Notes of a journey across the Isthmus of Krà/Appendix
APPENDIX
From Captain Alexander Fraser, Bengal Engineers,
To Lieut. Colonel A. Fytche[1], Commissioner, M. and T. Provinces.
Tavoy, 26th April, 1863.
SIR,—I have the honor to forward to you the enclosed Report, with plans, &c., as per margin, of a journey made by Captain Forlong and myself up the Pakchan river, across the Isthmus of Kraw to the Gulf of Siam.
No one can be better aware than yourself of the good which would accrue to the Provinces of Pegu and Tenasserim, by the free importation of Chinese labour by the route recommended, and we therefore submit this Report to you. As, further, the matter involves other and far more important than local interests, we recommend that the Report be forwarded to the Government of India, as one worthy of immediate and attentive consideration, with such remarks as your complete knowledge of the general and local bearing of the subject may deem expedient.
We would beg to bring to your notice the great civility and kindness with which we were received by the Chief Civil Authority, Tacompa, in the Siamese Territory.
I have, &c.,
(Signed)A. FRASER,
Captain, Bengal Engineers.
1.—The steamer Nemesis, with Lieut. Colonel A. Fytche, Commissioner, M. and T. Provinces, on board, anchored about fifteen miles up the River Pakchan in five or six fathoms of water. Banks, steep and densely wooded, with a stream running between them of (here) about a mile in breadth.
2.—Opening into the Mergui Archipelago, opposite the south end of St. Matthew's Island, there are some six fathoms of water, at low water, over the bar at the mouth, though vessels coming from the north, inside the island, have to run some little way southerly to avoid an extensive spit of sand, which runs partly across the entrance to the river.
3.—On the north side, the right or British bank of the stream, are the tin mines of Maleewoon, which are, we believe, workable to any extent, to which money and labour are procurable. On the other side are the tin mines of Rahnong, worked by the Siamese Government.
4.— Collecting, on the evening of the 31st March, all the instruments necessary for a rough survey, a perambulator, compasses, and aneroid, we left the steamer in a native boat with a flood tide, and proceeded up this river which forms the boundary between the British Possessions in these provinces, and the Siamese territories. A fog came on, and we were obliged to anchor for some time. We arrived, however, at Kraw by 4 p.m. of the 1st April.
5.—Kraw is a Shan[2] village of some fifty houses, with a few Chinese inhabitants. The Civil authority was absent attending his superior at Tsoompeon, the chief place of the district, and where a Woontack, a functionary equal in authority to our Deputy Commissioner, resided.
6.—At Kraw we rested the night in a good zayat, which had been prepared for the aforesaid Chief Civil Authority, who visits periodically his district on this (the western) side of His Majesty of Bangkok's southern dominions. We had some difficulty in procuring means of locomotion in consequence of there being no one to give orders upon our wishes, but just as we were starting the next morning (2nd April,) with some four or five coolies we had managed to procure, an elephant made its appearance, and we were enabled to proceed a little more comfortably than we had anticipated.
7.—We commenced, on the 2nd April, a route survey across a country which we believe is quite unknown to, and has never been traversed by, Europeans. There is a good level cleared road for the first two miles, and to the third mile it rises and passes along the right bank of the Kraw river. The forest on each side contained bamboos and trees, as mentioned in the plan. Up to a little short of the eight miles, the road follows the course of the Kraw river, and is difficult; we had to wade for a mile through the stream, which was not, however, more than ankle deep, but falling every now and then over rocks, with banks about twenty or thirty feet high, and forty feet apart. At this time the rain commenced and fell with little intermission till we returned to Kraw.
8.—At the eighth mile we arrived at the water shed of the country, a small grassy plain. The Kraw river runs hence west to join the Pakchan at Kraw; and a quarter of a mile further on, a river, called the Bankren, joining the Tsoompeon at Tasan (one and a half miles) flows to the Gulf of Siam on the east.
9.—At Tasan is another zayat, similar to that at Kraw, with a few houses and dry cultivation. We continued to cross and re-cross the Tsoompeon river to the tenth mile.
