Ye teners. Thtabys Heute Ht eae f Eisre sista Ra ve ted. i teats Mites pei eae ES PAPA DRS EPEAT SATE FLAN CAE eau Se : siti Theat et Diao rarenge Eee i ser ieaniceoD yihe behiesey Scascerrecie (rasa: nsieeeaTe ye is et piers Se toeeele ea ee istias TNT apie Peeienmeseass hate a alk rp Seed ba be 2 HE these atae > atone F138 aasiaiet if , wen ecco = ea yeae pee pre as ig pee Siihtte See teat neigd ita a 35 + Peal etihde FETE Sate eeeesee atthe Eee t a ery aoe sharena ree at See i Cig aries BT mas ee eneLIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA FROM THE BOOKS OF Miss Florence L. SmithSSS = Ceylon. eee eS Se the Desert.—Point de Galle, jon in Isle of Wight.—Central Stat a cae M Testisbeae Sepia eae TH 5+ i H Ae 4 il! il ! ! “il erland Route to Indi Ov er SET Seeder fy ne nae ayaa ee ae eee IOS eae Ta ae a el cna fp~3 we etyed ase pemas ab pink heaeporke ee be hoes = tae SS : : Stare eae Sr Sasa a ere eee ae eeae es pat SSrSats rat eis ett feet ea Te ee ew Ranraseecrete ties it Shear mea ude pen = Hrs e Fs PANETY Teed me ean en phat Comme te mtn 5 Cen ah easTHE ILLUSTRATED. BooK oF OA G Oh \ S\, ae VAN ie - NAN VOOM YBN A\ rae As 7 IRATE PTT TACT iJVB : LONDON DEAN& SON, LupcaTe HILL | EG; Ta L} pe) i Boar bi ett t ti iit miepemn tay sp-brems Sry sean Pe PONIESTHE ILLUSTRATED BOOK Wonders, Events, and Discoveries. BY JOHN TIMBS, AUTHOR OF “THINGS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN,” ETC. WITH CONTINUATION ON RAGGED SCHOOLS, OR, GREAT RESULTS FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS, AND THE OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA, FURNISHED BY THE SECRETARIES Of THE SOCIETIES. NEW EDITION, WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. on D 8 ws DEAN & SON, 65, LUDGATE HILL. Pye SPL TTT TELE PRES TT Sea Pre ITT PUNT CU en noe tio] i — salMt pes p= $i : He 4a ky rey rh Hi a ae iUCH a book as this recommends itself. It suits the lovers of the marvellous, as well as it suits matter-of-fact people. Such a book would, ‘n the absence of all other proofs, suffice to shew that “truth is stranger than fiction,” and that ‘¢ Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war.” Here statements are facts, and facts calculated to excite more astonishment and admiration than could be evoked by the fertile imagination of the most inventive genius. This is one of those books which will be perused with pleasure by old and young of Ve 5 aT: sc irrerirscosctitltiiir rete rer: (et teerrt (17 oeeeMnteene MPOpRrer TT TEI LU SLA Su acne Parra Mant se iesceiinn eis Crm crruan SETH ORR OGA TED RGR FRI SHE Re ET «ag . oee es a Taree apags Apirteast aaererip ape neyetMebeararsapautiaet tats EMA ey rit L: i ipeteseercteyy v ITE vs SHE Cae Bye carte i yesaprseiesauadibaneseyeae) cyt ois dikabthe ters AE ohare ase ]ESSeR3 aA BESS SHEL SEs EEE il PREFACE. every class, when thousands of works, of far higher pretensions, are forgotten or neglected. The articles of which this volume is comprised were originally edited by Mr. John Timbs, author of ‘Things not generally Known,” and other popular works. They appeared in the Illustrated Year Book of Wonders, Events, and Discoveries, in two volumes, published at twelve shillings. They have been some time out of print, and the copyright and illustrations have been purchased by the pub- lishers of this volume. So convinced are they that the information contained in the series is, at the present day, as interesting and instructive ag it was when first it was published, that they republish, in a cheaper form, a selection of articles from the two volumes. The articles on “Great Results from Small Begin- nings,” and also that on the “ Overland Route toPREFACE. li India,” have been much enlarged; and the publishers have much pleasure in availing themselves of this opportunity to express their sincere thanks to J. G. Gent, Esq., Secretary to the Ragged School Union; S. Tawell, Esq., Honorary Secretary to the Field-Lane Ragged School; ©. W. Howell, Esq., Secretary to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company; and to the respected Secretary of the Submarine Telegraph Company; for their assistance in their several departments. ii RRNA neti ra. TE na errr rt a “SEE 3 nt terete reeset TITRE TEE HET WerresmcOnnESEMaD mneINen eer Sur ciit rewire: ocr cr Sites TET ITEze Penman saan Kas mabehseghe artes ghee MONl oT pavers e pegeen creer bey) SS SLstenG fawn tees 2 ee marety ritpetes sista cepeomann sere tis arictvees: EXeti tes ee : recive fees Hearne eTRE ta} ease ible HEA Hiatt aH EE qa teesAUTUMN TREE rep ar Sy a Cra ey F 3 z F3 B i i :exHibyeta¥ a ar Bridge, ynnia Tubul 31i —The I 1ent, y y o Oo — 5 STEPHENSON’S grand ac ¢ kSTEPHENSON’S GRAND ACHTEVEMENT. ——__., “The true votary of Science loves it for itself: in its possession, he has a higher honour, a nobler decoration than man can give, He does not require to be bribed to follow it by titles or ribbons, —the baits for meaner Spirits, the lure to lower achievements,”— The President’s Address to the British Association, 1849. A QUARTER of a century has elapsed since Telford threw across the Menai Straits, between the Island of Anglesey and the coast of Carnarvon, his magnificent Suspension-bridge; approaching which, in magnitude, nothing had hitherto been accomplished. There ex- isted, therefore, no precedent on which means for overcoming the various difficulties of the execution, as they occurred, could be founded. Like his pre- decessors, Brindley, Arkwright, Watt, and Rennie, Telford had only his own genius to depend on: he, however, knew his own strength, and it did not fail him. Yet, strange is it to reflect that within the short interval above named, and within view of Telford’s great work, a nobler triumph of science has been wrought—in the construction of “the Britannia Tubular Bridge,” B APRAPT ATER BEER RTE rn ee ee TLD nari SUTUEYS Sythe he abe bate Ey ate RU Mths PARE NR TT Tee ba ae SOR sre on TT aTTE JEU NTGHIO seer er id ase TE Wa bi dta i Ered ry POT EOH i OTe WptenrnuMerrnerin Sulu orice Ollieiegizee? ft aa Ge Merete ene ccheE PITS) . q SRP TERITEE AT eee yi treee eta See atencs 3 beseerr esters SEB RE TIPGES ES ear ER Stres Soe HLS che SPS OG DA SEES Bese HES EP SEEPS EOD rn Metered STEPHENSON S GRAND ACHIEVEMENT. This greater work has originated in the extension of the Railway system, which had barely begun to develop itself ere Telford was taken from among us. He died in 1834; at which period, scarcely half- a-dozen railways were in existence, and neither of these presenting any labour approaching that we are about to describe. The railway, of which this tubular bridge forms a portion, is the extension line from Chester to Holy- head, for the conveyance of the Royal Mails, of goods of all descriptions, of first, second, and third class passengers, and of Her Majesty’s troops and artillery, between London and Dublin; Holyhead, with an improved Harbour of Refuge, being the most desirable point at which to effect the communication with Ireland. In the formation of this line of railway, the great difficulty which its projectors had to contend with was to discover by what means, if any, long trains of passengers and of goods, could, at undiminished speed, be safely transported across that great tidal chasm which separates Carnarvon from the Island of Angle- sey. ‘To solve this important problem, the Company’s engineer, Mr. Robert Stephenson, was directed most carefully to reconnoitre the spot; and some of the picturesque but powerful adversaries he was required to encounter, are thus vividly sketched by Sir Francis Head, in the Quarterly Review: As on the Anglesey side of the Menai Straits, Mr. Stephenson stood in mute contemplation, “imme- 9 adDIFFICULTIES TO BE SURMOUNTED. diately in his front, and gradually rising towards the clouds above him, were the lofty snow-capped moun- tains of Snowdon, along the sides of which, or through which, the future railroad, some times in bright sunshine, and sometimes in utter darkness, was either to meander or to burrow. “Beneath him were the deep Menai Straits, in length above twelve miles, through which, imprisoned between precipitous shores, the waters of the Irish Sea and St. George’s Channel are not only everlastingly vibrating backwards and forwards, but at the same time, and from the same cause, are progressively rising or falling from 20 to 25 feet with each successive tide, which, varying its period of high water, every day, forms altogether an endless succession of aqueous changes. “The point of the Straits which it was desired to cross—although broader than that about a mile distant, pre-occupied by Mr. Telford’s Suspension- bridge,—was, of course, one of the narrowest that could be selected; in consequence of which the ebbing and flowing torrent rushes through it with such violence that, except where there is back-water, it 1s often impossible for a small boat to pull against it; besides which, the gusts of wind which come over the tops, down the ravines, and round the sides of the neighbouring mountains, are so sudden, and occasionally so violent, that it is as dangerous to sail as it is difficult to row; in short, the wind and the water, sometimes playfully, and sometimes angrily, Mayenne cca er ee TAS gHRt Be ES OE + T vy ier res Parle) Pi thbbbd indnbesenebi es uelteernrel tien ge + pian —_— ‘ isha Aidsdidihstte ti bab bdbbdbsHSdbk tits inoodmberneesilaacsas bl eteeererre ris | 2ib sUASA eS enter eats : HS TeSa oes 1 apt asirieeri rites titiays bceeaddacass ribees be babtieeet ree ar cae = sreteopepeness epederrsreeebeittites STEPHENSON S GRAND ACHIEVEMENT. seem to. vie with each other—like some of Shak- hibiting before the stranger the speare’s fairies—in eX nges which it is in the utmost variety of fantastic cha pewer of each to assume.” These annoyances from air, however, insignificant mn comparison with the xe Lords of the Admiralty, that for the tion made by tl requirements of war, and the interests of commerce, the proposed passage across the Menai Straits should be constructed a good hundred feet above high-water level, to enable large vessels to sail beneath it; and it was further required that in the construction of the passage, neither scaffolding nor centering should be used, as they, it was explained, would. obstruct the earth, and water, were, stipula- navigation of the Straits. To mect this difficulty, which engineers generally considered to amount almost to a prohibition, Mr. Stephenson designed a magnificent cast-iron bridge of two arches; “the necessity for centering being very ingeniously dispensed with by connecting together the half arches on each side of the centre pier, so as to cause them to counterbalance each other, like two boys quietly seated on the opposite ends of a plank supported only in the middle.” Beautiful as this structure unquestionably was in design, and sound in practice, it did not meet the official requirements ; and it was rejected by the Admiralty because the stipulated height of 100 feet would only be attained under the crown of the arch, instead of throughout the whole of the water-vourse. 4PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTS. After long and unwearied study,Mr. Stephenson conceived the only mode in which he could form a bridge without centerings, scafloldings, or arches, was by constructing, at the height required, on the prin- ciple of a common beam, low, long, hollow, straight tubes—one for up, the other, for down trains— composed of wrought-iron boiler-plates riveted toge- ther. ‘To turn aside the force of the wind, and guard against oscillation, these tubes, it was conceived, should, like common water-pipes, be made oval or elliptical; the extremities of which were to rest on masonry terminating the approaching embankment on cither shore; while the intermediate portions of the tubes were to be placed at the required elevation upon three massive and lofty towers. Whilst these towers were constructing, Mr. Stephenson recommended that a series of experiments should be made, in order to ascertain the best form and precise thickness of the wrought-iron galleries, as also, the exact amount of weight they would practically bear. Tor this purpose, was selected Mr. William Fairbairn, an iron ship- builder and steam boiler-maker ; who called in the aid of Mr. Hodgkinson, long distinguished as the first scientific authority on the strength of iron beams, and who ably fills the office of Professor of the Mecha- nical Principles of Engineering, in University College, London. ‘To these two gentlemen, Mr. Stephenson subsequently added one cf his own confidential assistants, Mr. Edwin Clark, a practical engmeer of the highest mathematical attainments, who, from time 5 OCR RT TY Dee gh, SRS HASAGSI Aad GEA AS GH a DOr nom eas UPPER EES Te a PES FS] rer ay 65a) Perey ry erence sree seereerer aaa rR EEA TET saeaieleetitaiaiaiai Apa RHEE SEHR HET AH m : berets cerrertreessrtiiiircitrr stitial et ieeettetrt. tr) eenteMTtbmar MOOT Teer SALUT eric es halL 0 noeSTETIESEEEEsaateatTTeHineTIEaTTTI Rea aT "i RED ISUeH absert st ocr Pee eet ates : erent ahet TEESE DEEDS gos aa EE EEE noes Bes STEPHENSON’S GRAND ACHIEVEMENT. to time, reported to Mr. Stephenson the result of the respective experiments. Of these investigations, space will not allow us to do more than record a few leading results. Toremost among them it appears that the main strength of a beam consists in its power to resist compression at its upper portion, and extension at the lower one; and that, in order to obtain the greatest possible amount of strength, the quantity of the material should be accumulated at the top and bottom where the strain is greatest, and the middle of the beam, whether of wood or iron, should be bored out. Upon this simple principle, Mr. Stephenson felt assured of conveying the ponderous railway trains in safety through hollow tubes, instead of attempting to do so upon solid beams; for the latter would not only have been unable to sustain the load, but would have been bent by their own weight. Another important result arrived at was that rigidity and strength are best obtained by throwing the greatest thickness of material on the upper side ; and but for this result, the proposed tubes would have been constructed stronger at bottom than at top, instead of, as the experiment showed they ought to be, stronger at top than at bottom. The best form of tube was next tried, by subjecting each to heavy pressure; when the cylindrical tube, with a given weight, was torn asunder beneath, while the elliptical showed weakness at the top. Both were, consequently, discarded; and the rectangular 6TESTING THE MODEL TUBE. tube, which proved of much greater strength and rigidity, was adopted. It was next important to ascertain what should be the thickness of the top and bottom, where the main power of the tube had been shown, experimentally, to consist. It was soon found that, instead of riveting together two or three layers of plates, much greater strength would be attained by placing such layers a foot or two asunder, the hollow space being subdivided by small upright plates into passages or flues extend- ing throughout the top and bottom of the tube. The strength of the plate-iron sides of the tube, and the form and application of the angle-irons, to serve as ribs to this iron skin,—were also tested, so as to insure the tube against twisting from storms of wind. These experiments were repeated upon a second model tube, one sixth of the dimensicns of the intended Britannia Bridge; and, upon this series of results, the size and adjustment of the iron to be used was finally determined, on. By this means, to insure security to the public, Mr. Stephenson provided that the unsupported portions of each tube should be no less than 4,000 tons over its whole surface, or 2,000 tons in the centre, being nine times greater than the amount of strength necessarily required; and this, ib was proved, could be obtained without the aid .of chains, as originally contemplated; by dispensing with which extra support, a saving of £150,000 was effected. 7 4 RARE PnOTBE RN EE eerror neers nn arr Co ree on os . PE ta Lael aebeael aE seseana taht (Ec IMULCOU acres eri critter eo la. ot Leena Pre rer TH iMneee Tere Hit tide nies AERA On tHe Tey ne prpereetsecne vert tiirttesety erreens frets fevestrecssceiirtit ite rcr tet rece fees eerts ts Pome ste eeae aHHA MS ier Tesh Wrate te ieei see Lt Bee Gr oeetenteeee tien Hibitterits ibid be bass ee hd Chitaseoierirgecrcestsiss if) popcereescaterse emer TTP TET TPIT ITE ey SHOTS ESTP ETERS CELE GS Sie cag est be Py HbcocbAGASebSD Ses be geeHt SEVIS STEPHENSON S GRAND ACHIEVEMENT. The security may be further illustrated by the fact that the strain which would be inflicted on the iron- work of the longest of Mr. Stephenson’s tubes by a monster railway train, sufficient to cover it from cnd to end, would amount to six tons per square inch :— “which,” says Sir Francis Head, “is exactly equal to the constant stress upon the chains of Telford’s magnificent suspension Menai Bridge when, basking in sunshine or veiled in utter darkness, it has nothing to support but its own apparently slender weight To determine the necessary strength of the sides of the galleries, to enable them to withstand the violence of the wind to which, hung up in the air, across an arm of the sea, they must be exposed,—several experiments were made on the model tube, by turning it on its side, and loading it until crushed; though this was not done before the tube was proved to be capable of resisting a side pressure five times greater than the utmost violence of the hurricane. The bridge, it may here be necessary to explain, was to consist of eight tubes, in two lines. Of these tubes or galleries, the four shortest, cach 230 feet in length, were to be constructed on scafloldings from the abutments to the land-towers, where they were permanently to remain. The four longest tubes or galleries, each 472 feet in length, it was resolved to construct upon wooden platforms upon the Carnarvon shore; whence, on completion, they were to be floated on pontoons to the bases of the towers, and raised to their summits by the working of hydraulic presses. 