The proposal put forward by the promoters of the Euphrates Valley route in 1856, was to navigate the rivers Euphrates and Tigris from about the latitude of Aleppo to the sea, to construct a harbour at Suedia, and a railway thence to Kalah Jaber. From this point it was proposed that steamers should convey mails, passengers, and merchandise to Bussora, whence sea-going vessels should run to India.[163] The route to India would thus be reduced to 4715 miles, and the time necessary for the journey to less than sixteen days, giving a saving of thirteen days out and nine days home upon the Suez voyage. The cost involved in this undertaking, not to speak of its mechanical and physical difficulties, led to its abandonment, although it is by no means certain that the engineering problems to be dealt with are more considerable than those which have had to be solved at Panama. One serious difficulty, which has been deemed all but insuperable, is the fact that the waters of the Jordan are just sufficient to balance the evaporation from the surface of the Dead Sea, so that if that sea were increased to five or six times its superficial area, as proposed, it would require a much larger volume of water than the Jordan can furnish to meet the deficiency. The project also labours under the defects of climate, a thin population, and an absence of food and water supplies. In the last century the Marquis of Wellesley endeavoured to utilise the Euphrates Valley route; and the House of Commons has been asked to grant sums of money for various purposes in connection with it at different times. In 1871 the House of Commons ordered an official inquiry, with a view to place upon record all the useful information available, including the evidence of Colonel Chesney and others, as to this route.