At fifteen and a half miles after crossing tributaries of small breadth, but with steep banks, we got again to the Tsoompeon, where it was some 200 feet wide, but of little depth. The jungle remained of the same character, and the nature of the country, as the path descended to plains passing through low but steep hills, was very similar to that in the ascent from Kraw to Tasan.
10.—At seventeen and a half miles we got to Apay, another zayat, and were glad to rest for the night, for, in addition to the walking over very rough ground and for miles through the rivers, wet through, the rain had brought out the leeches, which attacked us most unmercifully. The first indication of their attacks was finding our trowsers covered with blood; our last resource was to tie the trowsers round the ankles so as to prevent them getting inside, but even then, unless some one was looking after us while engaged in taking angles or reading the perambulator, if we stood still for any time we found them lodge in our necks. The amount of blood these creatures take from one, before coming aware of it, is really exhausting, and it is therefore desirable to warn others.
11.—The night was fine, the rain was reserved till daylight for our special benefit; crossed a tolerably sized (eighty feet) river just beyond Apay, and another at the twentieth mile, a tributary of the Tsoompeon. We came to the end of the hills at the twenty-second mile, and entered upon a fine open country, with patches of jungle and garden and paddy lands, capable of any amount of cultivation. At the twenty-second mile the hills stretched away to the southward, and seemed to run east, parallel with our course, about a mile and a half to the north-ward, and, as we fancied, along the left bank of the Tsoompeon river.
At the twenty-third and twenty-fifth miles, crossed another river of 120 feet in breadth, the margin of which was much cultivated, and we continued along (about half a mile from) the left bank of the river, which seems to be the Pahklong joining the Tsoompeon near its mouth, to the twenty-ninth mile, after which at a distance of thirty miles from Kraw, we crossed the Tsoompeon where it is about 200 feet broad, and arrived at the residence of the chief civil authority of this district, who received us most kindly, at about noon of the 3rd April.
12.—Tsoompeon is a large place of some four or five hundred houses, with a water communication of twenty miles with the Gulf of Siam. We thought of continuing our journey down the stream the same day, but the heavy rain that fell was even more persuasive than the kind and polite old governor, who, as soon as we had made up our minds to remain till next morning, placed everything that weary travellers could require at our disposal, and ordered boats to be in readiness for us at 2 a.m., 4th April, when the ebb made. There is a rise and fall of tide here of about six feet.
13.—Started at 1 a.m, of the 4th April, and proceeded down a very winding stream to the mouth of the river opening in the Gulf of Siam, where we arrived at 5.30 a.m., or in about three and a half hours, having the tide with us. Here we landed, and found a fine villa, in some disrepair; this was said to be the King's residence when he came to this part of his dominions. His steamers were said to come in two days from Bangkok, and fuel (billets of wood) in quantities (about 20,000 pieces) was collected. There was a schooner of about 150 tons lying off the shore, about fifty yards distance, in five fathoms of water, but there is a bar, above where the schooner lay, across the mouth of the river Tsoompeon, with only one and a half fathoms over it at low water. There would be no difficulty in making roads from Tsoompeon to this place. We found storehouses here with a couple of 32-pr. carronades belonging, we supposed, to the King's steamers, though we asked no questions about them. From the general appearance of the buildings, &c., we think it is a place not open to severe storms or heavy sea. This is confirmed by an extract from Commander Richard's "Gulf of Siam," taken from the Bangkok Calendar, stating that "heavy gales are unknown in the gulf." With a view of establishing a communication across the Isthmus of Kraw, it would be necessary accurately to determine several points which would render such communication practicable with reference to the Gulf of Siam, as we had ascertained in regard to our own side; this, the time and commissariat at our disposal, prevented as doing satisfactorily, and we did not wish to exhibit a curiosity by asking too many questions which might have proved offensive to a friendly power. We made the distance from Tsoompeon to the sea shore twenty-one miles, making the total distance from Kraw to the shore of the gulf about fifty miles.
14.—At 7.30 a.m., 4th April, we returned to Tsoompeon, surveying the river roughly. We passed Tayoung, about four miles from the mouth, a short distance up a creek, which here falls into the Tsoompeon; we were told that two vessels of some son tons were loading there. Tayoung is large, said to consist of some 200 houses; we had not time to land, as we wished to get back to Apay this night.