8 ??COMMENCEMENT OF THE WORK. The reader will readily perceive the importance of the foregoig experiments in enabling the engineers to determine the principle upon which the Britannia Bridge should be constructed; more particularly as Mr. Stephenson had no precedent for his guide. The British Association for the Advancement of Science has, however, effeetively contributed to this great work; for, as stated by the President, at the Meeting of the Association in 1846, “this bold proposal could never have been realized if the eminent engineer, (Mr. Stephenson,) had not been acquainted with the great progress recently made in the knowledge of the strength of materials, and especially of iron; such knowledge being in great measure, due to investiga- tions in which the Association has taken, and is still taking, a conspicuous share by the devotion of its funds and the employments of its mfluence—investi- gations which have been prosecuted with great zeal by its valued members, Mr. Hodgkinson and Mr. Fairbairn.” We now proceed to sketch the works for the con- struction of the ‘Tubes and Towers. The preliminaries were commenced by constructing for at least half-a-mile along the Carnarvon shore, an immense wooden platform; in the rear of which were raised three extensive workshops, containing forges and steam machinery for preparing plate-iron. Six steam-engines were set up for general work; and five wharves were formed on the Strait-bank, and provided with eranes for landing materials. ‘Temporary 9 4 tm \ eS TTT tee HU eH PR ER RRR RTT bo thet hive ori i RPP TET et ai cots eed eee tC a Uc oe Beneris | Pita ye rs eet. ar ; ' Meratreresestrci clu tierit ters ree tttire. 1 eee een teeee POSIT LSE ae tee aad SsSeana SFT SEE} at Ht CesEEae er He i ou Spoettatreaccatrbarenienttt 4 ees eared OWT EALSSpESbeD grees: paeart eee PHP TTE AH HTS ESE STP SOS SSererc trees! es pee PoE TT Te she ra thumeat sed) ie dsatidiateretexeneseuesnieocbAdaseaesbssieiceavese ES PoTveT tie STEPHENSON S GRAND ACHIEVEMENT. wooden cottages, or, “shanties,” as they are termed, were quickly raised in the adjoining woods and fields, to accommodate the workmen, their wives and their families, who were to equal in number the population of a moderately-sized town: accordingly, there were the usual provisions for large communities, in a clergyman, a schoolmaster, and a surgeon. Only such persons as have watched a large railway in course of construction can form any idea of the multitudi- nous character of these arrangements. Soon the silence and solitude of the Menai shores became broken by the turmoil of human industry: while gangs of masons were excavating the rocky foundations of the land towers, a host of carts, horses, and labourers were employed in raising the embank- ments or approaches to these towers. The Straits quickly became thronged with craft laden with hmestone from the Anglesey quarries, iron from Liverpool, red sandstone from Runcorn, in Cheshire ; and timber equalling “the tallest pine hewn on Norwegian hills,” from various quarters; all approach- ing the new wharves. The wants of the industrial settlement drew countless traffickers, and new-comers were continually swelling the number. The construction of the tubes resembles the operation on a large scale, of steam-boiler making ; but our limits will not allow us to detail how the vast tube- plates, after they had been forged, were perfected in thickness by passing eral between massive iron rollers worked by steam; how these 10MAGNITUDE OF THE OPERATIONS. plates, some of which weigh about 6 ewt., had their edges placed beneath steam-worked levers, armed with steel bolts, which punched through the iron from one-half to three-fourths of an inch thick, with as little apparent exertion as a taster scoops out cheese ; how the plates were riveted together; and how the tubes were finally strengthened by ribs, called gussets. We must, therefore, presume these several operations to be completed, and the tubes prepared for removal. The scene of these operations was as striking for its magnitude as for its minuteness. “It is unpos- sible,’ says an artistic friend, who witnessed all the stages, “to conceive anything so wonderful as the works of these huge piles of iron. ‘Tramways are laid on the platform, along which wagons laden with bar and sheet-iron, of different fashions, are constantly being urged to the points where they are required. Steam-engines are continually at work, pouring their dense smoke into the air; and the clash and din of the huge hammers worked by them, the whirr of the many wheels moved by them, and the horrid clang of the hammers of the blacksmiths at the forges, with the noise echoing along the tubes, caused by the riveters closing the seams of the iron work, produce such an union of discordant noises, that to imagine its equal is impossible, as far as sound is concerned. Nor is it possible to figure in the mind’s eye the multifarious engines, of unique design and require- ments, which occur at almost every step, and all perform unexampled operations with the most 11 miteark RRARAR ARERR ARATE eT Hepp CER ot teaPaetediseseeneet 3 rte Tua orstetogpacaaah tt Fi] te HHI ne bid scqepyeRebEanent apbeasrcuspacehact hice Was EPPEPESESERTEE PSR: EEL ES Ste de totais tpn ri rete abiirittitt Fees Hs dives feurs/ GrePEs avd sees SBE AASHeSE REEDS PETE Doe re TSU cosesistis Ut 7 sr nCuE Be EnANAE STEPHENSON S GRAND ACHIEVEMENT. scrupulous exactitude. Nor are the workmen less striking and peculiar than the engines and implements they guide and wield. Strong and sinewy, and thoroughly grimed with smoke and dirt, more fitting representatives of Cyclops could not easily be found ; and the ease with which the most unwieldy hammers are heaved by them attest their prodigious strength. The precision displayed by the boys employed in hurling the rivets to the riviters engaged in fastening the seams, is truly wonderful. ‘Taking a bolt, redhot, in a pair of pincers, with a jerk they hurl the bolt to the exact spot where the riveter stands; and, whether the latter is on a platform working at the sides of the tube, or on the top of it, the bolt falls close to his side with the most unerring precision.” In the construction of the tubes, there were required two miluons of sbolts, or rivets, averaging seven-eighths of an inch in diameter, and four inches in length; so that the quantity of iron consumed for this purpose amounted in length to 126 miles, and in weight to about 900 tons. Before we describe the operations of Floating and Raising the Tubes, let us glance at the Abutments and Piers prepared to receive them. The first thing that strikes the spectator on approaching these Cyclopean piles, is the vast masses of stove of which they are constructed. The whole of the masonry, (except the backing up inside, which is Runcorn stone,) is of Anglesey limestone in such immense blocks, that, to the eye of the uninitiated, it seems 12IMMENSE SIZE OF THE TUBES. ‘almost impossible to move them; yet they were moved with perfect ease; for such is the ingenuity, simplicity, and strength of the tackle used, that it appeared to be a matter of small moment whether a block of stone weighed one ton or twelve tons. The first pile of masonry on the Anglesey side of the Straits is the Anglesey Abutment; it is 143 feet 6 inches in height; and from the front to the end of the land-walls is 173 feet. These walls terminate in pedestals, on which repose two colossal lions, of Hgyptian Character, to which we shall presently refer more distinctly. The space between the Anglesey Abutment and the Anglesey Pier, (namely 230 feet,) was occupied by an immense scaffolding, 98 feet in height, and containing in its uprights, stays, braces, and sills, 70,000 cubic feet of timber; and, upon this vast scaffolding, the short tubes, communicating from the Anglesey Abutment, were permanently con- structed, to the second pile of masonry, which is the Anglesey Pier, 55 feet wide by 82 feet long, and 198 feet in height. The masonry of the Carnarvon Pier is the same in every respect as the Anglesey Pier. Hach pier contains 210 tons of cast-iron girders and beams. The Carnarvon Abutment is also of a similar character to the one on the Anglesey shore; but the ground on this side bemg much higher, the masonry ‘s not of that immense altitude which makes the Anglesey Abutment so conspicuous an object. The Carnarvon Abutment has two lions to correspond with 13 aN a per T e erent ibs einai Cie Tay t peerere rrr rrag ster yar aa ra ThA SLT RUE ys hte 4 ati eee fingeeet Mn bbls I . } r i 5 Ghiemeerqrers vrvertirscsec ii ( ivi rset tieret eet tettr 11 omeNetneT MPOMNrerOeT LEME a allen EIR i} Leber got iH RRRAMN ARERR RTE | 3 puis ae ae re Wee rer aca ba itaee as 5% if Nay eet iGrin bss VENT a HN) 20 ata? rors eitats SreGtreh bees Sonetenrerer eres TTT SEAPESEEESTRREEES CEES POPES ey aretpinaye yen TSS giistits Hen CHOP ibe Paauayd crerestpe sees coo RE POOP reeset ct ty MesEa ABSURD STEPHENSON S GRAND ACHIEVEMENT. those on the Anglesey Abutment. The span between the Carnarvon Abutment and Pier is 230 feet, occupied by a pair of tubes, built on scaffolding, as on the Anglesey side. But the noblest work is the Britannia, or centre Pier, equidistant, (460 feet in the clear,) from the Anglesey and Carnarvon Piers, and founded in the middle of the Menai Straits, on the Britannia rock, whence the bridge takes its name. ‘This pier, or tower, rises majestically to a height of 230 feet, on a base embedded in pure Roman cement of 62 feet by 52 feet. The vast structure weighs upwards of 20,000 tons, and is a conglomeration of 148,625 cubic feet of Anglesey limestene for the exterior; 144,625 cubic feet of sandstone for the interior; and 337 tons of cast-iron beams and girders, worked in to give strength, solidity, and security to the mass. This stupendous pile was built under the able direc- tion of Mr. Frank Forster, engineer of the railway from Bangor to Holyhead. The four colossal couchant lions which adorn the pedestals at each end of the Bridge are, as we have before observed, of Egyptian character, and are truly admirable in design and workmanship. They are each 265 feet 6 inches in length, and 12 feet 6 inches in height, by 8 feet in width, and about 30 tons in weight ; and their bullet eyes are as large as human heads. Two thousand cubic feet of Anglesey lime- stone were required for each lion; and from these statistics some idea may be formed of the prodigious 14THE ANGLESEY ABUTMENT. scale on which even the decorative part of the bridge Is carried out. The lions were modelled by Mr. J. Thomas, whose sculptures in the new Houses of Parliament have been so extensively commended. The appearance of these lions, (says Sir F. Head,) is grand, grave, and imposing,—the position they occupy being 180 feet in advance of the entrance into the two tubes, which so closely resemble that over the drawbridge into a fortress, that one looxs up, almost involuntarily, for the portcullis. It was originally intended to have crowned the masonry of the Britannia Pier with a colossal figure of Science, 50 feet in height, seated on a base of 48 feet by 28; for which 17,000 feet of stone would have been required. But few comparisons could be instituted to convey an idea of the vastness of the two sets of hollow tubes, four in number, which had been constructed under the sole superintendence of Mr. Edwin Clark, and were to be raised upon the piers as the aérial passages of the up and down trains across the Straits. As Sir F. Head saw them, close to the shore, on their wooden platform, being each 472 feet in length, and being also of the height of an ordinary two-storied dwelling, he compares them to a street or row of chimneyless houses half-a-mile long, built on the water’s edge; indeed, if the windows and doors had been painted upon them, the resemblance would have been perfect. Again, each of the large tubes, (allowing it to have skylights in the roof,) has been 15 ieee HOTTEST EP a APRRRRARRER RRR Hn eT iS TrMste Dra Pe eh ne STIVERy Tye p4 ih frereererr rit! TELAT MILO veorene sper gcc sien Peng Mee sluB rum coi ooh UC a a a a OTE Ba 5 be Hi eee Partai et | HH ph Ube ahha, Potters rire resee TUT listo ttc ene orrn mene mee eter ORCreT SUS MLC GA sac ALLL AcaR aah aed aRHEMyE Le ariahereoace eth aNeeales i ib cTapeyat: bracts CHIH FUSS P ERTS HEREEAE EES SIEdnddAseoaeaseseqea-tttse hte PSIEN HERE aif tetreesyesmrosedesereerent Mi] teers isthe nl bast ae pyiyescizeetent FITTDSRIPa LAH STEPHENSON’S GRAND ACHIEVEMENT. compared to the Burlington Arcade, in Piceadilty ; and, continuing the comparison in the locality, the labour of placing a tube on the piers has been assimi- lated to that of raising the Burlmgton Arcade upon the summit of the spire of St. James’s Church, if surrounded with water. Mr. Stephenson’s arrangements for floating the frst of these tubes or streets may be thus briefly described. ‘During it construction, on the platform, the rock beneath it, at the end was excavated, so as to admit eight pontoons, furnished with valves, which would let in or keep out the water, as desired, and float 3,200 tons; whereas the weight of the tube, with its apparatus, was but 1,800 tons. Communica- ting with these pontoons, on the Anglesey and Carnarvon shores, and on stages constructed on piles at the Britannia Rock, was provided a series of capstans, the ropes and hawsers to which exceeded two miles in length, the two largest of which were attached to the tube for guiding it to the feet of the Anglesey and Britannia towers; whilst the smaller ropes were to be used to humour the leviathan to its resting-place. The interest excited by the floatiug far exceeded that of any ship launch within recollection. The faine of the work had spread through many a land, and spectators came from all parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britam and Ireland, from the Contment of Europe, and even from the United States of America. The railway journey is but eight 16IMMENSE ASSEMBLAGE OF SPECTATORS, hours: from Chester, by Flint, Mostyn, Rhyl, Aber, and Bangor, is one of the most picturesque lines in this country; and includes the passage of the river Conway through a tube of similar construction to the greater work across the Menai Straits. The assemblage of persons on the day appointed for the floating was increased by every available conveyance from the neighbouring towns; as well as by steam- ers and all kinds of craft by water; added to which it was a great temptation for tourists, and that nume- rous class who, scared from the Continent by its volcano-social state, gladly betook themselves to the novelties of home. At the works, the accom- modations for all comers were very extensive ; there were long ranges of booths, for the universal business of refection, and vast amphitheatres and platforms for witnessing the day’s spectacle. Upon the very summit of the Britannia pier, floated the Union Jack; and from pier to pier were suspended in two festoons, flags of all colours and all nations; whilst the ships and boats at sea, and the houses on shore, were similarly decorated. It may well be conceived with what excitement the day was viewed by the tenants of the shanties, who had so laboriously contributed to its glory. Among the eminent engineers present were Mr. Bidder, Mr. Brunel, Mr. Locke, and Mr. Vignolles ; here too were Capt. Moorson, R.N. and Capt. Claxton, who did such scientific service at the floating of the Great Britain steam-ship at Dundrum, and who on C RAPRRRN ARERR ET ART asostssvTisyr is MOTE dal mine RUPE ee aa oe add ett veneer reread soit EEE te) ro or Bs 8) ete Ey : ser ett t L enren ene PrereTTOS LOMA al bela ke HE DuOn Ot aera upd beat Fenty aH rt be yes es 3shiieers u OF} EH LSB BYNES SESE EES Tat iets sts maaeeebel Sdectiaa bs cement cena besarLesd sie aAPRSESS Ei aaSear STEPHENSON’S GRAND ACHIEVEMENT. this occasion had the command of 100 seamen from Liverpool. The great work commenced by the pontoons, (the valves of which had been closed,) rising with the tide, and receiving the tube from off the platform on their gunwales: it was, however, still held by the hawsers, till Mr. Stephenson gave the command, “Cut the land attachments!” This was done by carpenters, who were axe in hand, and the long street floated into the water, amidst the shouts of the masses of human beings, the chorus of the sailors at the capstans, and “ Rule Britannia,” very appropriately played by a brass band. The regulation of the pace by the capstans and guide- hawsers (the latter, with the other ropes, were 15 miles in length,) was executed with the greatest possi- ble precision by Mr. Brunel and Mr. Locke, who had volunteered their able assistance; Mr. Stephenson, who was stationed on the tube, intimating his desire that the speed should be increased or diminished, by horizontally raising his arms or slowly depressing them; whilst other orders were given by exhibiting large wooden letters, and the waving of different coloured flags, from the roof of the tube. The whole of the operations were under the com- mand of Mr. Stephenson, assisted by Captain Claxton. At about half-past nine o’clock—little more than an hour and a half from the time of floating—the tube had not only been got across the Straits, but was announced to be at its resting-place between the two towers, on the Anglesey side. A signal was given 18SUCCESSFUL PROGRESS. that all was safe and ‘secure, and a shout, long and loud, was raised by the multitudes around, which roused the echoes amongst the hills on the romantic shores of the estuary. The eastern end of the tube was first inserted into the vertical recess of the Britannia tower, formed for its reception; and the down-coming tide from the northward floated the other end into its place into a similar recess in the Anglesey tower, a portion of the lower mason-work being there omitted for its reception. Besides the 100 sailors, there were 700 other workmen employed in the removal. As soon as the tube was deposited, the pontoons were got from under it with the greatest possible despatch. Such was the enthusiasm excited by the safe deposit of the tube, and the conquering of numerous contingencies, that the cheering was prolonged almost continuously until nearly midnight, amongst the spectators and workmen; and, so nearly as could be calculated, there were at and about the works afloat, or on shore, not fewer than ten thousand individuals, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour. And thus closed the important day of the floating— Wednesday, June 27, 1849. , On Friday following, the last stone of the Britannia pier, for the reception of which a space was left in the top tier on the northward side,-—was deposited by Mr. Stephenson. The ascent to this platform, much above 200 feet in height, was by long and steep ladders, up which a hamper of champagne 19 BRR RRR ARBRE Ren rH ini nyt trusty Sra TiTray ty 8 Soon pierre eae by bene Hs et ae = St SSE ae Riunwerre Soci mre lorry ; i } eit ir tert rere Tet terre. 