 
 
 Nor yet has dried the bitter tear 
 
 For one so young and brave ; 
 He joined a gallant volunteer, 
 
 And perished in the wave : 
 Then let his name to fame be dear, 
 
 And let his praise be sung ; 
 But heavy falls that bitter tear 
 
 Wept for the brave and young. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 But what may bitter tears control, 
 
 Or check wild thoughts that ran, 
 Maddening an anguished mother's soul ? — 
 
 " I've sacrificed my son ! 
 I look for a form I cannot find, 
 
 A face that I never see ; 
 But ah ! that form still haunts my mind, 
 
 That face still smiles on me."
 
 CANTO II.] THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. :jl 
 
 O God ! 'tis thou alone can'st know 
 
 The pangs which parents feel ; 
 Thine hand in wisdom strikes the blow, 
 
 That hand the wound must heal. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 There were two brothers in the death-doomed bark ; 
 
 And one escaped, the other's life was reft ; 
 And here the words of holy Scripture mark ; 
 
 " One shall be taken, and the other left ! " 
 Dark and inscrutable are Wisdom's laws ! 
 
 But, Lynch, 8 you perished in a noble cause, 
 And your brave brother lives to carry through 
 
 Bright deeds of glory fate denied to you. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 On the brink of the angry flood, 
 Saved from its rage, their leader stood ; 
 His eagle glance was wandering o'er 
 The watery waste from shore to shore, 
 
 For ship and shipmates gone ! 
 What feelings on the heart then burst ? 
 
 8 Lieutenant Lynch, 21st Native Bengal Infantry, was another regretted 
 sufferer, brother to Lieutenant Lynch, the first lieutenant of the Tigris al- 
 luded to previously ; and who, since this little poem has been written, has 
 returned in triumph up the Euphrates, and been received everywhere by the 
 Arabs with friendship and cordiality.
 
 32 THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. [CANTO II. 
 
 Religion dictated the first — 
 " Great God, thy will be done !" 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 The chief, upon the flood or plain, 
 May mourn his followers sunk or .slain, 
 
 The battle lost or won : 
 But, gathered to the honoured dead, 
 They sweetly sleep in glory's bed — 
 
 Their duty bravely done. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 One tear for them — it is their due — 
 Then forward for the goal in view ; 
 
 Again th' Euphrates plies 
 Her dauntless course ; alone they trend 
 Their dangerous path, and proudly end, 
 
 And nobly win the prize. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 India received the chief, as he 
 
 And gallant chiefs should welcomed be, 
 
 With gifts— But " Hold !" he cried ; 
 " If aught is due, why, be it then 
 A monument to those brave men 
 
 Who perished by my side." 
 And India ! honour be to thee — 
 Their tomb erected is — or soon will be —
 
 CANTO II.] THE LOSS OF THE TIGRIS. 33 
 
 Where Anatho thy walls and turrets beam, 
 Brightly reflected in the sunny stream ; 
 Or where Karabla's rocks the torrent stem, 
 Making fit music for their requiem. 
 
 XXVTI. 
 
 Pray for the brave 
 Who died upon the Euphrates' wave : 
 Come kneel, come kneel 
 To heaven appeal 
 For those whom the Simoom slew : 
 For sudden as the meteor's flash 
 Fell the blow, and came the crash : 
 To their last account they're gone, 
 To meet their judge at Mercy's throne. 
 Then kneel, then kneel, 
 In woe or weal, 
 One prayer for the Tigris crew. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Reckless of dangers daily dared, 
 Daily threatened, daily spared, 
 If for death but ill prepared, 
 
 And confidence had hardened them, 
 Let us hope that ere it came, 
 Or e'en whilst flashed the wrathful flame, 
 They called on their Redeemer's name, 
 
 And God in mercy pardoned them. 
 
 i)
 
 34 THE Loss OF THE TIGRIS. [CANTO II. 
 
 And those who from the demon's dart 
 
 He in his wisdom spared, 
 Oh ! may they bear a thankful heart, 
 
 Thus saved, if unprepared : 
 And whilst they draw the vital breath, 
 
 Let each brave soldier try 
 To live — if never fearing death, 
 
 Yet ever fit to die. 
 
 END OF CANTO II.
 
 
 1 -■%- 
 
 
 >■
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 NOTES TO CANTO THE FIRST. 
 
 The following extracts from letters from Colonel Chesney to Sir 
 . Hobhouse are highly interesting, and give a sketch of the diffi- 
 culties encountered and surmounted by the expedition. These 
 letters were ordered to be printed by the House of Commons. 
 
 Note 1. — Stanza xxxi. lines 3 and 4, page 10. 
 
 " How carried all the toilsome way, 
 From Antioch to the fort of Bir." 
 
 " Euphrates Steamer, 18th March, 1836. 
 " We are in fact now arrived at the point where the two vessels 
 are fairly afloat, and the undertaking at large is in the most favour- 
 able position I have ever contemplated ; but unfortunately this 
 promising state of things has been attained at the expense of much 
 time, with heavy disbursements in proportion, and, what is to be 
 more regretted than both, the loss of some valuable lives, which 
 evils might in all human probability have been avoided in a great 
 measure, if I had at the very outset (when the public funds were 
 
 D 2
 
 :$<; APPENDIX. 
 
 nearly exhausted) purchased animals, so as to make at my own 
 risk, pending a reference to England, one more effort to overcome 
 the Pacha, who must (as it seems to me now) have opposed our 
 progress, if at all, by open force, had we been provided entirely with 
 our own means of moving across the country." " Everything else 
 has gone on as favourably as could be desired ; and I have, there- 
 fore, the inexpressible satisfaction of informing you, that the two 
 steamers, the Euphrates and Tigris, both fully maimed, commenced 
 the descent of this river on the 16th ; and, thanks to the very liberal 
 support given by government during the preparations, as well as 
 the unremitting care of all the officers in executing the transport, 
 notwithstanding all its difficulties, we are now in a complete state 
 of equipment, the boilers, engines, and machinery being quite as 
 safe, and even more perfect in their working details, than when 
 sent out of the maker's hands at Liverpool. During more than 
 eleven months spent in unceasing toils, which were met by the most 
 admirable constancy and brotherly unanimity throughout our little 
 band, no want has ever arisen for which we had not either a pro- 
 vision in store, or an adequate resource through the exercise of 
 intellectual ingenuity." " The navigation of the river Euphrates 
 is actually commenced on such a basis that the opening can scarcely 
 be rendered abortive, or even the arrangements disturbed, by any 
 event short of a general war extending itself to Arabia, or such 
 successful and diabolical intrigue as might place us in a state of 
 general hostility with the Arab tribes." " We constructed twenty- 
 seven wagons on the banks of the Orontes, which increased our 
 number to thirty-three, with the express object and the reasonable 
 expectation of carrying all the heavy weights across to Bir in the 
 course of about six weeks ; and the road having been repaired, and 
 Lieutenants Lynch and Cockburn placed at the station to receive 
 the stores of all kinds, the general arrangements were, that Lieu- 
 tenant Cleaveland, assisted by Mr. Char! wood, was to superintend 
 the line from Amelia depot to the Orontes above Antioch, where 
 the heavy weights were to be embarked and conveyed by Mr. 
 Fitzjames along the Karoon, and round the western side of the lake 
 (improperly called) of Antioch, until the level country at Moorad 
 Pacha, on its north-east side, was reached : at which place Captain 
 Estcourt took up the line and remained in charge, assisted by Mr.
 