15.—We arrived at Tsoompeon at 10.30 a.m., and after much civility, which we hereby acknowledge, from Payar Teet, the governor, who provided us with two more elephants, we started on our return through heavy rain. Slept at Apay this night (4th April). Got to Kraw the next day, 5th, at 4 p.m., passing through the streams, which had swollen a little from the heavy rain, the commencement of the monsoon. Went straight on board our boat, tested the correctness of the survey of the Pakchan (hereto annexed) said to have been executed by an officer of the Ganges steamer, which, some fifteen years ago, was employed in conveying Captain Durand on an expedition up this river to settle a boundary question. Anchored for the night; arrived next day at noon on board the Nemesis.
15a.—On the route from Kraw to Tsoompeon we were struck with aremarkable change of geological features. We had observed as we emerged on the plains of Tsoompeon, very marked looking abrupt hills which, being accustomed to such in the limestone islands of the Mergui Archipelago, we concluded were of the same group, but on closer examination they turned out to be sedimentary rocks of either the secondary or primary series—Captain Forlong inclines to think of the latter—and to be closely allied to the old red sandstone group; the dip was N.E. by N. We were unable to collect specimens worthy of being forwarded. All the islands of the gulf that we could see seemed of the same formation, worn into smooth rounded tops, but with perpendicular sides, some of the layers were as fine as thread, although generally half an inch thick, all abounded in pebbles, and what Captain Forlong believes to be minute fossils. The rocks across the pass were mostly a quartzose sandstone.
16.—It seemed, from our survey of the route, so manifest that a communication might be established with little comparative expense across this narrow neck of land, thus connecting the Bay of Bengal with the China sea by a route which would avoid the long, dangerous, and circuitous passage by the Straits of Malacca, that we thought it worth while to enter into a few calculations by which might be shown in figures the comparative advantages of the two routes. The following is the result, one which, to our minds, makes a further examination of the Isthmus of Kraw worthy of immediate consideration by our government in communication with that of Siam as likely to prove of advantage to each, and of enormous value to commerce and the travelling world in general. It would relieve the commercial world to a great extent of the enormous steam charges which keep up the prices of the goods which form the staples of trade between England. India and China, and which render travelling almost prohibited, and it would open up a new and interesting country to the geologist and botanist, and introduce a hardy and hard working population (the Chinese) into provinces which contain mineral wealth in known and unknown quantities, wealth which merely requires labour to develop to any extent, and in search of which the Chinese even now find their weary way, but who would then come in large numbers, especially as the new treaty allows them to emigrate with their families. Much and valuable information regarding the great mineral wealth of these provinces may be found in some interesting papers by Colonel Tremenhere, Bengal Engineers, and Professors Helfer and Oldham.
17. The tables annexed I. II. and III. show the economy of fuel, establishment, and time, which would be arrived at by establishing easy communication across the Isthmus. A canal we consider out of the question. A railroad is not only quite practicable, but likely to cost less per mile than any other in India.
Table of Great Sea Routes from Ceylon to China and Calcutta and vice versa.