1 eee nee beams Linh oavnas Pat 2 tsi tipivecioe- eye PUte siete a Sere rtercheneeedaea eararasthal ibaeh STEPHENSON’S GRAND ACHIEVEMENT. was carried to “wet the stone,” (a thirsty giant of some five tons weight,) and to regale the company. And here, upon this aerial table, was the festal cere- mony performed. The company then descended, and found their way on shore in boats. All the workmen afterwards enjoyed a holiday, and the good cheer was kept up till a late hour, amidst the continued firing of guns, which reverberated with remarkable distinctness from the shores on each side the Straits. Ou the above occasion, Mr. Stephenson stated that no Jess than a million and a half of cubic feet of masonry—of which the piers and abutments are composed—had been constructed within three years ; three cubic feet had been accomplished per minute, since the commencement; and, from first to last, of this gigantic undertaking, happily, not a smyle work- man’s life had been lost. Such good fortune rarely attends so gigantic a work to its completion. The reader will perhaps recollect that we left the great tube resting upon the ledge prepared for it, there to await the operation of raising it about 100 feet to its final resting-place. The apparatus for this purpose was the hydraulic presses of Bramah, one of which was said to be not only the largest in the world, but the most powerful machine that had ever been constructed. This press had a cylinder 11 inches thick, with a piston or ram 20 inches in diameter, and the lift a span of 6 feet. The weight of the cylinder is 16 tons,—of the whole machine 40 tons. This one press alone had power enough to lift the whole,— 20IMMENSITY OF POWER USED. a power, it is estimated, equivalent to that of 30,000 men. It would spout the water pressed into its cylinder to a height of nearly 20,000 feet, according to Mr. Clark; or more than five times the height of Snowdon, or 5,000 feet higher than Mont Blanc. And yet any one man can “put a hook into the nose of (this) leviathan,” and, alone with him, with the utmost facility and precision guide and control his stupendous action. There were two presses of smaller power, with rams 18 inches in diameter. These were placed side by side on the Britannia pier, and acted in conjunction with the larger, which stood at the same level on a pier adjoming. ‘The chains descending to the tube below are like those of an ordinary suspen- sion bridge, in eight and nine links alternately. The weight of one of these alone is about 100 tons, or more than double the weight of the equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington, on the Green Park arch. They are attached to the rams by iron vokes, or cross- heads, of great thickness. ‘he two chains pass through square holes at each end, and are gripped at the top by clams or cheeks, of wrought-iron, screwed like a vice. At the lower end, the chains are attached to the tube, or rather to lifting-frames within its extremities, by three sets of massive cast-iron beams, crossing one above another; and secured by wrought- iron straps, passing over the upper pair, and descend- ing into the bottom cells, where they are keyed. The ends of the chains fit under deep shoulders or notches in the lifting-frames, where they are secured by screw 21 ~eaeeeret | - piadueregaahe abet o% RERRARRARER RETR p es ice rate rt ee OTP tnreta ti eter tia eal el eninge se areca capers errrig sc oA CT Ty SeTaE Bea URS HUT i errs 1 port) 80) | 3 ete) stabs ag ! G3 a trteacirreti sess titi riirrect rt ites] Oe tere ot eee nee RrerOrerer CECA at or asSTEPHENSON S GRAND ACHIEVEMENT. bolts; and these lifting-frames and beams add 200 tons to the weight to be lifted. To guard against all chance of injury to the tube during the lifting, and to ensure perfect security, a contrivance was adopted by which the chains, as they rose, were followed up by wedges; so that, in the event of any accident happening to the lifting machinery, no injury would happen to the tube. The importance of this fore-arming will be presently exemplified. The water is forced into the presses by two steam- engines, each of 40-horse power; the pipe through which it passes being much smaller than would be expected, its diameter not exceeding half an inch. The boiler being sufficiently heated, the great piston, pressed upward by the water beneath it, continued to rise, until, in 380 minutes, the tube was lifted 6 feet, and then secured. This operation was performed at each end of the tube, which being secured, the water was let off from the cylinder, and the piston descended. The twofold operation was then repeated, and the tube was raised another 6 feet; and thus the labour progressed until the tube was nearly at the haight of 30 feet. On August 17, the engineers renewed their labour for another 6 feet: the tube rose steadily to the height of % feet 6 inches, being closely followed up by inch wooden boards packed in beneath it, when, suddenly, and without any warning, the bottom of the hydraulic press gave way, separating completely from the body. 22HYDRAULIC ACCIDENT, The ram, cross-head, and chains, descended violently on to the press, with tremendous noise—the tube sinking down upon. the wooden packing benesth it; while the bottom of the press, weighing nearly two tons and a half, fell on to the top of the tube, through a depth of 80 feet. A sailor, who was ascending from the tube to the pier, but was not engaged in the raising, was struck by a broken piece of the press, when he fell on to the tube, a height of 50 feet, and received such severe injuries, that the poor fellow died the next day. No one actually engaged in the operation was injured, although Mr. Edwin Clark, who was superintending on the top of the cross-head, and his brother, Mr. Latimer Clark, who was standing beneath it, had both very narrow escapes. The tube was not at all injured in the above acci- dent, but some of the lifting-frames were broken ; and these being repaired, the raising was resumed, and the final lift of the tube was successfully accomplished on the 15th of October. It was then three feet above the permanent level, so as to enable the engincers to join it on to the end or land-tube, before laymg it down on its bed-plates and permanent rollers placed beneath it; these rollers being requisite to enable the iron to expand and contract according to the temperature of the weather. Such are the details of the raising of one of the great tubes; the mode of hoisting the others is but a repetition. 23 RSH RRPT ABBR RTE Tonnies reel t WrUnrenrreS retry rota ba ae ael sss ESTES 01d hes Es : tr Foo poo 2 ba veneqneerelin gr ratte? ir rect irete os hele lo to Ene peepee pentrag scat derar pert geaE rey HP ert (Go| 7 Prectrtrer i reetiter ec. 1 ene eeteeee ates3 nog Sse ;: ey eee . oo seer: Terr iGujltoetteuranasasc bat SUIT DTIERTE LL ESSae a TST TTT PSEaES Sotrpritsteses 2 Per HECHT EES ibe settthe} “bi sapbientiey eae Eg Hy eer cts it ceneectad ibetsks ete eee er eeieece ral ee cA aR Seether OSE TER ER elite STEPHENSON ’S GRAND ACHIEVEMENT. The hydraulic presses, we should add, ERS G01t- structed by Messrs. Easton & Amos, Engineers, of Southwark. The tubes riveted together into two continuous hollow beams, each 1,513 feet in length, as stated by Sir F. Head, will “far surpass in size any piece of wrought-iron work ever before put together—its weight 5,000 tons, being nearly equal to that of two 120-gun ships, having on board, ready for sea, guns, powder, shot, provisions, crew, flags, captains, chaplain, admiral, and all!” The same able writer describes the plate-iron covering of the tube to be hiterally not thicker than the hide of the elephant, and scarcely thicker than the bark of the “good old English” oak; whilst Mr. Edwin Clark, who has published a clever pamphlet descriptive of the works, illustratively states, that one of the large tubes, if placed on its tiny end in St. Paul’s Churchyard, would reach 107 feet higher than the cross of the Cathedral ! The cost of this stupendous bridge to the Chester and Holyhead Railway Company, to the 30th of J une, 1849, had been half a million of money; and the entire expense has been estimated at from £600,000 to £700,000. The day fixed for the transit of the first train over the Straits by the completed bridge, (as it is shown in the accompanying engraving,) was the Ist of March, 1850. This was, indeed, an event worthy of the Day of the Patron Saint of Wales ! 24CONCLUSION, To the master-minds who have designed, and thus far executed this vast work, we say, with glorious John Dryden : ‘* The greater part performed, achieve the rest.” *,* We have given an account of Stephenson’s great achievement in the Britannia Bridge; let us now state the manner in which the father of this great engineer closed his use- ful and valuable life. In July, 1848, while suffering from nervous affection, he attended a meeting of the Birmingham Institute. It was his last appearance in public. A sudden effusion of blood from the lungs, which followed an attack of intermittent fever, carried him off, on the 12th of August, 1848, in the sixty- seventh year of his age. LUBA AN ARRR BREE Tai it ee SU 2) faa asa POWrrOrTTOrITTY STO Dae ala bales pee be STEPPER HYLE bee seeps Bir ae ee Tritt wate rr ea i a Aa cat baSTIN WAR AT SSRONAR ARATE TEU Sao EE Ep ts SEE OR SPA GAna 1 FETIP SHIT ERG THAI tem SHIN ES TYT Peet SEY SSPE ny Here ; “yy mene ; Mr rH ett zZ cn ESELASZiHISTORY OF A DIAMOND. At Delhi, the inestimable Koh-i-noor was safely preserved until, in 1739, the empire received its final blow from the sanguinary invasion of Nadir Shah, which originated as follows: Soon after his accession to the throne of Persia, Nadir made vigorous pre- parations for the extension of the Affghans as a separate power; and as this object could not be accomplished without the reduction of the city and province of Candahar, which were then in the posses- sion of the brothers of Mohammed, the late Affghan monarch of Persia, he ¢ommenced the war by an invasion of this province. The city of Candahar fell into his hands in 1738, and many of the Affghans fled into the northern province of Hindostan, where they were hospitably received. Nadir now required of the Emperor of Delhi, that none of the Affghan fugitives should find shelter in his dominions, but as no attention was paid to his demands, he marched into Hindostan in the following year; and after defeating the Mogul troops, entered Delhi, on the 8th of March, where he seized the immense treasures wliich had been amassed in the course of nearly two centuries by the Mogul monarchs. Soon after his arrival, a report having been spread through the city that Nadir was dead, the inhabitants made a general attack upon his soldiers. NAdir in vain endeavoured to undeceive the populace; his moderation only inflamed the fury of those whom, ' according to Hindoo historians, it was his desire to save ; and at length, unable to restrain the people, heVALUABLE CAPTURES. gave orders for a general massacre. These commands were too well obeyed; and from sunrise till noon the inhabitants were butchered by his soldiery without any distinction of sex or age. At the intercession of Mohammed, the superior of Delhi, NAdir at length commanded the massacre to be stopped; and it is recorded as a proof of the high state of discipline of his troops, that his commands were immediately obeyed. The number of those who perished in this massacre is variously stated by different writers. Fraser says that 120,000 persons were killed; but a Hindoo historian reduces the number to 8,000. Among the spoils of conquest which the Persian warrior carried back with him in triumph to Khorassan, and which have been variously estimated as worth from thirty to ninety millions sterling, the Koh-i-noor was the most precious trophy; but it was destined to pass from Persia as quickly as that ephemeral supremacy in virtue of which it had been acquired. The posses- sion of absolute power appears to have called forth in mind of Nadir, as it has often done in the minds of other absolute monarchs, some of the worst passions of human nature—avarice, jealousy and cruelty. During the early part of his reign, Nadir was distin- guished by the greatest liberality; and after he had obtained the immense wealth of the imperial house of Delhi, he at once remitted three years’ taxes. But the clutching of such enormous riches appears to have excited in him the desire of accumulating more ; and the taxes were increased to meet the insatiable Fy aoP Rais a | Semi cass TAMAR iat CRE RUT RO ee conareas Hes wit HitTh of EL Lula arerenremtientnriern rts . Pe ERR ROT ame RoCUPATAnn TT ttert pce neat eetet RRR HN HM iestetererrn eet ot Hresrities sgt asisastero iis ven gTitir grey MMU ET ri stiri erat ts on Or her u aia 7; Pepper sea eentebeceos lori tart) teen em iin nan , P's > : Par! apt has ibd fencer Wrecererstt rc titat te fees Hetete MOOR ESSRIE pricyHISTORY OF A DIAMOND. demands of the royal treasury. His proscription of the Sheah sect had already tended to make him unpopular. Nadir, aware of this, ceased to trust any of the native Persians, who belonged almost entirely to the Sheah sect, and placed his chief dependence on i the Turks and Affghans in his army, who were | Sunees. Nadir had entertained in his service a body = of Affghans of the Abdallee tribe, under the leader- HH] ship of Ahmed Shah, who also served his master in the capacity of treasurer. Meanwhile, the Persian =| conqueror’s suspicion of his own subjects was so z iI great, that he is said to have formed the design of | putting to death every Persian in the army. Some i of the principal officers of his court, having learnt | that their names were included in the proposed 1 massacre, resolved to save themselves by the assassina- tion of the tyrant; and having entered his tent i during the night, put him to death on the 19th or Hi] 20th of June, 1747. The Affghans, after vainly Hi endeavourmg to rescue or avenge their master, fought their way to their own frontier, though only 4,000 strong, through the hosts of the Persian army. In Hi conducting this intrepid retreat, Ahmed Shah carried i off with him the treasures in his possession, and was probably aided by these means as well as by his own valour in consolidating the new State which, under the familiar title of the Doorannee empire, he speedily | created in Cabool. | Ht} Ahmed, however, left behind him in the Persian | | treasury much wealth. During Sir John Malcolm’s I 84 ete eatin Hapnabataebeiestbenetataat} pyEeerettrsr yi ts i} HiIMPORTANCE ATTACHED TO IT, visit to Persia, the king, at one of Sir John’s visits, gratified the Elchee by showing him his richest jewels, amongst which was “the Sea of