Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates Vol 2 - The Search For Mecca

2 So Bcdoidn Tribes of the EitpJwates.
out a prodigious outlay in the form of waterworks.
To reconstruct entirely the Babylonian system of
•canals is financially impossible, even for the richest
country in the world at the present day ;
and without
irrigation not a blade can a;row.
The only practical scheme for improving the communications
between the Mediterranean and the
Persian Gulf is,
in my opinion, the establishment of
a line of steamers on the Euphrates. This, if properly
managed, might do effectual good, and even
be made to pay its expenses. The river is navic;able
for boats drawiucf eioliteen inches of water
nearly all the year round ; ond Midhat's boats failed
only because they were too large. A line of
.steamers would sufficiently supply the wants of
local traffic, and could afford to do so at a far
cheaper rate than any railroad. Steam navigation
would be free of danger from Bedouin interference ;
and the tamarisk j'crub would long- afford an excellent
supply of fuel.
•of
little use to India.
Such a scheme, however, v/ould be
Water communication established, and Turkish
.abuses reformed, the
present system of government
might well be left to work out the natural development
of the country, though this could not be
rapid. I have no sympathy with the Turks in
Arabia, and still less with their administration.
It is utterly corrupt ;
but I do not think their theory
of government there is a bad one. The protection
of the peaceable tribes and the repression of the war-