| Tables. | Routes, two steamers starting per month on all lines. | Singapore. | Akyab. | Rangoon. | Maulmein. | Tavoy. | Mergui. | Kraw. | Hong-Kong. | Total. | No. of hours steam. | No of tons. coal burst. | Cost of fuel. | Cost of establishment. | Total cost of steamer per trip. | Cost of 4 trips per month. | Saving | ||
| Cost per month | Time per trip | ||||||||||||||||||
| I | Ceylon via Singapore to Hong-Kong | 1570 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1470 | 3040 | 337 | 337 | 8425 | 1500 | 9925 | 39700 | |||
| Celyon via Kraw to Hongkong | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1150 | 1380 | 2530 | 281 | 281 | 7025 | 1200 | 8225 | 32900 | 6800 | 56 | ||
| II | Calcutta via Singapore to China | 1610 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1470 | 3080 | 342 | 342 | 8550 | 1500 | 10050 | 40200 | |||
| Calcutta via Akyab, Rangoon, Maulmein, Tavoy, Mergui and Kraw | .. | 280 | 480 | 120 | 150 | 110 | 150 | .. | 1290 | 143 | 143 | 3575 | 750 | 4325 | 17300 | 22900 | 19 | ||
| III | Calcutta Via Akyab and Rangoon to Maulmein | .. | 280 | 480 | 120 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 880 | 98 | 98 | 2450 | 525 | 2975 | 11900 | 11900 | ||
| Total Saving per month Rs. | 41600 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ditto Annum | 499200 | ||||||||||||||||||
| IV | Calcutta to Kraw direct 1 stewamr twice per month | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 920 | .. | 920 | 102 | 102 | 2550 | 450 | 3000 | 12000 | 2960 | 39 | |
| 12 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 355200 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1st.—Table I. exhibits the cost of the present line of steamer per month, without taking into consideration the expense of idle vessels, or any incidental expenses whatever, merely the cost of fuel and establishment per trip, for running steamers, as kept up | 9,700,0,0 |
| Table II. the cost of ditto (kept up we believe by Messrs. Apcar & Co.,[3]) direct from Calcutta to Hongkong via Singapore | 40,200,0,0 |
| Table III. the ditto of ditto kept up by C. & B. S. N. Company[4] from Calcutta to Maulmein[5] via Akyab[6] and Rangoon | 11,900,0,0 |
| Total cost of present arrangement per month | 91,800,0,0 |
| 2nd.—Table I. shows again the cost of a line running from Ceylon to Kraw and from Gulf of Siam (Tayoung) to Hongkong | 32,900,0,0 |
| Table II. the cost of a line from Calcutta via Akyab, Rangoon, Maulmein, Tavoy, Mergui and Siam and thence per China line to Hongkong | 17,300,0,0 |
| Total cost of two lines which would answer all the purposes of the present three lines | 50,200,0,8 |
4th.—The tables do not show, however, the vast further saving which would accrue, by running two lines of steamers instead of three in the Bay of Bengal, and one line instead of two on the China side of the Siamese and Malay Peninsula; the reduction of the number of steamers lying idle while not running, the concentration of coal depots, and many other incidental expenses which of course increase according to the number of lines running.
5th.—The tables again do not show what a vastly more profitable undertaking it would be to run one through line from Calcutta via Akyab and Rangoon to the Pakchan, and thence to China, instead of one with a terminus inland at Maulmein, getting no traffic as compared with that which would open up to the through line, and another line direct from Calcutta to China, only touching at the Straits Settlements.
6th.—The twelve millions trade (if positive, but which is probably only a transit trade) of Singapore, Malacca, and Penang, and fourteen and a half millions of Netherlands-India, could easily command a steamer of its own, to run alternately on either side of the Malayan Peninsula, communicating with Kraw, on the one side of the Bay of Bengal, and Tayong, on the Gulf of Siam, on the other, for China and Europe, as shown by dotted green line on the general sketch map. It may occur to some that the cost of this steamer should be deducted from the saving calculation in the third clause. We think not, but there is much more than sufficient for it; and we may place this cost against that of the other private steamers, between Calcutta and Hongkong via Singapore, not included in our calculations. 7th.—From Point de Galle to the five-fathom anchorage in the Pakchan River, and from Tayoung, in the Gulf of Siam, to Hongkong. Table I, shows to be 281 hours' steam (more or less does not matter for calculation, as the same rate of steaming is taken for all), while the route via Singapore is shown to be 337 hours' steam. We calculate, as hereafter shown, that the passage across the Isthmus of Kraw would not ordinarily occupy more than twelve hours, with a liberal allowance of time.
We have, therefore, a difference of time in favour of the Kraw route (337 + 12) — (281 + 12) = 56 hours. This is of much importance when we hold in view the costly nature of the produce and goods conveyed. It has also long been a desideratum to have a weekly communication with England, but the immense cost of putting on four steamers per month from Calcutta to Men has hitherto, we suppose, deterred the P. & O. Company, as they would thereby obtain no extra trade.