 APPENDIX. 87 
 
 Eden, from thence to the final destination. Being thus provided 
 with our boats for the water transport in the centre (as it were) of 
 the grand line, and having thus completed by a string of wagons 
 on each side of it, the whole was in operation at once, with the 
 audition of caravans of camels and mules carrying the lighter 
 materials by another route, all the way from the sea to the river. 
 Most fortunately a few bullocks were purchased at first, and also 
 enough of horses for the four best artillery wagons, which proved 
 our chief resource, and by great efforts the work at the steamers 
 was kept going to a limited extent : but to do this in any degree, 
 the men and officers were exposed to the heat of summer, tantalised 
 most of the time by knowing that two-thirds of the line was really 
 provided with bullocks, which were rendered useless by the cir- 
 cumstance of the first and last being unprovided. Such exertions 
 in a trying season of the year could not be made without injurious 
 effects being experienced. The illness of most of the men was 
 followed by that of Messrs. Eden, Charlwood, and Fitzjames, and 
 finally Captain Estcourt, who was replaced in the general charge 
 of the line by Lieutenant Lynch, with instructions from me to pur- 
 chase animals, (if the Pacha did not give them,) so as to finish the 
 work before the rains set in. At first, things seemed to proceed 
 very favourably ; our horses were employed in working the things 
 over the first stage, which for a time put the whole line in a state 
 of animation, as far as the beginning of the last stage, for which 
 animals were also promised : therefore, believing that the people of 
 the Pacha were at last sincere, Lieutenant Lynch very properly 
 avoided the proposed purchase of bullocks, and continued his exer- 
 tions with those of the country, until the same system of delay and 
 disappointment was renewed and continued up to the fall of the 
 first rains, when the carriages were up to the axles in and sur- 
 rounded by water, and the diving-bell so entirely covered by the 
 swelling of the Moorad Pacha river, that its position was only 
 known approximately. In this discouraging state of things, with 
 the addition of increasing sickness, Lieutenant Lynch proposed 
 that I should go down to the transport, in order to see that it ought 
 to be abandoned until the next summer : I decided to continue our 
 efforts to bring in the Tigris' boilers, and Lieutenant Lynch having 
 been again attacked with, fever, the task of completing the trans-
 
 38 APPENDIX. 
 
 port was entrusted to Lieutenant Cleaveland, with an understanding 
 that I would undertake it myself when sufficiently recovered, if he 
 tailed in the meantime. Lieutenant Cleaveland and Mr. Cbarlwood 
 immediately set to work to warp the carriages (carrying the boilers) 
 from the inundation to dry ground, entirely by manual labour; 
 and the efforts of Mr. Hector were no less successful with the 
 diving-bell, which, after being found by means of poles and men 
 wading, was rolled a distance of eight hundred yards through the 
 water, and then placed on a carriage behind the boilers, ready to 
 move all at once, as soon as bullocks could he obtained, which was 
 the work of some weeks more, notwithstanding all the zealous 
 efforts of Mr. Consul Werry with the Pacha, aided by the repeated 
 visits of Lieutenant Cleaveland, who remained with his highness 
 on the boilers, until he and his persevering assistants, Messrs. 
 Eden and Charlwood, were greeted with three hearty cheers, mixed 
 with the discharge of rockets and patereroes, as the last piece of 
 boiler entered the station drawn by one hundred bullocks, guided 
 by fifty natives. A covered wagon arrived at Fort William on 
 one occasion with ten sick in it, under the charge of Dr. Staunton, 
 with a request that they might be immediately replaced along the 
 line, where but one effective man was left. At first I hesitated 
 to order men on such a discouraging service, but on leaving it in 
 part to volunteers, the number required were on the road in a few 
 hours ; although it required all the effective strength to complete 
 the object. The other marked occasion of general good will hap- 
 pened when the Musellim of Bir had taken away all the Sultan's 
 subjects, and desired that no assistance whatever should be given 
 to the expedition in any quarter. We were at this moment 
 anxiously expecting Lieutenant Cleaveland every hour with the 
 last piece of the Euphrates' boiler ; but instead of this, he came in 
 late one evening, on a gallop, to say that the country people had 
 all gone off with their bullocks, leaving the boiler on the road, 
 notwithstanding a contract had been made to bring it in, and part 
 of the money paid. At first I did not perceive any possible re- 
 source, and an application either to the authorities of the Sultan 
 or Ibrahim Pacha would be useless, nor could the whole of our 
 horses (which had arrived that very day) muster strength to move 
 so heavy a weight; but, as a last resource, I desired Captain
 
 APPENDIX. 39 
 
 Estcourt to get them ready for the morning, with an anchor, pul- 
 leys, tackling, &c, and as many men to assist the horses as could 
 be mustered. In the morning I crawled out of my bed to see the 
 party off, and found that every man, including the sick and boiler- 
 makers, had turned out. I kept back three of the weakest, who 
 remained with me at the station, whilst the whole of the rest 
 moved off with an animating cheer, which was to me the omen of 
 victory over the intrigues of the Pacha ; nor did any one enjoy 
 repose of any kind, until a clear night in Arabia, and not " of the 
 Arabian Nights' Tales," (as some distinguished men have termed 
 the project,) enabled them to place this heavy weight alongside the 
 vessel ; and very soon after she was in working trim, but delayed 
 on account of sickness, from which we were almost entirely free 
 up to the heat of July, when the effects of continued exertion were 
 so decided that no individual whatever escaped without having 
 had at least one serious illness, and eight were carried off. In 
 closing this long letter, I would hope that I had made it sufficiently 
 clear to whom the country is most indebted for the success which 
 has attended the operative part of the project : never, I believe, was 
 there an individual placed in my situation who received such zea- 
 lous, unremitting, and effective support as I have done throughout ; 
 and had it not been so, all must have been failure and disappoint- 
 ment. In my letter respecting the mission to the Arabs, I had to 
 speak of the exertions of Lieutenant Lynch ; and on a former oc- 
 casion I touched upon those of Captain Estcourt, when riding from 
 place to place, always bivouacking for months, to forward by every 
 possible means the objects entrusted to him; and if resources in 
 overcoming impediments, and constancy in using them, be any 
 criterion of the value of an officer, this gentleman will have little 
 difficulty in distinguishing himself some day or other in a more 
 marked way than he has done here, by passing a river or some 
 other such enterprise in the face of an enemy. Of the nautical 
 talents in sailing vessels of Lieutenant Cleaveland, R.N., Messrs. 
 Eden, Charlwood, and Fitzjames, mates R.N., it would not be 
 becoming on my part to speak ; but I can form some estimate of 
 their zeal, talents, and successful care during the transport, as well 
 as the equipment of two steam-vessels: and it strikes me forcibly 
 that such men as these, who have had the perseverance to move 
 boilers up hills inch by inch with jack-screws, and also to roll a
 
 40 APPENDIX. 
 
 diving bell for half a mile under water, will be equally likely, when 
 they have an opportunity, to bring their vessels out of action vic- 
 toriously, or save them by skill and courage from the fatal results 
 of a tempest on a lee shore." 
 
