It remains to say a few words respecting the Work, of
which the two first volumes are now offered to the public.
When the preparation of the Work was proposed by Sir
John Hobhouse, President of the Board of Control, the Author
felt that, irrespective of impaired health, the habits and acquirements
of a soldier were not exactly calculated to qualify
him for so serious a task; but, it being observed to him that
the task most naturally devolved on the Commander of the
Expedition, he expressed his willingness to do his best; and he
engaged to execute the Work in accordance with the outline
then approved of—which was, that the account of the voyage
should be preceded by a geographical and historical sketch of
the countries with which the rivers Euphrates and Tigris have
been intimately connected from the earliest times.
The Author, though not unwilling to give the necessary time
to the Work, expressed a hope that the Government would
bear the expense of the publication; and he was informed that
a liberal contribution would be made. After some solicitation
on the part of Sir John Hobhouse, and Mr. Robert Gordon,
then Secretary to the Board of Control, a grant of 1500?. was
promised from the Treasury, and the expectation being also
entertained that 600?. might be contributed by the India Board,
as well as a like sum by the India House, it was presumed that
the Work might proceed without a risk of loss. The Author
consequently engaged to commence the task, as soon as he
should have finished laying down a survey of the Euphrates
and Tigris, for the use of the steamers sent out under Lieutenant
Lynch, of the Indian Navy.
To embrace in their full extent the subjects of this extensive
field of inquiry, and to treat them in a manner corresponding to
the interest which has ever attached to the region described,
may seem to he, properly, the task of an individual more perfectly
qualified than the Author. Yet it is hoped that the two
volumes now submitted to the Public will be found to contain
a correct description of the countries lying between the Indus
and the Nile, with a brief account of the leading events connected
with the nations by which they have been successively
occupied.
In the first, second, and third chapters of the first or descriptive
volume, the reader will find ample details of the four principal
rivers of Western Asia; the soundings, bearings, &c., of
two of them, the Euphrates and Tigris, laid down on charts,
which in the case of the former river extend from Sume'isat
to the sea; and, in that of the latter, from Mosul to the Persian
Gulf. The charts in question, though only on a scale of a
quarter of an inch to a mile, will, it is hoped, besuffioien t for
the purposes of navigation; since it cannot be supposed that
when full information is before the Public, two such noble rivers
will be allowed to continue to expend their waters without
being rendered every year more and more serviceable to mankind.
I ’ran in its largest sense, and its several provinces, are
described in the succeeding Chapters from IV. to XII. In
the last will be found various circumstances which tend to
ascertain the primeval seat of the human race.
Chapters XIII. to XVI. are devoted to the geography and
the social state of Asia Minor. Besides the results of the
Author’s own travels, he has availed himself of the journeys
of others, together with the narratives and descriptions of
ancient writers; and the mountain chains have been carefully
laid down on the general or Index Map.
Chapters XVII. to XXI., inclusive, treat of the climate and y
productions of Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, &c.; and in the
same way those from XXII. to XXV. describe Arabia, from