Light,” already mentioned, and which is described in Sir John Malcolm’s Sketches of Persia as “the diamond of the finest lustre in the world.” The TAj-e-Mah, or “Crown of the Moon,” is also a splendid diamond: it weighs 146 carats. ‘These two are the principal in a pair of bracelets, valued at nearly a million sterling. Those in the crown are also of extraordinary size and value. | It seemed as if the Koh-i-noor carried with it the sovereignty of Hindostan, for the conquests of Ahmed were as decisive as those of Nadir, and it was by his nomination and patronage that the last emperor ascended the throne of the Moguls. The Koh-i-noor remained with the kings of Cabool until the accession of Zemaun Shah, who was subject to the incessant assaults of his kinsman. One of these at length proved successful; and in the year 1800, this monarch was compelled to flee before his victorious brother, Shah Shuja, and confiding in the fidelity of Mulla Aushik, took refuge in his castle ; and when there, he found himself a prisoner, his former friend keeping him until he could deliver him up to his enemies. Zemaun Shah having in vain shown the Mulla the baseness of his treachery, concealed all his treasures, and amongst them the Kob-i-noor, in the wall of his prison. This Shah Shuja was the identical puppet, forty years later, of 89 Sa FE NH STEAD OR NS af 7 oi bat ia eit tha Dati ise ESTED seuss _— — ne repeat enesee aaa = ars ; aumit \ beams TiN ahaa mee SF SFA ESS WRsoar tiecren teenie ST a TT ” SECURES SiWkadea As ies Seoerrrrris Sati tmetbectot ver reer aie Bepiirig jiis ASH AL Eadbs isc hidandnbeiesa cs abisiexsasHISTORY OF A DIAMOND. our famous Cabool expedition, so that we are now brought down to modern times and characters. Shah Shuja presently ascended the throne of his brother; but the treasury of Cabool was wanting in its most precious ornament, till at length, ingeniously secreted in the wall of Zemaun Shah’s prison, was discovered the Koh-i-noor. It was eight years after this, while the Doorannee monarehy was still formida- ble enough to inspire the powers of the East with uneasiness, that Mr. Elphinstone, accredited by Lord Minto to the Affghan prince, betook himself to what was then the remote and unknown town of Peshawur, where, at his state reception, the Koh-i-noor again flashed, after an interval of so many years, upon the dazzled eyes of a European. Shah Shuja, afterwards the chent and pensioner of the East India Company, was dressed on this occasion in a green velvet tunic, fitting closely to his body, and seamed with gold and precious stones. On his breast was a cuirass of diamonds shaped like two flattened fieurs-de-lis, and in a bracelet on his right arm blazed the priceless jewel of Golconda. The prince gave a gracious audience to the ambassador, and Mr. Elphinstone retired: but the Koh-i-noor was not fated long to continue in the divided and tottering family of the once powerful Abdallees. The embassy had scarcely recrossed the Indus when Shah Shuja was expelled from Cabool, though he con- trived to make his far-famed diamond the companion of his flight: indeed, from first obtaining possession 86EAGER ATTEMPT TO POSSESS IT. of it, he had invariably carried the gem about him, wherever he went. After many vicissitudes of exile and contest, he at length found an equivocal refuge under the protection of that powerful chieftain who had now consolidated the dominions of the Sikhs into a royal inheritance for his own family. Runjeet Singh was fully competent either to the defence or the restoration of the fugitive, but he knew or suspected the treasure to be in his possession, and his mind was bent upon acquiring it. The means by which he succeeded is thus related by Baron Charles Hiigel, who had the account of the event from Shah Shuja’s own lips; it is a very dramatic affair, but is naturally given in the darkest colours. It appears that Runjeet Singh first offered the Doorannee prince a considerable jaghir for the diamond; but the Shah denied having it with him, and Vafa Begam, his wife, declared that it had been pledged to a saraf, or money-changer, for a loan, Runjeet Singh was not to be imposed on by this shallow artifice, and to prevent the jewel being sent away, he instantly ordered guards to be set round the Shah’s house, who allowed no one to quit it without a rigorous search. To bring the unlucky Shah to confession, other means were soon resorted to, and for two days no food was allowed to be taken into the house, yet even hunger could not make the Shah betray the secret; and Runjeet determined to go more cunningly to work. Letters were then produced, purporting to have 87 \ my | SRAM iG ASA atid IR so : ri ‘ied chasaliaatgnaten plitabalenaLapaieieneetatotebedet et bis Baie rstiitit tithi Bhe ees thea crt shoes care i oo eo, merry Fay tale oe eve entree RET E TMI: sei Selussi tata h tity : Bhd iy guts Sie Csirscsto lit Te rcctt tect eee eer ee te pommh EOE nD SEEEREDOPOIEPTEST UW ULTE eres TTTrrtsemWrt fuetene ete Tee eeety i sg SA PR RRHISTORY OF A DIAMOND. been written by the Shah to Fatih Khan, in Cabool, inviting him to invade the Punjaub, and liberate him. In consequence of this discovery, instead of the guards hitherto placed over the Shah, two companies were posted round his house, and he was informed that he was to be taken to Govindghur as a state prisoner, every means being employed to alarm and distress him. Shah Shuja now saw that he should never regain his liberty, but on condition of giving up this precious gem, and asked for two months, in order to allow time, as he said, to redeem it from the saraf, Runjeet Singh reluctantly acceded to his terms, and the Shah for a while was left unmolested. Before the expiration of the term, however, his treat- ment became more harsh, to remind him of the necessity of keeping his word. The Shah saw that no further delay was possible, and that Runjeet was resolved to have the jewel, even if he put him to death to obtain it. On the last day of the two months— June 1, 1813, he invited the Maharajah to come and receive the diamond; and when he appeared with a few attendants, the Shah réceived him with his pecu- liar dignity, and being seated, remained profoundly silent for an hour! It is not to be wondered at that Runjeet at length lost all patience, and softly bade one of his attendants to quicken the memory of the Shah as to the purpose of the meeting. The exiled prince spoke not a word in reply, but beckoned to a eunuch in attendance, who quitted the room, and presently returned with a small 88ITS POSSESSION OBTAINED. packet, which he placed upon the carpet spread mid- way between the two chiefs. Again, a pause fol- lowed, when Runjeet Singh ordered one of his attendants to open it; and having satisfied himself that it really contained what he came for, he instantly departed with it, without speaking a word, or even saluting the Shah. Runject’s stratagem may be justified by the plea that it is always excusable to deprive an enemy of the means of creating fresh disturbances. At this very time, Runjeet had been deceived by the Affghans in the reward promised for his co-operating with them against Cashmere; and it demanded more self-denial than was to be expected in the ignorant enemy of the Mohammedans, to disregard the opportunity of securing this famous gem, which it is pretty sure that the ex-Shah would have applied to some warlike purpose. Shah Shuja unquestionably thought to outwit Runjeet Singh, but only irritated him. Sooner or later he must have lost his jewels, which were so well known in India, that every sirdar, whose country he traversed, would have been on the look-out for them. Once before they had nearly cost him his life. When he was obliged to fly from Peshawur, in the year 1809, the Vafa Begam fled to Mozaffer Khan at Mooltan, who invited Shah Shuja to repair to lim also, and give him counsel how he could best withstand Runjeet Singh. The Shah soon appeared; but, to his astonishment, he and his escort were fired on from the fort which he was approaching without the smallest 89 iy 1 : TSIIL ai = - -—- tt i y , Pat: ‘ m aE ii aif eee Rg alli PARP REESE SS AHR FES CTR RE TUT oS ee ac HER iis ihe HUNT TT Te TTT TTT SHEEN te Sie DULL Oper ROT RUUCSOUL ESTE RSTEST pear oersy as a, So oosunebbe iin Sika byl ign hada AGEL Eda at noone ic cinta is SEerTnRnONinMsenenT TNIVINCR INP Ncra COC Tee Pr ae aber raeHISTORY OF A DIAMOND. suspicion. It is supposed that the Nawab acted thus in order to kill the Shah and steal his jewels, or to take him prisoner, and deliver him up to Mahommed Shah. Shah Shuja withdrew out of the reach of the guns, and waited until Mozaffer Khan thought better of it, and this soon happened. He came out to the Shah, welcomed him as his guest, and gave him a jaghir, which produced a revenue of 20,000 rupees. As soon as Runjeet Singh had got the Koh-i-noor, he allowed the Shah more liberty; but, instead of taking advantage of it instantly, and making lis way to the frontiers with the jewels he still had left, he returned to his old course of intrigues. Runjeet Singh, knowing that these could only be carried on by the sale of the Shah’s remaining jewels, resolved to deprive him of all opportunity of concocting any further mischief. He demanded them; but the Shah, who ought to have known with whom he had to deal, assured him that he had none left. Runjeet was determined to convince himself of the truth of this statement: he had the Shah’s house searched throughout, and every box and parcel containing anything of value brought away; even the wives of the Shah were searched. Everything of value was packed up and carried to Runjeet Singh’s palace, where the parcels were opened in his presence, and he appropriated to himself all articles that took his fancy. Although Shah Shuja had reason enough to complain of the rapacity of Runjeet, this prince did not find all he wanted; the Shah having occasionally disposed of 90INTERVIEW WITH ITS POSSESSOR. jewels; and in 1884, he sold one at Amritzir, which the Maharajah purchased for 80,000 rupees. At the time of Baron Von Hiigel’s visit, Runjeet kept his vast treasures in the fortress af Govindghur, m Amritzir. According to the baron, it is larger than Lahore, and the wealthiest and most commercial place in Northern India. The huge castle of Govindghur is the most striking object. It was built by Runjeet Singh in 1809, ostensibly to protect the pugrims to Amritzir, but in reality to overawe their vast and dangerous assembly. Its great height and heavy batteries, rising one above the other, give it a very imposing appearance. It was said to contain, at the time of Hiigel’s visit, 30,000,000 of Runjeet’s wealth; but this sum, there is reason to believe, is a great exaggeration. Runjeet Smgh wore the imperial gem amid great splendour. We now pass on to May 1838, when a complimentary deputation was sent by Runjeet to the Governor-general of India, (Lord Auckland,) at Simla. This interview was sagaciously returned by his lordship; as the menacing advance of the Persians on Herat now rendered the alliance of Runjeet a matter of immediate and pressing interest. Accompanying this mission was Captain the Hon. G. W. Osborne, military secretary to Lord Auckland; and who, on his return to England, published a very entertaining account of the luxurious court, military displays, and personal habits of Runjeet Singh. The party crossed the Sutlege, the north-western boundary of our 91 Na | RR PRRRE RTT Te coe aay STi 05: ePTTTeMNrITT TT etPERT TT TT cet Sua heroes bias tita tisha tit wii He cron acon ba, paveerPerveresiD @uiro rir reomecrectocr cri rit anny vs array cert se ite a tT tt tities aeredgticiafireritecesc ts iit i reey ets ie hee aereeeereaea REED ; vt ° MMTsoguanse beesrete ici Teiterenitt Perna re reiETisUEN SUSIE NT ett it HISTORY OF A DIAMOND. empire, on May 28, 1838, and proceeded over the plains of the Punjaub towards Adcenanugger, where Runjeet was then holding his court. Next morning, Captain Osborne and his party mounted their elephants, and proceeded to the gate of the palace-garden. They were received by a guard of honour, and a salute of 100 guns. Dismounting at the gateway, and entermg the garden on foot, the party were conducted up a gravel walk, 300 yards in length, lined by Runjeet’s goorcherras, handsomely dressed in chain-armour and quilted jackets of yellow, green, or scarlet silk. On reaching the verandah, Runjeet’s minister, Dhean Singh, came forward, and conducted the visitors round the palace to the hall of audience, at the entrance of which was the Maharajah, waiting to receive them. After a friendly embrace, he led the party to the upper end of the hall, and seated them in golden chairs, opposite himself. The floor was covered with rich shawl carpets; and a gorgeous shawl canopy, embroidered with gold and precious stones, supported on golden pillars, covered three parts of the hall. “The coup-d’eil,’ says Captain Osborne, “ was most striking: every walk in the garden was lined with troops; and the whole space behind the throne was crowded with Runjeet’s chiefs, mingled with natives from Candahar, Cabool, and Affghanistan, blazing with gold and jewels, and dressed and armed in every conceivable variety of colour and fashion. “ Cross-legged, in a golden chair, dressed in simpleESTIMATED WORTH OF THE KOH-I-NOOR. white, wearing no ornaments but a single string of enormous pearls, and the celebrated Koh-i-noor, or Mountain of Light, upon his arm,—the jewel rivalled, if not surpassed, in brilliancy, by the glance of fire which every now and then shot from his single eye, as it wandered listlessly round the circle—sat the lion of Lahore.’ The interview lasted an hour; when Runjeet Singh rose, and, according to custom, having half smothered the party in sandal-wood oil, embraced them, and allowed them to depart. In the midst of his excesses and intrigues, in the full indulgence of licentiousness and ambition, Runjeet Singh was called to his account, worn out and decrepit, at the age of sixty. ‘Two hours before he died, he sent for all his jewels. The Koh-i-noor fell, by “lot of inheritance,” to Shah Shuja; his celebrated string of pearls to another; and his favourite horses, with all their jewelled trappings, to a third. According to Captain Osborne, the diamond was valued at three millions sterling, is very brilliant, and is without a flaw of any kind. Runjeet’s string of pearls is, it is thought, if possible, even finer than the diamond; they are about three hundred in number, and literally the size of small marbles, all picked pearls, round, and perfect both in shape and colour. Runjeet was succeeded by his legitimate son, Kurruck Singh, who inherited none of his father’s ability, but contrived to hold fast the Koh-i-noor, which, at the death of Shah Shuja, is stated to have been bequeathed by him to the hideous idol of Orissa. 