'The Middle Eastern question or some political problems of Indian defence' [‎118r] (240/616)

DIFFICULTIES OF NAVIGATION
own terms upon her, and our commercial interests
would not have been dependent upon the advantages
which, as a pre-eminently maritime nation, we derive,
or might derive, from water communications. But we
did not do so, and, what is more, we have done little or
nothing to develop or improve even the water communi
cations. Yet, as things are at present, if we are to hold
our own against the competition of land-borne trade
whenever the German railway is completed to Baghdad
and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , unless we can still secure the
control of the latter section, our main hope lies in
increasing, as far as possible, the facilities for our
water-borne traffic.
It is easy enough, no doubt, to talk at large about
the cheapness of water-borne traffic all the world over
as compared with land-borne traffic. But these general
isations do not apply to water-borne traffic carried on
under the difficulties and restrictions it has to contend
with in this part of the Turkish dominions. The navi
gation of such tortuous and wayward rivers as the
Shatt-el-Arab and the Tigris is not in itself easy, and
the Turks, of course, do nothing to make it easier.
River conservancy is as unknown in Turkey as in
Persia. The course of these streams is not only
shallow and winding, but subject to heavy rises and
falls, and constantly changing with the formation and
disappearance of rapidly shifting sand shoals. The
river journey from Basra to Baghdad is about 500 miles,
and takes four to five days by steamer under favourable
conditions. The distance by land is only 300 miles.
Moreover, Basra lies 60 miles up the Shatt-el-Arab,
and at its mouth there is a bar with barely 10 feet
of water at low tide, and even at high water vessels
drawing more than 16 to 18 feet of water have to dis-
.
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