Diary 48: August 1898 - February 1899 Joseph Mathia Svoboda Newbook Digital Texts Walter G. Andrews Newbook Digital Texts jms_048_08_1898 Joseph Mathia Svoboda Diaries by Newbook Digital Texts is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Based on a work at https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/34970. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://depts.washington.edu/ndth. 2016 Joseph Mathia Svoboda Newbook Digital Texts 13 April 2016 Last checked Newbook Digital Texts in the Humanities: Svoboda Diaries: Joseph Mathia Svoboda [Series Item: Diary 48 1898-1899] [Notes on the diary transcriptions: In many of the diaries there are marginal notes in Arabic written in ink by the Baghdad historian Yaqub Serkis sometime after he received them from Alexander Svoboda probably in the late 1920s. Because these notes are a later addition extrinsic to Joseph Mathia Svoboda's writings, we have gathered them in an appendix where they are listed under unique identifiers--for example [A47_006_09:001]--recording the diary number, place in the diary, and numerical order. In this edition of the diaries, these identifiers are not linked directly to the notes in the appendix. For some of the diaries, we have prepared minimal notes and glosses as well as extensive word lists. These are available from our website. Images of the original diaries' content are archived on the University of Washington Libraries content management system ContentDM. See: http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/iraqdiaries For many of the diary transcription we have provided live links to the original diary pages invoked by clicking on the page numbers in our HTML display. Where links are not provided, one may refer to the original diary images in ContentDM. In several of the diaries, pockets in the back covers hold a variety of memorabilia including newspaper clippings, pictures, and souvenirs. Some of the textual material has been transcribed and is visible in the HTML display. This was not done consistently but the contents of the pockets are displayed in the images in ContentDM.] Diary N0R 48 1898/99 Size of my cabin in the S.S. Mejidieh" 9 feet x 7~ Continued from Diary (//) No. 47 of 1897/8 [3 AUG 1898 --- V048_00_N] (//) 1898 Augt 3d. 1898 Augt [A48_003_11:001] At 8,,5 am landed 13 1/2 passengers at Ali Gherbi and took 4 and went on at 9,,5~ Light N.W. breeze We have a new mate in the place of the 2d mate Mr. Hatfield who was discharged three months ago; this one is young only 21 years Called Smart, he came out in the Goolistan & joined this ship on the 1st Instt; I paid the Ship's Company their wages for July~ Clouds coming on on N. & East parts; Toward sunset the Weather Cooled down with a light N.W. breeze & fine Cool Air, but my cabin is burning hot it is 108º at 7 P.M. I cannot stand a minute in it, the Boiler's heat is most infernal near it; A Jew passenger from Basreh died this afternoon being sick with dysentery, At 7,,55 P.M. arrived at Coot, landed 11 passengers & 1100 Bales; We took in 8 Tons of Coal; It is still warm & am perspiring in bed; a light variable breeze, We finished at 9 1/2 and remained at Coot for the night to sleep; 4th Thursd Th@ 4. 84 1898 Augt Light N.W. breeze & Cool morning; at daylight we dropped down below the Village & steamed up along the other side, We touched & backed off several times until we got over and went on at 6 am. Gave tickets to 49 Coot passengers; A Turkish Officer deck passenger from Amara yesterday wanted to mess with us & the Captain allowed him to do so; he is also spending the day down on the quarter deck; The dead Jew passenger was landed Yesterday at Coot & the Jews buried it~ The breeze became very hot like a furnace coming from the desert; Clouds are appearing scattered about At 1,,10 P.M. passed Nemlah; Very hot weather At 2,,35 we came up to Sheresh the S.S. Phrat & Barge are here Aground & heaving over; We also touched just ahead of her and stuck; Detained 20 minutes at Um- Sneyem in Shoal water, there a Modte N.W. Wind & Weather is cooling down toward sunset At 8,,15 P.M. passed the S.S. Khalifah going down at [strikethrough] Humenyeh At 9,,30 passed [strikethrough] Azizieh [strikethrough]~ Light N.W. & fine weather, 5th Frid Th@ 4. 89 1898 Augt [A48_008_05:002] Light N.W. & fine weather At 1,,10 am passed Baghdadieh Fort, went easy & backed several times during the night at Jwemisseh detained 1/2 hour Detained at Dawar (upper reach near Aweyn) in Shoal water from 6 Am till [strikethrough] 9,,40; there is no channel & no sand bank appeared, We sounded & marked the place and dropped down on it, but grounded & took anchor out & hove over;~ Wind getting hot, there are some clouds on the East; At 2,,45 P.M. We Grounded at Ctesiphon just opposite the Mudir's house, took out an anchor & hove off; and proceeded at 4, The Wind is not so hot today; Detained at Menary in Shoal Water & sounding from 4,,45 till 5,,15 Very light N.W. Air; At 6,,55 passed Diala Very Calm Weather; Passed the Bridge at 8 P.M. Went on easy; At 10,,30 landed mails at the Residency I also landed & went home, saw Eliza & heard from her all the Sad news about Alexanders Mariage & the answers of mine and Jeboorys telegrams we had sent on the 1st from Basreh to Alexander & to Mr. Sevelinge both had arrived the next day that is on the 2d All Baghdad people know the affair & what has befallen us & the whole telegraphic news also they are well aware of from the Employe's of the telegraph all the Christians & friends as well as my relatives have called on us daily to express their regrets at this occurrence; There are two letters arrived here from Alexander from Vienna one of last week dated the 8th of July & the other of yesterday dated the 15th July that is about 4 or 5 days before his leaving Vienna for Paris & in both of them he does not mention a word about this affair or about his intention of leaving. After talking much till midnight we turned in but not a Wink Could I sleep until daylight, 6 Satur 1898 Augt [A48_010_04:003] [A48_011_18:004] Modte N.W. & fine Weather The Bahoora must have finished~ I went down below & began reading the Telegrams & letters of Alexander & Sevelinge the latter one is to Jeboory Asfar & he has sent me a Copy of it, the telegram of Alexander in Answer to mine of the 1st from Basreh (a Copy of it is here above) he says. Svoboda Baghdad Depart Paris presentement Impossible Cœur epris état pardonnable, lettres explicative parties, attendons consentement Sinon resultat trieste calmez patientez, Svoboda, How quick this telegram came it was sent the next day after the one I wrote, that is in about 24 hours from the time mine was sent until the time this one came; What an answer & what a daring, he must have lost his head and he must have been taught by the woman he loves or by Ibrahim Gejou That of J. Asfar is from Basreh dated the 4th he says. Svoboda, Baghdad Sevelinge Wires "Fils destiné suis impuissant engagèz père venir repatriment Asfar; His letters from Vienna are full of affections toward us as usual & he wishes to leave very soon to come to us, & says that Böhm is out in the country as well as Mr. Schweiger in whose office he used to go; etc etc, Monseigneur Altmayer had also telegraphed to Cardinal Richard on the 30 Ulto. this Cardinal Richard Paris Alexander Svoboda, Mon diocesain, mineur, de passage Paris 3 Place Cambronne, Veut contracter mariage, contre Volonté paternelle, Veuillez ordonner refus benediction et faire dissuader jeune homme, Remerciment respectueux Archeveque Altmayer~ He received this answer dated the 2d on the 3 Instt, Altmayer Baghdad Mesopotamie Alexandre Svoboda, inconue adresse indiqués Cardinal Richard, Henry had been to Dr. Rosen on Sunday last & told him all about Alexander and obtained from him a Telegram to the German ambassador Count Münster in Paris thus Ambassade Allemande " Paris Oesterreicher Alexander Svoboda 3 Place Cambronne beabsichligt Heirath, Vater Versagt, Einwilligung bittet, Einsparuch erheben~ Rosen consul Allemand [4 symbol] But after he had taken it to be sent, all my sisters & wife & others they thought that it would be risky for Alexander on account of the Austrian Governt. Knowing his presence there & may take him to serve in the military & so it was not sent & D Rosen Knew nothing about its not being sent; All my sisters & their daughters Antone Marine & [illegible] came to us, everybody regrets this sad affair, the boy must have got mad, he has just finished his 20 years on the 7 of July last, he had got the 90 £ Stg which I sent him through Korkis London on the 9th Ulto & he must got it on about the 15th he does not say that he has received it in his letter of the 15th & this sum must have served him for this cursed intention he had in mind; I am afraid that may go on drawing money from R. Korkis without my sanction, so I went to look for Yousif Korkis to let him telegraph to his brother not to advance him, I did not find him, but he soon came to me on board; & as Eliza had written letters by this last Post of the 4 Instt to Alexander, to R. Korkis to Blockey in London, also the Bishop wrote to Alexander as well as his other friends & reprimanding him and telling him everything about his foolish idea, so Yousif Korkis & I made out the following telegram, " Razkallah " London " Alexander Paris intention "mariage through influence "Gejou against our consent "do best prevent occurrence "by all means power, "despatch Baghdad, Dont "advance money without "order – " Korkis Svoboda (29 words) (6 Augt 98 ) Frcs 20.85 @ 71 Cts per word We sent the telegram and then we came home. Many visitors called on us today being a Holyday of the Tejelly, At 11 I went to see Monseigneur Altmayer [space] & asked to make an other Telegram to the Cardinal explaining to him that Alexander can be found at Gejou at that same address & Gejou will point out to him where Alexander is so he made me this telegram " Cardinal Richard " Paris " Svoboda se trouve adrèsse "indiquée chez Ibrahim "Gejou son Compatriote "et faceteur "16 mots Altmayer (6/8/98) Frcs 9.25 @ 56 Cts per word, I saw also Mr. Rouet the Consul who came to us (they being in the same house) & he assured me that the mariage cannot possibly be contracted without my consent & without the necessary papers documents certificates etc; ~ I came home at 12; & soon after Yousif Korkis came to us with this disgusting telegram from his brother, Rezooki dated the 3 Instt, " Korkis Baghdad " Svoboda amoureux prostituée "son etat completement change "droits parants, lui écrivanes "venir Londres refusa "insistèz père forcer retour "Bagdad, autrement "consequence mauvaise What a stupid & disgraceful affair this is for him and for us, & what a scandel he has caused for us, all the people here know about it the friends are sorry & the foes are rejoicing, they all pity this act of Alexander for every one had great esteem & high opinion of him; and all know that he is a very promising boy very intelligent, attentive, & obedient to his parents What could have caused such a foolish thing. We should see by his letter of next post on the 11th. but I am sorry we shall leave on that day;~ This letter should be dated the 22 from Paris; I have also been to Georgis Antone the merchant & asked to write to his agent at Constple not to pay any money to Alexander should he send to him that letter of recommandation I got from him last time, and I suppose when he finishes his money he will commence to starve of hunger~ This is a regular blow for me, being my only beloved son to whom I had sacrificed every thing even my existence & life, & now he rewards me with this behaviour; Johny & Artin called on us In the evening; Weather seems to be getting cooler a little; 7th Sund Ther@4.84 1898 Augt 1898 Augt Modte N.W. & fine weather At 7 ½ am Eliza & I went to Church, I called on Antone Marine & then came home found a lot of visitors & relatives there~ At 11 I went to see Dr. Rosen the German Consul and I told him that his telegram to the Ambassador had not been sent by Henry for reasons of the military service etc, he was astonished at it & said that he had already written a letter & sent by last post to the Ambassador in which he referred him to the telegram, & he was very sorry at my brother Henry why he did not tell him so, and he told that there is no fear of his being taken as soldier, while he is in France; I asked him if he likes he can renew the telegram & I will send it, or if he think better to withdraw the letter & send to Beyrout a telegram by Mr. Juliette to send the letter back, he agreed to this, but I asked him if I speak with Mr. Rouet to ask him to wire to the Prefecture or Police at Paris to get Alexander sent out & he ordered to proceed to Marseilles & Baghdad as he is a minor yet & his father wants him here quick, he ignored the rules of the French Governt. & asked me to see Mr. Rouet & speak to him on the subject & tell him that he will call & speak about this matter with him at 5 P.M, I left & called on Mr. Rout & spoke about the matter, he tells me that the French Governt cannot cannot interfere in the matter without being asked first by the Austrian Ambassador & as for ordering him out of France, they cannot do so unless on some cause or crime then he can be expulsed; but as for being taken as a solider this is impossible, no foreign subject can be taken from a foreign country, according to a Convention between the powers etc; I left at noon & came home; ~ I called on Sister Medula & then on Mr. Julietti and spoke to him about the letter of D. Rosen & he said it can be done if he writes to him & ask him to send it back from Beyrout; I called on Alice & Sister Eliza & came home, Eliza & I are so sorry & have lost our head at this matter & we are so down hearted & grieved ~ 8 Mond Ther@4.84 1898 Augt Modte N.W. & fine weather, At 6 ½ am called on Henry’s Wife & came on board, the Blosse went inside to discharge ship; ~ At 11 left & went home, the Monseigneur Altmayer had called on us ~ Eliza proposed to me to send a telegram to Yacoob Eassayi and to request him to go to Paris with R Korkis & try to persuade Alexander to renounce mariage and sent back to Baghdad, So after I had enquired about his address from his brother & from Yousif Korkis who told me to send it to Rezooki’s care, so I sent the following, " Razkallah " London " Requesting Eassayi’s "assistance with you going "Paris, persuade Alexander "renounce and sent "Baghdad, Svoboda "(16 words, Frcs 11.65) I sent it about sunset~ Antone called & also Artin in the evening; Light N.W. & fine but not cool or refreshing the bed keeps very hot; 9' Tuesd Ther@4.88 1898 Augt 1898 Augt Modte N.W. & clouds gathering around & above from the north & west, At 6 ½ am called on Sister Medula & then came on board, we are discharging cargo; Warm & cloudy; At 9 am as I had left to go to D Rosen the German Consul, I met his Kawass with a letter for me asking me to go & see him, so I went, we spoke over the matter of Alexander and the letter he had written to the German Ambassadore in Paris, and as I saw that it only contains the prevention of his getting married, and this he cannot do it firstly because he has not yet attained 25 years as the rule is in France Austria etc, & 2d he cannot do it without my consent, it is useless writing about it since he cannot be married, so he wrote a letter to Julietti asking him to withdraw the letter & telegraph to Beyrout to return it & I will then pay the expences; D. Rosen told that we better wait until his letters arrive and the best thing I can do is to stop his supplies of money and he will then come to his sense; ~ I left and called on Capt & Mrs Cowley & we also talked about this matter; I then left and called on Monseigneur Altmayer he has not yet received the answer from Cardinal Richard & we spoke over the matter I also called on Alice & Sister Emilia for ½ hours and then went to Lynch office & saw Mr. Bottomley & I related the case of my son to him as he wished to know; he regrets the matter very much and he is of the opinion that if I stop the money he will be obliged to renounce & regret what he has done, I came home at noon Weather very hot and disagreable ~ At 3 P.M. I came on board We are taking cargo ~ At 5 I went home, Menusha & Sister Medula, Yacoob Tessy & Ferida Tessy called on us also Antone & Johny ~ Light N.W. & rather cool night, clouds disappeared Our departure from here in future is going to be on Friday instead of Thursday as Mr. Bottomley told me today, I wish it could be done this time, so as to be able to see Alexander’s letter arriving on Thursday to see what he has written regarding this sad affair, But as we are to be transfered to the Mejidieh this time she will be out of Dock, we want to leave one day earlier Modte N.W. breeze, and fine cool night; Modte N.W. & fine cool morning ~ at 7am I came on board; 1898 Aug 10 Wedn Ther @ 4.83 *must fiancér D. Rosen has just sent me the letter of the Director of Post &Telegraph here advising him of the despatch of his telegram to Beyrout with reply paid, for the withdrawal of the letter he had sent to the German Ambassador in Paris regarding Alexander’s affair & it amounts to G. S. P. 43 ¼ which I paid the Kawass; ~ I went home to breakfast at 11 found Sister Eliza there she stopped to breakfast with us, just at this moment I received this telegram " Svoboda " Baghdad "Après longue conversation "avec Alexandre ici Inevitable lui autorisèr financer venir Bagdad compagnie* Eassayie obtenir votre consentement repondèz ~ 9/8/98 Razkallah Alexander Eassayie; I could not make out the meaning well & especially the word financer, perhaps it should be fiancèr, I went to Monségneur Altmayer & Père Augustin, they made it out that it should be fiancèr, that he wants me to authorize him to be betrothed, that it cannot be, because he is asking to come to Baghdad and obtain consent; the telegram is so incomprehensible, I am determined to send a strong answer and a warning to Alexander and let understand that I will not do anything until he comes & if he persists it will be bad for him & for his future wellfare & let him take my last warning, I shall see this when I go home; and unluckly we have a lot of cargo to ship, the ship is getting deep, & the cargo has been waiting since noon for shipment and the Captain has refused it until he came at 4 P.M. & allowed it to be taken, At 8 P.M.I went home found Anton Marine Johny & Artin my Nephews on the top of the house awaiting for me to see the telegram of London & what answer I am going to give, they red my answer & found it very good & a warning to Alexander for his selfish persistence, it is thus “ Razkallah London Cannot Sanction any- thing until Alexander's arrival company Eessayié if persists will be most disastrous for his future wellfare, let him take my advice wire departure 28 words Svoboda 11/8/98 Frcs 20,,15 I gave it to Johny to be sent on tomorrow morning ~ They left at 8 1/2 we had dinner at 9 ~ Light N.W. fine cool night ~ 1898 Augt 11 Thursd Light N.W. breeze & fine cool weather ~ at 4 am I came on board ~ Baghdad to Basrah [11 AUG 1898 --- V048_01_S] (//) [A48_032_23:005] [A48_035_15:006] 1898 Aug [A48_037_01:007] PassgOkesG.S. PiastersDraft 18983,13218175 ,,4,,2 At 4,,40 Am. left Baghdad & proceeded~ At 6,,55 touched on a Shoal at Rustumyeh sent to sound at 7.30 proceeded ~ At 7,,40 passed Diala river; nice cool air & fine At 8,,35 passed the S.S. Mossul and Barge at Gusseiba going up full of Soldiers At 9,,10 we grounded at Ctesiphon, took out an anchor & hove on, sent to sound; Mrs. Parfit the English missionary died last night from a miscarrîage & a bad influenza ~ We have altogether 152 passengers all Deck, We have a new young officer came out in the Goolistan called Smart as a 2nd mate he is about 21 years, we took him up this last voyage ; At 0,,45 P.M. we got off. I & left Ctesiphon & again grounded further down after 20 minutes at Seyafyeh took an anchor out astern & hove off; ~ At 5,,20 P.M. we got off and proceeded from Seyafyeh; Very light n.w. breeze and fine cool weather; At 7,,30 we anchored at Ledje for the night; Light n.w. & cool weather, It became quite cool at night a great & sudden change of weather ; 12 Friday Therm @ 4.72 Light n.w. breeze & quite cold, I felt it so cold in bed that I had to come down to my cabin At 4,,30 am got underway from Ledje but detained on a shoal till 5 when we proceeded ~ At 5,,50 anchored at Oweyn to sound, the S.S. Ressafah & Barge are aground here, she had left Baghdad the day before yesterday ~ before yesterday ~ The Pilot came to say that there are only 2 1/4 draas water in the Channel which is impossible for us to pass, We weighed at 7 & dropped further down; sent a steersman to look for an empty boat to discharge cargo; At 8 am the S.S. Comet came up & anchored down below, she has Major Melville the new Actg; Consul General for Baghdad; - We have over 83,000 Okes drawing 4 feet 2 Inches which is too much, & knowing very well the state of this place when we came up this time we were 4 hours aground ~ The Comets boat came up her for their mail, I gave a letter to his mail, I gave a letter to her officer to be taken up to my wife, told her to send all letters or telegrams with a Saka if she came down here by tomorrow; I engaged an arab from the Beni Ajil tribe of Sheikh Dahy our Old friend they are encamped at Rahmanyeh & gave him a letter to my wife telling her to send me the letters of Alexander & all the news she has I finished with this Arab Alewy his hire for 5 Beshlics on condition that he is to be here tomorrow by this time & ferried across in the Ships boat to Oweyn at 10 1/4 am to take the road to Ledje & Ctesiphon, he promised to be here tomorrow morning; I wrote two letters to be sent up with Henry & posted, dated the 18th Instt. one to Blockey & one to Rezkallah Korkis, told all about Alexander's foolish affair & what stupidity he has done, the are to be sent on, on thursday next the 10th ~ We have been discharging cargo ever since 8 am in our Launch & land it far down the river before the shoal, the Comet is doing nothing she has dropped down to the East bank of Dawer just to where I was encamped out shooting in 1885; the Ressafah is also landing Cargo in her Launch near ours under the high bank of Dawer, the Kfefan Arabs are there, their Sheikh Selman el Abbass & his Arabs wanted to watch the Cargo & be paid but we refused them, & Capt Cowley asked the Engineer Mr. Banian (now in charge of the Comet Since her Captains death Lieut Beaumont in Baghdad 2 months ago) to drop the Comet further down opposite our Cargo which he did; The Ressafah keeps heaving over she worked till midnight; we stopped discharging cargo at sunset, Light n.w. & fine cool weather ; 13 Satur Ther @ 5.73 Father Marie Joseph died 1898 Augs Bismark died on 30 July Light n.w. & very cool morning ~ Our steersman came down with an empty Sefinah having hired it for 59 Beshlics to discharge us, Capt Cowley also, hired a small meheyleh lying here for 80 Beshlics to discharge us; The S.S. Ressafah is still heaving over the shoal, & the S.S. Comet is lying below her doing nothing; we are discharging cargo in the two Boats; The Ressafah Cannot get over the shoal the place is getting worse there is only 2 draaz; The Comet steamed up along the East bank & came abreast of us, but she can't get over a long ridge where there is 2 draaz also, Capt Cowley wrote an Official letter to Lynch in Baghdad proposing to transfer cargo and passengers to the Khalifah & let us return as it is doubtful that we can pass, our lighters are even grounding and cannot take our Cargo down to the opposite bank the Arab from the Beni Ajil started at 1 1/2 P.M. I sent a letter to Johny my nephew; The S.S. Khalifah is aground they say at Jwemisseh; Weather became calm; & warm, breeze variable from South S. Est & N. Est~ The Comet steamed on to the Shoal & grounded just abrest of us. At 3,, P.M. the Khalifah arrived up & anchored up above us along the East bank & sent to sound ~ At 3 1/2 P.M. my messenger Alewy arrived from Baghdad, he was ferried across in our Launch; Eliza writes to me that the arab arrived last night at 7 P.M. & she soon wrote to me the answer but the arab left this morning after sunrise, she sends me a letter from Alexander a short one from Vienna dated the 22d July, he does not say anything about his mariage affair only he complains of a very bad tooth ache he has which prevents him from writing He has received my 90 £ Stg from R. Jorkis & that is all he says, How could his telegram from Paris be also dated the 22 July this is puzzling me, I also received a letter from Blance, my late brother Alexander's widow from Constaninople dated the 19 July; I sent them all to Henry to read, he writes to me that they have 320 passengers; Jeboory Asfar is on board going for a few days to spend with his family; My wife writes to me & that Père Marie Joseph the Superior of the Carmelite Father died yesterday @ 12 o'clock am. He was ill for some time & had spent about 3 months out in his garden, but it is all his fault because he never used to take any nourishment & starved himself, it is a great loss to all the Christian community he was the Boss of the Fathers & the oldest father that has ever remained so long in Baghdad for over 35 years and during this period he had done lots of good for our church & schools. Henry also tells me that Prince Bismark the Ex. German Chancellor died at Berlin on the 30 of July; Henry writes to me that Jeboory Asfar is going to ride in tomorrow early The Comet kept working and heaving over the shoal at night; 14 Sund Ther @ 5.78 [A48_045_04:008] [A48_058_17:009] [A48_058_18:010] Light n.w. & fine ~ The Comet got over the Shoal this morning; the Khalifah is lightning herself on the bank at Dawar opposite us the Ressafah is still in her place down below us; At 8.40 am. the Comet weighed & proceeded after having got all her stores from the bank; I sent a letter to Eliza with Tom Dexter the second Engineer; The S.S. Khalifah after having landed all the Hoop iron about 3500 bundles on the bank and her passengers too, she weighed & steamed on to the place where the Comet was aground soon after the latter had left, she took our anchors ahead & kept heaving on & moving up slowly; Henry writes to me that he saw only one partridge this morning which he shot; Henry crossed over to see me at 2 P.M. ~ the Khalifah hove over the shoal at 3 P.M. & steamed up, & at 3 1/2 we weighed and turned round & steamed down on to the shoal which has got better now & a little deeper, she struck the shoal & turned round broadside on and we took an anchor out ahead & turned up stream her bow & she got off & went into deep water & alongside the bank of Dawar where our cargo is lying, and we began to load, At about 6 1/2 P.M. our messenger arrived back from Baghdad with the answer of Capt Cowleys letter to Lynch & Co. they allow him to tranship cargo with the Khalifah & return if there is no chance of our getting over the Shoal; a Sakka Ismaîl also came with the messenger he brings me a letter from Johny & Telegram from London the one in one of mine which was sent on the 11th. I had left with Jhony to be sent, it is dated the 12th Instt; as follows. “ Svoboda Baghdad “ Conformant vos ordres. “ desiste opinion partirai “ Absolument avec Essayie “ tranquillisez “ Razkallah Alexandre I am so very glad to hear these news & hope my last telegram has served Alexander as a good lesson & brought his senses to him back; But I am very sorry for What he has done in such a short time & has spoilt & upset everything as well as his intended programme of his return journey which I had so well arranged and planned for his benefit & Comfort, We worked in shipping the Cargo from the bank till 10 P.M. & finished this last portion of it & there remain the other lot on the bank further down; 15 Mond Therm @ 5.80 Light N.W. & fine weather at day break we dropped further down along the bank of Dawer to our other portion of Cargo & begun shipping it; The Khalifah is still loarding her cargo, and the Ressafah is her same place;~ At 9,,10 am we finished shipping all the cargo, left Dawar bank & backed down stream & went on, The Khalifah had also nearly finished & was to start in about an hours time, but the Ressafah which had to our channel to pass over it had not yet passed & she has a lot of cargo thrown on the bank; At 10,5 am anchored at Habtyeh (lower end of Dawar) and sounded, At 11 proceeded on, ~ At 0,45 P.M. passed Baghdadieh steamed outside the wreck of the Dijleh of which her super heater and part of the boiler are visible; At 3,,5 passed Azizieh, At 6,10 P.M. anchored at Um Sneyem to sound; Light N.W. & fine cool weather At 6,,40 proceeded after founding the Channel; In going round the reach of Deboony just below Sheresh the steamer went too close to the West. bank where this is a Mehayleh laden with grain & we squeezed her by the Ships stern carrying her side plank away with us, we let it go afloat & turned round at 7 and steamed up to the boat her crew were yelling & crying, we sent buckets & the pump & our crew with Mr. Reynolds and the Captain went, she was making water from the side where the plank was carried; ~ I our men kept baling the Boat & landing the Barley on shore & trying to stop the leaking, but the boat is very old & rotten, they have filled the opening with cotton but still she leaks, they knocked off at midnight & we remained at anchor 16 Thursd Therm @ 5.73 Light N.W. & fine cool weather Capt Cowley wrote a letter & sent to Bughela to one Moosa Lawash, the agent of Khdery (as the Barley belongs to Eassa Khdery) to send some men to watch the Barley from being stolen, & our men went to work at the Boat to caulk her; they have beached her bow high & dry; she was soon caulked, but her crew refused to take the Barley in her they want to desert; we get 4 arab watchmen to watch the Barley paid them 2 mejidies through Faraj the son of Elias Serkis here about who in gathering Liquorice, also the Arab my friend Meneshid son of Arbid, we paid the Caulker 1 mejidie too, and left at 10,,45 am, at 12 grounded at top of Sheresh hove off & proceeded at 1 1/2 P.M. and at 1,,40 anchored also at Sheresh & sent to sound Pilot returning at 5 P.M. he marked the channel of 2 1/2 & 2 3/4 draaz ~ at 5,,20 we proceeded down and passed over touching but she rubbed over & had to wait for the mark sticks collected and then weighed & went on from Sheresh at 5,55, Modte N.W. & fine weather; At 6,,30 P.M. passed Nemlah Light N.W. breeze & fine; At 6,,50 rounded and came to off Bughela landed 1 passenger & specie; and went on at 7,,5; ~ At 7,,20 anchored at Hamraya for the night, Light N.W. & fine cool weather ~ 17 Wedns Therm @ 5.75 Light N.W & fine cool morning Sent to sound the Channel and at 5 am steamed on to the shoal & grounded, worked with anchors in heaving her off~ At 6,,40 we proceeded At 8,,20 anchored at Um el Ajaj and Sounded; the Pilot did not come until he was whistled to by Captain it was 11 am, we proceeded and grounded at the bottom of the reach where it was Sounded, had to heave on with an anchor & at 0,,20 P.M. proceeded ~ at 1 @ P.M. grounded in the next reach, hove off & proceeded at 1,,30; but grounded & had to heave off forward and went on at 2,,30 P.M.; At 4,,40 we anchored just above Coot on the opposite side & sent to sound our Coot passengers 25 1/2 all went in Goffas; the Pilot found a channel he between the islands we weighed & steamed into it, & were passing through fairly, but dropped stern anchors & kept heaving on and dropping through, & then took an anchor ahead & walked her in dropping down to Coot, But at 7 1/2 we knocked off and remained for the right between two islands ~ Breeze shifted to S. East but cool & fine~ 18 Thursd Therm @ 5.79 Light S. Erly breeze & fine at day break begun working hove her stern anchor and took an anchor out ahead of to Coot & hove on;~ We landed the Coot Cargo 89 Packages in two hired boats for of 1/2 mejidies both, & kept heaving over; Calm & hot weather the breeze in S. Eter;~ At 4 1/2 P.M. we worked & a channel for us & got into it & floated We collect anchors fore & aft, sent two telegrams to Basreh & Baghdad to Lynch telling them that We leave after friday morning from Coot; We remained opposite Coot close to the bank at anchor for the night the Capt. does not wish to go further down; 19 Frid Therm @ 5.78 Light S. Erly breeze & cool; Light S. Erly breeze and fine weather~ At 4,,30 AM. left Coot & dropped down to below the village & went on ~ Took 10 passengers from Coot; At 10 we came to a Shoal at Mendelyat, the SS. Phrat here on her way up, she hove up & went up at 10,,10 We sent to sound and at 10,,30 proceeded, again came to to the shoal & grounded ~ At 12 proceeded; S. Erly and very warm ~ At 2,,40 P.M. landed a Jewess at Alli Gherbi she is booked for Amara, took 3 & left at 2,,45~ At 5,,50 passed Alli Sherghi Very hot & calm weather At 10 P.M. we arrived at Amara landed 27 passengers & 99 packages Very calm & warm ~ There are 120 Bales of wool in Lynch’s Press the last left here for us to ship down & the work men went up in the Khalifah, but we did not take it ~ They say here that the Motserrif Mostapha Pacha is dismissed from Amara The Mejidieh is loaded & ready for us to transfer in her; ~ 20 Satur Therm @ 5.78 Commodore Ismail Beg died on 9th Instt Light S. Erly & fine~ At 3,,30 Am left Amara gave tickets to 24 Amara passengers~ Very calm weather, we have also 11 zaptyes from Amara ~ Detained over 1/2 hour at the Elbow & below it is Shoal water; ~ It is very warm & disagreable At 10,,15 passed Azair, 11 Tuesd. Therm @ 74 At 1,,10 P.M. passed Gorna, breeze shifted to west & N. West~ In passing Maghil at 6 1/2 P.M we saw the Mejidieh out of Dock nearly ready, They are still working Something at her, we expect to take her this trip; Weather hazy, & got warm & air fell down; At 6 arrived at Basreh; There are 4 steamers in Quarantine The B.I. Str. Amra & Assyria also the SS. Paran for Asfar & the SS. Scarsdale for Korkis & Khdery, we have a lot of cargo in the Barges~ They say that We are to await here for the Mejidieh 4 days more & the Khalifah having left yesterday, will take the mails & leave before us ~ Rufail came to me, & anxious for news from Alexander told him all & we went to his house, where Rezooki his brother, & Rezooki Angoorly were, we dined & slept there; The Commodore of the Turkish Gunboats at Basreh, Ismail Beg died on the 9th from a short illness of typhoid fever caused by the great heat and effect of drinking to excess he had only been there since 8 or 9 months; 21 Sund Light N.W. breeze & quite cool morning, I felt it very cool in bed with only a little cotton blanket as a cover; at 6 1/2 am. I came on board we are discharging Cargo, Yousif Marine, Rufail & Rezooki came to me, but Yousif went back to Shaebyeh & I went in to Basreh with Rufail & Rezooki to Tookyeh & breakfasted with them, It became Very hot & calm, at 3 P.M. we came out to the ship, We are going up to Maghil tomorrow morning to transfer to the Mejidieh & we shall not leave until the 27th; ~ I went with Rufail & Rezooki to their place, the weather is awfully bad with light S. Erly breeze warm and muggy; at night it was worse the breeze from the S. Est loaded with heavy dew, I could not sleep at all, my clothes were so wet & got cold & begun to sneeze all the night it is very disagreable 1898 Augt 22 Mond Modte S. Erly & very dampy and moisty so disagreable perspiration remaining down from sunrise, it is so awfully disgusting, at 6 1.2 am I came on board; The S.S. Afghanistan arrived in quarantine the day before yesterday at 8 P.M; At 5 1/2 P.M. we weighed, and steamed up to Maghil Rufail came with me he had been in Basreh, (and has brought me all the little deeds & the new ones for the mortgage of his house & property at the Mahawla with one for 3 years for the sum of 1000 TLiras @ 7 1/2% Interest, I paid him the money now & deducted 75 1/2 T Liras & am taking a Bond for the next 2 years Interest At 6 P.M. arrived at Maghil went alongside the Mejidieh & Rufail went up to Yousif Marine & then I went too, we dined with him & slept there; the weather is very calm & hot, at night a very heavy dew fell, so much that the bed was wet with water a Light S. Erly breeze & thick dew like fog~ 23 Tuesd Fearful weather; the dew fell like rain , warm and disagreable, I have not seen for years; I came to the Blosse & begun to get my cabin put to right by carpenters, & shifted my kit gradually, the heat is killing us, I never saw like it, the perspiration running down & clothes saturated with water I was so tyred being on foot all the day & nearly fainting from fatigue, till sunset when I had finished my shifting; The heat is most awful dead calm & warm as a bath~ At 8 P.M. the Khalifah came down, [strikeout] We sent our boat for letters; and I got mine from Eliza & one from Alexander from Paris dated the 29th Ulto; also from Henry but I could not read them from the heat; Later at night it became little cooler, I slept on upper deck of the Blosse Lynch, breeze from West; 24 Wedn Th. 78 [A48_062_21:011] [A48_063_06:012] Light Westerly breeze & fine; I dressed took my bed & hired a Belem for 1 1/2 K. to Rufail's place & left at 6 am; Took Rufail & Rezooki & we went to the Khalifah to see Henry, she is discharging & loading too & leaves this evening there are two mails for her to take up; My wife has not sent me any clothes or anything, not knowing of our detention here; I had to send some clothes to Tookyeh to be washed in Basreh; I read Alexander's letter in the Belem as I was coming down from Maghil it is from Paris dated the 29 July, in which he divulges to me his intention of loving a young girl of 18 in Paris & asking permission to marry her, this intimacy & love had begun for the last 8 months a very long letter of 6 sheets ful of caresses & humility and the history of his intimacy with this girl being of a respectable family in France; etc etc~ On arrival to Henry on board the Khalifah, I found he had just got a telegram for me from my wife she says " Svoboda Basreh, " Alexander wired " require money, wire Korkis " love. Eliza It is dated the 23 from Baghdad~ Henry tells me that Yousif son of Rafail Yaghchi has asked for the mariage with his daughter Louisa through the medium of Monseigneur Altmayer, but he has not yet given him an answer & wants to consider the matter & ask my opinion on it; Yousif has been working for the last two months in trying to get married with the daughter of Naoom Serkis, but it seems that the mother Mily & the brother Yacoob have not consinted & so it is given up~ Weather is hot on board the Khalifah, although today there is a light air from N. West; At 12 am I went up to Rufails place with Rezooki; I wrote a letter to my wife & gave it to Henry, I made a telegram to Rezooki Korkis & sent it to Basreh at 2 P.M.; "Razkallah London "Kindly pay Alexander "Twenty pounds travelling "expences, reply Basreh, "date departure itinerary "Voyage (16 words/ 12 Frcs) Svoboda I paid 12 frcs for it & got a receipt; At 4 1/2 P.M. we went onboard the Khalifah she was weighing her anchor, saw Henry for few minutes only & the Khalifah left at 5 P.M.~ We came back to the house; Very light air from N.W. but the night was not so bad, but there are lots of sand flies~ 25 Thursd Light N.W. & calm warm weather; At 7 am Rufail & I went in to Basreh to Tookyeh where we were forced by them to Stop & breakfast with them; At 0 1/2 P.M. We left and came out to the house, It is very hot, but there is Wind though it is not pleasant, but warm & moisty~ the night was cool with a Modte N.W. Wind The S.S. Mossul passed down to Basreh at midnight 26 Frid 1898 Augt Modte N.W. & fine cool morning; at 6 1/2 am I left Rufails place in his Bellem & came up to Maghil; I found the Mejidieh will not leave before tomorrow morning for Basreh to load; My cabin is very hot, I have not the ventillation but the air is cool outside; Yousif Marine sent us a lot of melons & watermelons from his ground, they are very good;~ It became awfully calm & warm from 2 P.M. till late at night, the wind fell & became so very oppressive & muggy it made every body mad & did not know where to go, so dampy, & at sunset a thick fog came on from the north; at about 8 P.M. the breeze sprung up and became cooler a little, I slept on board the Mejidieh on the upper deck, our crew & servants are shifting their Kit, & the cabin furniture~ 27 Satur Money with Rufail Sayegh 1898 Augt At day break the Mejidieh & Blosse Lynch got steam up; Mr. Reynolds our chief mate takes the Blosse to Basreh~ Modte N. Wester but my cabin is like a hot bath~ The Blosse Lynch left for Basreh at 6 am~ The Mejidieh also left at 6,,45 going easy up stream & turned round~ The found some defects in the pump of the Engines & we anchored abreast of Yousif's house to put it to right; At 10,,10 Am we started for Basreh, after having put the Pump & Engine to right~ A fresh N.W. Wind blowing today; but it is hazy with dust in the sky~ At 10,,40 We arrived and anchored at Basreh~ The S.S. Parran is up here loading~ The dust became thicker that we cannot see within 500 yards off~ It cleared off towards 3 P.M. We are shipping some cargo & will take in 30 Tons of coal at night~ Rufail came to me at 4 P.M. & I went up with him to his house; I have lent him the money 1000 TLiras & paid it to him on Monday last the 22d Instt, for 3 years @ 7 1/2 % & he mortgaged his property the Mahowla where he is living by new Title deeds made in the Tapo in my name, I deducted the 75 Liras interest for next year & took two Bonds from him for the next two years payable at the expiration of each year; In the evening Nessoory Andrea came he dined & slept with us; The weather is very nice & cool, a Modte N.W. Wind prevails and the night is quite cool 28 Sund Light N.W. & fine cool morning; at 6 1/2 Am I came on board~ The Mejidieh is loading, We finished at 1 P.M. only loaded down to 3,,8 Inches, We have no passenger & very few; Rufail is going up with us to Gorna for his dates; We got the mails on board Yesterday, as today there is no Office~ I am sorry I have not received the Answer of my telegram to R. Korkis it is 4 days now, Basreh to Baghdad (//) Per SS. Mejidieh Voy 372 [29 AUG 1898 --- V048_02_N] (//) PassgeOkesGSP. LocalDraft 60 1/2112,4753,558 1/43,,7 At 2 P.M. left Basreh; Fine N. Westerly Wind~ We have Rufail Sayegh & his attendant going to Gorna he paid deck passage, Weather became very calm & rather warm & moisty, At 7,,50 landed Rufail & his Clerk at Gorna & Went on at 7,,55~ The night became very cool~ 29 Mond Th@ 5. 80 1898 Augt [A48_070_21:013] [A48_070_24:014] At 0,,15 Am. passed Azair and after 10 minutes we dropped anchor at the top of the reach, Fine Cool night~ At 4,,45 Proceeded, Light N.W. & fine cool weather At 6,,10 we came to the Shoal at Ghumeyjeh and Could not pass over, took an anchor ahead & hove over, the shoal extends far a long distance & the bottom is clay & sticky; We took an other anchor & hove and steamed over; At 10,,30 we got over and steamed on; At 12 got jammed in a reach above Ghumeyjeh, a narrow place, the river has no water here, it is taken into the Numerous large canals of the Senyeh for their cultivation and the river is left with very scanty water; the SS. Ressafah & Barge which had left Baghdad on the 10th Instt came & anchored above us until we left at 1 1/2 P.M. & passed her then she proceeded down; We have in all 31 passengers (2 in 1st Class Khorshid Effendi Kaimakam of Shetra and Rashid Effendi Mohasebchi of Amara, the former to Coot & the latter to Amara) and 26 workmen from the Dock who were working in the Mejidieh (9 Blacksmith 3 Carpenters & 14 Tilkeflies) At 5,,35 P.M. landed 2 passengers at Kalat Saleh & took 1 and went on at 5,,40~ Breeze shifted to S. West & calm warm weather At 10,,5 P.M. arrived at Amara landed 7 passengers (one 1st Class Rashid Effendi the Mohasebchi) and 2 Bales of Cloth, Took in 10 Tons of Coal~ 30 Tuesd. 1898 Augt At 0,,35 Am. left Amara Light N.W. breeze & very cool night, I felt it quite Cold so much that I had to go down & take up an other blanket to cover myself, & still I felt it cold~ At 5,,30 passed Ali Sherghi; Gave tickets to 17 Amara passengers At 10,15 Am landed one passenger at Ali Gherbi and took 8 1/2 and Went on at 10,,25 Very light air from N.West & warm; Strong Wind got up to blow at noon~ At 3,,45 P.M. passed Sheikh Saad; At 8,,30 grounded and then [illegible] and steamed on at 9~ At 11,,5 arrived at Coot landed 5 passengers included Khorshid Effendi KaimaKam of Shetra in 1st Class~ Took 10 Tons of Coal, and remained for the night. The shoal here opposite Coot has not improved much~ 31 Wedn Th@ 5, 74 Noon 101 4 P.M. 106 Light N.W. breeze & fine Cool Weather; Pilot went to sound the channel between the two sand islands, At 6 Am We steamed on to it, grounded took an anchor [illegible] and worked heaving & steaming there are only 2 1/2 draaz water~ Today is the Corronation day of the Sultan Abdulhamid of Turkey;~ At 9,,45 Am we got over the Shoal and went on from Coot; Detained few minutes at Umel Boonny~ Detained at Umel Ajaj from 2 till 2,,30 P.M. going over the shoal; the S.S. Phrat is here aground & sounding bound down, full of Soldiers for Katif the relief Troops; Very hot weather & light air from N.W.; At 5,,50 P.M. passed Nemlah~ Very calm weather~ Fool moon tonight Septr 1 Thursd Th@ 5. 76 1898 Septr. 1898 Sept [A48_076_03:015] Light N.W. air & fine cool Weather~ At 2,,45 Am passed Azizieh~ At 6,,15 passed Baghdadieh Fort~ I paid the Ship's company their wages for August; At 10 Am anchored at Oweyn & sounded found 2 3/4 draaz water, at 10,,20 we weighed and steamed over without touching; Very calm & warm Weather; At 3,,10 P.M. passed Ctesiphon detained 10 minutes in shoal water just opposite the Arch; We met at Jaffer's bank the first batch of Horses being exported to Bombay about 200 of them going to Basreh, Detained 10 minute at Jaffer in shoal water~ At 6 passed Diala river the weather became Cool as soon as the sun went down; At 9,,5 we touched the shoal at Cherd el Pasha, the SS. Khalifah is aground here since this morning on her way down, she is on the other side, we are on the East bank, We anchored & sent to sound; Pilot returned to say there are 2 ¾ draaz, We weighed & proceeded at 9.45; The Khalifah is here since this morning, She is deep & full of passengers as there was no steamer before her & the Phrat had taken soldiers down, I sent a letter & Papers with our Pilot to Henry but they told him that he was in town & brought it back; At 10.10 landed mails at the Residency; I also landed in a Goffa & went home saw Eliza she is well, A telegram came from Alexander in answer to mine from Basreh to R. Korkis London of the 24 Ulto; It is wired from Paris dated the 30 Ulto it says Svoboda Baghdad Partirai seul 15 Marseille Port Said Alexandrette Svoboda, and also two letters arrived from him from Paris & the last one of today from London dated the 12 Augt he speaks nothing but about his love with this bloody girl & his wish of marying her & he is mad for her and ill from sorrow etc etc he even sent to us her Photo coloured; I was so vexed & sorry to hear all this & especially of his return to Paris and not leaving before the 15 Instt, after having got the money which I authorized Korkis to pay him the 20 L £ for his travelling expenses, he will now spend it with this girl in Paris, so vexed & disappointed I became that I could not sleep a wink all the night and was mad from the sorrow, After midnight & I went down below & read his telegram & remained in the room till day light 2 Frid 1898 Sept [A48_077_14:016] [A48_078_03:017] [A48_079_14:018] 1898 Sept [A48_080_14:019] Light N.W. air & fine ~ Henry has stopped behind this time, Mr. Bottomley has given him leave for one trip to see the betrothal of his daughter Louisa with Yousif Yaghchi on Sunday; he called on me at 7 am. he has given Louisa, the Monseigneur Altmayer has pressed the matter & wishes to finish it quick, and has spoken with all our family on the subject, Henry & his wife it appears are very glad to see this union coming off; and they listened to no body’s advice or council; My Sîsters Eliza, Emilia & Medula came also to see me, & they also were very sorry at Alexander’s behaviour so, towards us; I went on board for ½ hour & came back; Henry came to me at 10 am. bringing me the telegram which the Archbishop Altmayer has received it on the 31 Ulto; in answer to his telegram to Cardinal Richard of the 6 Augt, he says: Altmayer Archeveque Baghdad Mesopotamie, Alexandre Svoboda Consent retourner pays, Gejou demande famillé autorisation avance argent necessaire, Cardinal Richard this is dated from Paris on the 31 Ulto; ~ We have arranged to