'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎47] (66/622)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAYY. 47
After the obstructions and dangers experienced in Colonel
Chesney's descent of the river, with a favouring current to
assist him, it required courage, perseverance, and skill, to effect
its successful ascent For all these qualities, Lieutenant Camp
bell was eminently distinguished, while his knowledge of Arab
character, his patience and equanimity, enabled him most
effectually to conciliate the wild inhabitants of the banks of the
Euphrates ; and thus it happened that the ascent of the 66 Great
river/' made against "the first rush of the annual rise^from the
melting snow, was unattended by any serious accident or re
grettable occurrence, a circumstance the more remarkable as
the 'Nitocris' and 'Nimrod' were armed with long iron
9-pounder pivot guns, and carried two months' provisions and
ammunition. The steamers remained at Beles until the 15th of
September, 1841, and their presence acted as a diversion against
Ibrahim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. in Eastern Syria, and in other respects exercised
considerable influence during the war with Mehemet Ali.
While here. Lieutenant Campbell sent Lieutenant Felix Jones
across the Syrian Desert and Lebanon to Bey rout, where he
communicated with the British fleet, whence he obtained stores.
Having connected the river Euphrates and Mediterranean by
chronometric measurements for longitude. Lieutenant Jones
returned to Beles by another route, through Northern Syria.
Lieutenant Campbell also visited Aleppo, Scanderoon, and the
depot of stores left by Colonel Chesney at Bir ; he also surveyed
the river between that place and Beles, and visited the various
tribes on the banks.
During the absence of Lieutenant Campbell at Beles, the
remaining steamers, 6 Euphrates' and fi Assyria,' were placed
under the command of Lieutenant W. B Selby, an enterprising
officer who explored the river Karoon, the river of Dizful, the
Kirkhah, the Hie, and the Bamisheer. He ascended the Karoon
to Shuster, both by the main body of the river and by the Aub
Gargar, or artificial canal; he fully established the prac
ticability of the navigation of the Bamisheer, and proved the
possibility of communicating by steam between the Euphrates
and Tigris by the Hie. These were among the most important
results of the Expedition, and should the advances of civilization
in no distant future cover the rivers of Mesopotamia with
steamers for commercial and other purposes, the extensive
surveys and researches of Lieutenant Selby, and of that
accomplished surveyor, Lieutenant Felix Jones, more par
ticularly in later years, will receive from posterity the acknow
ledgment that has been denied to them by their " Honourable
Masters " and by the Government of the Queen. A writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. in
the " Bombay Times " of December, 1843, speaking of Lieu
tenant Selby's surveys at this period—and the passage was
endorsed by the late Sir Roderick Murchison, in his address to