But, supposing the communication through Kraw established, the extra trade that would be brought by the extension of the line of the P. & O. Company's vessels to Kraw would pay for an extra steamer between Point de Galle and Aden, by means of which—by making it meet the Bombay mail at Aden by bi-monthly steamers from Ceylon via Kraw—the communication between England and Calcutta would be weekly: twice per month by the P. & O. Company's line via Point de Guile and Madras, and twice by the vessels via Kraw to Calcutta, thus providing for the whole of the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, via Kraw, as the P. & O. Company's does for its western coast via Madras.
The time from Ceylon to Calcutta, via Kraw (by the direct steamer as hereafter mentioned), would be as follows:—
| Ceylon to Kraw | 126 hours. |
| Kraw to Calcutta | 102 hours„ |
| Or nine and half days | 228 hours. |
Nearly as quick as the route via Madras. 8th.—By Table II., including three hours' stoppage at Akyab, twelve at Rangoon, twelve at Maulmein, three at Tavoy (Mamogan), without going up the river, and three at Mersin (the trade of the two latter places being about five lakho. The number of hours between Calcutta and Kraw by those places is shown to be (43+33)=76, while the further progress to China from Tayoung would be about 153 hours, or with twelve hours across the Isthmus of Kraw, a total distance of (143+33+12+153)=341 hours. The direct line of China steamers touching at Singapore would probably delay ordinarily six hours at Pinang and twelve hours at Singapore—this added to the distance gives 360 hours, making a difference in point of time in favour of the Kraw route, via Akyab, of nineteen hours, while the latter picks up all the trade.
The valuable goods (opium especially) and the mail from England might be sent by a single steamer, running twice a month to and from Calcutta to Kraw. The coat of this steamer is shown in Table IV., and the capital for construction of rail-road would be reduced to £700,000, much more than sufficient however. This arrangement of running a steamer direct to Kraw from Calcutta would beat the direct line to China, via Singapore, by ninety-three hours, as follows:—
| From Calcutta to Kraw | 102 | hours. |
| From Kraw to Tayoung | 12 | hours„ |
| From Tayoung to Hongkong | 153 | hours„ |
| Total | 267 | hours. |
| From Calcutta to Singapore | 179 | hours„ |
| Stoppages | 18 | hours„ |
| Hongkong | 163 | hours„ |
| Total | 360 | hours. |
and would give a regular weekly communication with Calcutta, as shown in last porn, while the line running via Akyab gives to the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal all the advantages of early communication with home, which its western coast enjoys, is Madras. But the steamers via Akyab should not have to go up the Rangoon and Maulmein rivers, by which means another twelve hours would be saved, making a total saving, even after touching at all the four ports (for Mergui would probably be moved to the Pakchan), of (19+3+12) 34 hours over the Singapore line. Elephant point and Amherst point should be the respective points of call for Rangoon and Maulmein, with telegraphic communication between those places and the capitals of Pegu,[7] and the Martaban[8] and Tenasserim[9] provinces.
9th.—All the trade between Maulmein and the Straits, for which there is no better mode of carriage than junks and Kattoos, and all the tin found on both sides of the Pakchan, in the Linga river, and indeed all along the coast up to Yeb, and which only requires capital and labour to develop to any extent, would be picked up at Kraw; while the labour for the tin mines of the Pakchan, and possibly for the coal mines of Mergui, could be imported direct from China. All the one and a quarter millions of the Bangkok trade, and that of the Malayan Peninsula, on the eastern and western side, would be intercepted at Tayoung and Kraw, also all adjuncts, which none of the present lines of steamers obtain, but which would go far to make them pay.
Between Maulmein and Kraw, where the coast is profusely wooded, wood fuel might be used to increase profits, or decrease expenses, should it take any time to develop the trade carried on between Maulmein and Singapore. The cost of burning wood on this coast, as compared with that of coal, is as one to ten, taking the wood at ten rupees per 1,000 billets, and coal at twenty-five rupees four annas per ton, and assuming that 250 billets, four feet long by four inches diameter, equal one hour's steam or one ton of coal.