let Alexander go at once from Paris to Constanple, so as to see Blanche (my brother Alexander’s widow) to arrange about his appointment here in the Public Debt, as she wrote to me so; ~ Mr. J. Böhm writes to me also I found here 3 letters from him, he complains very bitterly of Alexander’s behavior, & sends me also the corespondence he has had with him in Vienna & Paris, and tells me of how that bitch of women came even to Vienna & lived with him as man & wife and it was very nearly that the Police authority were going to be informed & Alexander would have had 4 weeks imprisonment; he sent me all the letters that Alexander wrote to him;~ At 3 P.M. I called on Monseigneur Altmayer, he is going to start next Wednesday direct for Mardin where all the Assyrian Bishops are to be gathered there for the election of an Archbishop in place of the one died last year in Mossul Hanna Boonnyi; and he will be back here on about the 20 of Nover; I called also on Alice & came home; Antone Marine & Johny & Artin called in the evening, Light N.W. & fine cool weather; 3’d Satur Ther @ 5 .78 1898 Sept Light N.W. & fine cool weather; at 7 am I came on board; the Khalifah had to lighten herself & yesterday at Cherd il Pasha so as to get over the shoal & left at 10 am yesterday, I went home at 11, I sent this telegram to Alexander Gejou Svoboda 3 Place Cambronne Paris “ Avec argent reçu rendèz “ Vous immediatement “ Constantinople, Blanche “ demande presence Sujét “ emploi repondèz~ 20 mots Svoboda 3/9/98 Frcs 11,,45 I took a bath, & at 4 PM. I called on Henry, they are preparing sits for tomorrow morning for the betrothal of Louisa with Yousif Yaghchi & are inviting good many people; I came home at 6, Light N.W. & fine cool weather, I have the pain in my stomach since 5 days 4 Sund 1898 Sept Louisa daughter of my Brother Henry was betrothed with Yousif Rufail Yaghchi she was born on the 20 March 1876 ~ Light N.W. & fine cool morning; I did not go to church, but at 8 am Eliza & I went over to Henry Great many people came, they were invited by Henry; also D. Rosen the German Consul. Dr. & Mrs. Hesse the German Chancellier, Mr. Bottomley, Edward son of Tom Blockey; all my Sisters & children etc etc, After an hour the Yaghchies came, Yousif the future Bride groom & his brother Michail & about 40 or 50 persons with them, also Monsigneur Altmayer the french Priests, the Armenian Priest, Asfars & many Christians; the ladies were upstairs & the gentlemen sat down in the courtyard, shortly after we all went up & the ceremony was read By Kass Phillippus the Armenian Priest & the ring was passed by the Archbishop Altmayer & the people drank Sherbet & it was over by 10; ~ Eliza & I remained & breakfasted there as well as Grzeski my sisters & Michail Yaghchi, I went to call on the French Priests, also on the Bishop Aghnatius who is unwell with fever & is going to start on Wednesday evening the 7th in Company with Monseigneur Altmayer to Mardin via Deir for the election of a new Assyrian Patriarch ~ I came back to Henry’s at 12 & found a telegram from London from Rezooki Korkis just arrived saying Svoboda Baghdad Alexandre demande vingt sterling pour depenser, payrons telegraphiez, epoque depart incertaine 3 Septr. Razkallah I am astonished to see this telegram as mine of the 24 Augt from Basreh could not have possibly reached him; if is now 13 days ~ I went home at 2 P.M. Jeboory Asfar came to pay us a visit, while here I received a telegram from Alexader Paris dated today at 10 am Svoboda Baghdad Partirai Constantinople 7~ This is the answer of my telegram of yesterday’s & I hope he will do it soon, Light N.W. & fine weather 5 Mond 1898 Sept [A48_085_12:020] Light N.W. & fine ~ at 7 am I went to the Latin church by invitation from the father where theatrical representation was given by the school boys in french prose, the scene was Jean d’Arc in 5 acts, Great many people were, as well as the french Consul Mr. Rouet, the Russian Mr. Grougloff, Monseig. Altmayer, the [CROSSOUT] Chaldean Patriarch & some Englishmen as Mr. Bottomley etc; & all the Christians it was over by 10 am; I then came on board, paid the officers wages etc. Went home at 12 ~ at 3 P.M. called on Asfars but found no body there; I called on Sister Eliza & Medula, my wife came there and we came home. Light N.W. & rather warm, 6’ Tuesd Therm@ 5.79 Light N.W. air & fine ~ at 6 ½ am called on Catherina Yaghchi & congratulated her on the betrothal of her son Yousif, called on Anton Marine & then came on board, We are shipping cargo ; ~ At 12 I went home, the Monseigneur Altmayer had called to see us & bid goodbye as he starts tomorrow evening but no one was at home & he left his card; At 2 ½ P.M. I came on board ~ The SS. Mossul arrived at 2 ¾ P.M. We shipped a lot of cargo today, as the merchants are afraid of our refusing it tomorrow, After the ship having competed her loading mark; we do not want to load her deep as the state of the river is very bad ~ At 5 P.M. I went home found Henry there, I took him & called on the Assyrian Bishop Aghnatius to bid him good bye; as he leaves tomorrow evening to Mardin ~ Henry returned with me to my house, Artin also came & spent the evening ~ Light N.W. wind & fine cool night. 7 WednTherm 5.79 1898 Sept [A48_087_24:021] [A48_088_23:022] 1898 Sept Modte N.W. wind & fine weather; Henry came to me and we went to call on Monseigneur Altmayer to wish him good bye, he starts this evening for Mardin via Deir, in a Takhtarawan, also the Assyrian Bishop, for the election of a Patriarch, Père Augustin is left here until the return of Altmayer here on about the 20th of November, I requested him that should my son Alexander (who leaves Paris today according to his telegram) wishes to go from Aleppo to Mardin to join and come back together to be so good as to look after him; Johny & Artin came with us; we passed to see Alice & Sister Emilia & I came on board at 8 ~ The SS Mossul droped inside to the wharf to discharge, she is ordered to go up river some where near Kadumain to meet the new Mushir Pasha coming by and having passed Ana 4 days ago & bring him down; He was the Waly & Mushir at Yemen, is called; Ahmed Feydi Pasha, At 11 went to breakfast, I found a telegram at home just arrived from Alexander from Paris dated the 5th, Svoboda Baghdad Cant go Constantinople Cause Passport; This ungrateful son is giving me great trouble and behaving very badly, he simply is dodging with excuses & lies; but he does not know his bad consequence & ruin, he will get no more money from me; I went to see Henry & talked over this telegram they all consulted me to wire him to come out by sea, where there is no passport necessary I came on board at 2 P.M. we shipped some more cargo; Having our 90,000 Okes; At 6 P.M. I went home saw Henry there; they wanted me to wire to Alexander to let him come by sea to Basreh, so that he can show no more excuses, but I wont do it, & it is better to let him remain unanswered & no more money will he receive so that he will feel it and until he begins to starve, Light n.w. & fine cool night ~ 1898 Septr 8 Thurs [A48_091_14:023] Modte n.w. & fine cool weather; at 4 am I came on board, having sent to Jeboory Asfar to come onboard as he is going with us ~ Baghdad to Basrah [8 SEP 1898 --- V048_03_S] (//) PassengerOkesGS PiastDraft 22993,33926,208 1/43,,7 At 5.20 am we proceeded the ship is full of passengers, we touched at Cherd el Pasha & swung round & proceeded; At 7.50 passed Diala river At 9,25 passed Ctesiphon, the Mejidieh is drawning 3.6, I gave tickets to the passengers we have altogether (4 in 1st class, Dr. Ramsey the Residency Surgeon going to Basreh to officiate as Consul in the absence of Capt Forbes who went on leave 2 months ago; G. Asfar returning to Basreh free with 2 servants, the wife of AbdulKadur Khdery to Amara paying, and Jejo son of Moorad Lynch's Clerk to Basreh with one servant free; also 2 in 2d Class to Coot, Rezooki son of Elias Feraj & his wife At 9,,40 P.M. we touched at Oweyn & grounded & the steering chain parted we look out & anchor & have on aft; she wont move, a fresh n.w. wind blowing; At 6 P.M. we got off & floated and remained at anchor for the night; A light and very cool n.w. breeze kept on all the night; I slept in my cabin & found it very cool; 1898 Septr 9 Frid Ther @ 5.72 [A48_093_06:024] Light n.w. & very cool weather At 5,,15 am. we weighed and proceeded from Oweyn; At 7,55 passed Baghdadieh Fort; The wreck of the Dijleh is more visible out of the water than any other years, the Paddle boxes, the Boss, the Crank Engine, Cylinder & other parts of the Engine are visible, there is a sand bank forming just below the Engine room high & dry this shows that the river is this year lower than any other former years, It is just 22 years yesterday since we touched and got wrecked in her (8 Septr 1876) ~ At 9 we grounded at Rmelat took an anchor out astern worked for & aft in heaving off ~ at 1 P.M. got off and proceeded ~ at 1,,15 P.M. anchored at Abdulla reach and sounded; wind blowing strong; At 2 we proceeded over the shoal without touching, At 3,,15 passed Azizieh At 3,,30 grounded below Azizieh hove off & proceeded at 4,,15; At 6,,45 we anchored at Um Sneyem~ Modte n.w. & fine cool weather, I slept in my cabin, but the wind was on the other side & so I felt it rather warm in the first part of the night; 10 Sater Ther @ 5.74 Light n.w. & fine cool weather At 5,,15 Am left Um Sneyem At 6,,45 anchored at Sheresh to sound the Channel; At 7,,20 proceeded ~ At 8,40 passed Memlah, At 9, landed specie at Bughela & went on at 9,,10 wind getting up & strong; At 10 we grounded at Mehd, the SS Phrat & Barge are here; she crossed our bow and steamed up at 10 1/2; we took an anchor out astern & hove her out; Strong wind blowing, we furled the awnings; At 12 hot off & proceeded At 1,,10 P.M. anchored at Um el Ajaj & sounded; ~ At 3,,15 proceeded on, we were repairing the steering block which had broken; At 6,,50 P.M. arrived at Coot & went alongside landed 46 passengers (2 of the 2d Class Cabin) & 35 packgez; ~ I am suffering awfully from the pain in my stomach, I have it the whole day, I am taking all I can, the sulphur and cream of Tartar; Bicarbonate of Soda Rhubarb, fruit Salt, also Jeboory Asfar gave me a bottle of Apolinaris water but to no effect at all ~ We finished at 7 and remained at Coot for the night ~ Light n.w. & cool night I slept in my cabin ~ 11 Sund Ther @ 5.73 1898 Septr [A48_096_20:025] [A48_096_22:026] Motserrif of Amara Mostapha Pasha dismissed on the 23d Augt Light n.w. & fine cool weather At 5,,30 am we left Coot; Took 26 1/2 Passengers, At 6,,30 anchored to sound At 7,,5 proceeded ~ At 11,, we grounded at Aboo Dood have off and at 12 proceeded fresh n.w. wind ~ At 1 1/2 P.M. we grounded hove off and at 2,,40 proceeded. At 2,,45 passed the S.S. Khalifah bound up, she looks light & has few passengers, I had left a letter for Henry at Coot to be taken up to him to Baghdad, ~ wind has got hot today; At 3,30 P.M. anchored at Maghessil and Sounded; at 3,45 proceeded; At 3,,55 stopped to land a passenger at Ali Gherbi, found a lot of passengers here coming we anchored, and at 4,,5 proceeded having taken 18 1/2 passengers, these people cannot go down to Amara in boats at Danegs as the road is not safe, they say that the Sheikh of Beni Laam Ghadban son of Booneyeh the son of Mezban, is plundering all the way from Coot to Amara, several Boats have been already plundered, this is since the Mutserrif of Amara Mostapha Basha has been dismissed & passed up yesterday on board the Phrat, he has made nearly 20,000 Liras in his short stay of about two years all by bribery & corruption from the Arab Sheikhs; Ghadban has again assumed his independent manner towards the Turkish Government; and at Amara the Authorities are weak & possess very small military force ~ At 5,,30 we grounded at the top of Flefleh reach, took out an anchor astern & hove her into deep water we get off at 6,,30 steamed up, turned round & went on at 6,,50 by going down through the Shoal & the East bank ~ Very light n.w. air and not so cool as before; & Light n.w. & cool weather 1898 Septr 12 Mond Ther @ 5.40 Noon 88 At 2 Am. we arrived at Amara landed 44 1/2 passengers (one in 1st class the wife of AbdulKadur Khdery) and 138 Packages; Shipped 5 cases of Pelican Feathers for Asfar & Co; ~ At 5 am left Anara took 11 1/2 Passengers & zaptyes our usual escort ; We passed the SS. Ressafah and Barge bound up at 1 am; At 11 am we came to the shoal place at Ghumeyjeh, several Boats are here ladden & cannot pass; we grounded & worked on & over with anchors & at 0.45 P.m. went over & proceeded, At 1,,30 P.M. anchored off Azair and landed 3 1/2 passengers & 17 packages (11 Tins oil & 6 Bags Onions) At 1,,45 proceeded At 4,,50 P.M. anchored at Gorna went alongside and landed 40 Packges and 12 passengers, ~ At 5,,20 left Gorna, calm weather & rather warm ; At 9,,45 P.M. arrived at Basreh; weather has become warmer, I had to sleep up on the house, Jeboory Asfar went to his house ~ We coaled ship at night; 13 Tuesd Ther @ 5.72 1898 Sept [A48_100_23:027] Light n.w. & fine weather, The Indian Marine Residency Steamer of Bushire the Lawrence came up at 6 1/2 am from the quarantine station; we are discharging and shipping cargo; There is the SS. Afghanistan here up from quarantine, she is to load dates for America, also the SS. Brukside for Mackenzie & the B.I. Str Khandallah are in quarantine Yousif Marine &Rufail came to me on board they enquired about Alexander & what became of him, I gave them his letters & telegrams to read; at 11 I went up with them to Rufails house for an hour & returned at 1 P.M. Modte n.w. wind We finished shipping cargo by 5 P.M. ~ we are to await for the mail Str Amra she passed Fao & will be here they say by 9 P.M. ~ Rufail Rezooki, Nessoory Andria came off to me The SS. Lawrence, I am told is to remain here in the date season to patrol the river between this & Fao on account of the frequent Piracy & robbery etc. taking place every year by Arabs in plundering Bugalows coming up for loading dates, there are two other Gunboats coming also up for this purpose shortly, the Lapunig & Sphinx, & the English Consulate has already notified this to the Local Government here ~ At 4 1/4 P.M. the mail Str Amra arrived in quarantine We sent for our mail; Very calm weather, At 10 1/2 mails were brought on board after undergoing fumigation at the quarantine; Basreh to Baghdad [13 SEP 1898 --- V048_04_N] (//) 14 Wedn Ther @ 5.74 1898 Septr PassngOkesG.S. LocalDraft 110119,7356,528 3/43,,10 At 11 we weighed & proceeded Light n.w. air but cool; I slept in my cabin but it was rather warm at the beginning & cool afterward ; Light n.w. air & fine cool weather; At 4 AM. passed Gorna we had the flood tide with us ~ Finished with the passengers tickets ~ we have altogether 40 1/2 (one in 1st Class Sheikh Hussein an Arab of Meshed who goes always up & down with us) At 7,,35 passed Azair ; At 9,,15 came to the Shoal at Ghumeyjeh, took out an anchor & hove over, the ship is 3 feet 10; Kept working with anchors for & aft all the day, she moves but does not get over the shoal the river is so very narrow here about 150 feet broad, at 5 we got over & went about 50 Yards & grounded again took anchor ahead & hove, weather very calm by sunset & rather warm, there are 4 or 5 Boats here also discharging their cargo to get over; ~ At 7 P.M. we knocked off heaving it having got dark ~ Light, n.w. air, and some mosquitoes are coming; I slept on the top of the house, being too warm in the cabin ~ 15 Thursd Ther @ 5.68 Low state of river below Amara 1898 Sept [A48_105_01:028] Difficulty in closing canals [A48_105_19:029] [A48_106_03:030] Light n.w. & cool morning, at day break begun heaving, got over but there are other shoal places further on, it is a long shoal. ~ At 8,,15 got over this shoal and went on but the ship is dragging & forcing herself over shoal water and very narrow river, there are from 2 1/2 to 3 draaz; the river is quite lost, all the war is taken away through so many canals from Amara & downward to irrigate the Sultans property all our complaints since 3 years and now renewed too is not listened to by the Turkish Government, the river is getting nearly dry and not navigable at all ~ Detained below the Elbow reach from 10,,15 to 10,,30 for the Launch having parted and had to send & bring it up ; we are going slow, no water to float us; ~ At 2,,40 P.M. landed one passenger at Kalat Saleh and went on at 2,,45 weather very calm Sultry and light S. Erly breeze; (my stomach pain is still Killing me it comes twice a day & once at night, I am using all the usual medicine which I have administered before) At 7,,5 P.M. arrived at Amara landed 15 passengers, Took in 10 Tons of Coal ~ Light S. Ely breeze. but cool, At 9,,30 left Amara At 9,,45 anchored to repair a float & left at 11 ~ We heard at Amara that Missat Effendi the Turkish Civil Engineer of the Vilayet of Basreh who was sent up about 2 months ago by the Government to close up some Canals above Amara so as to get more water into the river, after so many repeated reports made by the Captain to S Lynch & Co. & there through the British Consuls to the Local Governors, has returned a few days ago from abov Amara about 3 hours steaming where he had gone to Close a small canal on the West bank called Btera being plundered and bitten by the Arabs of Ezerij also the Mason & the 4 zaptyes he had with him because the Arabs would not let him close it & he had to walk naked & barefooted to Amara, the new Acting Motserrif of Nasryeh (now Officiating at Amara) Sent for the Sheikh of the Ezerij and had him flogged and put him in irons~ 16 Frid Therm @ 5.7 Noon 94 4 P.m. 98 1898 Sept S. Erly breeze & fine weather, Gave tickets to [strikeout] 34 Amara passengers; At 8,,15 am stopped at Ali Gherbi & landed 5 passengers and about 25 Baskets of fresh dates from Amara At 8,,40 went on, took 9 1/2 passengers. Fresh S. Erly Wind blowing;~ At 1,,45 P.M. passed Sheikh Saad, very calm weather; Breeze shifted to N. Wester very light & warm Detained in Shoal water, at Hwey (cutting) from 5,,45 till 6 P.M.