 " I have, &c. &c, 
 (Signed) " F. R. Chksney." 
 
 Note 2. Stanza xxxvi. line 4, page 12. 
 " With reason proud of such a band." 
 
 Extracts of a letter from Colonel Chesney to Sir John Hobhouse. 
 
 " I doubt whether the greatest efforts of my pen, with ample 
 strength and leisure, could enable me to make others comprehend 
 the extent of the zeal which has been excited, and the assistance 
 which has been given me, in this enterprise up to this moment : the 
 whole of the men were actually ready to kill themselves with work, 
 whilst the officers were equally indefatigable in mind and body." 
 " To carry boilers and other heavy weights such a distance, with 
 the addition of embarking and disembarking, was, it must be con- 
 fessed, no very easy operation." 
 
 Euphrates expedition. c 26th September. 
 
 Note 3. —Stanza xxxviii. line 2, page 12. 
 
 " By a monarch brave and wise." 
 
 King William the Fourth. I hope (though somewhat out of 
 place) I may be allowed, in justice to Colonel Chesney and the 
 officers of the expedition, to give the following extract from a letter 
 from Sir J. Hobhouse, expressive of his late Majesty's personal 
 feelings on the loss of the Tigris. 
 
 " Sir, 
 " I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter 
 conveying to me the afflicting intelligence of the loss of the Tigris. 
 I scarcely need assure you that his Majesty's ministers most sin- 
 cerely deplore the loss of the brave men who perished on that oc- 
 casion, and that they sympathise with you in deeply regretting
 
 APPENDIX. 41 
 
 that so great a calamity should have occurred at a moment when 
 the complete success of the expedition seemed all but certain. I 
 have also to convey to you the King's condolence on this melan- 
 choly event : I am commanded by his Majesty " to assure you of 
 the deep and heartfelt concern with which he has learned the 
 serious disaster which has befallen the expedition ;" and I am fur- 
 ther commanded to say. the King cannot express in terms too strong 
 his sense of the extraordinary and admirable exertions and presence 
 of mind, which were displayed by all concerned on this trying oc- 
 casion, or his admiration of the firmness and exemplary resignation 
 with which those whose death he and their country have to de- 
 plore, met their fate. His Majesty sincerely rejoices, however, at 
 your providential escape, and that of Lieutenant Lynch : and he 
 gives the credit which is so amply due to you, on whom rest the 
 conduct and responsibility of the enterprise, for the strength of 
 mind, and perseverance which every part of your despatch breathes, 
 as his Majesty does also to your gallant and zealous associates 
 for the corresponding spirit which rises superior to difficulty and 
 danger. 
 
 (Signed) " J. Hobhouse." 
 
 Euphrates expedition. Printed by order of the House of Com- 
 mons. 
 
 Note 4. — Stanza xxxix. line 1, page 12. 
 
 " That chief once down that stream had gone." 
 
 The following are extracts from a letter from Colonel Chesney 
 to the Right Honourable Sir Robert Gordon, mentioning the de- 
 scent, and commencement of the survey of the Euphrates, with its 
 proposed continuance in 1830. 
 
 " Bagdad, 25th January, 1831. 
 " Sir, 
 " I had been somewhat unwell in crossing the desert, and the 
 motion of the dromedary increased the illness so much as to render 
 my proceeding with the caravan a matter of difficulty ; which cir- 
 cumstance led to the execution of the project (submitted to your
 
 42 APPENDIX. 
 
 excellency from Cuia, in June, 1830, but since abandoned) of 
 descending the Euphrates. 
 
 "On perceiving that I was much in favour with the Sheik of 
 Anna, and that the intense suspicion always evinced by the Arabs 
 towards strangers was greatly lessened in my case, &c, I deter- 
 mined not to lose the advantage of those circumstances, which, 
 added to my illness, evidently placed me in a very favourable 
 situation ; and as this might not be the lot of another individual at 
 a future time, I thought it an opportunity not to be neglected ; 
 therefore, urging my state of health, I immediately set about the 
 construction of a raft of fourteen and a half length by thirteen and 
 a half feet, supported by thirty-six inflated skins, to carry me to 
 Babylon. With the assistance of the Agha, whose good-will was 
 kept up by means of a present, the work soon hastened to a conclu- 
 sion ; he gave me two boatmen well acquainted with the river 
 and the management of a raft, also a third and confidential man 
 known to most of the Arab tribes, particularly by those in sub- 
 mission to the Pacha : to whom we carried strong letters from 
 him, enjoining them to do everything 1 might require throughout 
 my journey; adding that I came from Stamboul, and belonged to 
 the Pacha. Under these promising circumstances, I took my de- 
 parture from Anna for Babylon, noting the course and different 
 bearings of the river, the strength of the current at different places, 
 (taking the depth with a ten feet rod,) and filling up the details of 
 the state of the banks, &c, after the manner practised in a military 
 reconnoisance. To avoid molestation by night, we came to under 
 some uninhabited island, unless where we were certain that the 
 Arabs of the place were quite friendly : and in this way, notwith- 
 standing some serious interruption, my objects have been com- 
 pleted, as far down as opposite this city, where operations were 
 suspended for a time, in order to consult with Major Taylor about 
 sending to Palmyra, and having done so, I think it best to send 
 you the result before I resume my boat ; for independently of the 
 possibility of something happening to me in the lower part of the 
 river, the main point may be said to be already gained : since even 
 if there should be impediments lower down the Euphrates, con- 
 trary to my strong belief, this would be overcome and set at rest 
 by the Pacha's readiness to open a canal from the Tigris, at this 
 city , to Fehija on the other stream; so that the grand object is to
 
 APPENDIX. 43 
 
 know the state of the latter from thence upwards. I am preparing 
 a map on such a scale as will show the state of the Euphrates for 
 three hundred and forty miles, with the necessary details, including 
 the tribes on the banks ; and this will be accompanied by such 
 particulars regarding the routes of the desert, the difficulties to be 
 overcome, and the state of the wandering Arabs, as I was enabled 
 to collect recently, as well as during my recent forced sojourn and 
 captivity in the desert of Syria with one of the greatest tribes." 
 
 " No circumstances could well be more favourable than mine on 
 leaving Anna, yet my raft was attacked the following evening, and 
 shots continued to be fired from the brushwood on the left bank at 
 slow intervals, taking up fresh positions for this purpose during an 
 hour and a half that we were carried along the stream exposed in 
 this way ; but covered by a parapet made of the baggage and pro- 
 visions, which fortunately still remained in the sacks we used in 
 the desert, and these were instantly placed along the side of the 
 raft towards the bank, with my gun and a couple of small tent 
 poles (to represent two others) leaning over the sacks to make a 
 better show : and as the raft was kept in the right position with 
 the oars, all of us, six in number, were in comparative safety so 
 long as there was no commanding ground to see over our defences, 
 which fortunately was the case up to dark, and the firing had 
 ceased an hour before. Only once during the previous time I had 
 a glimpse of one of our assailants, and but once the fire was re- 
 turned by my interpreter, a Turk, who snatched up the gun, and 
 directed a shot at the place where he last saw the smoke ; when 
 the swan shot had either injured some one, or, by merely cutting 
 the bushes, created some alarm, for otdy one shot was fired at us 
 afterwards." 
 
