We are enabled, through the courtesy of Mr. Waghorn, to present our readers with a detail of his route from India to England; and as the subject involves considerations of vast importance to this country as well as to Europe generally, we have selected it for illustration in our present number. This gentleman has now long been known to the world as the indefatigable and persevering author of the overland route to India. Brought up from an early age in the pilot service of the East India Company, and having distinguished himself in the Arracan expedition, he was in the year 1827 recommended by Lord Combermere to the Court of Directors, as a proper person to open steam intercourse between this country and India. To this he devoted himself; and in 1829 his views had attracted so much public attention, that he was selected by the Company to take out despatches, and report upon the route by the Red Sea. For his successful accomplishment of this duty, he received, on his arrival at Bombay, the thanks of the Governor General in council; and the circumstance of his having proceeded down the Red Sea in an open boat, when disappointed of his steamer, the Enterprise, at Suez, was particularly adverted to, as indicating the zeal with which he had applied himself to the service of the public. Since the year 1831, the endeavours of this gentleman to accomplish his object, by the formation of establishments in Egypt, for the passage of mails and passengers, have been unceasing, and are at length crowned with perfect success. Upon one occasion, in the year 1836, it is recollected that he succeeded in getting a mail from Bombay to London within 60 days, and the rapidity of his method so impressed the public, the Government, and the Board of Directors, with the advantages to be derived from his line of route, that steamers were forthwith placed at his disposal for facilitating his plans; and so successfully had he availed himself of the resources opened to him, as well by the patronage of the Government at home, as by his personal intimacy with Mehemet Ali, that the Indian mail of July 1841 passed from the post-office of London to the post-office of Bombay in 30 days and 10 hours. There can be no question that this gentleman is eminently entitled to the gratitude of his country, or, we may justly say, of all Europe, for the genius, zeal, and self-devotion by which he has so materially shortened the distance between two points of the globe, so important and so essential to the welfare of each other.
The overland mail being now in course of transit from India, we shall commence our task with its arrival at Suez, on its way to Europe, and trace it station by station until its arrival at Marseilles, or perhaps London, resting our narrative for the week at the precise locality in which it may be presumed to be found at the time we go to press, and resuming the journey from that point in our next publication. We shall assume the travellers by this route to have arrived at Suez, by the regular steamer or sailing vessels, on the Red Sea, engaged for the purpose: the fare by the former is 80£, and about half that sum by the sailing boats to Mocha. At Suez (No. 1) our travellers will find themselves received, upon landing, by persons attached to the hotels belonging to Mr. Waghorn’s establishment, and in which every accommodation that the wayfarer may require is at hand; and the female servants of the hotels being English, our countrywomen will necessarily avoid much discomfort and anxiety. The regular stay at this place is usually limited to 24 hours, either way, and the persons travelling by this route are entitled to apartments, &c., gratuitously. The engraving (No. 2) represents the hotels of Messrs. Waghorn, at Suez.
There are three modes at the option of the traveller, by which the journey of 84 miles across the Desert to Cairo may be performed; namely, by small spring carts or omnibuses, which usually accomplish the journey in from 16 to 24 hours. For a place by this conveyance, and for a camel sent with the traveller’s baggage, 6£ is paid to the proprietor of the hotel, who has the entire management of the stations. Another mode is by donkey litters, or donkeys, for each of which about 16s. are paid. These animals will perform the journey with ease in from 30 to 50 hours. And the third method is by means of light camels, which go from point to point in from 20 to 30 hours. We are now therefore about to start for the Desert, which, although preserving many of its original features of dreariness and monotony, has been divested of all the terrors with which its name was formerly associated. Thanks to the energy, perseverance, and tact of the indefatigable projector of this important line, resting-places have been erected at intervals of from 10 to 12 miles throughout the whole distance, where the traveller will find liquids to slake his thirst, and in three of them divans for his repose. The others are chiefly adapted as stations for the animals employed in the journey. After advancing 12 miles on the Desert, one of the latter edifices is reached, and the horses changed. The engraving No. 3 will convey an idea of the station.
All arrangements being again complete, the escort moves forward, and a further journey of 11 miles brings it to a tavern built for the convenience of the human portion of the cavalcade (No. 4). At this place, also, English women are in attendance upon the travellers, and every usual European accommodation is afforded. After a short stay for rest and refreshment, the company again set forward, passing alternately two other similar stations, or, it may be, resting intermediately by the way, after the fashion of the native despatch bearers, as shown in the engraving No. 5.
Proceeding from the fourth station, our travellers, after a march of 10 miles, reach the terminus of their first day’ s journey across the Desert, which is called the Great Hotel, and where accommodation or 120 persons is provided. The conduct of this establishment is entirely under the control of the agent of Messrs. Waghorn; and the traveller is agreeably surprised by the attention shown to his comfort, and the excellence of the arrangement, by which this once dreaded journey is rendered as little irksome as if travelling in the most civilized parts of Europe. The view (No. 6) is that of the Great Hotel; and as the mails in transmission may be calculated upon as now being on the Desert, we shall here leave the travellers, and resume the line in our next number.
The Illustrated London News, London England, Week Ending May 21, 1842