~ Light S. Erly breeze again but Calm & not cool at all Thermot. in my Cabin 98˚ Detained 1/2 hour in Shoal below Coot~ At 8,,30 P.M. arrived at Coot, landed 4 passengers, Light S. Erly breeze~ At 9,,30 left Coot; 17 Satur Therm @ 5.74 Light S. Erly breeze; At 2 am we grounded at Mehd; worked with anchors, & hove over~ At 6,,15 am the S.S. Mossul Came down & anchored & Above us & sent to sound, She is 4 days from Baghdad; I gave tickets to 26 Coot passengers;~ At 7,,25 we hove over and proceeded; the Mossul Came down to pass by our place, she is full of Passengers & cargo too both Steamer & Barge; At 8,,40 passed Nemlah, At 11,,20 passed the S.S. Khalifah going down at Deboony, Terooza Yaghchi (Wife of Nessoory Andria & her children were on board returning to Basreh) Wind shifting to West;~ Weather became hazy, dusty sky & warm wind keeps from South; At 4,,15 P.M. grounded at Brenij, took an anchor out ahead & hove off; we find no water to pass, sent to sound & took an other anchor out;~ Hot air coming with the breeze from N. Est & Weather became hazy like a winter cloudy season; Thermot. 98˚ at 6 1/2 P.M. in my Cabin~ There are two deep places here out we are working for nothing & loosing time until it became dark; At 8,,5 we got over and proceeded At 8..35 passed Azizieh, went easy & stopping and backing, at 10,,45 we anchored at Rmelat, to repair the wheel~ 18 Sund Therm @ 72 Noon 90 [A48_110_13:031] At 2 Am we finished the repair of the wheel proceeded, At 4 passed Baghdadieh fort;~ Light S. Erly breeze~ At 5,,20 am landed 2 passengers at Zwera village and went out at 5,,30 ~ We passed Oweyn without touching at 7,,45 the Channel is very good now; At 10 passed Bostan; Calm weather & warm; At 0,,30 P.M. passed Ctesiphon~ At 1,,30 came to a Shoal at Gusseiba just near the Island of Zumbaraniyeh the S.S. Phrat & Barge are here bound down, She got underway after having sounded at 1,,35, We were detained in crossing over the Shoal till 1,,50 when we passed over;~ Weather warm & calm, (Since two days the pain of my stomach has ceased & I feel better). Detained 25 minutes at Jaffer in finding the Channel; At 4 P.M. passed Diala River; At 5,,15 I landed at Gherrarah & walked to town; there are 7 Tents at Gherrarah of Christians encamped there, Selman Durion and others; also on the other side the family of Korkis Tessy etc; I met Dr. Rosen on horse back the German Consul he told me of the Assasination of the Empress of Austria Elizabeth, she was she was stabbed by an Anarchist at Geneva on Sunday last the 11th Instt; just on celebration of the day of the Jubilee of her husband the Emperor Francis Joseph, I hold heard it at Basreh, on the night of our leaving from our 2nd mate who brought the mail up from the Amra;~ At 7 I arrived home went on top of the house, saw Eliza, she says that a telegram from Alexander came asking for money & also his letters by the two last mails, his telegram is as follows; "Svoboda Baghdad "Embarassé indisposé "Korkis refuse payment "Autorisez Ottombanque; It is dated the 11th Instt, and arrived the 14th; Not only this is most disappointing telegram & enraging but the worst is that, the foolish thing is that Georgis Antone has brought to my wife a Receipt from Alexander dated London 20th Augt for 30 T Liras having received it from his agent at Constple according to the letter of recommendation I had obtained from Georgis to his agent Nazaret Kasberyan to pay him this sum on his arrival at Constple & not otherwise. I was so enraged at what this scamp is doing; he is trying to get money from all ways & manners;~ The Mejidieh arrived at about 9. She was aground at Cherd el Pasha~ 19 Mond Modte N.W. Wind & fine weather~ Habib Chiha & Antone Julietti called on me;~ At 9 am I came on board, the S.S. Ressafah is inside here discharging~ I sent back to Georgis Antone the receipt of Alexander for the 30 Liras he has drawn from his agent at Constple, He came on board & we had great discussion about it. I refused to pay it as his agent had no right to pay it unless Alexander comes himself to Constple & presents the letter;~ I made the following telegram for Alexander and sent it at noon; "Gejou Svoboda "3 Place Cambronne "Paris "Absolutely refuse advanced "more money, You must "come by Steamer “Cogent” "leaving Marseilles 22, “Asfar wired Saunnièr "passage paid, wire "departure 30 words Svoboda 19/9/98 I went to the office saw M. Bottomley asked him to give my wife passage to Basreh going for the benefit of her health She is suffering much on account of Alexander's grief & sorrow~ I came home, sent a telegram to G. Asfar Basreh viz; "Asfar Basreh "Please wire Saunièr "if Alexander embarks "Cogent passage paid 12 words Svoboda G.S. P. 18 1/4 At noon, Antone Marine sent us a telegram which he received from Alexander just received it is dated the 18 yesterday from Paris "Antone Marine "Baghdad "Seriously sick imploring "aide mother~ He is in want of nothing else but money & refuses to move out of Paris & is trying all sorts and dodges to get money, my resources are exhausted and I am getting sick and disgusted of his behaviour and his contancrous way; I have lost all love & confidence on this boy, he is becoming stupid & has lost his heart through his love with this french girl; My wife always weeping & does not know what to do; Antone Johny & Artin came to us, we come to the conclusion to sent a telegram in Antones name to Alexander to tell him that his mother has at last been persuaded to sent him 200 frcs for his travelling expenses to Marseilles through R. Korkis & this will be the last sum expected from us~ 20 Thursd Therm @ 5.7˚ New Mushir Ahmed Fezi Pasha Light N.W. air & fine cool weather~ Sister Emilia called on us; I left at 7 1/2 am & went to Antone to sign the telegram we proposed to send to Alexander, it is as follows~ "Svoboda "19 Rue Vieux Colombiér "Paris " Persuaded mother remit "eight pounds Korkis "for travelling Marseilles "going Basreh meet you "last remittance expected "father ill~ Marine 25 words 20/9/98 I also made the following telegram to R. Korkis "Ras Kallah "London "Please pay Alexander "eight pounds Svoboda 8 words 20/9/98~ I sent both at 9 am which made 20 frcs~ I called on Sedi wife of G. Asfar for 1/2 hour and then came on board; the Ressafah is alongside the wharf discharging; and the Mejidieh is discharging into the Barge as we are leaving Thursday; The new Mushir Commander in Chief of the 6th Army Corps Ahmed Fezy Pasha has arrived in Baghdad on last Wednesday the 14th via Aleppo & Deir as I have mentioned him on the 7th Instt, I went home at 11;~ at 3 P.M. I called on Sister Eliza & on Alice & Sister Emilia, & came home at 5, had a cold bath;~ Very fine & cool weather, moon 6 days old; 1898 Septr 21 Wedn Therm @ 5.7˚ Light N.W. & fine weather, cool breeze & even quite cool on top of the house; At 7 1/2 am I came on board, We had taken a lot of cargo yesterday before sunset; and are taking now too; At 11 1/2 went to breakfast, Eliza is sending her Kit on board to go down with me to Basreh; As she is very lonely & suffering much on account of Alexander She is always sorry & weeping, At 1 P.M. I came on board We shipped all the cargo that we wanted for the present state of the river, and at 4 P.M. we finished & hauled out from the bank~ Very light breeze & rather warm; We have 8700 Okes on board~ At 5 1/2 P.M. I went on shore, passed to see Sister Medula for few minutes & came home there came Antone Marine, his wife & children, Catherina Yaghchi, Shekoory Sayegh, Johny & Artin to see Eliza, as she is going Basreh; Light N.W. & fine cool weather; 22 Thursd Therm @ 5.64 11 Am 90 4 P.m. 94 Light N.W. & fine cool weather; we were up at 2 am; Gathered all the kit & locked the rooms etc and at 4 1/2 came on board, Eliza & her servant Mariam the Tilkefli girl We have no one in the Cabins, except my wife;~ Baghdad to Basreh [22 SEP 1898 --- V048_05_S] (//) PassngOkesGS PiastDraft 151 1/288,22717842 3/43,,5 At 5,,30 Am the Mejidieh got underway & proceeded, she is drawing 3 feet 5 Inches Many Christians are encamped on the opposite side of the river facing the town lower down;~ At 6,,20 we anchored close to the Island of the Kher, to bring on board the chain which was fastened to the sunken Coal Boat of S Lynch this last high rise; At 7 we took the chain and proceeded~ Passed Gherrarah & the Bridge at 7 1/2 we saw the Tents of Korkis family on the other side, & other Christians on this side, At 8 1/2 passed Diala At 9 anchored at Jaffer to sound~ At 9,,30 we proceeded, but grounded & took out an anchor aft & hove, the Ressafah came down at 10 & anchored up above & sounded~ At 10,,50 the Ressafah came down & passed in the channel & went on~ At 12 we got off & proceeded At 0,,30 P.M. grounded at the Zumbaranyeh Island took an Anchor Astern & hove back; at 1,,40 left At 2,15 P.m. passed Ctesiphon; We have Altogether 117 passengers Deck none in the Cabins except my wife Eliza; also 5 deck free (3 Mossullies & 2 Mahomedans) At 6,,25 Grounded at Thabtyeh (Dawer reach) took an anchor out & hove her stern into the water and floated, We remained for the night close to the East bank of Dawer; Light N.W. breeze & Cool Weather 23 Frid Th@ 5. 63 1898 Septr [A48_123_01:032] Light N.W. breeze and fine Very Cool Weather At 5,,25 Am. left Dawar and proceeded, At 7,,10 passed Baghdadieh Fort; At 8,,10 anchored at Rmelat & sent to sound; Two Boats Aground in the Channel, At 9,,10 proceeded and touched a little & then Went on; At 10,,30 passed Azizieh At 10,,50 grounded at Brenij below Azizieh~ Took an anchor out & hove off; At 1,,15 P.M. managed to heave back & proceeded Modte N.W. Wind blowing, At 5,,20 touched the shoal at Sheresh & worked in getting off & steamed on again & touched, kept Working with the Engine, and got over & proceeded at 6,,15 At 6,,35 met the Khalifah coming up, we stopped & sent Mr. Follett our Chief Engineer to examine the Boiler of the Khalifah according to the telegram from Lynch in London; I received a letter from Henry, he says they left Basreh on Tuesday evening & has left my papers and letters at Coot~ at 6,,50 We went on~ At 7,,35 passed Nemlah, Modte N.W. & fine Cool night; At 8,,5 we rounded & anchored below Bughela, Very Cool Weather; 24 Satur Th@ 5. 62 Noon 94 1898 Septr Light N.W. & fine quite Cold Weather, I felt it so cold in my cabin that I covered myself with the thick Lahaf, At 5,,30 Am. proceeded At 6 anchored at Mehd; and sounded~ At 6,,30 proceeded on to the Shoal we touched a little & went on; At 8,,20 stopped at the Shoal of Umel Ajaj, until 9 am when we proceeded through an other channel; At 11,,20 arrived at Coot. landed 20 passengers and 81 packages; I received Henry's letter & my papers the Khalifah had only 88,000 Okes Cargo & about 120 passengers,~ At 0,,55 P.M. We left Coot took 11 1/2 passengers; Very calm & warm weather Detained 1/2 hour Sounding at the Cutting (Hwey reach) At 6,,45 We rounded & came to for the night, below Aboo Dood; Very Calm Weather~ Lots of Sandflies at night in my cabin, and a light S. Erly breeze~ 25 Sund Th@ 5. 63 1898 Septer [A48_125_18:033] Very Calm Weather & Cool, At 5,,30 Am proceeded, At 6 grounded at Seyd Abbass, sent to sound & marked the Channel; hove off and steamed on to it at 7 ;and went on~ Light S. Erly breeze At 9,,5 landed some Vegetables at Ali Gherbi from Capt Cowley for Khdeir his friend and went on at 9,,10~ At 9,,15 anchored to sound, at Ali Gherbi Tomb~ At 9,,30 proceeded, At 6 P.M. arrived at Amara landed 28 passng and 82 packages~ Very Calm Weather; The new Actg Motserrif of Nasryeh, for Amara called Anwary Pasha, Will probably be Confirmed here as Motserrif;~ We Took 6 Tons of Coal Madm. Dr. Macri came to see Eliza my wife At 8,,15 P.M. we left Amara, fine clear night, At 9,,40 anchored above Aboo Sedra~ 26 Mond Th@ 5. 66 [A48_127_07:034] 1898 Septr Light S. Erly & fine cool Weather~ At 5,,20 Am proceeded~ Gave tickets to 23 Amara passengers; At 8,,15 passed the S.S. Mossul & Barge bound up at Nafikh~ Detained 1/4 hour at the Elbow, and 1/4 hour at Ghumeyjeh where the Channel is good and we did not touch; At 11,,25 passed Azair, At 2,,30 P.M. landed 7 passengers at Gorna and Went on at 2,,40~ At 7 P.M. We arrived in Basreh; The SS. Afghanistan & Laristan for Asfar are here as well as the S.S. Brookside for Gray Mackenzie & in the Quarantine there are the B.I.Str. Kilwa with the mails arrived 3 days ago also the Mail Str Amra just arrived; & the SS Tresco for Hotz & Co; Mr. Hamilton the Agent for Hotz & Co, who had gone to England last year & got married, has arrived about 15 days ago & he has joined Hotz's Firm now & became a Partner, & the name goes now as Hotz Hamilton & Co, Roofail, Rezooki & Rezooki Angoorly came off and took Eliza & myself and went to their house we dined there; Roofail has begun to build the 2d story making rooms just begun about 4 days ago;~ I am astonished to find no telegram from Alexander as I had told Johny my nephew to send it on should any arrive~ Light air but rather moisty it got cool during the night, some of them are sleeping below, Tookyeh is also out here, I slept on top of the house; 27 Tuesd [A48_129_12:035] 1898 Septr Light N.W. air & cool morning; At 6 1/2 am I left them, passed on my way to see Jeboory Asfar & he told me that he had telegraphed to Saunier at Marseilles for Alexander's passage, but the SS. Cogent has left Marseilles on the 21st so it is impossible for Alexander to be able to Catch her, as my telegram to him was sent on the 19th~ I came on board, we are discharging cargo & shipping too;~ The merchants are busy with the packing of dates none has been shipped yet, the three steamers here, the Afghanistan, Laristan & Brookside are awaiting to ship it, the Owners of the dates are firm in the price they demand Very exorbitant; it has been fixed at 400 Shamies (@ 10 GS Piast per Shamie) the Big Kara of 40 Baskets for the Hellawy & the rest for less this amount;~ The three English men of war Lawrence, Sphinx & Lapwing are in the river plying between Faô and here to supress Piracy & robbery of Bugalows; Very Calm & warm weather, Rezooki Sayegh called on me & R. Angoorly;~ We finished loading at 4 P.M. We have Very few passengers and none in the Cabins; Basreh to Baghdad (//) S.S. Mejidieh Voy 374 [28 SEP 1898 --- V048_06_N] (//) 28 Wednes Th@5. 