 " Two days after I escaped being pillaged by sixty Arabs, by 
 getting into a boat, and in which I remained all night, resuming 
 the raft next day." 
 
 " During the subsequent voyage the raft was often hid from view 
 altogether by the steep wooded banks of the river : and when we 
 were seen and hailed, the people with me asserted that I was a 
 Tartar from Damascus, which, generally speaking, secured quiet . 
 until on one occasion below Hit, when three Arabs said they had 
 often killed Tartars before, and cared nothing for Daoud Pacha or 
 the Sultan ; but we escaped extremities, when they seemed inevit-
 
 I I APPENDIX. 
 
 able, by a ruse of the old dragoman, who quickly changed my 
 
 character from that of a Tartar to an Egyptian Mamalnke, which 
 my Arab dress favoured : and we thus got out of the scrape by his 
 pit sence of mind, of which he was very proud. Many of the tribes 
 are so ignorant, that they know no distinction between a Frank in 
 general and a Muscovite : and having heard of the latter being at 
 war with the Porte, they conclude all European nations to be 
 equally their enemies ; added to which they have a tradition, that 
 their religion will be overturned by the Franks, and frequently 
 during the journey even those who evinced kindness said the end 
 of the world was come, since a Frank was seen there, (meaning the 
 religion of Mahomet,) but notwithstanding this suspicion and ap- 
 prehension, I found myself sufficiently secure when with any of 
 the Arabs connected with the Pacha ; the others, however, (and 
 more than equal in number,) were decidedly hostile, and would 
 show it more than they did in my case, if any individuals were to 
 attempt to remain at different spots to verify observations by a 
 more detailed survey. My safety depended chiefly on passing 
 quickly onwards with the stream, whilst I endeavoured to collect 
 all the necessary materials, of which, as well as the map when 
 completed, the government shall (if desirable) be made the sole 
 possessors, as no private considerations should be allowed to inter- 
 fere for a moment with any considered prudent and advisable for 
 the good of the country." 
 
 " I have the honour to be, 
 (Signed) " R. F. Chesney, Capt. R.A." 
 
 To His Excellency The Right Hon. Sir Robert Gordon, 
 G.C.B., &c. &c. &c, Constantinople. 
 
 Appendix to Report from Select Committee on Steam Navigation 
 to India. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 
 14th July, 1834.
 
 NOTES TO CANTO THE SECOND. 
 
 Note 1. — Stanza ix, line 6, page 22. 
 " Its force — that Hurricane !" 
 
 Extracts from a letter from Colonel Chesney to Sir John Hobhonse. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 "It is with feelings of the deepest regret that I do myself the 
 
 honour of informing you, that the Tigris steamer was totally lost 
 
 during a hurricane of indescribable violence, which, after a short 
 
 struggle of about eight minutes, sent a fine vessel to the bottom, and 
 
 deprived his Majesty of fifteen valuable men, with five natives in 
 
 addition. The survey had been carried five hundred and nine miles 
 
 down the ' Great River,' which seemed in all respects favourable ; 
 
 in short, all was continued prosperity up to the afternoon of the 
 
 21st instant, when it pleased God to send the calamitous event of 
 
 which it is my duty to give a feeble sketch. A little after one 
 
 p.m. on that melancholy day, the Tigris heading the Euphrates, a 
 
 storm appeared bringing with it, high up in the air, clouds of sand 
 
 from the west-north-west quarter ; at this moment we were passing 
 
 over the rocks of Is-geria, (deeply covered,) and immediately after 
 
 we made signal for the Euphrates to choose a berth and make fast, 
 
 which was done more as a matter of precaution, on account of our 
 
 difficulty of seeing our way through the sand, than from apprehen-
 
 Hi VPPENDIX. 
 
 urn that tlic squall would ht' so terrific. The Tigris was imme- 
 diately directed towards the bank, against which she struck with- 
 out injury, but with so much violence as to recoil about eight 
 yanls, leaving two men on the bank, who had jumped out to make 
 fast. The wind then suddenly veered round, drove her bow oft", 
 and thus rendered it quite impossible to secure the vessel to the 
 bank, along which she was blown rapidly by the heavy gusts, her 
 head falling off into the stream as she passed close to the Euphrates, 
 which vessel had been backed opportunely to avoid the concussion. 
 The engines were working at full power, and every effort made to 
 turn the vessel's bow to the bank ; one anchor was let go, but the 
 heel of the vessel made it impossible to get the other one out : she 
 was then nearly broadside to the wind, with the engines almost 
 powerless, and the waves rising to the height of four or five feet, 
 forcing their way in at the windows. Lieutenant Cockburn, the 
 Messrs. Staunton, and some of the men, made ineffectual attempts 
 to keep out the water ; but the fate of the vessel was already de- 
 cided ; and the fore part of the deck being under water, Lieutenant 
 Lynch came to report that the Tigris was sinking, and the word 
 was immediately passed for all to save themselves. At this instant, 
 a momentary gleam of light faintly showed the bank at the appa- 
 rent distance of eight or ten yards ; and as there seemed every pro- 
 bability that the stern would touch it before she went down, Lieu- 
 tenant Lynch encouraged the people to remain steady until they 
 reached the land. All were on deck at this moment, some clinging 
 to the ropes of the awning, the paddle-boxes, and funnel, but the 
 majority were close to the tiller, and all behaving with the most 
 exemplary obedience, until the vessel went down all at once, and 
 probably within half a minute after we had seen the bank for an 
 instant. Lieutenant Lynch, who was at my elbow, dived out under 
 the starboard ridge-rope at the moment when there was about four 
 feet water on the deck ; and I had the good fortune to get clear in 
 the same manner through the larboard side, and also to take a 
 direction which brought me to the land, without having seen any- 
 thing whatever to guide me through a darkness worse than that of 
 nieht. When it cleared a little, I found around me Lieutenant 
 Lynch, Mr. Eden, (both greatly exhausted,) Mr. Thomson, the 
 Messrs. Staunton, and some of the men. The hurricane was 
 already abating fast, and as the distance of the vessel from the
 
