2nd. A line starting from one of the same points, crossing the Euphrates at Belio, passing down the left bank of the river, or the right bank of the Tigris, to a point nearly opposite Baghdad, recrossing the Euphrates, and proceeding to Kuwait.
3rd. A line starting as before, crossing the Euphrates at Bir, thence going round to Orfah and Diarbekir, and following the right bank of the Tigris as the last.
4th. A similar line, only following the left bank of the Tigris.
5th. A line starting from Tripoli, and proceeding across the desert by way of Damascus and Palmyra to the Euphrates, whence it might follow one of the preceding routes.
Which of these routes will eventually be adopted, is still the subject of much discussion.
Mr. W. P. Andrew, F.R.G.S., who for thirty years has devoted much time and attention to endeavouring to carry out this design, has furnished us with an admirable report on this project. We will give a short sketch in his own words:
“In the proposal to restore this ancient route—once the highway of the world’s commerce and the track of the heroes of early history—by the construction of a railway to connect the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, we have at hand an invaluable and perfectly efficient means at once of thwarting the designs of Russia, if they should assume a hostile character, of marching hand in hand with her if her mission be to carry civilisation to distant lands, and of competing with her in the peaceful rivalry of commerce.”
“On every ground, therefore, the proposed Euphrates Valley Railway is an undertaking eminently deserving our attention, and the support and encouragement of our Government.”
“The countries which our future highway to India will traverse have been, from remote antiquity, the most interesting in the world. On the once fertile plains, watered by the Euphrates and Tigris, the greatest and most glorious nations of antiquity arose, flourished, and were overthrown.”