70 1898 Sept PassengOkesG.S. PiastDraft 151 1/288,22717842 3/43,,5 At 6 P.M. We left Basreh Very Calm & warm weather; ship is loaded down to 3 feet 9 At 0,,10 Am. passed Gorna Light S. Erly & fine weather, At 4,,30 anchored at Azair Tomb; one Jewess passenger came~ At 5,,30 proceeded; at 6,,45 came to the Shoal of Ghumeijeh, could not pass, with 3 feet 9 Inches draft, took out an anchor ahead to heave over; A thick fine fog is stretching on the horyzon from East to North being cleared off by the breeze of S. Easter~ They worked on taking anchors out and heaving ahead over the shoal until 1 P.M. When we got over & steamed for about 50 Yards & came to another shoal, where we found the Ressafah & Barge bound down having left the same day as we did, she is repairing her Rudder [strikeout] I think With her stern on the bank, the river being so very narrow here, We took out an anchor ahead to heave on, and kept taking ropes & pegs driven one after the other so as to keep aloof of the Ressafah the current being very strong & the Mejidieh is shearing from one bank to the other being afraid to go close to the Ressafah as she cannot resist the least shock being so old and rickety; We at last got slowly up along the West bank & above the Ressafah by 4 P.M. & sent the Launch to bring up the anchor from the bank, The Ressafah also then cast off proceeded down, At 4,,45 P.M. we went on going easy; The breeze having Shifted to a very light N. Wester, We had not gone 100 Yards when we got again in a Very strong current & the ship could not steer streight the helm could not act and the current driving her to the East bank; we took an anchor aheat at 6 P.M. & hove up; The weather is Very calm & warm, a great change in the atmosphere; We knocked off work at 6 1/2 & remained for the night; Very warm in the cabin & plenty Sandflies 29 Thursd Th@5. 76 1898 Sept Light S. Erly breeze and a thick fog, quite a Wintry morning, at 6 am we began working, in heaving up stream the Current is so strong in this narrow river, that it checks the steamer's advance in spite of steaming and heaving, Took an anchor out ahead & hove up At 8,,10 Am hove the steamer up & proceeded detaining in the reaches, the Current turning her towards the bank, the fog cleared up above and remained like a cloudy gloomy day; At 9 it cleared off & became fine~ Going easy & current very strong; At 0,,50 P.M. landed a passenger at Kalat Saleh, (he is for Amara)~ The fog of this morning turned into clouds & the S. Erly breeze Keeps it back, it is getting very warm; Breeze very light or rather calm from the N.W. and the clouds on every quarter & very warm & close weather at 4 P.M.; We have altogether 68 1/2 passengers from Basreh & 1 Jewess from Azair, no cabin passengers at all; (one Deck free by Lynch Broths) At 5,,20 P.M. arrived at Amara, landed 25 passengers ~ We took no coal but shipped 879 Tins of Glue & 6 Bags of Dye; weather very calm with a light south westerly breeze, & clouds clearing up ~ At 7 P.M. we left Amara, fool moon & fine weather; 30 Frid therm@5.74 1898 Octor [A48_137_14:036] Light S Ely & hazy atmosphere At 5,,5 AM. landed 4 passengers at Ali Gherbi and took one & went on at 5,,15; weather unsettled & disagreable; plenty of flies & troubled sky ~ Gave tickets to 34 Amara passengers; At 8 grounded at Seyd Abbass took an anchor ahead & hov over ~ At 9,,30 got off & proceeded; I paid the Ships’ company their wages for this month; Very sultry and hazy warm weather At 5,,30 grounded below the village of Coot, took an anchor ahead & hove her into deep water; at 6,,15 one of the steering braket was carried off as we were getting off the shoal, we stopped to repair it ~ At 7,,15 the SS. Khalifah arrived at Coot. At 7.30 we finished & proceeded to Coot where we arrived at 7,,40 ~ landed 4 passengers & begun to take 10 Tons of Coal; ~ Capt Hanslow & the rest of the officers & Engineers came on board except Henry did not come, he sent me a letter in which he says that his wife Menusha had again taken ill with vomiting bile & she was better but weak, he says that no telegrams had arrived from my son Alexander in answer to mine of the 19th Instt; but the letters which are left with Johny, the Khalifah has only 64000 Okes & 204 passengers, Henry says that Alice with her mother my sister Emilia have gone out to encamp at Gherrah, outside Michail Minas’s garden, as Alice is very weak & the Doctor advised her to do so ~ At 9.30 P.M. we left Coot fine clear weather & light N.W. 1st Satur therm@5.74 1898 Octor [A48_138_03:037] Gutnyeh Property Light N.W. & fine, Detained at Mehd from 3 ½ till 4 am ~ At 5,,50 passed Memlah gave tickets to 11 ½ Coot passengers At 7.30 grounded at Sheresh, took an anchor out to the east shore & hov off, sent to sound, & marked the Channel dropped down & steamed through it, went on at 8,,40 ~ At 2,,55 P.M. passed Azizieh, the village is falling down, the houses are getting eaten away by the river Detained at Rmelat in shoal water from 4,,45 till 5 P.M. The reach of Gutnyeh which was bought from the Turkish Governt. by Mohamed Pasha Daghestany (General of Cavallery here) and the lawyer Abduljebbar, is now florishing, they have let the Tamarisk jungle grown thick, they have built a house on the bank at the lower end of the reach as a Granery store house, and have lately taken out about 10 Tilkefli families destitute people who had all come from Telkef this year on account of the scarcity there of water & failure of cultivation At 6.30 P.M. passed Baghdadieh Fort, moon just getting up, very calm weather, but cool & light N.W. ~ 2d Sund Therm@5.68 1898 Octor [A48_139_21:038] [A48_140_21:039] [A48_141_09:040] 1898 Octor Very light N.W. breeze & fine ~ At 3,,10 AM. passed Ctesiphon; At 4,,10 touched the Shoal at Gusseiba, worked her back, with the Engine, she stuck again, while taking an anchor out ahead, she got off ~ At 5,,40 proceeded ~ At 7 passed Diala, detained 10 minutes in shoal water just in rounding the Diala river ~ At 8,,15 I landed at the Tents just above the Bridge where I met Polus Serkis & his wife & Mily his brother Naoom’s wife & her son Yacoob also Antone Marine his wife & children these latter are in the Garden of Gherrarah in the home of Nawab Ahmed Agha with Jeboory Asfar’s wife, Antone tells me that no telegram has yet arrived from Alexander; I walked up to the Tents of Alice & Sister Emilia above the Garden of Gherrara about 600 yards they are by themselves only there with their servants and 2 watchmen Arabs; I sat about ½ hour & left them & walked in to town at halfway I met some Sakka donkeys returning I rode one for 5 piaster to inside the Gate, arrived home at 9 ¾ ~ I found our servant Meekha & his wife Khokhy only here she is in bed having delivered a child 8 days ago in my house ~ The Mejidieh arrived at 10 ½ ~ I found two letters here from Alexander one of last week (arrived on 22 Sept and the other of this week) (arrived on the 29) but both letters were brought from the Post Office, Cut open, with a Knife from the edges. My servant says he received the latter one opened, and the former one of last week also was given to Johny open; every one tells me that the Suspicion must fall on Antone Julietti who must be the author, having been Alexander’s friend and wishes to know all about his doings, & as his father is the Inspector of Post and Telegraph here, the Turkish employèes are, as is natural with to favor anything he wishes to do for the sake of his father; I sent to enquire from Antoin Julietti he came at once to me expressing his utter ignorance of the affair, I told him that I shall have to complain of this matter to my Consul against whoever has done it ~ I called to see Menusha, I found her well only little weak from vomiting which she had few days ago; I sent a telegram to Henry this afternoon to Basreh Svoboda Basreh Wife perfectly well little weak. Svoboda, I called on the family of Pahlawan opposite us; breakfasted at home; I called on Sister Eliza at 2 P.M. & then on Sister Medula I came home ~ Light N.W. & fine, I dined & slept down below in the Verandah 3 Mond Light air & fine ~ at 7 ½ am came on board the SS. Mossul is inside discharging cargo; I went to the office for some gold pounds & came home at 11 ~ I had a cold water bath; ~ at 4 P.M. called on Sister Medula & then came home; Johny & Artin called in the evening, ~ Light air & warm in the first part of the night; 4 Tuesd Therm@74 1898 Octor [A48_144_03:041] Light S. Ely breeze & little dampy; at 4 ½ am I came on board the Mejidieh she went inside to discharge & the Mossul hauled out & at 10 I went onshore called on Menusha & then, with Catterina Yaghchi we called on Hannosh son of Naoom Andrea who got married lately about a month ago with Eliza daughter of Fathalla Abood & widow of the late Johny Toma Loca she is much older than Hamosh about 10 years, I came home & breakfasted Sister Medula called on me for ½ hour; At 3 P.M. I came on board we are shipping a good deal of Local cargo, as the Khalifah had refused taking any ~ We took up to No. 35 the local cargo the freight has been risen from 9 Paras to 10 for the present state of the river ~ Weather keeps bad with a warm & light S.Ely breeze & some clouds on the N.West; At 5 P.M. I went home & then went over to Sister Eliza where I dined on the top of the house, they are sleeping up still & so all the people too ~ at 9 I came home ~ 5 Wedn Therm@5.78 1898 Octor 1898 Octor Light S. Ely breeze & warm dampy weather, At 7 am called on Menusha & came on board; ~ The SS Mossul & Barge left this morning for Basreh; We are shipping wool & other cargo ~ At 10 ½ I went home to breakfast, At 11 I received this telegram from Alexander from Paris dated the 4th (yesterday) Svoboda Baghdad Incapable voyagèr, Souffrant Cotè Hopital necessaire pryè mère venir Paris pourquoi impetiseux, repondèz 124 Rennes, This is the answer of mine of the 19 Ulto; I suppose I got so sorry & disgusted of these telegrams and always he is trying to stop his departure and make some excuses, I could not eat my breakfast at all; ~ I left & went to Sister Medula to confer with her but I saw there Father Emmanuel the Carmelite & we came to the conclusion that as Père Pièrre must be now gone to Paris about today or tomorrow before starting for Baghdad, it would be a good chance to wire to him to go & see Alexander & try to bring him with him; so I went with him to the Church & made out this telegram Père Pièrre Missionaire Couvent Carmes Pompe Passy Paris Prière Voir Alexandre 124 Rue Rennes rassurez Sur Santé, persuadèz Voyager ensemble absolument, disposè oublièr, repondèz Svoboda I also made out one for Alexander, thus Svoboda 124 Rue Rennes Paris Accompagnèz Pêre Pièrre actuellement Paris lui telegraphiam sujet, Mère Basreh ~ Svoboda I sent them at 1 P.M. at once and paid 23 ½ frcs; We finished at 3 P.M. I went on shore to my house; Johny came to me I was going to make an other telegram to Alexander but I thought it will be of no use, & better wait until I get Père Pièrre’s answer & see what my wife will say at Basreh; ~ S. Ely wind all the night it shifted at midnight to N.W. ~ 6 Thurs. [A48_149_11:042] 1898 Octer Again the wind is S. Easter At 5 am. I came on board, I could not sleep well, always thinking about Alexander’s doings ~ The SS Phrat arrived yesterday at 10 ½ am Baghdad to Basreh [6 OCT 1898 --- V048_07_S] (//) PassgOkesG. S. PiastDraft 181 1/282,57419,004 1/23,,6 At 5,,55 AM we got under way & proceeded; Light S Ely breeze; ship drawing 3 feet 6 Inches; Lots of Tents are encamped at Gherrarah on both Sides of the river ~ At 8.15 passed Gherrarah, gave tickets to the Passengers we have altogether 141 (6 in 1st class they are 2 women family of Cassim Khdery at Basreh, 3 Persian women of Kadumein and Jemil the son of Elias Serkis all for Basreh, there are the wife & children & servant of Hannosh Hanna the Clerk of Lynch Brothers free in 2d Class) also 3 Tilkefli women free ~ At 9,,15 anchored at the Island of Zumbaranyeh & sounded At 9,,50 went on after marking the Channel ~ At 10,,30 passed Ctesiphon; ~ Weather became very hazy and dusty with warm S.Ely light wind ; At 4,45 P.M. passed Baghdadieh Fort ~ At 5,,50 anchored at Rmelat & sent to sound, clouds on the west & north parts ~ At 6,,10 we weighed and proceeded without touching; Light S. Ely breeze; At 7.5 round and came to at Raddat for the night; 7 Sund Light air from S. Et & fine at 5,,30 Am. proceeded from Raddat, at 6,,15 passed Azizieh ~ At 6,45 passed the SS. Ressafah & Barge bound up ~ At 9 A.M. passed the S.S. Khalifah going up at Um- Sneyem; At 12 passed Memlah; At 2,,10 P.M. anchored to Sound at Um el Ajaj~ At 2,,45 proceeded, ~ At 5,,30 P.M. arrived at Coot, landed 20 passengers & 14 packages; the S.S. Mossul & Barge are here having left Baghdad a day before us ~ Very light air & clouds on the horyzon ~ We remained at Coot for the night; 8 Satur 1898 Octer Light S. Ely breeze with some clouds on the horyzon, At 5,,30 Am. we left Coot the Mossul also following behind us ~ Detained from 6,, bite 6,,40 below Coot at Mahomed abool - Hassan in shoal water the Mossul came and passed down ~ Took 14 passengs from Coot, At 8,,20 passed the S.S. Mossul ~ At 9,,15 P.M. Grounded at Seyd Abbass, hove off, & sounded at 2,,15 proceeded, the Mossul grounded above us; At 4,,5 landed one passenger at Ali Gherbi & went on at 4,,10 P.M. ~ Light S. Ely breeze & fine 1898 Octr 9 Sund At 1,, Am arrived at Amara, landed 104 packges and 25 1/2 passengers. Took 6 Tons of Coal and finished at 3 1/2 am. At 5,,5 left Amara ~ Light S. Ely & damp misty weather Took 23 1/2 passengers from Amara, and 11 Zaptyes as usual as an escort; weather nasty warm with Clouds on the East & South At 8,,45 passed Kalat Saleh ~ At 9 detained 1/2 hour at Aboo Ruba & at the Elbow, At 11.30 Grounded at Ghumeyjeh (Plenty water here of 3 & 3 1/2 draaz) took anchors out astern and hove & humbuged about with anchor on shore & rope to keep her close to the bank & so on till 2 P.M., we again anchored to wait for the men coming from the bank & weighed at 2,,10 & went on ~ Clouds are hanging on & the sun very hot, with light N. Ely breeze; At 2,50 P.M. passed Azair ~ At 5,,55 landed 9 1/2 passengers at Gorna and went on at 6; very light N. Ely breeze, but very calm and warm disagreeable weather; At 10,,45 P.M arrived at Basreh, awfully warm in my cabin ~ 10 Mond Very Calm or S. Ely warm weather with clouds very disagreable weather, I could not sleep last night from the heat & my thought about my son and what I am going to tell my wife Eliza ~ At 4 am I was up, I washed & dressed and took a Belem & went up to Rufails house, I saw Eliza also Rufail & Rezooki I related to her & red the letters & telegram of Alexander to her, she was in an awful exciting way and would go by Steamer to Marseilles; Rufail had got a telegram from R. Korkis about dates business & he answers him to say that Alexander had left for Marseilles o the 27 Septr. but that is not true, for his telegram to me in Baghdad was dated the 4 Instt from Paris ~ I find no telegram for me here in answer to mine of the 5th to Père Pièrre & Alexander, so as to ascertain about the nature of Alexander's illness if true we proposed to send the following telegram to Ibrahim Gejou with reply paid; "Gejou " 3 Place Cambronne " Paris " Alexander pretend "Malade informèz nature "Maladie, insistèr départ "Marseilles Arabistan, "dix payè Svoboda 28 Words 10 for Reply I then took the telegram & went to G. Asfar & had a talk with him & explained & showed him the telegrams he told that Père Pièrre having engaged passage from Strick to Basreh by the Arabistan leaving Marseilles on the 30 and coming out here by all means, & will be a very good occasion for Alexander I gave him my telegram to be sent in to Basreh & he will pay for it, and I will settle all I owe to him afterward & I left & came to Eliza, we are leaving today they say but the mail has not arrived; I breakfasted with them & came on board with; Yousif Marine at 11 am; There are here the SS. Tresco the Koordistan, Lahristan Brookside & the Lawrence of the Bushire Residency, The Redbreast man of war & the B. I. S. Khandalla are in quarantine, also the SS. Heronspool for Asfar ~ We are discharging and Shipping cargo & coal; Eliza came on board at 3 P.M. also Yousif her brother; she brought me my clean lȋnen clothes & remained till 5 P.M; herself & me were very sorry for Alexander & not having