 APPENDIX. 47 
 
 shore was very short, we indulged the hope that the rest of our 
 brave companions had reached the bank lower down. For an 
 instant I saw the keel of the Tigris uppermost (near the stern :) she 
 went down bow foremost, and having struck the bottom in that 
 position, she probably turned round on the bow as a pivot, and 
 thus showed part of her keel for an instant at the other extremity : 
 but her paddle-beams, floats, and parts of the sides, were already 
 broken up, and actually floated ashore, so speedy and terrific had 
 been the work of destruction. From the moment of striking the 
 bank, until the Tigris went down, scarcely exceeded eight minutes, 
 whilst the operation of sinking itself did not consume more than 
 three ; indeed the gale was so very violent, that I doubt whether 
 the most powerful vessel, such as a frigate, could have resisted, 
 unless she was already secured to the bank ; and for this, in our 
 case, there was little or no time, as it was barely possible, in the 
 position of our consort, to make fast and save the vessel. I had 
 little or rather no hope that the Euphrates could have escaped, but 
 the intrepid skill of Lieutenant Cleaveland and Mr. Charlwood 
 enabled them to get out two anchors in the very nick of time, and 
 by the united means of two hawsers and the engine's working at 
 full speed, the vessel maintained her position at the bank until 
 the storm abated, as the enclosed letter from Captain Estcourt 
 will explain more fully : and as it required all the power of a fifty- 
 horse engine in the case of the Euphrates to keep her hawsers from 
 snapping, I infer that the twenty horses of the Tigris would not 
 have been sufficient to enable her to keep her position at the bank, 
 even if the officers had succeeded in securing her alongside of it. 
 Lieutenant Lynch and Mr. Eden continued cool and collected 
 to the last minute, nor were any efforts wanting that skill or pre- 
 sence of mind could suggest to save the vessel in the first instance, 
 and the lives in the second, when the former had failed : nor could 
 anything be more exemplary than their conduct and that of all on 
 board. Scarcely a word was spoken or a murmur heard, and death 
 was met with that exemplary degree of intrepidity and resignation 
 which have been displayed by every individual throughout the 
 arduous and trying service in which we have been engaged since 
 January 1835. Having already given a faithful account of the 
 short but eventful period of about twelve minutes occupied by the
 
 48 APPENDIX. 
 
 beginning, progress, and termination of the hurricane, I will con- 
 clude the painful part of my task by referring yon to the enclosed 
 return of the names of the valuable men who have been lost to his 
 Majesty and their country for ever. Very different was the result 
 when a similar but less violent gale sent my little vessel to the 
 bottom of the river in 1831, for I had not then the misery of de- 
 ploring the loss of a single life, and my little schooner was again 
 afloat, and continuing the descent in less than twelve hours : 
 whereas all our efforts as yet have failed, even to find the remains 
 of the vessel ; not a ripple or the slightest trace of the unfortunate 
 Tigris marks the spot where she went down. I am happy to say 
 the survivors of the expedition remain as much unshaken as ever 
 in their confidence regarding the final success of the undertaking, 
 as well as the manifest advantages, facilities, and cheapness of this 
 line of communication. The hurricane has been, it is true, a most 
 trying and calamitous event ; but I believe it is regarded by all, 
 even at this early day, as having no more to do with the navigation 
 of the Euphrates, in other respects, than the loss of a packet in the 
 Irish Channel, which might retard, but could not put an end to 
 the intercourse between England and Ireland. We are, therefore, 
 continuing our descent and survey to Bassora, hoping not only to 
 bring up the mail from India within the specified time, but also, if 
 it please God to spare us, to demonstrate the speed, economy, and 
 commercial advantages of the river Euphrates, provided the de- 
 cision of ministers shall be in the true spirit of Englishmen, to give 
 it a fair trial, rather than abandon the original purpose in conse- 
 quenceofan unforeseen, and, as it proved, an unavoidable calamity. 
 (Signed) « R. F. Chesney, 
 
 " Commanding the Expedition." 
 
 LETTER FROM CAPTAIN ESTCOURT TO COLONEL CHESNEY. 
 
 " Euphrates Steamer Anna, 26th May, 1836. 
 " Sir, 
 " The very unexpected nature of the hurricane in which this 
 vessel was taken on Saturday last, the 21st instant, and the ex- 
 treme violence with which it was accompanied, render it necessary 
 that I should acquaint you with the circumstances as they affected
 
 APPENDIX. 40 
 
 this vessel, and that I should lay before you the conduct of Lieute- 
 nant Cleaveland and Mr. Charlewood, to whose united exertions 
 and skill, supported by the active exertions of a most willing crew, 
 added to the power of the engines with which the vessel is pro- 
 pelled, her safety is to be attributed. Scarcely had we cast off 
 from the bank, where at midday on Saturday last we, in company 
 with the Tigris, had stopped to take in wood, when a dense cloud 
 of dust was seen to rise high in the air on the right bank. For 
 some minutes it was doubtful whether it would not pass off to our 
 right, but soon it was apparent that it would be otherwise. Prepa- 
 ration was made to meet the squall by furling the awning, &c. 
 As soon as the Tigris, which was leading as usual, had cleared a 
 reef of rocks, at this season far under water, she made a signal to 
 choose a berth, and to make fast : hardly was the signal answered, 
 when the gale began. The Tigris was rounding to, to bring up 
 to the left bank : the Euphrates followed, but as we neared the 
 bank, I saw that the Tigris could not stem the gale and current; 
 she had failed to make the bank, and was falling off with her head 
 outwards. The Euphrates was compelled to back her paddles to 
 give room, — an operation, as you will at once see, full of danger, for 
 it could scarcely be expected that she would after be enabled to 
 gather way upon herself against the violence of the elements and 
 current ; however, the vessel took the bank with some violence, but 
 did not recoil off. Instantly Mr. Charlewood was on shore, followed 
 by many men bearing a hawser and light anchor ; within a few 
 seconds, a second anchor and chain cable had been got ashore, and 
 these were followed rapidly by a second chain cable and anchor. 
 Lieutenant Cleaveland kept the engines working the whole time, 
 notwithstanding which, the vessel drove ; however, the gale was 
 soon over, and the vessel safe. The density of the cloud of dust 
 excluded from my view the Tigris from the moment she crossed 
 our bows. Mr. Fitzjames, in the midst of the storm, reported to 
 me, first, that she was upset, and then that she had gone down. 
 As soon, therefore, as our own danger had ceased, and that the 
 Euphrates was secured, I sent off Lieutenant Murphy to render 
 what assistance he might be able to the crew of our consort, whilst 
 Mr. Cleaveland pressed me to let him go by boat ; this I did as 
 soon as it was safe. Of the remainder of the melancholy tale, of 
 the total loss of the Tigris, and the few who escaped to find a 
 
 E
 
 50 APPENDIX. 
 
 shelter on board the Euphrates, you are yourself well acquainted. 
 I have only to repeat, that to Lieutenant Cleaveland and Mr. Charlc- 
 wood, and indeed to the whole crew of the Euphrates, the highest 
 praise is due. 
 
 " 1 have the honour to be, &c, 
 (Signed) "J. B. Bucknall Estcourt, 
 
 " Captain 13rd Light Infantry." 
 
 Euphrates Expedition. Letters published by order of the House 
 of Commons. 
 
 Note 2. — Div. xv. lines 16 and 17, page 21. 
 
 " All found a deep and hurried grave, 
 In the ' Great River,' " 
 
 The Euphrates is called the Great River in the Scriptures. 
 
 Note 3.— Div. xxvi. lines 5 and 6, page 32. 
 
 " A monument to those brave men 
 Who perished by my side." 
 
 Letter from Colonel Chesney to the gentlemen composing 
 the chamber of commerce, &c. &c, bombay. 
 