93 eG PPR aS Pe ee ese MESS TST BE eg sare tT Neeremnerrenrinnsyietionettrt CC carta See occ ini cr reacamennnrnnit Ha hi) bites Tutt Ea ta et eae emtirereet Lorene tit ft eR RR oom ai Sebstitts tis estPecster 1111 Terre tttt tet eee one e MaRS TOR EE ili} eT tEHISTORY OF A DIAMOND. When Capt. Von Orlich visited Lahore, he there saw the gem in the possession of the new Maharajah Kurruck. “We were invited,” says the Captain, “to sit down with his Highness at a long table, which was covered with fruit and champagne. The Maharajah here set us a good example, and showed such dexterity in emptying his glass, at one draught, that we naturally inferred this to be his daily practice: his Highness was most richly adorned with jewels; he wore on each arm three large golden bracelets : among those on the left arm was the Koh-i-noor, or Mountain of Light, the largest diamond in the world; and round his neck three rows of pearls hanging down to a great length, perhaps the most beautiful and rarest ornament of the kind. While we expressed our admiration of all these treasures, Shere Singh took off all his jewels and made them pass from hand to hand.” The Captain proceeds to state :— “The Mountain of Light once adorned the Peacock Throne of the great Mogul, at Delhi, whence it passed mto the possession of the Affghan kings, and was at length extorted by Runjeet Singh from Shah Shuja, the ex-king of Cabool, when he was in great distress. It is beautifully cut, of the size of a walnut, and, with the exception of a scarcely perceptible dent on one side, perfectly faultless. It is set between two large diamonds, and the armlet is estimated at a million rupees. While we were admiring this treasure, highly amused at the childish joy of the Maharajah, 94TRANSITIONS OF THE KOH-I-NOOR. who made his treasurer bring him several caskets of jewels, the cup-bearers took the opportunity of empty- ing one bottle after another on our account.” During Runjeet’s lifetime, at the request of Lord William Bentinck, then Governor-General of India, drawings of the Koh-i-noor were made by Juan Ram, the Sir Thomas Lawrence of Bengal, to whom the gem was sent for the purpose. It was then set in gold, surrounded with small rubies, and worn with a smaller diamond on each side, similarly set, the three gems being worn by Runjeet as an armlet. It has been engraved from this drawing, in the Illustrated London News, No. 372-3; and is copied in the present volume. In the way we have narrated did the “ Mountain of Light” pass in the train of conquest, and as the emblem of dominion, from Golconda to Delhi, from Delhi to Mushed, from Mushed to Cabool, and from Caboo! to Lahore, verifying by the esteem which it everywhere commanded the judgment of Meer Jumla (who is the Mirsimola of Tavernier’s travels) and the Prince Shah Jehaun. Excepting the somewhat doubtful claims of the Brazilian stone among the crown jewels of Portugal, the Koh-i-noor is the largest known diamond in the world. When first given to Shah Jehaun, it was still uncut, weighing, it is said, in that rough state, nearly 800 carats, which were reduced by the unskilfulness of the artist to 279, its present weight. It was cut by Hortensio Borgis, a Venetian, who, instead of receiving a remuneration 95 By | \ Bway sti HET SS ae : = = ——— _ St HHP tt et Cire sais HEHE sac Tetse sna MareeTetPey OT Pets tects talacit rast eattule sterner a igre eo eeeere eee eer ere Le too i) eee art H iu cot: f noes i wv ey,HISTORY OF A DIAMOND. for his labour, was fined 10,000 rupees for his waste- fulness by the enraged Mogul. In form it is “ rose- cut”—that is to say, it is cut to a point in a series of small faces, or “ facets,” without any tubular surface. A good general idea may be formed of its shape and size by conceiving it as the pointed half of a small hen’s egg, though it is said not to have risen more than half an inch from the gold setting in which it was worn by Runjeet. Its value is scarcely compu- table, though two millions sterling has been mentioned as a justifiable price, if calculated by the scale employed in the trade. The Pitt diamond, brought over from Madras by the grandfather of Lord Chatham, and more fully described at page 102, weighs scarcely 1363 carats; nor does the great diamond which supports the eagle on the summit of the Russian sceptre, weigh as much as 200 carats. Such is the extraordinary jewel which, in virtue of conquest and sovereignty, had passed into the posses- sion of England. ‘The recent insurrection at Mooltan, and disturbances in the Punjaub, induced the British resident at Lahore to secure.as a hostage the person of the boy Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, and at the same time to seize the Koh-i-noor in the treasury. It was then placed under the security of British bayonets, in the strong fortress of Govindghur, already mentioned, and has since been brought to this country. It is a rich spoil; and, although even its nominal value would be an inadeyuate compensation for the cost of the Sikh wars, we may look upon its acquisition as a 96A DESPERATE RISK. fitting symbol of that supremacy which we have so fairly won. There may, however, be a more important result in the capture; for, it has been suggested that the mischievous superstition attached to the possession of this unique diamond may be utterly crushed by its retributive consignment. Diamond-seeking has some strange adventures on record. ‘The diamond-mine of Coloure (in which was found the Koh-i-noor) was the most famous and ancient of those under the protection of the king of Golconda; and it was during his reign that many large diamonds were found, which had the effect of promoting such a spirit of speculation amongst those whose fortunes were adequate to the employment of slaves, that a Portuguese gentleman went to Golconda with his slaves to employ his capital m searching and digging for diamonds. He spent in money 100,000 pagodas, and converted everything he had brought with him into money, even to his wardrobe; but he was monthly and daily unsuccessful, and whilst his slaves were at work in the mine for the last day’s expense, he had prepared a cup of poison, resolved that if, during that day, his slaves should prove unsuccessful, and not find anything, he would drink his last with the exhaustion of his money. Late m the evening, however, the slaves brought him a large gem, weighing 795 carats, (in 1816, the diamond of the Great Mogul.) In commemoration thereof, he caused a pillar to be erected at Golconda, with an inscription engraved upon it in the Hindoo language, to the following effect :— H 97 H |. hy Ne Tr Rannarrecea ac Parner trent is + o ht pebibe ferent at ibis TURE ae paMeerreres Water ii teomtesectoe olor ert ire (117k UREA EEU UD eOCUEATL 1ST sree creer eet a RAT im HSE ts OTSA RSMO Hyeara Cea ii aeemainntrrnruartoneTo see . PUPh eth MPeUeaTeueeeeises pris} " bpteSt t HISTORY OF A DIAMOND. ‘‘ Your wife and children sell—sell what you have, Spare not your clothes; nay, make yourself a slave ; But money get, and to Coloure make haste, There search the mines, a prize you'll find at last.” There are few things in the history of mankind that, at first sight, appear so remarkable as the prodi- gious value which, by common consent, in all ages, and in all civilized countries, has been attached to the diamond. Dr. Johnson says, that the sending of an escort of horse to protect a traveller through a country beset with banditti, gave him the most com- plete idea of the power of wealth; but the diamond appears to have played an equally influential part. When Peter the Great and his whole army were surrounded by the Turks, he owed his safety to the fascinating splendour of the diamonds of his Empress! The Regent diamond of France was played with such success by the Abbé Sieyes before the sovereign of Prussia, as to produce for the service of France 40,000 horses, with their equipments. It would seem almost imcredible, that a crystal about the size of a pullet’s egg should have been sold for £90,000 in money, an annuity of £4,000 besides, and a patent of nobility into the bargain; but all this was given, by the Empress Catherine, of Russia, for the famous diamond of Nadir Shah. This magnificent gem weighs 195 carats; each carat of diamond being equal to 4 grains, which must not be confounded with a carat of gold, 12 grains. The above diamond is now * Sir Edward Thomason’s Memoirs, vol. i. p. 139. 98BECOMES THE EYE OF AN IDOL. among the crown jewels of Russia, it was formerly the eye of a Brahminieal idol » whence it was purloined by a French soldier. One of the largest diamonds in the world was found in the river Abaite, about 92 miles n. w. of the diamond district of Serro do Frio, in Brazil: it is nearly an ounce in weight, and has been estimated by Romé de I’lle at the incredible sum of 300 millions. it is uncut; but the late king of Portugal, to whom it belonged, had a hole bored threugh it, im order to wear it suspended about his neck on gala days. No European sovereign possessed so fine a collection of diamonds as this prince. King Joseph I. wore twenty diamonds, valued at £100,000, as buttons upon a silken coat. In 1846, the Brazilian journals announced that a negro had found, in the diamond district of Bahia, a rough diamond, weighing nearly an ounce. The approximate value was stated at £45,000; but it was sold by the finder for £35. The Nizam’s diamond is another wonderful gem: it was first seen in the hands of a native child in India, who was playing with it, ignorant of its value ; and a considerable sum being offered for it, led to the discovery of its being a real diamond. There are, probably, not more than twenty large diamonds in Hurope and Asia, and these are almost invariably in the possession of princes, or wealthy noblemen; they are set in the hilts of dress swords, or in the sceptre which the sovereign holds on state 99 faa: b= Feet STE eros ee EERE MTT: Sere ce =a -MALPA DESCRIBED. seventeen miles from Sicily; Galeita, at the entrance of the Bay of Tunis. Maura we see next; previously to reaching which, the island of Goza is sighted to the north. The harbour of Valetta, (Malta,) a scene of stirring inte- rest, is cleverly painted. “A hundred ships of all nations are here lying at anchor, from the stately British man-of-war to the tiny speronara, a species of small packet which comes from Sicily, freighted with fruit and vegetables; for Malta itself yields nothing but oranges and capers.” Boats flit about the double harbour, and steamers are busy in every direction. The port forms an admiral naval station, deriving considerable importance from its position in the heart of the Mediterranean. It serves also, especially during war, as a commercial dépét» whence goods may be introduced into Italy and the Levant. Malta is scarcely second to Gibraltar as a military: strong- hold: it is the station of our Mediterranean fleet; it is the connecting link between England and India; it is, in short, the master-key of the Mediterranean and the Levant. Valetta presents an assemblage of tall handsome buildings, castles, hospitals, and churches, defended by fortifications, perhaps as impregnable as those of Gibraltar. The Great Harbour, on the south-east side of the city, extends nearly two miles inland, and being surrounded by heights, affords a secure refuge for the largest ships. The entrance 1s not a quarter of a mile in width, and is flanked with strong batteries; as is hkewise the smaller harbour. 249 RUTTER 7 se SSR SIR iu a oiOVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. The interior of the city, with its “streets of stairs,” and its magnificent cathedral, is very interesting. Nor must the large church of St. Paul be forgotten, built for the Protestant residents, entirely at the expense of the late Queen Dowager Adelaide: it is larger than the church of St. Marylebone, and cost £15,000, exceeding by one-third the amount of the Queen dowager’s original grant. There cannot be 2 more fitting memorial of the piety of this excellent lady. “ As you approach the island of Malta, brilliantly arise from the dark blue sea the white Moresco-look- ing walls and domes of its capital Valetta, bristling with fortifications ancient and modern, backed by a sky already nearly African, warm, lustrous and soft, and without a particle of smoke to prevent the minutest and most distant objects from being per- ceived with the utmost clearness. One feels sensibly approaching the golden climate of the East. A few hours in this stronghold of the ancient Knights of St. John of Jerusalem is a delightful relief to the same- ness of even a brief voyage. ‘To any one coming for the first time from Northern Europe, the whole scene is singularly foreign. The white and yellow houses of the city are piled picturesquely one above another, with their flat roofs and large projecting green verandahs, surmounted by towers and domes of every variety of unaccustomed form, and with little vegeta- tion, but that little consisting of orange-trees, broad- leaved bananas, and patches of brilliant scarlet gera= 250POETIC PICTURE OF MALTA. niums. On the quays, swarms of babbling lazzaroni mingling with sturdy seamen; on the cool flat roofs, groups of ladies wrapped from head to foot in their black silk mantillas; the noble harbour studded with men-of-war and steamers; the crowd of white sailed feluccas, and gaily painted and draperied boats—pre- sent altogether a spectacle as novel and peculiar as it is brilliant.” * Mr. Stewart Kose has left us the following playful picture of the characteristics of Malta :— ‘¢ Where neither lake nor river glads the eye Sear’d with the glare of hot and copper sky ; Where dwindled tree o’ershadows wither’d sward, Where green blade grows not; where the ground is charr’d :—= Where, if from wither’d turf and dwindled tree You turn to look upon a summer sea, And speronara’s sail of snowy hue, Whitening and brightening on that field of blue: Or eye the palace, rich in tapestried hall, The Moorish window, aud the massive wall; Or mark the many loitering in its shade, In many-colour’d garb and guise array’d; Long-hair’d Sclavonian skipper, with the red And scanty cap, which ill protects his head; White-kilted Suliot, gay and gilded Greek, Grave, turban’d Turk, and Moor of swarthy cheek; Or sainted John’s contiguous pile explore, Gemm’d altar, gilded beam, and gorgeous floor, Where you emblazon’d in Mosaic see The symbols of a monkish chivalry ; The vaulted roof, impervious to the bomb, The votive tablet, and the victor’s tomb, Where vanquish’d Moslem, captive to his sword, * “The Nile Boat.” By W. H. Bartlett. HRS ena riearemnrEi am icaOVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. Upholds the trophies of his conquering lord ; Where, if while clouds from hallow’d censers ream, You muse, and fall into a mid-day dream, And hear the pealing chant, and sacring bell, *Mid the drum’s ’larum, and the burst of shell,— Short time to mark those many sights which I Have sung, short time to dream of days gone by, Forced alms must purchase from a greedy crowd Of lazy beggars, filthy, fierce, and loud, Who landing-place, street, stair, and temple crowd: Where on the sultry wind for ever swells The thunder of ten thousand tuneless bells, While priestly drones in. hourly pageant pass, Hived in their several cells by sounds of brass ; Where merry England’s merriest month looks sorry, And your waste island seems but ene wide quarry.” The history of Malta may be briefly told. It obtained little notice in antiquity ; and when St. Paul was shipwrecked :there, it.is described as inhabited by a barbarous people. Its importance began in the sixteenth century, when it was-ceded by Charles V. to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, as a com- pensation for the loss of Rhodes. Its fortifications were then greatly strengthened, and it was considered the last maritime bulwark against the Turks. In 1565, Solyman sent against Malta a most formidable fleet and army ; and the siege which ensued is one of the most celebrated in history. After prodigious efforts, the Ottoman army was completely repulsed, and the knights were left in unmolested possession of the island till 1798. Napoleon then, with the expe- dition destined for Egypt, suddenly appeared before 252ALEXANDRIA AND ITS HISTORY. Valetta, and took possession of it without resistance. Britain afterwards reduced it by blockade; and not- withstanding a stipulation in the treaty of Amiens, has since retained possession of it. ALEXANDRIA is the next pictorial halting-place in the route. ‘The coast is low, and there is nothing very striking in the appearance of this celebrated city as approached from the sea. The handsome light- house is said to occupy the site of the celebrated Pharos of the Ptolemies. Campbell has thus vividly sketched the port :— “Alexandria was the greatest of all the cities founded by a conqueror who built even more than he destroyed. He meant to revive in Alexandria the glory of Tyre, which he had ruined; and though he lived not to finish its neblest works, he was their real projector. Alexander in person traced the plan of the new city, and its architect, Dinarchus, directed its execution. He designed the shape of the whole after that of a Macedonian cloak, and his soldiers strewed meal to mark the lines where its walls were to rise. These, when finished, enclosed a compass of eighty furlongs filled with comfortable abodes, and inter- spersed with palaces, temples, and obelisks of marble porphyry, that fatigued the eye with admiration. The main streets crossed each other at right angles from wall to wall, with beautiful breadth, and to the length, if it may be credited, of nearly nine miles. At their extremities the gates looked out upon the gilded barges of the Nile, and fleets at sea under full 253 gE SEB TCLs TS eteDiseeetecer yee lslistOVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. i sail, on a harbour that sheltered navies, and a light- 3 | house that was the mariner’s star, and the wonder >f = the world. “The first inhabitants brought together into this capital of the West, were a heterogeneous mass that seemed hardly to promise its becoming the future asylum of letters and science: Egyptians, impressed with ancient manners and maxims, that had no sociality with the rest of the world—Jews, degraded by dependency, yet: still regarding themselves as the only children of God—Macedonians, whose ruling passion was military pride—proper Greeks, who despised all the rest of mankind—and fugitive Asia- tics, that were the sweepings of other conquests.” Alexandria was for a long time the centre of com- merce, the abode of learning, and the head-quarters of civilization. Mr. Stocqueler thus sums up the most important events of its history :—“The Septuagint here translated into Greek the Hebrew version of the Scriptures; here St. Mark preached the Gospel; here Anthony lost the world in the society of Cleopatra ; and here Sir Ralph Abercrombie gained the splendid victories which drove the French from Egypt. In latter ages, sharing in the fluctuations to which the mightiest cities of the earth have been exposed, Alexandria degenerated into a small fishing-village— the abode of pirates, the haunt of freebooters. Mehemet Ali, the late viceroy of Egypt, restored it to importance by re-opening the Mahmoudie Canal which connected Alexandria with the Nile ; and since the 254THE MAHMOUDIE CANAL. Peninsular and Oriental Company have commenced running their steamers to Egypt, its consequence has still further increased.” Alexandria itself has few attractions: the streets are unpaved, of half Oriental, half European aspect, in the lowest style of both countries; but the great square of the modern city is striking. The buildings