18.—It would answer no useful purpose, to go into all the figures necessary to establish even an approximate idea of the greater profit that would be assured to commerce and to Steam Companies, by adopting the new lines herein proposed instead of the present times. It was only necessary to take three items, fuel, establishment, and time of actual running steamers, to prove our position; and if we can show, that by the saving of the two first of these items, we can establish communication across the Isthmus of Kraw, which shall also beat all present lines in point of the third, and most valuable item, time, we think it unnecessary to examine into the contingent saving which, to any one who will give intelligent consideration to them, will manifestly appear enormous.
19.—In the third clause of the seventeenth para. we have shown the saving in fuel and establishment of running steamers to be five lakhs per annum, representing a capital of one million sterling. Can the communication by Kraw be established within this sum? If so, all the contingent savings and gain in time go to the profit of trade, as well as any difference between the cost of the said communication and the keeping of it up. Our consideration of the subject of the communication across the Isthmus of Kraw has brought us to the following conclusions:—
1st.—That there should be two or three tug steamers with long fiat bottom boats, to carry goods and passengers from the five fathom anchorage of the large steamers twenty-six miles up the river Pakchan, as shown in the sketch map of the Isthmus by the dotted green line, in which distance the river is nowhere less than one fathom at dead low water spring tides. There is a rise and fall of eight feet. Time three hours towing.
2nd.—At this point (see plan), opposite Namoy river, a railway terminus and hotel, whence a railway will proceed (leaving Kraw to the north) by Tasan to Tsoompeon, on the shore of the Gulf of Siam, distance fifty miles, time three hours.
3rd.—Allow another six hours for discharging in the Pakchan, and loading at Tayoung on the Siam side (where there should be another railway terminus and hotel,) total time twelve hours, which is more than that required by the P. & Co. at Suez, on whose arrangements we will suggest further improvements.
4th.—There need be only a station in the centre of the line, where the rails should be double on either side, for the distance of about one mile, to allow of trains passing, the remainder of the line may be single as the Suez line.
5th.—The boats of eight or ten tons for the river service should form the bodies of the carriages for the railroad service, patent slips being formed at the Kraw terminus, and, if necessary, also on the Gulf of Siam shore, up which the loaded boats may be dragged on their own wheels, which could form the slip cradles, and the boats could be tacked on to the engine, and proceed to the other side without any delay. The arrangement of the boats for goods and passengers is a matter of detail easily managed. There is no reason why a carriage should not be in the form of a boat, especially when time is saved in loading, and expense in rolling stock. These boats would be at the anchorage, ready for the steamers as they come in from the mouth; when loaded, would be towed up to the railway terminus, dragged up the slips, and taken off at once per rail to Tayoung, where there should be a wharf for the China steamers to lie alongside, if them be water enough; if not, the carriage should be launched at once on to the sea, and sent to the steamers.
Here it must be observed that provision is only made for the boats to make one trip, so that twelve boats, which are said to suffice in Clause 8 of this para., of eight to ten tons each, or a little more than 100 tons inclusive, are to convey the passengers and cargo of the mail steamer from Ceylon; ditto of the Burnish line, from Calcutta; and of the direct steamer from Calcutta, whose opium alone would exceed 200 tons, in one trip from the steamer on one side of the Isthmus to the steamer on the other. This will appear at once to be a most inefficient arrangement; however, it serves to keep the expenses low, which is all that is necessary to accomplish the object in view.
6th.—We would here observe again that our survey was rough; that we merely passed along the native line (which is well defined, but in many places in the beds of rivers), with perambulator, compass, and aneroid; that our aneroid showed no height above the sea of more than seventy-five feet; and that our route presented no obstacle of engineering difficulty beyond dips to nullahs, ordinarily twenty or thirty feet wide. A careful survey would be necessary.
7th.—We would, however, recommend very little masonry, though time and fuel for bricks are in abundance; but the vast and inexhaustible forests, through which the line passes, are full of timber suitable for sleepers, for bridges, for stations and wharfs, and for fuel for the locomotives. All that would be required from England would be plant, permanent way, and rolling stock, the labour for the work being procurable from China, to any amount.
