[293] Various plans for reaching India by means of railway communication throughout have been proposed. So early as 1850, Sir R. Macdonald Stephenson brought this matter fully under the notice of the Government. In the _Calcutta Review_ for March 1856 his views are given at length; and his article therein, “The World’s Highway,” was republished in the same year by Weale. In 1859, the same publisher brought out a pamphlet by Sir Macdonald, entitled “Railways in Turkey, &c.,” with beautifully executed plans (the most complete yet in existence) showing the course of these lines from Constantinople to Aleppo, Baghdad and Bussorah, thence along the shores of the Persian Gulf to Bunder Abbas, and thence to Kurachi, Hydrabad, in Scinde and Bombay. Sir R. Stephenson estimated the distance from London to Bombay viâ Paris, Vienna, and Constantinople at somewhere about 5200 miles. He bestowed many years’ labour on this important subject; and had hoped to make it a great international highway, constructed under the supervision of the different states interested. Though unable to overcome the difficulties such a combination would entail, the works he proposed, or others somewhat similar, are being rapidly carried into execution by different persons who have obtained concessions from the respective Governments; more than 2000 miles of the World’s Highway is already made, and when complete the journey from London to Bombay by rail would, at the rate of 30 miles an hour, be accomplished in less than seven and a half days. See also plan of route by Mr. R. H. Galloway, published by Wyld, 1875, in which the distances are given. [294] Full details of this meeting will be found in the _Bengal Hurkara_, December 19th, 1823. [295] The dimensions of the _Enterprize_ were 122 feet length of keel and 27 feet breadth of beam; her paddle-wheels were 15 feet in diameter. She was 479 tons register, 120 horse-power. She was supplied with a _copper_ boiler in one piece, weighing 32 tons and costing 7000_l._ Her total cost was no less than 43,000_l._! [296] The greatest run the _Enterprize_ made by sail in twenty-four hours, was 211 miles, the least 39 miles; the greatest by steam assisted by sail, 225 miles, the least 80 miles; the greatest heat in the engine-room during the voyage, was 105 degrees, that of the air at the same time being 84 degrees and a half; the total distance was 13,700 miles, and the consumption 580 chaldron of coals, being 9 chaldrons per day for 64 days, the rest being under sail; “the speed of the engines, in calm weather, was 8 knots an hour, the log giving 9 from the wash of the paddles.” Evidence, Mr. T. L. Peacock, Select Committee on Steam Navigation to India, 1834.