are in the French and Italian styles, spacious and handsome; and in the centre a beautiful church for the English Protestants is in course of erection. The hotels are principally supported by Indian travellers. In the environs, white villas with gardens of waving palms start up among the remains of the old city: here also are Cleopatra’s Needle and Pompey’s Pillar. The comparative site of the ancient and modern cities is best seen from the height of Fort Cretin: from this point also may be viewed the scene of the battle wherein fell the gallant Abercrombie; and a few miles beyond it, the memorable Bay of Aboukir. Mehemet Al’s great works are the new palace, the arsenal, the extensive fortifications, and a fleet vying in appearance at least with the proudest Huropean navies. Tur Manmoupie Canat, which connects Alex- andria with the Rosetta branch of the Nile, is the subject. of the next picture. It is named trom the Sultan, Mahmoud, during whose reign it was reopened. It had become choked up under the Saracenic govern- ment. In 1819, Mehemet Ali levied 300,000 men to clear it; but, owing to the want of a proper supply 255t POT ar rar HAHDUHEH EL ejb grin e eee ecko METER E at CPer TP eiee ITT ey a RENE OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. of provisions, or even tools, they were compelled to labour with their hands: the work was hurried on with barbarous indifference to life, and 30,000 persons are said to have perished in the course of seven months mn which the labour was completed. Up this canal the passengers, mails, and cargo of the steamer, are conveyed to Atfé on the Nile, where they are trans- ferred to steam-vessels constructed to convey them to Cairo. We sce in this picture a view on the canal-bank, with the halt of the steamer, passengers landing, and groups of persons in Egyptian costume, some of whom are sipping coffee beneath a grove of trees. In the distance is seen a village, with its guardian palm- trees. Mr. Bartlett gives an artistic glance at the scenery: “The villages of mud huts, embowered in palm-groves that line the bank, with their pretty white minarets, and their noisy babbling crowd of Fellahs,— the glimpses of the vivid green valley and its yellow desert boundary, like life and death in startling juxtaposition and contrast,—the sandy shoals covered with pelicans or ibises of brilliant white plumage, large flights of wild fowl, and of pigeons from the villages,—the picturesque boats with their gay- coloured passengers,—the men paddling along on rafts of water-melons, or pottery,—the little thronged cafés, under the deep shade of a grove of sycamore and palms,—the creaking “ sakias,”’ or water-wheels, used for the purpose of irrigation,—all form a sort of slowly-moving panorama, which, seen under a bril- 296Perit ntaret er re eee ee THE SAND-CLOUDS OF THE DESERT. lant sky, by their lively novelty, serve to amuse for awhile the tedium of the noonday progress. ..... “The coming on of the sudden gusts on the Nile is at first very startling and alarming : no action of driving clouds accompanies the squall, the sky above is per- fectly serene, but, looking across the desert in the direction of the wind, you see tall columns of dust and sand, sometimes six or seven hundred feet in height, whirling sublimely across the desert, rapidly crossing the alluvial valley, and nearing the river, till the whole cloud, sweeping off the bank, involves the ruffled surface of the stream in temporary obscurity, and half buries the boat on the leeward side.” Yet, adown this celebrated river formerly floated boats innumerable, from the state vessels of the kings and principal personages, with their high prows, hierogly- phic inscriptions, banks of oars, and brilliantly painted and richly ornamented sails, down to the ordinary passage-boat for the humbler classes. Boutak, the port of Cairo, is the next scene: it is late at night, and the steamer has just arrived ; camels, donkeys, and omnibuses, are waiting to convey the passengers and their baggage to Cairo; there is a grand scramble of donkey boys, dragomans (interpre- ters), and porters, offering their services in French, Italian, and English; and the court-yard is lighted by open. vases of fire resembling cressets. ‘The busy group is chiefly remarkable for picturesqueness and variety of costume. The omnibus is an introduction by the Peninsular and Oriental Company. : 257 eetaes rtd art) or a aaa aaa ia tel. eerie SES aR RR ETS yo ye on ; rn fH Hed eae e OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. Caro, or El Kahirah, “the City of Victory,” two miles from Boulak, is the next pictorial stage. The road thither lies through an avenue of olives and sycamores, at the end of which hes the city, skirted by the bold range of the Mokattam mountains, whicls separate Egypt from the Desert of the Red sea. This is the city of Saladin and the Arabian Nights Enter- tainments; indeed, it is the most completely Arabian city existing, though modern innovations are daily robbing it of that character. It is walled round, and defended by a citadel on the towering crags of Mount Mokattam. Within, it consists almost of one maze of narrow tortuous lanes, the widest, with few excep- tions, being hardly sufficient to allow two laden camels to pass abreast—the narrowest, scarcely one. The minarets and domes of the mosques are very numerous; and the overhanging or bay-latticed win- dows, impart an Hastern picturesqueness to the street- architecture. The gates are also very magnificent ; and the citadel, in which the Pasha resides, has some splendid apartments. The crowd is incessant, and the variety of costumes and character very curious. The bulk of the population are Moslem Arabians, with a handful of Turks, and a considerable number of Christian Copts, a few Jews, and, as at Alexandria, a mixture of Europeans. The alleys, lanes, and bazaars, are filled with cloth, leather, hardware, and kabob shops; barbers and oil merchants, tall camels, gorgeously-trapped horses, donkeys, and the veiled 258HELIOPOLIS AND ITS SCENERY, beauties of the harem, jostle the foot-passengers at every step. From a terrace of the citadel, the traveller enjoys one of the grandest prospects in the world. “ Cairo, with carved domes and fantastic minarets, is taken in at a glance. astward, in a secluded valley, the long range of the tombs of the Memlook sultans stretches into the desert towards Suez. Southward extends the dense verdure of the Delta, a dark ereen streak, which comes up abrupily to the edge of the yellow sands. Here stood Heliopolis, the most learned city of Egypt; and there yet stands its obe- lisk, upon which Abraham may have gazed with curiosity, as he entered that wonderful land. But it is to the westward that the chief glories of the scene expand; the long range of the dusky pyramids, from the nearer ones of Ghizeh to those of Sakhara and Dashoor, standing in sublime serenity above the site of vanished Memphis, sole but most glorious relics of the pride and power of the early Egyptian kings of Lower Egypt; pointing backward from an antiquity already hoary, through a long and dim vista of unknown monarchs toward the unknown origin of civilization. They stand on the rocky edge of the boundless Lybian desert, looking over the verdant valley of the Nile, with its variegated crops and scattered palm-groves and villages. Advancing nearer to the city, on the banks of the river peep up the minarets of Fostat, or Old Cairo, marking the adventFiPHRTGFuCG Aisa AbEEaHiadic dodbsokctit 1 RE OPE ARAB RREEIURES ETRE: r PUT) ipas Sea Rabe es babes t tt oi : Pe Bist Hid rt rtrha ya bin IMR REST rit spit tile ial ret OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. of another race, founded by the Arabs who conauered Egypt from the Byzantine emperors. ot “ab x * * + It is a landscape not only indescribably splendid to the eye, especially when the sun is sinking behind the pyramids, and flinging long rays of ruby lustre aslant the Nile valley, to rest for a brief half hour on the craggy crest of the citadel, and the arabesque fretwork of the lofty minarets; but its soil is the strand of ages, upon which successive races, from Sesostris to Saladin, like wave chasing wave, have left the monu- mental traces of their passage—monuments, too, the more imperishable as they recede further into the night of antiquity.” * Cairo is perhaps the greatest thoroughfare of any city in the world: it is, accordingly, well provided with hotels, The passengers arriving by the steamers are here accommodated at the expense of the Peninsu- lar and Oriental Company, and they remain here until the semaphoric signals placed across the Desert to Suez, announce the arrival of the steamer which is to convey them to India. Sometimes the delay of the steamer allows the passengers time for visiting the Pyramids, the Petrified Forest, the Pacha’s Palace and Gardens at Shoubra, the Kgg-hatching Dépot, and other sights. The baggage, together with the cargo for trading purposes, having been forwarded, the passengers enter the vans provided for their accommodation, (each van holding six persons and * The Nile Book. By W. H. Bartlett. 260OVERLAND ROUTE, NOW ESTABLISHED. drawn by four swift horses,) and proceed on their journey at a rapid pace. Cairo was the emporium of at least two quarters of the globe so late as the fifteenth century ; but the dis- covery of the Cape of Good Hope and the reduction of Egypt by the Ottomans, transferred to other states the trade it had so long monopolized. Nevertheless, the advantages of its geographical position, and the extreme fertility of the soil, have enabled Cairo to regain much of its commerce, by becoming the point of contact between Europe and Asia. The immense importance of the overland passage through Cairo, established mainly by the energy of the late Lieut. Waghorn,* is sufficiently obvious in the * Lieutenant Waghorn died, somewhat suddenly, on the 8th of January, 1849, at his house in Gorden- square, Pentonville, in his forty-ninth year. He entered the British navy, Nov. 10, 1810, and was made lieutenant, March 238, 1842. His fame lies in being the originator of the Overland Mail route to India. On Christmas-day, before his lamented death, he had returned from Malta, where he had been residing a short time for the benefit of his health, which had been considerably impaired by anxiety of mind, arising chiefly from pecuniary engagements, contracted in his prosecution of the experiments with the Trieste route, in 1846; and which liabilities the devotion of all his means, and the sacrifice of his entire property, were in- adequate to meet. Independently of the main incidents of the history, in connexion with the Indian overland enterprise, which has signalized him as one of the greatest practical bene- factors to the age, his career had been a most extraordinary one, full of the strangest vicissitudes, and abounding in evi- dences of character in every way worthy of enduring commen- dation. A few years since, a considerable fund was publicly raised and presented to. him, in recognition of his valuable 261 Sr eee ee = Sy aap mar” (fe ares peer eet | pesems er henennst ase PR a Rat es earnOVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. services, the people being, as usual in such matters, in advance of their rulers; though the British government had lately contrived to award him a small pension, of which he lived to receive only one quarter’s payment. His death was occasioned not so much by any specific disorder, as by the general break- up of the system, through the wreck of his iron constitution: his irrepressible energy offered so great a resistance to the inroads of debility that it was thought to the last he would rally, and his dissolution was attended with great pain and suffering. A emali pension has been granted to his widow; but it is a mean and pitiful recognition of public services which have few parallels in the annals of well-directed enterprise; and is in every way discreditable to the Government of the first nation in the world: Meanwhile, how many larger pensions have been granted from the same fund for less worthy objects! rapid communication with our eastern possessions. The effects of this intercourse are already very visible in the city, in the changes that have taken place in the last few years in the manners and customs of the inhabitants, especially in their treatment of foreigners. Order and security of property have been established, the laws have been more equitably administered, manufactories of all kinds have risen, and more use- ful institutions were called into existence by Mehemet Ali, than by any other sovereign of Egypt, or, perhaps, of the whole world. A system of education and schools has been formed, of which not the slightest conception existed in the East. In Cairo, and its immediate vicinity, there were, in 1847, no fewer than ninety-five public schools, where at least 11,000 children and young persons were educated; the greater portion fed, and lodged, and even paid, by the 262THE CEMETERY IN THE DESERT. pacha; and from amongst them are selected the pupils for the military, naval, and medical colleges. Cairo is a city of curiosities: it has nearly 400 mosques, some of them floridly decorated; and a few of the minarets resemble finely-chased candelabra or carvings in ivory. There are many handsome baths, well-stocked bazaars, and vast inns; and coffee-houses crowded with story-tellers, and listeners, and jugglers. The houses have terraced roofs, but no chimneys ; and the fronts are painted with fantastic forms and colours. The Cemetery, which the traveller first sees as he leaves Cairo by the Gate of Victory on his journey onward, is our next. “'The Desert,’ says Mr. Bartlett, “stretches from the very walls into the trembling haze of distance, and its dead and silent expanse receives an additional mournfulness of aspect from the cemeteries which glisten and whiten in the burning sun, unshadowed by shrub or tree: some with their gilt and gaily-turbaned head-stones of yesterday’s erection ; others broken and half filled up with sand. Here the Bedouins, who love not the confinement of walls nor the society of civilized man, establish themselves on their flying visits to the capi- tal, crouching in the shade of the ruinous monuments, and raising their temporary camp on the surrounding sands, in the midst of their recumbent camels. As you advance, the hum of the city, faintly ascending above its walls, dies away upon the ear; high mounds of rubbish conceal the tops of its minarets, and with- 263- OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. out enclosure of any kind, backed by hills, of an aspect wild and desolate, these beautiful structures ‘rise like an exhalation’ from the blanching waste.” The Mahomedans invariably pay respect to their dead, and erect tombs to those who are supposed to have practised, during their lives, the virtues of charity and devotion. They do not allow these memorials to be defaced or injured, but almost in- variably intrust them to the care of a guardian Arab. Tur Dap Camet, which is an incident of frequent occurrence on the desert route, forms the succeeding tableau. The camel-driver, who derives his subsis- tence by supplying water to the stations, (for there are no springs or rivulets in the desert whence it can be drawn,) has had the misfortune to lose his camel, who has died of exhaustion: the poor fellow is absorbed in grief at the calamity, has thrown himself despairingly upon the body of the animal, and is deaf to the consolation of an Arab friend, who has just come up. ‘There is a touching melancholy in this incident, heightened by the bleached bones lying hard by, and the solitary expanse of the distant desert. Men often grieve for the loss of objects less worthy of their lament than the patient and enduring camel, “the ship of the desert,” and an invaluable servant to the wanderers upon its arid waste. “To the wild Arab of the desert, the camel is all that his necessities require; he feeds on the flesh, drinks the milk, makes clothes and tents of the hair; belts, sandals, saddles, and buckets of the hides; he conveys himself and his 264CENTRAL STATION 1N THE DESERT. family upon his back, makes his pillow of his side, and his shelter of him against the whirlwind of sand; couched in a circle around him, his camels form a fence, and in battle an entrenchment, behind which his family and property are defended.”