received any telegrams she is determined to go to Marseilles & Paris by one of the steamers now here, but I told her to await until we receive some news of Alexander; I made out an other telegram for Pere Pièrre to be sent urging him to do all his possible to bring Alexander with him; we finished loading at 5 P.M. no news of the mail from Bushire ~ It is awfully warm, calm & dampy a very extraordinary weather for this time of the month, Eliza went away with Rezooki: her son at 5 1/2 P.M. we received the Basreh mail, Basreh to Baghdad [11 OCT 1898 --- V048_08_N] (//) 11 Tuesd. Therm @ 74 PassgOkesG.S. PiastDraft 1789516813367 1/43,,8 At 6,,15 P.M. we left Basreh, very calm & warm, clouds have cleared off & a light N. Ely breeze which cooled a little the atmosphere, Ship is drawing 3,,9 Inches At 12 passed the Mossul going down ~ At 0,,30 AM. passed Gorna, Very light air ~ At 4,,15 passed Azair & at 4,,25 anchored above it ~ At 5,,15 proceeded Light N.W. air & fine ~ At 6,,40 came to the shoal at Ghumeyjeh; a boat aground in the Channel, we took out an anchor ahead & so took several one after the other & hove up some distance; At 10,,50 we steamed on; stopping & backing ; ~ Further up the reach we came to the strong current & shoal & touched they took anchor out ahead & hove ~ Light Ely breeze with some clouds; we kept heaving & steaming against the strong narrow current At 2,,55 P.M. hove ahead and went on easy all the while ~ We have altogether 110 passengers (2 free by L.Broth_ (one in 1st Class only to Amara Yousif Azawi Azeiyez ) A very light breeze from n.w. & clouds disappeared ~ At 7,,35 P.M. landed 2 passengers at Kalat Saleh and went on at 7,,40 ~ 12 Wednes Ther @ 5,65 At 0,,45 am arrived at Amara landed 18 passengers Took in 8 Tons of coal; At 2,,45 left Amara weather getting cloudy & in the morning it became very cloudy covering all over with a light S. Ely breeze; Took 41 passengers from Amara, At 8 passed Ali Sherghi At 9,,55 P.M. sent the boat at Ali Sherli & got 2 passenge & went on at 1 P.M. From 4 till 4,,30 we were detained at Seyd Abbass in trying to pass the shoal between two Boats aground in the channel; Weather keeps cloudy all over with S. Ely wind & very warm & disagreable, At 6,30 passed Sheik Saad weather cleared up & became fine ~ 13 Thurs Ther @ 5.73 [A48_161_21:043] At 1,,15 AM. arrived at Coot, landed 9 passengers Took in 5 Tons of coal, and remained for the night; At 5,15 left Coot, Modte N. W. wind, very hazy and dusty but is clearing off Took 25 Passengers from Coot, (1 in 1st Class a Bimbashy Ahmed Beker Effendi) At 8,,45 we touched & grounded at Nefeshyeh above Algaya reach, where the SS Phrat & Barge bound down, is also trying to get through; at 9.5 she came down & went on ; we took out the anchor & hove over, At 9,,30 we went on; ~ Strong n.w. wind blowing At 1,,30 P.M. passed Memlah ~ Detained at Deboony in Shoal water & aground not being able to pass through the channel on East bank & hov back, & went through the opposite Channel on west bank from 4 P.M till 5,,5 when we steamed over & went on, there being 2 3/4 draaz~ Light n.w. breeze & fine weather; At 7,,15 we touched the shoal at the bottom of Shedeif; we grounded, sent to sound & we hove fore & aft & walked in heaving four times took out anchors At 10,,45 got off & proceeded fine cool night ~ 14 Frid Therm @ 6.0 [A48_163_11:044] [A48_163_17:045] [A48_165_02:046] [A48_165_04:047] Light n.w. breeze & cool weather ~ At 2,25 Am passed Azizeh, At 4, ground below Rmelat, sounded & took & anchor out & hove off, at 5 proceeded At 6,,45 passed Baghdadieh Very cool morning, the water is very cold; A curious thing worth mentioning ~ Today being the day I arrived in Baghdad last year coming back from Europe Via Aleppo, on the 12 I had reached the village of Ramadi; & there met the Kaimakam Haji Taleb Effendi (my old friend & formerly was at Azizieh) he was very kind to me & offered me his hospitality that day; and this morning in passing Swereh village at 8 1/4 I saw him on the bank standing & we saluted each other, I had not seen him since that time he has been shifted to this place about 3 months ago ~ At 1,,40 P.M. passed the SS. Khalifah going down below Temrah reach ~ At 3,5 P.M. passed the SS. Ressafah & Barge going down at Joorf el Batta; At 3,,30 passed Ctesiphon, At 4,,30 passed the Shoal at Gusseiba without touching Detained at Jaffer 15 minutes in going through the Channel, Very light n.w. breeze & fine cool weather ; At 6,,15 passed Diala river; At 7 1/2 we passed the Bridge cut open & I could see the blazing lights of the Christian incampment the Tents of Korkis & his other relations on the opposite side 18 Tents & those above the bridge on this about 25 Tents & further up on the bank of Gherrarah Garden Dr. Sakhur with his 6 Tents, & Still further up my Sister Emilia & her daughter Alice with 3 Tents;~ At 10,,5 landed the Mails at the Residency & went up to the Custom house; no steamers are here~ I landed & went home my servant Meekha says that Alexander's letters are with the Postman H. Mahomed who refused to give them to any one except me, because I had received the letters open last time, & even no telegram from Alexander, they say that the wire has been broken for the last 4 days;~ I slept in the room & it was not warm at all;~ 1898 Octor Satur 15 Therm @ 6.62 Light N.W. & fine cool weather; I sent the Servant early to look out for the Postman but could not be found, at 8 am. I Came on board; sent money to the Office & went home at 10, called on Sister Medula on my way; at 11 I Got the letter of Alexander the Postman brought it only one of last week, the letter of this week has not arrived on Thursday & is expected today; this one is dated the 16 Septr. he Complains very bitterly of his indisposition being very ill with fever and diarrhea & also the pain on his side (which he mentioned in his telegram of the 4t Octer as Coté & we could not make out the meaning) he also complains of not having any money, & living very miserably; R. Korkis would not advance him any money & so he is starving & unable to voyage because he is unwell & so on, I made out 2 Telegrams one for Père Pièrre & one for Alexander but the wire is not working for the last 4 days; I took a cold bath at home Johny & Artin called on me; Light N.W. & fine cool weather; I slept in my room & was not warm; 16 Sund Therm @ 5.62 [A48_168_03:048] Light N.W. & fine cool weather; I called on Catterina Yaghchi at 7 1/2 am to see her brother Père Louis (Johny) who arrived from Mossul Yesterday on leave ii is 12 years since he had left Baghdad to become a Priest in Corsica like his brother Père Augustin, he is now 34 years old very stout & healthy, he has been 6 years in Mossul & other place up above I went to church, today is a Holyday of St Theresa called [strikeout] on Menusha & Sister Medula;~ at 2 P.M. called on Sister Eliza My two telegrams were sent back to me this evening by the employé Rafooli saying that the line is still interrupted beyond Constple~ I went to dine at Sister Eliza & came home at 9 P.M.; 17 Mond [A48_169_08:049] [A48_169_16:050] [A48_170_05:051] [A48_170_16:052] Light N.W. & fine cool weather~ at 8 am I came on board; We are discharging; went home at 9 1/2 & at 10 I went to see Dr. Rosen the German Consul who had called on me on Saturday evening to bid me Goodbye as he leaves for Persia (Teheran) this week to be employed there at the Embassy I believe as Mr. Richarz is returning back here & he must he now somewhere at Aleppo; but Dr. Rosen was too busy & packing his Kit, he could not see me, I left my card, And I got a donkey and rode out to Gherrara to see my sister Emilia & Alice encamped there, I had to dismount before reaching the tents as the donkey was very bad & gave it to the Sakka Ismail & told him to sent me an other one at 2 P.M. I breakfasted with them & having waited till 3 P.M. without seeing the donkey coming, so I walked in, & met the donkey just inside the gardens so I did not required it any more; I reached home at 4~ I went to the Raffooli of the Telegraph employé & he said that the line is broken still; but I gave him the two telegrams & asked him to send [strikeout] them tomorrow or the day after as soon as the line is open because I want Alexander & Père Pièrre to get them in time as the Arabistan leaves Marseilles on the 30 Instt;~ I came home 18 Tuesd Therm @ 6.6 Light N.W. & fine~ At Light N.W. & fine~ at 8 am I came on board; At 11 I went home to breakfast I sent the money for the Two Telegrams to be sent for Père Pièrre & Alexander Frcs 35 1/4 to Raffooli who said that he will go today to see if the line is established, I came on board, at 1 P.M. We are shipping cargo; At 4 1/2 went on shore called on Catterina Yaghchi to see her brother Père Louis but he was not there; I also called on Yacoob Oossey & came home at 5 1/2; Johny called on me till 7 1/2~ Light N.W. & fine weather; 19 Wedns Therm @ 6.64 [A48_175_01:053] Light N.W. breeze & fine weather; at 8 am I came on board~ Today being my birth- day, born in 1840;~ Raffooli the employé of the Telegraph came to me yesterday and said that he has wired my two telegrams & think they will be forwarded on today or tomorrow, he brought me the two receipts & I had paid him the charges all to Frcs 35,,25; These are the telegrams; "Pere Pièrre "Missionaire Couvent Carmes "Pompe Passy "Paris "Comptons sur votre influence "obligèz Alexandre, 124 "Rue Rennes [strikeout] "Vous accompagner Sans "aucune excuse, veuillièz "remboursèr dépense" "jusque Marseille, Asfar "informé Saumièr passage "payé Bassora, Archèvéque "télégraphia Cardinal "Richard particulièr 39 mots Svoboda 18/10/98 Fics 22,,10 I also wired to Alexander "Svoboda "124 Rue Rennes "Paris "Requested father Pièrre "Couvent Carmes Pompe "Passy pay your expenses "must accompany him "Arabistan leaves Marseilles "30th;~ 23 words Svoboda 18/10/98 Frcs 13,,15 The S.S. Comet left this morning early with Major Melville the Actg Consul General, for Khemassah to Shoot partridges;~ At 10 1/2 I went home to breakfast; & at 11 I received two telegrams one from Père Pièrre & one from Alexander, both are dated the 12th Instt; "Svoboda "Bagdad "Tranquiliséz Santè Alexandre, tacherai "voyagèr ensemble "Pièrre The other from Alexander, "Svoboda "Bagdad " Treatment require money "if please authorize Ottom= "bank~ At 12 after my breakfast, I went to the Ottoman Bank saw the manager Mr. Khitchly & asked him to let me have a bill on the Ottoman Bank in Paris for 200 francs in the name of Père Pièrre & gave him his address; he told me to send for it after a short time & the money too, the franc is reckoned at 4 G. S. P. & 15 Paras & T Liras at 100 P. I then sent the following telegrams, one to my wife Eliza thus. "Sayegh "Basreh "Father Pierre and Alexander "wire well coming together "19/10/98 Svoboda "11 words 17 1/4 G. S. P. Yousif Korkis came to me and brought me 3 letters from his brother Rezooki for me all opened enclosed in his letters also all the letters of Alexander sent to Rezooki, they are awful & Rezooki writes very badly about Alexanders affair they are dated the 26 Augst 9 & 23 Sept; & about the extravagant expenses he had been making; At 5 P.M. we finished loading & hauled out, I went home; Johny & Artin called on me to read the letters & telegrams about Alexander; Light N.W. & fine weather Moon 3 days old; 20 Thurs [A48_177_17:054] [A48_177_21:055] [A48_179_24:056] [A48_180_13:057] Light N.W. & fine cool weather~ At 5, Am I came on board; Baghdad to Basreh [20 OCT 1898 --- V048_09_S] (//) PassgrsOkesGS. PiastDraft 249.101,37526,211 3/43,,0 At 6 AM. We proceeded Ship drawing 3 feet 8 Inches Fine Cool weather~ We have Mr. Bottomley Mr. Blumsum & Alfred Holland with their servants & kit going down shooting at Khemasseh; also Mr. & Mrs. Hurner & children & 3 servants going to the S.S. Comet at Khemasseh being invited by Major Melville they occupy a Cabin, they pay only 1 1/2 TLira as Mr. Bottomly told me so; also a Mr. Jérôme Priem Belgian coming from Persia & going up the Karoun he is employed in the Custom House, and Rezooki son of Yousif Naman Clerk of Bank Puttman in 1st Class to Basreh; I sent yesterday afternoon the following telegram to father Pièrre Paris "Père Pièrre "Couvent Carmes "Pompe Passy Paris "Encaissèz 200 francs "Ottombanque, frais "Alexandre Svoboda 14 words 8 Fr. 20 Cts The Bank also wired to Paris to the Ottoman Bank to pay father Pièrre and I paid 40 1/2 G. S. P. or 8 Fr. 10 Cts. We got detained 15 minuts on a shoal (at Um el Adam (above Kher Canal) At 8,,50 passed Diala river; At 9,,20 anchored at Jaffer to sound; at 9,,50 proceeded~ at 10,,15 anchored to sound at Gusseiba At 10,,45 proceeded & grounded At 11,,35 backed off and proceeded~ At 0,,5 P.M. passed Ctesiphon; We have altogether 202 passengers (4 in 1st class Mr. & Mrs. Hurner for Khanaseh and the Belgian Mr. Jérôme Priem & son of Yousif Naman for Basreh);~ Also 5 free, 2 Tilkeflies and the wife of Hanna Shamsy the Caretaker of Maghil & two servants with her on the hatch; At 2,,10 we anchored near the Comet above Khannasah on the high bank where Major Melville has 3 Tents pitched, landed Hurner his Wife & servants & kit & we went on at 2,,30 P.M.~ At 3 We anchored at Ledje in the middle of the reach being choosen by me at the request of Alfred Holland to point out a good place for them to encamp, here we found Major Melville with a small tent & the Comets boat also the Engineers Tom Dexter & Mr. Bamian & a Zaptyeh with some Arabs pitching the tent, We landed the party close by with their Kit and We left at 3,,45 At 5,,5 anchored to sound at Thabtyeh (Lower Dawer) and at 5,,30 proceeded At 7,,20 passed Baghdadieh Fort~ At 8,,30 we anchored at Rmelat for the night; Light N.W. breeze & fine Weather; 21 FridTh@ 6. 62 1898 Octor Light N.W. & fine cool weather At 6 AM left Rmelat, At 7,,15 passed Azizieh, Detained below Azizieh in shoal water from 7,,30 to 7,,55, At 9,,30 passed the S.S. Khalifah going up at Toweil, I saw Faust Lurion on board going up, he comes from Vienna as he usually does every 3 or 4 Years for his business; At 1,,10 P.M. passed Nemlah, At 2,,20 anchored to sound at Mehdi & left at 2,,40; At 5,,15 passed the S. Mossul & Barge going up at Umel Boomy deeply laden with passengers & Soldiers~ At 6,,40 Arrived at Coot landed 32 passengers and 62 Packages~ I received Henry's letter, also letter from my wife, she says that there is no telegrams or news from Alexander as the wire was interrupted, & she is in a great anxiety about him & wants to leave in the S. Heronspool of Asfar for Marseille~ The Khalifah has 72,600 Okes of Cargo, & about 160 passengers, We finished cargo at 7 1/2 & remained for the night 22 Satur Th@6. 68 Light S. Erly air & fine~ At 6,,15 Am left Coot, took 14 1/2 Passengers; Detained aground at Seyd Abbass from 12 Am till 0,,45 P.M. & hove off with an anchor, and again grounded at 1; hove back for a long distance, floated & in steaming down again grounded hove off and sent to sound; having found the Channel further up, we steamed up and dropped down stern formost close alongside the eastern sand bank & turned round & went on at 5,,30 P.M.~ Light N.W. and fine Weather; At 7,,50 We rounded & came to at Ali Gherbi & landed 2 passengers, & took in 6. At 8,,10 the SS. Phrat & Barge came up from Basreh~ We remained at anchor for the night Light N.W. & fine cool weather 23 Sund Th@6. 63 1898 Octor Light N.W. & fine cool morning, At 6 Am. We left Ali Gherbi~ Clouds are coming on from the South in light patches~ At 10 passed Ali Sherghi, At 2,,20 P.M. arrived at Amara landed 42 1/2 passengers and 123 Packages, I received here a telegram from Alexander dated the 18th, which has been transmitted to me yesterday from Baghdad, by Rafooly the employé, but is so incomprehensible~ " Svoboda Baghdad " unreplieu imploring " live persisting causes " dispair certainly leave " when health permets " reply;~ I cannot make out whether this is Ibrahim Gejou's reply of my telegram from Basreh of the 10th Octor; At 4,,15 P.M. we left Amara Took 26 1/2 passengers~ At 7,,45 anchored for the night above Kalat Saleh, Light N.W. & fine Weather, it became very cool at night 24 Mond Th@6. 