 " Gentlemen, 
 
 " I hasten to do myself the honour of offering the warmest ac- 
 knowledgments on my own part, as well as the officers and men 
 composing the Euphrates expedition, for the gratifying manner in 
 which our labours and exertions have been noticed by the Chamber 
 of Commerce, and I shall not fail to take the earliest opportunity 
 possible of conveying to my zealous and persevering assistants 
 what must be alike flattering and unexpected. 
 
 " I need scarcely say, that I am truly thankful for the notice 
 which you have been pleased to take of me personally, by the pro- 
 posed handsome and honourable token of a valuable sword; but my
 
 APPENDIX. 51 
 
 satisfaction would be increased one hundred fold, if the Chamber 
 of Commerce will be so good as to change their original intention, 
 and substitute for the intended weapon of war a monument of 
 peace, which will be more lasting than brass, more valuable than 
 gold ; and still better calculated to give us all lasting gratification. 
 I allude to those who perished on the 21st May last. 
 
 " Never were there braver or more deserving men than those who 
 went down at my side in the Tigris steamer. Most willingly did 
 they hazard their lives for the good of India, as well as that of 
 England ; and they lost them in this praiseworthy cause, which 
 will be more fully appreciated by those who come after us. Let 
 me, therefore, earnestly entreat that instead of ordering a perish- 
 able sword, you will kindly arrange matters so as to place a tomb 
 over the remains of my faithful followers near the town of Anna ; 
 which would take away one source of responsibility and anxiety 
 from my mind, and it will besides encourage me to hope that the 
 government may also pay a tribute to their names by erecting 
 another, on the part of the nation, in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 " I cannot allow myself to doubt for an instant, that the great 
 commercial and other advantages of the Euphrates will cause that 
 river to be opened almost immediately by some other power, if the 
 expedition is not continued, as I fondly hope, by Great Britain. 
 And as Anna must again become a place of some, or perhaps of great 
 commercial importance, it is not too much to expect that some of 
 those to whom I now appeal will live to see, on the spot itself, 
 (midway between England and Bombay,) a lasting and appro- 
 priate tribute erected to perpetuate the names of the Europeans 
 and natives who, in the midst of a prosperous voyage towards this 
 presidency, and with its real interests firmly in view, were hurried 
 into eternity by a hurricane unequalled in violence since that 
 which occurred during the descent of the Emperor Julian's army 
 about 1470 years ago. 
 
 " Perhaps 1 should apologise for the liberty I take in proposing 
 a particular course to your notice ; but as we have, I believe, fairly 
 demonstrated that the river Euphrates is an easy, safe, and econo- 
 mical route, I have no other wish left than to see it in full and 
 quick operation ; doing justice, if possible, at the same time, to 
 those who composed the expedition, which is still exploring the 
 river Karun, under Captain Estcourt, by orders of government ; 
 
 E 2
 
 52 APPENDIX. 
 
 wiili the direct object in view of benefiting and extending your 
 commercial relations. 
 
 " I have the honour, &c, 
 (Sigued) " P. R. Chesney," 
 
 " Commanding the Euphrates Expedition." 
 
 Bombay, 1 1/// December, ls.sti. 
 
 The hurricane which destroyed the Tigris (called by the Arabs 
 Fatulah, or Samm) was of so extraordinary a nature that it is 
 conceived Lieut. Charlewood's description of it, cannot tail to in- 
 terest the reader, though of course, in many points, corresponding 
 with Major Estcourt's impression of the catastrophe. 
 
 " Saturday, 21st of May, 1836, 10. :W. a. m., the steamers 
 Euphrates and Tigris came to alongside the left bank of the 
 river, to barter for some dry wood which the Arabs had places 
 on the bank, and were disposed to part with. This place is 
 about four miles above the rocky passage of Is-Geria, and is 
 called Moosam by the Arabs. 
 
 " We continued wooding at this place about three hours, every- 
 body in high spirits, with the cheering prospect before us of de- 
 scending the Great River without any serious disaster ; and little 
 did we anticipate that in less than half an hour the Tigris, with 
 twenty of our bravest comrades, would sink to rise no more. 
 
 " At half-past one p.m., the wooding being completed and the 
 men having dined, the two steamers left the bank together, and 
 proceeded down the river, the Tigris (drawing less water than 
 her consort) leading the way about one hundred and fifty yards 
 ahead. The wind was blowing gently from the S. E., or rather 
 up the river immediately against us, but too light to impede our 
 progress. We observed a dark mass of cloud in the horizon in the 
 N. W. ; but as the sky had been much overcast for some days, we 
 did not at first consider this appearance important. The rapidity 
 of its rising, however, soon put us on our guard ; and in both 
 vessels the awnings were furled, anchors got ready, and other pre- 
 parations made for meeting the evidently approaching and porten- 
 tous storm.
 
 VPPENDIX. 53 
 
 " In a quarter of an hour after we had started, the sky to the 
 N. W. had assumed an appearance which none of us had ever 
 before witnessed, for it seemed awful and terrific in the extreme. 
 A dense black arch of clouds of about 30° in elevation occupied 
 some 40° of the horizon, and the space underneath this arch was 
 filled up with a body of dust of a brownish orange colour, whirl- 
 ing- round, and at the same time advancing towards us with 
 fearful rapidity. Colonel Chesney being on board the Tigris, she 
 was of course the flag-ship, and those on board the Euphrates 
 began to look out with deep anxiety for the signal to anchor; but 
 at this very moment we were passing over the rocky bed of Is- 
 Geria, which made it difficult, if not impossible, to secure to the 
 hank on either side. 
 
 " The south wind had now become very light, but not entirely a 
 calm, indicating a change; and at three quarters past one p.m. 
 (the Tigris having just cleared the rocks,) she made the signal to 
 secure to the bank as quickly as possible, and at the same moment 
 we perceived that she was rounding to for the left bank. The 
 Euphrates followed her path as nearly as possible, and just as the 
 Tigris was turning round to the bank, the wind suddenly shifted 
 with a tremendous blast from the N. W. At this very instant 
 the Tigris struck the bank, and two of her people leaped on shore 
 with a rope to secure her as was usual in bringing up ; but the 
 wind took the starboard or wrong side of her bow, and not only 
 drove her off with great violence, but also caused her to drift down 
 upon the Euphrates, so that both vessels would inevitably have 
 come into collision, had not the commander of the latter with 
 admirable promptitude backed the paddles, at the risk of losing 
 command of the steerage of his own vessel. Providentially the 
 Tigris passed clear before the Euphrates had quite lost her head- 
 way, so that the paddles being again turned ahead, she gained 
 the bank with difficulty. Three anchors were now quickly got out, 
 and the engines being kept going at full power, the vessel was 
 thus happily secured. Not so with the poor Tigris ! — After she 
 was blown from the bank, Lieutenant Lynch tried to bring her up 
 with the anchors, and also to get alongside of the bank lower 
 down ; but all was in vain. The wind, which by this time was a 
 perfect hurricane, gradually drove her over upon her broadside, so 
 that the engines became powerless. The vessel began to All very
 
 54 APPENDIX. 
 
 fast, and as it was now hut too evident that she must soon sink 
 the command was given, in consequence, for all to endeavour to 
 save their lives. Upon this every one came upon deck, with the 
 exception of the engineer and his assistant, who remained in the 
 enyinc-room until the water was more than knee-deep, and also 
 two native servants, who continued helow in the state cabin, en- 
 deavouring to keep the windows closed against the waves which 
 were dashing against them with great violence; and thus they 
 continued fearlessly employed until they perished. 
 
