'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎87] (106/622)

HISTORY OP THE INDIAN NAVY. 87
howling wildernessbut they now found a great change for
the better in the country and climate, and, at Ankobar, elevated
some 8,200 feet above the level of the sea, the thermometer
ranged between 44 and 63 deg. Lieutenant Barker, after
residing some little time at Ankobar, returned alone, arriving
at Aden early in March, 1842; he performed part of the journey
in company with a caravan bringing slaves to the coast, and
afterwards with a Dankalli chief.*
Some account of Lieutenant Wood's remarkable journey to
the sources of the Oxus, a feat which sheds lustre on the
Service, will be of interest. The opening of the Indus for the
purposes of trade, by the treaties formed by our Government,
induced Aga Mahomed Rahim, a Persian merchant of Bombay,
to purchase a steamboat of ten horse-power, the command of
which was accepted (with the permission of Government) by
Lieutenant Wood, who, on the 31st of October, 1835, had, as
he says, "the proud satisfaction of unfurling our country's
flag on the Indus from the first steamboat that ever floated
upon its-celebrated waters." Upon the return of the steamer
to Bombay, Lieutenant Wood was employed by Government in
noting the periodical rise of the Indus, the spread of its inun
dation, and the changes of its channels; and, on the 9th of
November, 1836, being appointed an assistant to the commer
cial mission of Sir Alexander (then Captain) Burnes to Cabul,
via the Indus, one of the objects of that mission, namely, to
examine and report upon that river, from its mouth to Attock,
was entrusted to Lieutenant Wood. Entering the Hujamree
branch, the party reached Vikkur, where they exchanged their
sea-going boats for the Scindian dundi, or river craft. Mr.
Wood endeavours, in his work,t to identify the route of Alex
ander's fleet; but the task is hopeless in such a river as the
Indus, the channels of which are perpetually altering, and its
banks falling in.J
* Major Harris, who was knighted on his return to England, published an account
of his mission, which was successful so far, that he was able to conclude a treaty
with the King of Shoa. Captain Grraham also wrote a long official report, which
was presented to the Bombay Grovernment, on the "Manners, customs, and
superstitions of the people of Shoa." The matter-of-fact accounts of Abyssinia
and its people, by Lord Valentia, Mr. Salt, and Fearce, removed the greater part
of the romance which the travels of Bruce had thrown over them, revealing
these nominal Christians in their true colours ; but Captain Graham, as he said,
still further sought to remove "the film over the eyes of the deluded public," and
described the natives of Shoa as " ignorant, barbarous, and filthy."
f " A Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Source of the Eiver Oxus, by the
route of the Indus, Cabul, and Badakshan ; performed under the sanction of the
Supreme Grovernment of India, in the years 1836,1837, and 1838." By Lieu
tenant John Wood, of the East India Company's Navy. London, 1841.
A new edition of this work, issued by the son of the late Captain Wood, has
been enriched by a valuable Treatise on the Greography of Central Asia, by Colonel
H. Yule, of the Bengal Engineers.
X These occurrences are so common that one witnessed by Lieutenant Wood,
which engulphed houses and property, scarcely excited surprise in those whose