8th.—We will double what, in our own somewhat experienced minds, would be the cost of such a railroad across the Isthmus, and put down the amount at £5,000 per mile, including stations, wharfs, hotels, coal sheds, &c., &c., and rolling stock, for fifty miles of rail, £250,000. For the river service, three tug steamers, with all the advantages of disconnecting engines, towing with a single hawser, &c., which the Thames tugs possess, at £15,000 each, equal to ...
| £45,000 | |
| Twelve coal barges at £800 | 9,600 |
| Cost of railway, rolling stock, &c., fifty miles | 250,000 |
| Contingencies at 10 per cent., including buoying river | 27,000 |
| £331,600 |
or say half of a million sterling. But there is the interest on a capital of one million of money, saved every year in fuel, and establishment of running steamers only: surely it must be worth while the expending such a capital in establishing this communication.
20.—We therefore think that, without reference to the dangerous navigation, the Straits line should be abandoned as a communication between India and Europe, and China; as the old Cape of Good Hope line was abandoned for the Sues line. Considering, however, the difficulties of the Straits navigation, and peculiarity of the China Sea, the steamers would probably do all the work, and beat sailing vessels off the field, which they cannot do now, because the present charges upon steamers are no heavy this will be modified by adopting the Kraw route.
21.—The extra service required to give a weekly mail to Calcutta by a single extra steamer running twice a month between Aden and Point de Galle,[10] might be well undertaken by the P. and O. Company, as well as the whole service (by a lower clam of steamer, however, on the China side, than is at present employed) between Ceylon and Kraw, and the Gulf of Siam and Hongkong. The Companies running the direct lines of steamers between Calcutta and Hongkong via Singapore and the line between Calcutta via Akyab, &c., and Moulmein might, advantageously to themselves and to the public, amalgamate and run one steamer twice a month direct to Kraw, to meet the China and Europe steamers returning direct to Calcutta; two from Calcutta via Akyab. Rangoon, and Maulmein, to Kraw, returning via those ports.
The railway should be a separate Company, and there should be a condition in their contract which would scarcely require a guarantee to that effect.
22.—With these arrangements carried out, we may incidentally mention that the telegraph, instead of being submarine from Rangoon, should be carried along the coast from Maulmein, with a junction with the railway telegraph at Kraw, and also a junction with the Rangoon and Tougoo telegraph at Sittang, thus giving another line of telegraph communication with Calcutta, by which English news, and China news, may be transmitted from Kraw.
23.—The arrangement which might be made with the government of Siam for the grant of land, &c., has not formed a subject for our discussion, as, with the present liberal-minded and far-seeing monarch on the throne of Bangkok,[11] to whom the advantages which must result to himself and his people, by carrying out this project, will be at once obvious, we see no difficulty on this point.
24.—We have thus laboured to prove, and we think have done so satisfactorily, that, as a mere speculation, the construction of a railway across the Isthmus of Kraw will be profitable; that the communication may be established for a third of the capital, the interest of which is now being expended yearly on mere fuel and establishment of running steamers, and that a vast amount of time will be saved over present routes. Of the political bearing of the subject we have said nothing; but, holding in view that the line from Ceylon to Cochin China is nearly straight we are convinced that if Great Britain does not take it in hand, France must, with every chance of a profitable opposition to the P. & O. Company, in their line with Europe to Calcutta via Madras.
ALEXANDER FRASER,
Captain, Bengal Engineers.
J. G. FORLONG,
Captain, F.R.S.E., Ex-Engineer, Tenasserim Provinces.
- ↑ See: Albert Fytche. (Wikisource contributor note)
- ↑ See: Shan people. (Wikisource contributor note)
- ↑ See: Apcar and Company. (Wikisource contributor note)
- ↑ See: Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company. (Wikisource contributor note)
- ↑ See: Mawlamyine. (Wikisource contributor note)
- ↑ See: Sittwe. (Wikisource contributor note)
- ↑ See: Bago, Myanmar. (Wikisource contributor note)
- ↑ See: Mottama. (Wikisource contributor note)
- ↑ See: Tanintharyi Region. (Wikisource contributor note)
- ↑ See: Galle. (Wikisource contributor note)
- ↑ In 1863, Mongkut was the King of Siam. (Wikisource contributor note)