—(Major Smith.) The camel is also much employed for carrying luggage from Cairo to Suez: the hire of one does not exceed 50 piastres, or 10s. sterling, and its load is about 4.00 Ibs. weight. THe Centra Sration of the Desert route, is our next scene: it hes halfway or forty-miles from Cairo, and is the largest of the buildings which are placed at intervals of eight or ten miles, and are used as post- houses, where relays of horses are kept for the vans. In the picture, the vans, the resting camels, and the gossiping passengers, are grouped about the unpic- turesque stations. A dinner or supper of roast fowls, (the produce of the artificial egg-hatching system, such as is shown in our metropolis,) may be had here, varied by pigeons and mutton, with refreshing pale ale. This halt brings about the reunion of the pas- sengers, who may have been temporarily separated into sections; besides encouraging that extended friendship which is the charm of travelling in large numbers, when the ennui of the journey is often re- lieved by many a mirthful incident. This central station contains a large saloon, a ladies’ room, ser- vants’ room, kitchen, a number of commodious bed- chambers, large water-tank, stabling, &c. ARABS ON HORSEBACK, the next tableau, was 265MILT apeaEe iiatee Fe tact oP LT ee cA GRRE ORLA OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. sketched a few hundred yards from the central station. In the middle of the dreary plain stands a single acacia tree, which is highly venerated by the Moslems ; and the pilgrims to Mecca, on returning to Cairo, generally suspend to its branches a piece of rag torn from their clothes; beneath the tree are two wan- derers at their devotions. The Arabs are a group of three well-mounted soldiers, in the service of the Pacha, whilst two columns of cavalry men are seen in the distance, crossing the desert. The horses are of the fine Nedj breed, accustomed to long journeys over the desert sand with surprising speed. In the fore- ground of the picture are two vultures perched upon stones beside a few camel bones. Encampment py Nicur is another picture of the desert, which allows the introduction of some fine dioramic effects. A nomade group of Arabs are enter- taining a party of travellers, seated by a fire in the open air, whilst others are seen within the rude tent: the latter is very peculiar, and is usually made of felt, open at the front and the sides. WoweNn DRAWING WarTER is an every-day custom, picturesquely portrayed in the next tableau. Suez 1s seen in the distance, and thither there is a carriage race across the desert. In the foreground is a well, overshaded by two palm-trees. The women, though of the humbler order, are of graceful and symmetrical forms, and two of them carry upon their heads vessels of antique form, resembling those seen sculptured upon ancient Egyptian remains. Watrr-carriers have 266DEPARTURE FROM SUEZ. long been favourite subjects in portraying the customs of the Hast. The well here painted is Joseph’s Well, or Yuzoof’s Well, or, according to some authorities, the Well of Moses: the water is very brackish. Here congregate caravans of camels and stray tra- vellers. Opposite is a ruined Mausoleum, used as a sort of guardhouse by the soldiery, who are stationed here to see that the water of the Well is neither injured nor wasted. This scene forms the next tableau, with a group of camels and _ travellers, mounted arabs, &c. Tue Departure From Svzz, “the half-way house between the most mighty of modern nations and her colossal Indian empire,” is the subject of the succeed- ing picture. The passengers having reached this port, again take ship; or rather are conveyed in boats to the vessel in the roadstead. Suez is placed at the head of the Red Sea, and is the port by which Egypt carries on nearly all that remains of its once immense trade in that sea: it is a poorly and ill-built town, and only small boats can enter the harbour. The most interesting point of the picture is the house with the verandah on the left, which was, at one time, the residence of Napoleon Bonaparte, in December, 1798. He crossed from here, at ebb tide, over the head of the Gulf to the Arabian coast, where he received a deputation from the Monks of Mount Sinai; on his return to Suez, he was overtaken by the nising tide, and was in some danger of being drowned: this he told Las Cases at St. Helena, 267Mbt ttn ot at a aa be tia Hy Pee , Pgbtht ee PV RTO CEL Score ba thpt tree sulh eit TTT Totty eye Bae 4 Het ats PT Pie too rope et ipet HGH TEAveS PETS CHIEN Om Akan nv OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. Tap Rep Sma, “Egypt’s dark sea,” is the next portion of the route; the artists having chosen the point at which the Israelites crossed in safety when pursued by Pharaoh and his host. This is, certainly, one of the most interesting sites in Scripture geogra- phy. The name of the Red Sea is derived from the Greek translation of the Hebrew title, “the Sea of Edom ;? Edom meaning indifferently “ Arabia” or “Red,” the Greeks adopted the latter: hence the popular impression. of the real origin of the term. The “ Weedy Sea,” or “Sea of Weeds,” is another name borne by the Red Sea, from the quantity of white coral growing upon its banks. It was here that the Lorp said to Moses—“ Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the Sea. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyp- tians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.”’ “Tt is impossible,” says the author of Travelling Sketches in Egypt and Sinat, to look upon this scene without having all the circumstances of the Exodus betore us :— «¢ When with bow and banner glancing, On exulting Egypt came, 268SCENE OF PHAROAHS OVERTHROW. With her chosen horsemen prancing, And her cars on wheels of flame; In a rich and boastful ring, All around their furious king. ** But the Lorn from out his cloud, The Lorp look’d down upon the proud; And the host drave heavily, Down the deep bosom of the sea. ‘¢ With a quick and sudden swell, Prone the liquid ramparts fell, Over horse, and over car, Over every man of war, Over Pharaoh’s crown of gold, The loud thundering billows roll’d; As the level waters spread, Down they sank, they sank like lead: Down sank without a cry or groan, And the morning sun that shone On myriads of bright armed men, Its meridian radiance then Shed on a wide sea heaving as of yore, Against a silent solitary shore.” Eastward is the port of Jeppau, the subject of the succeeding picture, celebrated as the point of debark- ation for the thousands of pilgrims who resort thither from all parts of the Hast, in their way to Mecca and Medina. The town lies at the foot of a peaked range of mountains, and with the wide expanse of sea forms a fine picture. Moocna, on the Gulf of Arabia, with a variety of picturesque craft, next comes. From the sea, its white-washed houses, variegated by handsome minarets and tombs, have a pleasing appearance; but it is situ- 269OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. ated upon a flat sandy plain, over which hot winds continually blow. The finest coffee is still exported from here. Its trade has much declined: formerly, caravans arrived here weekly from Sennaar, Cairo, Mecea, and Alexandria, with dried fruits, drugs, coins, cattle, and in fact, all the produce of Arabia: hence it had the command of the commerce of the Red Sea; and the tyranny of its Sheik governors was long the terror of many an adventurer to the far Hast. Its coffee trade has mainly decreased from the period when coffee could be procured only on the hills of Yemen; but now that the maritime nations of Kurope derive their supply chiefly from their own colonies, recourse is had to Mocha only for coffee of a very superior quality. All the coffee consumed in the European and American world was originally derived from Arabia. But the plant is not a native of Arabia, but of Abyssinia; and was not introduced into the former country until the year of our Lord 1454, and, con- sequently, not till eight centuries after the time of Mahomet. The Arabians found coffee to be stimula- ting and agreeable; and, substituting it for forbidden wine, called it Kawah, of which the European name coffee is a corruption through the Turkish. The word in Arabic means “wine.” ‘Thereupon the Mahometan doctors fell to dispute about the legality of the potations. Coffee is not narcotic, but anti- narcotic, but the Arabian theologians occupied them- selves with the name and not the thing. In the end,COFFEE, AND ITS EXTENSION. the wholesome and agreeable beverage beat the doc- tors; and for nearly four centuries the use of coffee has been orthodox and extensive in Arabia. About the middle of the fifteenth century, coffee was intro- duced from Arabia into Egypt, and from thence its use spread over the rest of the Turkish empire. A Turkish merchant, one Edwards, brought the first bag of coffee to England in 1652, and in the same year his Greek servant made the first cup of English coffee. About the same period, coffee was introduced into France. For at least half a century, Arabia, which now furnishes less than one two-hundredth part of what is consumed, yielded the whole supply. In the year 1690, a curious Dutch governor-general of India, one Jan Camphuis, sent as a curiosity to Holland a single coffee plant, which he had raised by seed ob- tained at Jeddah, in Arabia. The plant in question was carefully reared in a hot-house at the Hague, and bore fruit. Some berries from it were sent to Surinam ; and these berries are the progenitors of the whole coffee of America and its islands, amounting to 295,000,000 of pounds weight! The coffee plant or plants, which the Dutch governor kept to himself, have been also tolerably prolific; for they furnish, in Java, Ceylon, Sumatra, Celebes, and the Philippines, 181,000,000 of pounds. The first coffee plant known sn Brazil was cultivated by a Franciscan monk, of the name of Vellosa, in the garden of the convent of St. Antonio. The curious monk presented its fruit to the viceroy, the Marquis of Lavrado, who judiciously 271 Treceprere eee ft oeOVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. distributed it to the planters. This was in 1774, only eighty-seven years ago. From Africa to Arabia, to Java, to Holland, to America, and its islands, chance alone seems to have guided the culture of coffee, now of such vast magnitude. There seems nothing mightier about the history of its introduction than the curiosity of a Dutch functionary, and the horticultural taste of a Creole Portuguese monk. « What mighty contests rise from trivial things !”’ Apgn, called “the Gibraltar of the Red Sea,” from being near its mouth, and rocky like its European namesake, we come to next. ‘The town of Aden lies in a sheltered bay: it formerly belonged to the Arabs, but is now a British possession, and is of great im- portance to the overland route, it being a coal dépot. When, in 1844, the English government took posses- sion of Aden, the Hon. Mr. Cushing observed that they had acquired a very important military post on the southern shores of Arabia, near to the Straits of Babelmandel, which commands the Red Sea and the Sea of Arabia, as Gibraltar does the Mediterranean and a portion of the Atlantic. “ Aden” said Mr. Cushing, “is, even more than Gibraltar, a castle of Nature’s own construction. At Gibraltar, England has excavated for herself a citadel in the heart of a limestone mountain. At Aden, she has planted her- self in an ancient crater, and sits secure within the primeval fortress formed by the lofty sides of an extinct volcano.” Our object in this new acquisition was to protect our interests from the Arabs, AdenTHE GIBRALTAR OF THE RED SEA. being.on that point of the Red sea, where the over- land passengers to India embark for Bombay. ‘The harbour is a maguificent basin, capable of containing an immense fleet, whilst a formidable battery com- mands the entrance of the town; the rocks bristle with cannon, and the garrison of artillery is very strong. Still, it has a dreary face; the verdure being confined to a creeping plant or two, and a cactus occasionally peering from the crevice of the rock. The commerce and population have greatly increased since our first occupation; and every morning, at daybreak, from 50 to 200 camels may be seen coming into the town laden with the produce of the interior —provisions, &e.—to console and comfort the other- wise benighted occupants of this extinguished crater ; prosperity, in great measure, attributable to the secu- rity to property afforded by a residence within the limits of British possessions and influence. Upon the shore of the little bay in which Aden stands, is an hotel, kept by some Parsees of Bombay, who supply the passengers with a dinner of fried fish, ‘a luxury,” says M. Stocqueler “even to the sump- tuously-regaled guest of the steamer.” The Parsee hotel-keeper also provides donkeys for a ride to inspect the town and fortifications: the former is shown in the picture, though it is not seen from the deck of the steamer on account of the anchorage, called Backbay, being at some little distance from the town. Port pe Gaiz, Cryton, at which the steamer T 273TFIFSELALGHAEE OATES Sediccd St eee ARESSERARIL Ne Pin t neh te 4a! By PAR BT Ne eH fo OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. stays to take in fuel time enough to allow the pas- sengers to take a short ride into the interior of the island, comes next. The luxuriant vegetation, fring- ing the shores with graceful cocoa-nut trees and gigantic oriental plants, render this picturesque scene a great relief to the voyager, wearied with a bright expanse of sea and sky. An old Dutch fort stretches across the middle distance of the picture; to the left is a beautiful range of mountain country, and in the foreground are grouped some of the vegetable wonders of the island, with a few Indian cattle. Ceylon was, in 1848, the scene of an insurrection, headed by a native chief, in the suppression of which many lives were lost ; though not until this chief had been crowned sovereign by the rebel Cingalese, was the disaffection crushed. The British have been masters of the island since 1815, when it was made a royal colony, not subject to the Kast India Company. The conduct of the governor, Lord Torrington, in the punishment of the insurgents, together with the administration of the colony, were the subject of investigation by a select committe of the House of Commons, in a late session of Parliament. The Cinnamon Isle, or Isle of Spices, as Ceylon has been sometimes not inaptly called, lies off the southern point of Hindostan, and may, to a great extent, be considered the key to the waters of India and to the eastern seas. It possesses the only har- bour of note,—indeed, we may say the only safe haven which we can call our own, in that region ofCEYLON, AND ITS PRODUCTIONS. the globe; and Trincomalee, the port on the south- east, will not lose by comparison even with Sydney or Rio de Janeiro. The productions of Ceylon are numerous and valuable; and it must be presumed that, at one time, the natives were more energetic and industrious than now, for the Serindib of the ancients sent spices and pearls to Rome in the days of the earlier Emperors. At the present time, we receive from Ceylon cinnamon, cardamoms, pepper, cocoa-nut oil, and a great quan- tity of our best coffee. The latter is grown entirely in the elevated regions of the interior, known as the Kandian provinces ; while all the former articles are the productions of the low country and the coast. The northern and eastern part of the island is chiefly occupied by Tamils or Malabars, emigrants from the coast of India; the rest of the low country, forming a belt nearly round the island, by Cingalese ; while the mountainous region towards the centre and south is inhabited by Kandians. The people belonging to the first of these races are by far the most industrious 3 while those of the last-named raee are, like all moun- taineers, the most manly and free in their bearing and ideas. The low-countrymen, or Cingalese proper, are generally lazy, cunning, and much given to thieving. In the forests to the eastward of the Kandian country roam at large, ss Ag free as Nature first made man Ere the base laws of servitude began, When wild in woods the noble savage ran,” 275 HP on taent O erWi 3 ade Tbh Porhis bhsa pind th init") 200) ota tp bet aaas a Ren RAR aid kd a “ : Tale PT rs, a rips : r ; tbe had bth ot ih bi bt . 4, eae rt 4 Pp tear peer) y Fi ‘ Pi fie P5 OTe aul rea PEMPEPEESESESPOMPSPOP Pee Pare trtecd sth he) om eee eee eed ' Bit a He ft HEA ft ete HG He Bae OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. the Veddahs, the supposed aborigines of the island— termed of late, by an undoubted authority, “the inte- resting race who dwell in trees ;” the untameable wild men of the woods. ‘There is a large number of Malays also in the island, introduced originally to supply soldiers for Malay regiments, one of which, the Ceylon Rifles, is still kept up. The Moormen, a race of Arab descent, who may be styled the Jew merchants of the Hast, are to be found in thé most remote villages, indeed in every corner where a bargain is to be driven. When we mention that there are many descendants of the Portuguese and Dutch (both quondam masters of Ceylon), as well as a sprinkling of French, and a large number of British, the variety of languages and jargons one hears spoken throughout the island will be readily imagined. The whole of this garden of the Hast (the ancient Paradise, as some have strangely supposed) teems with richness, smiles with verdure, “and all but the spirit of man is divine.” It is nearly 800 miles in length, and 160 in its greatest breadth. The western coast is an extensive plain, behind which rise hills and mountains, of which Adam’s Peak, the most ele- vated, is 6152 feet above the sea. Their steeps are eevered with forests and dense underwood, which give to a great part of the island the character of jungle. Its most peculiar product is cinnamon, the finest of which is reared in gardens in the vicinity of Colombo, on the west coast, the seat of governmeut and of almost all the foreign trade. The cocoa-nut tree 276THE PALMYRA PALM TREH. grows in abundance; its fruit, and coir manufactured from its husks, are staple exports, and arrack is distilled from its juice: the coir is now in extensive use for mats and economical carpets. The Palmyra palm is another of the vegetable treasures :— «¢ Not fair in woods, But singly seen, and seen afar; When sunlight pours his yellow floods— A column, and its crown a star!” «This palm yields, perhaps, one-fourth part of the food of about 250,000 imhabitants of the northern province of Ceylon; while it, no doubt, forms the chief support of about six or seven millions of the snhabitants of India, and other parts of Asia; thus proving itself to be one of the most important trees on the earth—rivalling the date palm, and ranking only below the cocoa-nut.”