 " Lieutenant Lynch and the crew were particularly cool and col- 
 lected throughout this awful period. Orders were given and 
 oheyed without the slightest confusion ; and as the steamer first 
 began to sink forward, the men moved gradually aft, and there 
 remained in a body, patiently awaiting their fate. Not a word 
 was spoken — not a murmur was heard ; whilst the water came 
 gradually more aft, until all at once the ill-fated Tigris sank 
 beneath their feet at about twenty yards distance from the bank, 
 leaving thirty-four brave fellows struggling in the water against 
 a furious wind and strong current, with an atmosphere so charged 
 with dust and spray, that it was altogether as dark as night : 
 and at this eventful moment twenty of our devoted men were 
 hurried into eternity, in some way or other that cannot be per- 
 fectly explained. Even the survivors themselves are totally unable 
 to account satisfactorily for such a dreadful loss of life, considering 
 that the vessel was close to the bank, and the wind driving every- 
 thing on shore, more particularly as (with one single exception) 
 all were known to be expert swimmers. One supposition (and 
 perhaps the most probable one) is, that being for the most part 
 closely huddled together, many during the extreme darkness may 
 have grasped each other in such a manner as to prevent the free 
 use of their limbs ; and it is likewise presumed that others took 
 the wrong direction, and swam out into the middle of the river, 
 instead of making for the left bank, like their more fortunate com- 
 panions; the darkness having led them into this error. 
 
 " Those who succeeded in reaching the shore were washed over 
 the bank some considerable distance into a field of Indian corn. 
 Colonel Chesney was one of this number ; and the happy circum- 
 stance of our gallant leader having been spared to us, gave us the 
 only ray of joy that could brighten such a melancholy scene; and
 
 APPENDIX. 55 
 
 it did gladden all our hearts to see him safe, assisting and encou- 
 raging some of those poor fellows who had sunk down exhausted 
 by their recent struggles at the brink of the watery grave which 
 they had so narrowly escaped. 
 
 " The sad scene I have thus feebly attempted to describe, began 
 and ended in less than half an hour after we quitted Moosam. 
 But let us now turn from it to the more fortunate vessel. 
 
 "Owing to the continued and great exertions of all the officers 
 and men, the Euphrates was at last secured to the bank ; but as 
 the waves were still dashing in through the ports with the utmost 
 violence, great fears were entertained that she might, notwith- 
 standing all our exertions, sink alongside the bank : and if the 
 storm had lasted only five minutes longer, in all probability this 
 would have been the case. 
 
 " But the Almighty mercifully ordained it otherwise, and the 
 hurricane having suddenly abated, the Euphrates still floated, 
 but alone ! upon the water. Scarcely was she deemed out of 
 danger, when parties were sent in a boat, as well as by land, to- 
 wards the place where the Tigris had foundered (which was but 
 three hundred yards from her consort) in the hope of saving any 
 who might still be struggling in the water ; but all was already 
 over — not a single body had remained, nor was there a single 
 trace of the vessel above water to remind us that she had been 
 steaming downwards in full prosperity only a few miuutes before. 
 
 " Those whom it had pleased God to spare were already on the 
 bank ; some were but little exhausted, whilst others ("the worst 
 of whom were Lieutenant Lynch and Mr. Eden) were so much 
 exhausted that they could not even stand without assistance. 
 
 "Exertions were next made to save any stores which might have 
 been found scattered along the bank. And here I cannot avoid 
 attempting to do justice to the admirable conduct of the Arabs, 
 who, on seeing the fatal catastrophe, crowded in considerable num- 
 bers around the spot where so many valuable things were scat- 
 tered about, and immediately began to collect them with the 
 utmost goodwill. 
 
 " Of course at such a moment everything lay quite unprotected, 
 and completely in their power ; but so far were they from taking 
 advantage of this circumstance, that they did not attempt either 
 to rob or even to pilfer a single article, with the exception of one
 
 56 APPENDIX 
 
 man who seized upon a bag, and he was forced to lay it down 
 again immediately by his own comrades. 
 
 " Some of the wood of the paddle-boxes had been already driven 
 upon the bank, and with these fragments also came several cases 
 of Birmingham and Sheffield goods, containing guns, pistols, &c. ; 
 also two casks of salt meat, (nearly four hundred weight each,) 
 some hammocks and bags of clothes belonging to the men, toge- 
 ther with a few books, and amongst these was the Colonel's 
 Bible, which was the only thing he recovered from the wreck of the 
 perished vessel ; and what is more remarkable still, this self-same 
 book had accompanied him throughout his descent of the same 
 river in 1830 and 1831, when it was carried to the bottom and 
 afterwards washed on shore in the same surprising manner. 
 
 "Just before the storm commenced, the barometer was observed 
 to fall two-tenths of an inch, which in that climate was a great 
 deal ; and it might therefore on a like occasion in future give a 
 timely warning in the same regions, by indicating that a portentous 
 change was at hand. 
 
 " Lieutenant Murphy (who was a calm spectator) states in his 
 journal, that the height of the waves during the tempest could not 
 have been less than ten or twelve feet, and therefore the water 
 not only covered the bank itself, but also the fields for some dis- 
 tance inwards, till the storm abated ; when it again subsided, and 
 that quite as suddenly as it had been raised : indeed scarcely twenty 
 minutes could have elapsed from the time that the Tigris struck 
 the bank until it was again calm, and the place hitherto filled by 
 the steamer Tigris and one half of the expedition could nowhere 
 be found, for the Great River having already completed the work 
 of destruction, the lost vessel, as well as the departed, were covered 
 with the unruffled surface of the now placid and silvery Euphrates."
 
 APPENDIX. 57 
 
 The author of this poem will conclude the notes for its illustra- 
 tion by subjoining- the following extracts from a letter addressed 
 to him by a near connexion, which furnish some interesting parti- 
 culars of the generous support given to the Euphrates Expedition 
 by our late revered sovereign, King William IV. 
 
 " Bromley, February 20, 1840. 
 
 " You notice, most correctly, in your poem, that Colonel Chesney 
 in the first instance declined receiving the sword voted at Bombay, 
 and solicited in its stead the erection of a monument to his lost 
 comrades ; and it will be seen by a reference to the interesting 
 correspondence which appeared in the Bombay Courier of Decem- 
 ber, 1836, that in addition to pressing the acceptance of the sword 
 on the commander of the expedition, a subscription was opened 
 throughout India, and thus the necessary funds were raised for a 
 purpose still more worthy of the occasion than the erection of a 
 monument alone ; namely, to be useful to those relations of the 
 deceased men who had in some measure depended upon them for 
 support. 
 
 " Perhaps you are not aware that the intended mark of appro- 
 bation voted by the Chamber of Commerce afterwards received the 
 direct approbation of the late King. 
 
