'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎36] (55/622)

36
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAYY.
Lieutenant Lynch reached Deir, which was in open hostility
against the Porte, its walls and houses having been placed in a
state of defence by Sheikh Suleiman, who received the English
party with much kindness. They arrived in time to enable
Lieutenant Lynch to stay the hand of the commander of
Ibrahim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. 's troops, who had captured a large neighbouring
village belonging to the Sheikh, and having burnt it to the
ground, was engaged in slaughtering the wretched inhabitants
of both sexes and of all ages. " We were enabled," he says,
" to negotiate successfully for our suppliant friends, and after a
night spent amongst the Egyptian troops, we proceeded to
Deir, where we were received by long trains of women and
children, singing songs to greet us on our return."
After accomplishing the great object of the mission in having
arranged the depots of charcoal on the left bank of the river,
and cultivated friendly relations with the Arabs on that side of
the Euphrates, Lieutenant Lynch crossed the stream, and
visited the various tribes on the right bank. On his return,
and during his advance, he distributed specimens of English
manufactures among the Arab chiefs, and, passing through
Aleppo, brought thence those eminent German travellers, Dr.
and Madame Helfer. # At length he arrived in safety at the
encampment at Bir, as he says, " after a circuitous route of
nine hundred miles, having much cause to be thankful for the
success of our dash into savage life. Already had a report
reached Colonel Chesney that our party had fallen victims to
Arab treachery, and our return was hailed with universal joy."
Meantime all the officers and men of the Expedition had been
hard at work, and, on the 26th of September, the 'Euphrates'
steamer was successfully launched sidew T ays into the stream,
the banks at the slip at Fort William being twenty-five feet
high. At this point, the illness of Captain Estcourt necessi
tated a redistribution of the duties of the working and sur
veying parties, u the general superintendence having devolved
upon Lieutenant Lynch, on his return from his mission to Deir."
The work of transport was very heavy, one piece of the boiler of
the ' Euphrates' requiring fifty men and one hundred oxen,
and another thirty-six men and seventy-two oxen, to transport
them to Bir. On this being completed, they commenced to set
up the second steamer, called the ' Tigris.' On the 27th of
February, the 6 Tigris V boiler, drawn by one hundred and four
oxen, with fifty-two native drivers, besides all the men of the
Expedition to assist, entered Port William, and thus was com
pleted the work of transport. Meantime Lieutenant Lynch and
# Dr. Heifer, wliile on a scientific mission for the Indian Grovernment, was
murdered at the Andaman Islands on the 31st of January, 1840, when his heroic
wife shot the assassin dead with her pistol, an act worthy the niece of Field-
Marshal Yon Bulow.