* It may sometimes be seen with the banyan, s0 picturesquely described im Southey’s “Curse of Kehama.” Near Jaffna is a specimen, with two or three palmyra trees growing in it: it covers lyz acre of eround; and, doubtless, began its existence In the leaves of one of those palmyra-trees whose coronets now surmount its green foliage and thousand light and graceful stems.” The only valuable wild animal of Ceylon is the elephant, which, when caught young, may be tamed in eight or ten days. Bishop Heber notices the almost total absence of small birds, which he attributes to the tion of the Palmyra Palm of Ceylon, by William é : eee 1 at Colombo, 1850. Furguson, printe: le 20% ERI Taeif ne AR Mee HBG URDU Eats Poe Ps? Bp Pe) OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. number of serpents, supposed to destroy the eggs. Parrots, pigeons, jungle-fowls, and pea-fowls abound, and the honey-bird is found here. Large alligators are numerous; as are also the flying leech, large black scorpions, lizards, cameleons, the leaf insect, &c. There are four snakes ascertained to be poisonous,— the cobra de capello being the most numerous. The ruby, the amethyst, the topaz, and the diamond, are found here ; and an extensive pearl fishery is carried on in the Straits of Manaar, about fifteen miles from the shore. ‘The religion of the natives is Boodhist : the Kandians burn the bodies of their deceased chiefs, while those of the commonality are buried. Lieu- tenant Henderson thus describes the burning of Galgiriavi Mabamike Unanse, an aged high-priest of the Malagawa, or Great Temple of Candy :—At this ceremony many chief priests and priestesses of Boodh were present. ‘The body was laid on its face, and oil was poured over the pyre. The deceased having no relatives, his servant knelt before the pile, called out his late master’s name, and, bidding him adieu, set fire to the pile. Cocoa-nuts were mixed up with the fire-wood, so that the bystanders might not know, when they heard a report, whether it was caused by the bursting of the skull of the deceased or of a cocoa- nut. Loud prayers were offered up by those around, while the aged priestesses sobbed violently. Point de Galle lies at the southern extremity of the island, in a beautiful and healthy situation: at Belle- gam, in the vicinity, is a large temple of Boodh, with 278POINT DE GALLE, CEYLON. a, collossal statue of that divinity. Kandy, the capital of the central provinces, is surrounded by woody hills: the British have formed an excellent road from the coast to this place; here is the Government granary, the Ceylon Rifle Mess-house, the Magazine, on an island, and formerly the King’s harem; the Library (once the King’s baths), the great Temple of Kandy, with its octagonal tower, the new Episcopal Church, and the Bank. Behind the town winds “Lady Horton’s walk,” a delightful and most pic- turesque route, from part of which one sees the extensive vale of Doombera, with the Maha Villé Ganga, or Great Yellow-sand River, winding through it, and forming one of the most charming prospects in the world. In the foreground is an artificial lake, formed by one of the kings of Kandy. It improves the appearance of Kandy very much, and a beautiful drive runs along its banks. Here our somewhat extended notice of this beautiful island must close. Mapras, with its swfy road, its strong and tumb- ling sea, and its Mussoolah boats and catamarans, and its long range of buildmgs lining the beach, forms the next very apimated scene. Madras, the seat of the local government of India, second in degree and responsibility, hes on the Coromandei coast. It has no harbour, but a mere road, through which runs a strong current, and which is often exposed to dangerous winds. On the beach at all aks so violent a surf, that only a peculiar e light boats, the thin planks of which 279 seasons bre species of largOVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. are sewn together with the tough grass of the country; can, by the dexterous management of the natives, be rowed across it. In the rainy monsoon, all inter- course with vessels in the road is quite impracticable. The flag at Fort St. George is then struck, and the shipping puts to sea. In fair weather, communica- tion between the shore and the shipping can only be kept up by the craft we have just named. “We land,” says Mr. Stocqueler, “in the broad Mussoolah boat, Ingenuously rowed by a gailys attired native crew, whose song, like that of the gon: dolier, keeps time to the plash of oars. As the shore is approached, they watch the action of the waves, and, seizing the happy moment when a lofty billow rolls towards the stern, they pull a vigorous stroke, and the boat is borne on the bosom of the surf to the appointed landing-place, whence it is dragged high- and-dry before another wave can swamp or even wet the passengers.” The boat is occasionally furnished with an awning at the stern, to protect the from the splashing of the waves. It is generally accompanied by a catamaran, for the purpose of rescuing the passengers in case of upset. ‘This catamaran is a species of raft, consisting or three logs of wood, bound together wi astride, or upon this primitive vessel, sits a person who works with one paddle: he wears a conical cap, in which he conveys letters and small parcels from ship to shore, and vice versa, encountering the toughest seas with great courage, and when swept 280 passengers of one, two, th coir rope ;APPEARANCE OF MADRAS. off by 4 wave,. easily regaining his seat upon the raft. The Fort and Black Town are the most striking objects on the shore. In the former are an arsenal, and several of the government offices; the latter, as its title imports, contains the residences of the natives, and the shops of the Europeans and natives. The higher classes of the Europeans reside in the Mount Road, a magnificent road, six miles in length, bor- dered by trees and villas. This and the South Beach are the fashionable evening drive. At St. Thomas’s Mount, at the end of the Mount Road, the artillery are quartered ; and near this place is the race-course. The Government House and the College Hall have little worth notice as buildings; there are, within the Fort, barracks, hospitals, a handsome church, and a monument to the Marquis Cornwallis, to whose memory is another cenotaph on the Mount Road; and between the Fort and the Government House is a -fine equestrian statue of Sir Thomas Munro, for several years the enlightened Governor of Madras. These, with an ice-house and a light-house, constitute all the public edifices of any note. The houses of European Madras consists usually of only one story, and have porticos and verandahs supported by columns covered with that finely-polished composition of shell limestone called chunam. The mode of living is nearly the same as at Calcutta, but on a more limited scale. The morning, from nine till eleven, 1s spent in calls and visiting; at two, a substantial meal, 281 SK Rea eretty ag seen pape et aed pacer ee LE Sn eeOVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. ealled tiffin, is taken; at five, when the air becomes more cool, the family usually drive out; and at seven or eight, a dinner concludes the day. The Black Town, viewed from a distance, presents a striking scene, of minarets and pagodas, mixed with trees and gardens; but the interior, like that of most Asiatic towns, consists of poor bamboo cottages, thatched with leaves: a few great native merchants, however, have splendid mansions in the Oriental style. Madras contains several churches and chapels, and a great number of branch establishments of London Religious Socities, charitable institutions, schools, &c. “furnishing magnificent evidence of the noble purposes to which the various classes of our countrymen appropriate a portion of their wealth in India, and giving the lie to the insinuation that they resort to the country to pluck the golden fruit from its trees, and leave it bare and miserable. The orphan, the native female, the outcast, the illiterate, the destitute, all are cared for, provided with asylums, clothed, fed, and taught. Were we driven out of India to-morrow, we should have left behind us, in the results of instruction, and the moral example set to successors, more endurmg monuments of worthy rule than the finest productions of the sculptor’s chisel, or the architect’s ingenuity.”’—Handbook of’ India. The jugglers of Madras are famed all over the world. A man who, in 1828, seated himself in the alr, without any apparent support, excited as much 282INDIAN JUGGLERS. interest and curiosity as the automaton chess-player, who astonished all Europe a few years ago. The bodies of the jugglers are so lithe and supple, as to resemble those of serpents rather than men. Swal- lowing the sword is a common feat with them: otners walk upon thin linen cloth, (stretched out slightly in the hands of four persons,) without ruffling it, or forcing it from the grasp of the holders. ‘The lifting of heavy weights with the eyelids, is a disgusting exhibition. Some of the optical deceptions are ex- ceedingly curious; and inquirers are to this day puzzled to guess how plants and flowers can be instantaneously produced from seeds. The Madras jugglers travel to all parts of India, but it is not often that the most celebrated are to be met with at a distance from the theatre of their education. Snake- charmers are common everywhere. In the interior of the country, about thirty five miles south of Madras, is Mahabalpoor, or City of the Great Bali, called also the Seven Pagodas. It consists of a range of sculptured edifices represent- ing the exploits of Bali, Khristna, and other chiefs celebrated in the Mahabarat: it is sacred to Vishnu, whose statue is found m the principal temple, and the monuments are very beautifully executed. In the interior also is Tripatti, one of the most crowded scenes of Hindoo pilgrimage. The next is Catcutra, which furnishes “ at once a termination to the voyage.” This scene is full of character, and vigorous contrast. In the foreground 283OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA. is the body-guard of the Governor-General, the natives in their variegated costumes, and the Hu- ropeans. with their palankeens and carriages ; while in the distance is the Hooghly, with its boats and pinnaces, backed by the architectural glories of Cal- eutta, “ the City of Palaces.” This impressive picture bursts upon the view as you round a reach of the river Hooghly, after passing through green and shady banks, upon which stand many beautiful houses, occupied by the principal inhabitants. Mr, Stocqueler has elsewhere thus described the effect of this sudden view of Calcutta upon the visitor :— «The first view of Bengal-India gives the longing voyager a dreary pang of disappointment, owing to the leng, ugly, and inhospitable shores of Sangor Island, with scarcely a sign of cheering civilization, or any tokens of a thickly-populated land. This desolate appearance, and the correspondent sensation which it excites in the stranger’s breast, arise from the peculiar circumstance of there being no town at the mouth of the river, nor any mark of one as far as the eye can reach. Arriving at Madras, for instance, the city, fortifications, and all oppidan appurtenances, burst upon you while you are yet at sea, and you at once feel that you are cast among a civilized commu- nity ; but Bengal frowns upon you, and you experience no temptation to explore her further. “Sail on, however, in the true hope which should always sustain those adventurous spirits who go down to the sea in great ships, and you will be richly rewarded 284> OE hr ony ae ee = CF a net a eerie CALCUTTA AND ITS BUILDINGS. for your primary disappointment. Viewed from the magnificent bend of the river, denominated Garden Reach, where the town first opens on the approaching vessel, the coup d’@il 1s one of various and enchanting beauty. Houses like palaces are studding the bank on the proper left of the river, and a verdure, like that of a natural summer, refreshes the eye so long accustomed to the glitter of the ocean. Anon, on your left, appears the semi-Gothic Bishop’s College ; and in front of you, every moment growing more distinct, are beheld a forest of stately masts, a noble and beautiful fortress, a thousand small boats, of shapes new and undreamt of by the visitant, skimming over the stream; the larger vessels of the country, pleasant to look upon from their strange dissymmetry and their consequent unwieldiness; the green and goose-shaped barge-row, lying idly for hire, and the airy little vauleahs, with their light venetianed rooms, which seem fitted for the water bowers of lovers on some of the lakes of those sunny isles which poets were wont to sing of, and where the breezes are never stronger than can be borne by silken sails. There cannot be a scene more beautiful, connected with the bustle and business of life; and the heart of the traveller feels light within him as he views it. He experiences undefinable emotions of joy, and he in- quires if he is in a country in which he could dwell unrepiningly for ever, voluntarily debarred from the prospect of ever again beholding the gloomier shores of England.” —Handbook of India. 285 ea SER RAS ETREHATA DA@iaRT TS TPA RABE NIL) vals ccdatiandbea sped nae Tia. | ae rh HT fst etiiatae: hm tie it + ny tt HORM IER ET Oa BHRT TT BUSY HD Pe LEE oat ad eee mere tee sits ghc 15 GR GM ARB aTosana AEE OaL is caceel LA RAR NTD A rye) rh tad hep) 7 ot ted bt ad js “) ‘ SS Uae ae j a a sided? a ' PRES PH MN HEMMER EEO P Er Pest i tire om tr eit raibed M4 = , i” _— Y 4 OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA; This beautiful city hes on the eastern bank of the Hooghly, which is merely a branch of the Ganges: 16 is nearly one hundred miles from the sea ; the breadth of the stream is about equal to that of the Thames at Gravesend, and it is so deep that ships of from twelve to fourteen hundred tons, anchor abreast of the town. Within a century and a half, Calcutta, from a few straggling cottages, has been raised by Britain to be the capital of India. In 1696, the English were allowed by Aurungzebe to establish a factory, and, in the following year, to secure it by a fort. in 1757, it had not above seventy English houses: im this year occurred the memorable capture and plunder of Cal- eutta, by Soorajool-Dowlah, the Newab of Bengal, and the attendant atrocity of the Black Hole sacrifice ; an event with which even Engiish children are fa- miliar. This horrible cruelty was signally revenged by the great Lord Clive; and from that period may be dated the stable foundation of our Indian empire, with the growth of which Calcutta has to this day kept pace in every phase of metropolitan prosperity. The English town, though built of brick, has the walls covered with fine chunam plaster, each house being detached, and surrounded by a wall. The Black Town, comprising the greater part of Calcutta, consists, as in other portions of India, of miserable cottages of mud and bamboo. In the picture is shown the Government House, a splendid and costly structure, built about the year 1804, at the instance of the late Marquis of Wellesley,Sree PRESENT APPEARANCE OF CALCUTTA. then Governor-General: the exterior, with its large dome, is grand and imposing; and the interior 1s fitted for state receptions upon a regal scale. Next is the Town-hall, a handsome Doric edifice, built also in 1804. The Ochterlony monument, a column 160 fect in height, with a Turkish capital and an Egyptian base, also stands on the esplanade in front of the town : it was built to commemorate the public services of Major General Sir David Ochterlony. The churches, colleges, and other public institutions, are numerous. There is no bridge over the main river ; but there are small suspension bridges over the creeks which run into the city at different points. 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This book is intended, by bringing the youthful mind at an early period to some knowledge of the Wonders of Nature, and, at the same time, connecting that knowiedge with the Bible, to associate pious thoughts and feelings with the works of God; and imperceptibly create an interest in that Book which is able to make wise unto Salvation,emp een pote rok pact sraetespre seers ees a SSS errs 15 5 a is Weve eR TeDATE DUE GAYLORD PRINTEDINU.S.A.Bee Be RX OOO 33? EEE .