 " It would be out of place to mention many particulars learnt 
 at the time, which would sufficiently show the warm and generous 
 support given by his late Majesty during the preparation of the 
 expedition, as well as the comprehensive manner in which the 
 question itself was viewed during those private audiences with 
 which its commander was honoured. But it would scarcely be 
 right to pass over a circumstance which proves that the King con- 
 tinued to manifest his gracious countenance almost up to the ter- 
 mination of his valuable life. 
 
 " The enclosed copy of a letter written by the late Sir Herbert 
 Taylor to the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce will speak for 
 itself. It was sent home only some months ago to the East India 
 and China Association, with a request that they would present the 
 sword to Colonel Chesney ; and as the circumstance has been noticed 
 in their public proceedings, it cannot be out of place to send you 
 a copy for insertion in the notes to your poem. Believe me &c. 
 
 " E. W. Shuldham."
 
 58 APPENDIX. 
 
 " Windsor Castle, May 12, 1837. 
 
 " Sir, — I have had the honour to submit your letter of the 7th of 
 January to the King, and have received his Majesty's commands 
 to request you will assure the Bombay Chamber of Commerce of 
 the satisfaction with which his Majesty has learnt that Colonel 
 Chesney has received so flattering and so honourable a testimonial 
 of the sense which the Bombay Chamber of Commerce entertain 
 of his zeal and merit, and of the gallant and persevering exertions 
 of his associates and companions on an important and arduous en- 
 terprise, as that communicated in your letter. The King cannot for 
 a moment hesitate in sanctioning Colonel Chesney's accepting and 
 wearing the sword which the Bombay Chamber of Commerce has 
 presented to him. I have the honour to be, &c. 
 
 (Signed) " H. Taylor." 
 
 To John Skinner, Esq. fyc, 
 Chairman of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce, Bombay.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 59 
 
 The following papers having fortunately arrived from India, 
 through the medium of the East India and China Association, 
 while these notes were in the press, no apology can be necessary for 
 submitting them to the reader, as tending to show the deep interest 
 felt throughout our Indian empire for all the individuals who pe- 
 rished whilst opening that communication which was so success- 
 fully carried on during the last S. W. monsoon, and is no doubt 
 again in operation at this moment. 
 
 VIEW OP THE FOUNTAIN AND KHAN TO BE ERECTED AT ANNA. 
 
 This building commemorates the awful event which destroyed 
 nearly one half of the Euphrates expedition, May 21, 1836, near 
 Is Jaria about eighty-four miles above Anna. 
 
 The expedition was descending the river with full prosperity, 
 when it was suddenly visited by a hurricane of tremendous violence. 
 Both vessels were placed in imminent danger, from which the 
 Euphrates escaped, but the Tigris foundered, and with her were 
 lost the chief part of the souls on board. 
 
 Those swallowed up in the sudden vortex were : 
 Lieut. R. Cockburn, Royal Artillery. 
 
 Lieut. R. B. Lynch, 21st Native Bengal Infantry, then on his 
 way to India.
 
 CO APPENDIX. 
 
 Mr. Yuseff Sader, Interpreter. 
 
 Mr. John Stnitliors, Engineer. 
 
 Acting- Sergeant, R. Clark. 
 
 Gunners, Royal Artillery, R. Turner, J. Moore, J. Hay. 
 
 R. S. and M. Private A. M'Donald. 
 
 Seamen, B. Gibson, J. Hunter, G. Liddel, T. Batty, T. Booth. 
 
 Natives, Aboo, Warso, Yaknb, Manneh, and Pedros. 
 
 The following- individuals were miraculously saved. 
 
 Colonel F. R. Chesney, R. A., Commander of the expedition. 
 
 Lieut. H. B. Lynch, I. N. 
 
 Mate, Mr. H. Eden, R. N. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon, C. F. Staunton, M. D., Royal Artillery. 
 
 Mr. A. A. Staunton, Assistant Surgeon to the expedition. 
 
 Mr. W. T. Thompson, Assistant Draftsman. 
 
 Corporal B. Fisher, R. S. and M. 
 
 Quarter Masters, Elias Lowrie, William Benson. 
 
 M. Greama, G. Vincenzo, Maltese, Seamen. 
 
 Natives, Shacko, Mahammaal, Hasan, Antonio, Khalil, Ali. 
 
 The Right Honourable Sir R. Grant, G.C.H. Governor, and the 
 members of council at Bombay, in admiration of the labours and 
 exertions by which the expedition had surmounted its many and 
 great difficulties, and sympathising in the unhappy fate of the brave 
 men who perished, have raised this monument to their memory. 
 The residents in British India, with their wonted generosity, 
 subscribed largely to afford pecuniary relief to the parents and 
 others, who had derived assistance from the deceased men of the 
 expedition generally.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 61 
 
 MONUMEN T 
 
 TO THE LATE 
 
 LIEUTENANT MURPHY, ll.E. 
 
 V'-" 
 
 
 Near this spot are deposited the mortal remains of Hastings 
 Fitz-Edward Murphy, F.R.S., F.G.S., and F.R.A.S , Lieut, of the 
 Royal Engineers in the service of his Britannic Majesty ; and As- 
 tronomer as well as principal Surveyor of the Euphrates Expedition. 
 
 Having conducted a series of astronomical observations from the 
 coast of Syria, and down the course of the Euphrates, he died at 
 Basra of a typhus fever, aged thirty-eight years ; just after he had 
 completed the necessary experiments on vibration of the pendulum. 
 
 His accuracy in conducting his astronomical and other scientific 
 labours has stamped the character of worth on the valuable re- 
 sults which he has left for the benefit of the world. 
 
 He was remarkable for firmness of Christian principles, with 
 that kindness of disposition and uprightness which endeared him 
 to all his acquaintances, and will cause him to be long and affec- 
 tionately remembered by all who shared with him in the toils and 
 exertions of the late expedition.
 
 <;•_> 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 M ON UMENT 
 
 TO THE LATH 
 
 MR. JOHN CALDOW. 
 
 - 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 John Caldow, who served faithfully, zealously, and skilfully, as 
 First Engineer during the celebrated descent of the Euphrates ex- 
 pedition in 1836. He died near Basra on the 14th of September, 
 1836, being the first day of the ascent of the river Tigris, owing to 
 an abscess of the liver brought on by the climate, and the effects of 
 his unremitting attention to the duties of his situation, aged 
 thirty-two years. 
 
 On a plain slab at Bushire. 
 
 TO THE MEMOKY OF 
 
 David Ewart, a Gunner in the Royal Artillery of England, who 
 served with the Euphrates expedition from its earliest period, and 
 rendered valuable service up to his death, which took place at Bu- 
 shire, July 23, 1836. 
 
 On a plain slab in the Armenian Church at Bagdad. 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 Gregor M'Donald, Gunner in the Royal Artillery of England 
 who served with the Euphrates expedition from its earliest period 
 to the time of his death.
 
 APPENDIX. 63 
 
 He was patient, zealous, and persevering- in the duties he had 
 to perform, and was firmly imbued with every honest and correct 
 principle. 
 
 He died Sept. 29, 1836, upon the first ascent of the Euphrates 
 steamer to Bagdad, and was buried on the left bank of the Tigris, 
 five miles and a half below this city. 
 
 LONDON : 
 I hi) BY LBOTSON AND PALMER, SAVOY STREET.

 
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