61 1898 Octor Light N.W. & fine cool weather~ At 5,,50 am proceeded from below Kalat Saleh; Detained 10 minutes in turning round the reach above Aboo Roba~ At 8,,15 anchored just below the Elbow reach, the steering chain parted in striking her stern against the bank; At 9,,26 proceeded after having repaired & put a new block~ Anchored above Ghumeyjeh & sent to sound at 9,,30, At 10,,30 weighed and went on easy, there is plenty water from 3 to 3 1/2 draaz; no other steamers stopes or gets detained at this place except us every time whether down or up~ At 10,,45 grounded below Ghumeyjeh canal; took an anchor out Astern & hove off, At 11,,50 proceeded At 0,,30 P.M. passed Azair At 3,,35 landed 8 1/2 passengers at Gorna & went on at 3,,40~ At 7,,45 arrived at Basreh; The mail of last week for the Khalifah has only arrived yesterday; There are here the SS. Lawrence the "Heronspool" for Asfar & the "Tresco" for G. Mackenzie; I went over in Rufails Belem to his house saw Eliza, Rufail & Rezooki only there; I red to Eliza all the letters from Alexander & R. Korkis & the telegrams etc, we were all Very sorry & disheartened at his doings, Roofail has received a telegram from Alexander yesterday it is dated the 21st (he knows that his mother is in Basreh from my telegrams, it says. " Sayegh. Basreh " Father severe, pennyless, " despair without mother's " assistance reply 124 " Rennes~ he wants nothing but money and does not say anything about when he leaves and whether he accompanies Père Pièrre;~ We turned in at midnight but could not sleep~ The SS. Ressafah had left this evening & we passed her at 7 P.M. above Maghil, 25 Tuesd 1898 Octor Very light N.W. & cool morning; I breakfasted with Eliza & Roofail & Rezooki also Yousif Marine came down; we made out a telegram for Alexander in Roofails name in answer to his, this " Svoboda " 124 Rue Rennes, Paris " Parents absolutely refuse " remittance, unless accompanying " Pièrre, otherwise useless " telegraphing~ 25/10/98 Sayegh I went over to G. Asfar to enquire when the Arabistan leaves Marseilles & he told that she has left Manchester on the 20th & probably shall not leave Marseilles before the 3 or 5th of Novr; so I asked him to wire to Saunièr about Alexander's passage if he comes in her or in any other steamer; so he made this telegram out; " Saunièr Marseille " Passage steamer paid " whichever steamer takes Frcs 4,,85 and he sent it, I settled with him about all the telegrams he had sent for me & paid him Frcs 46,,55, & also GSPiast 32 1/2 to Baghdad I came on board at 10 1/2 Am we are loading & discharging cargo~ My Wife Eliza came in the afternoon & remained till 5 P.M also Yousif her brother & Rezooki her son, We finished shipping cargo at 4 P.M.~ Weather got warm & calm Misty; We are waiting for Lynch Brothers Letters, & Mrs. Hall a Clerk of L. Lynch & Co of Baghdad who came down in the Khalifah & is returning With us;~ Basreh to Baghdad [26 OCT 1898 --- V048_10_N] (//) PassgOkesG.S.P. LocalDraft 1249890410,392 1/43,,9 At 6,,45 P.M. we got under- way; Fine Weather, but rather dampy~ 26 Wedn. Th@6. 62 1898 Octor Ghadban Sheikh of Beni Laam 1898 Octor At 0,,40 AM. passed Gorna At 4,,25 anchored below Azair~ At 6 We proceeded At 6,,10 passed Azair Very light air & dampy morning but fine weather; Detained at Jamsheh above Ghumeyjeh from 8,,15 till 10 in shoal water and going easy~ also at the Elbow & above it, lost about 1/4 hour; Finished with the passengers tickets, we have 81 1/2 (3 in 1st Class Cabin, Mrs Hall Clerk of S Lynch & her son about 9 years, a Mahomedan Mahmood Effendi Clerk in the Seraî of Basreh, & the mother of Kassim Khdery to Amara paying except Mrs Hall free) also 3 Men & Women family of Tilkefli crew of Basreh free, At 1,,40 P.M. passed Kalat Saleh; At 6,,10 P.M. arrived at Amara landed 18 passengers We took 10 Tons of Coal & 8 packages of copper & skins, Ghadban the Sheikh of Beni Laam is still at large he has gone beyond Howeiza in the [strikeout] Persian territory; & is obstinate and refuses to come back & refuses to return the plunder of sheep & other things which his Arabs have taken away from other tribes & traders; The Turkish Governt here is too Weak to chastise him, & cannot do anything without the sanction from Constple and so things are growing worse & worse, the traffic on the river, between Amara & Coot is unsafe, Boats are getting plundered by other tribes in the name of the Beni Laam tribe; They are again going to send Abdulkadur Khdery tomorrow to Ghadban being a friend of his to try and persuade him to return to his place on the bank of the river, his first visit to him proved fruitless At 7,,55 P.M. left Amara Light air & fine weather, moon 9 days old; 27 Thursd Th@ 6,,64 1st rise of the river [A48_193_04:058] Light S.E. & fine~ at 6,,10 A.M. landed 2 passengers at Ali Gherbi & took one and went on at 6,,15~ Gave tickets to 16 Amara passengers; (one in 1st Class Cabin a Turkish Colonel Kerim Beg Kaimakam) At 8,,30 passed the SS. Ressafah & Barge going up Detained at Seyd Abbass in shoal water from 8,,45 till 9,,15~ We see a little rise in the river today after passing Sheikh Saad for the first time in this season, At 5,,40 P.M. arrived at Coot, landed 6 passengers, and took 5 Tons of Coal The river rose about 8 Inches here & stopped, Mr. Julietti the Superintendant of Telegraph & Post is here, he came on board he arrived here from Mendeli & Bedra on the 11th he had been Constructing a line from Mendeli to Bedra, & here connecting it with this line & is going down to Ali Gherbi & Gorna to inspect the line; At 6,,50 P.M. We left Coot; Fine clear Weather; light N.W. breeze~ 28 Frid Th@6. 65 1898 Octor At 1,,45 Am landed two passengers at Bughela & Went on at 1,,50~ At 2,,15 passed Nemlah, Light N.W. & fine~ Gave tickets to 25 1/2 Coot passengers I have got cold all over my body, head all aching & had slight fever at night I think it is on Account of the light Cotton Clothes which I still wear; At 8,,30 passed the S.S. Khalifah going down, I saw (Johny Sayegh) Père Louis, and Edward Blockey are on board going to Basreh; We met at Zeljeh island~ At 10,,10 passed Azizieh At 1,,35 P.M. passed Baghdadieh Fort; At 6,,15 We came to & went alongside at Ledj & took on board Alfred Holland & Mr. Blumsum & George Cowley (the latter came down on the Khalifah yesterday) with their Kit & servants & left at 6,,40~ I received here a letter left by Henry & a letter from Alexander arrived last Thursday the 20 Inst; he complains very bitterly of his indisposition & unable to leave Paris, & wants money, he being very weak to travel & so on Like the former letters, his letter is dated the 30 Septr,             They tell me there is no shooting here very few partridges to be found,             At 7,,15 stopped with the Comet at Khemasseh, and gave the mail to Major Melvîlle, they have had very little sport, they have shot altogether about 80 partridges ~ At 7,,25 we went on ;             At 10,,20 passed Ctesiphon, 29 (illegible) Satur 1898 Octor 1898 Octor             At 1,,30 Am passed Diala, Very fine & cool weather with moonlight night,             At 4,,50 landed the maids at the Residency and went to the Custom House ~ The Mossul & Phrat are here; At 5 ½ am I went home found the house alright with our servant [space] Meekha [space] & his wife Khokhy; I got the second letter from Alexander sent to me by Johny, it is dated the 7 Octor; also a letter from [space] Blockey answering mine of the 18 Aug; ~ I feel very unwell I have the diarrhea since day break with pain in stomach & bones aching [space] & painful it is a cold I got since three days for not having put on my woolen & flannel which I ought to have done about 10 days ago; I feel very weak & unable to go out; Sister Medula came to see me at 9 am ~ Also Père Emmanuel and about 10 minutes after he had left he returned to me with a Telegram which he had just received from Père Pièrre Paris in which he says Carmes Baghdad Partirai [space] Novembre avec Père Jean et [space] Alexandre Avertissèz Svoboda Pièrre, it is dated the 26 Octor, I was very glad to hear this news, but why did not Alexander telegraphed to me,             I sent a telegram to my wife immediately & copied her the above telegram             I remained at home not able to go out being so weak from the diarrhea, I took a few drops of some Cholera mixture from Grzeski, which [space] Medoola sent me & it stopped it; I also changed my Cotton flannel put a light woollen one & felt much better on it; Johny & Artin called in the evening ~             Light N.W. & fine cool weather ~             There are lots of Small Pox in Baghdad for the last 20 days all amongst the young children & mostly among the Jews ~ 30 Sund             Light N.W. & fine cool weather at 8 am I went to the Latin Church & then called on Catherina Yaghchi on Sister Medula, Menusha, Mina Abood & came home had breakfast;             at 2 P.M. called on sister Eliza & came home at 4             The SS. Mossul left this morning at 6 ~.             Light N.W. & fine clear weather, no rain has yet fallen any where at all & the price of grain is rising; Barley from 160 P. to 175/90 the wozna (illegible) of 78 Okes wheat from 380 to 450 & so on; 31 Mond therm @ 6.60             Light N.W. & fine weather at 8 am I came on board and paid the ship’s company their wages for this month,             I went to the office to Mr. Bottomley for some questions regarding the pay of some people; Came home at 12; I took a warm bath;             At 4 P.M. called on Eliza [illegible] also on Sister Medula & came home at 5 ¼             Johny & Artin called on me till 7 P.M. ;             Fine cool weather; Novr 1 (illegible) Therm@6.58 1898 Novr [A48_200_08:059] [A48_200_14:060]             I called at 8 am on Père Augustine he says that Monseîgneur Altmayer will leave Mossul for Baghdad in about 8 days more; I came on board at 9; we are shipping cargo; The S.S. Phrat & Barge left for Basreh at 6 am; ~ at 10 ½ I went home; ~ I heard that Yousif Metchich has arrived from Aleppo this morning with his niece Mina I went to see him, he has been 23 days on the road; he saw Mr. Richarz the German Consul returning to Baghdad, he was in the Hotel of Kewark, and is coming after few days,             At 2 P.M. I came on board, we are shipping cargo;             At 5 went home ~ Light N.W. & fine cool weather 2 Wedn Therm@6.59 [A48_201_06:061]             Light N.Ely & fine cool weather ~ at 8 am called on Menusha & then came on board ~ The Ressafah came inside to discharge, The river is as low as ever, there is no rise at all;             Antone Marine came on board to see me, he is still outside in the house at Gherrarah of the Nawab & Ahmed Agha with JebooryAsfar’s wife & children; I had not seen him for more than a month;             Weather is changing, it is getting cloudy & at 11 I went to breakfast & came on board at 1 P.M.; We shipped all the cargo that came having about 84000 (illegible) Okes;             At 5 I went home; Johny & Artin called till 7 P.M.; Light N.W. & fine cool weather 3 Thurs Therm@6.52 1898 Novr [A48_202_20:062] [A48_203_07:063] 1898 Nov             Light N.W. & fine ~ at 5 ½ am I came on board, Baghdad to Basreh [3 NOV 1898 --- V048_11_S] (//) PassgrsOkesG. S. PiastDraft 212 1/288,26521,632 1/23,,6 At 6 am. we proceeded, We passed Gherrarah & the Bridge cut open for us, I see all the Tents are ant out there yet, no one has gone in,             At 8,,25 passed Diala At 9,,20 anchored at Gusseiba to sound; At 9,,40 proceeded             At 10,,20 Stopped with the Comet alongside at Ctesiphon just above Hudeitha, and a Tent on the bank, Major Melville the Acting Resident is shooting sandgrouse (Gettas) on the sand bank with the Engineer Mr. Bamian & Tom Dexter, we landed Mr. Hürner & Mr. Maclaughlin the Assistant Director in the Ottoman Bank, we charged them deck passage each 26 ¼ G. S. P. Hurner has his wife & children still in the Comet, he had gone to town on Sundays ~ at 10,,35 we went on;             We have in all 175 ½ Passengers & 4 free; (2 in 1st class, Mr. Cooper in the Société du Tombae going to Bushire & B. Abbass and a Jew Aboodi Zeekha to Basreh) and Alfred Holland & Polus Bahoshi the Engineer of Lynch’s Wool Press going to Coot to get a piece of ground for the erection of a wool press for Lynch & Co like that at Amara,             At 3 P.M. landed a man at Swera & went on;             At 4.5 P.M. passed Baghdadieh Fort;             At 6 P.M. we rounded and came to at Raddat for the night, light N.W. and fine clear weather; moon 18 days old ~             Light S.Ely, with clouds scattered about & dampy. 1898 Nov 4 Frid [A48_204_09:064]             At 6 Am. we left Raddat             At 6,,30 passed Azazieh,             At 9 met the SS Khalifah coming up at Shedeif, we stopped and sent Capt Cowley’s younger son Victor on board to return with his sister Beaty (Mrs. Hanslow being on board) & the other son Douglas remained with us to go down & up; ~ At 9,,5 we went on. I got a letter from Henry, they have a new Captain for the Comet Capt Cooper, Davorzica & his wife & other natives in 1st Class & 274 passengers in all & 82000 Okes, he has left my letters & papers at Coot;             At 10,,20 stopped at Debooni and sent to sound;             At 10,,40 proceeded on, At 0,,45 P.M. passed Memlah             At 5,,35 arrived at Coot, landed 34 ½ passengers, also Alfred Holland, Polus Bahoshy & 2 servants, & 12 packages;             I received Henry’s letter & my paper, also a letter from my wife, she has received my telegram from Baghdad of the 29th Ulto; but she says that Jeboory Asfar told them that the Arabistan must have left Marseilles on the 29th Ulto; so Père Pièrre & Alexander could not have left in her since Père Pièrre says in his telegram that they are leaving in November;             We remained at Coot for the night; Fine weather with light N. Ely breeze; 5thSatur Therm@6.62 1898 Novr             Light N. Ely with few clouds             At 6,,05 Am left Coot after hoving sent the Pilot to sound below the village; but we touched & worked her off & went on at 6,,45.             Took 20 passengers from Coot and all for Amara             Detained at Seyd Abbas in dropping down along the East sand bank from 12 ½ till one & again anchored at 1 P.M. just after passing the shoal, & sent to sound the lower one, At 1,,30 P.M. proceeded, weather cloudy,             At 3,,25 P.M. landed 4 Passengers and 4 Carabas Arak at Ali Gherbi & went on at 3,,35; Clouds disappearing there is only a patch right ahead, Breeze from N.W.             At 12 P.M. arrived at Amara landed 52 passengers and 90 packages;             Very light S.Ely breeze and cloudy overcast, 6 Sund Arabs object closing Canals (vertical) 1898 Novr (vertical) 1st Rain, 1898 Novr             At 5,,50 Am left Amara weather became cloudy & light N. Ely breeze, overcast & getting gloomy & misty;             Took 17 Amara passengers (one an Arab free sent up by Lynch Brothers to examine & report on the closing of some Canals by the Turkish Governt; & he says that there has been nothing done as the Arabs object to having some of them closed, and the Governt: do not enforce them for their benefit in the time being, but the fools do not see that they are cutting their own throats for in a short time the river will be ruined and the navigation & traffic stopped & the whole country will starve) ~             The SS. Phrat had arrived at Amara down at 10 P.M. last night & left at 1 am this morning for Basreh,             At 8,,30 passed Kalat Saleh, it became very cloudy gloomy, & at 10 ¼ it rained a light shower, the first time in the season;             At 1 P.M. passed Azair (having left ½ hour above Ghumeyjeh & the Elbow) weather very cloudy & misty wintry days ~             At 3 a strong breeze blew from S. Et & brought a squall of dust which passed up the weather very cloudy & threatening;             At 4 P.M. landed 2 passengers at Gorna, the SS. Phrat has just left about 10 minutes ago; Mr. Guilietti is here he came down from Coot I sent him his papers & letter at 4,,10 we went on it is raining lightly;             At 4,,50 passed the Phrat rain ceased but remained cloudy dampy weather, It became very cloudy and dark after sunset; light S.Ely breeze;             At 8,,35 P.M. arrived at Basreh, there is the SS. Cogent for Asfar & Co here & the Esther, also the SS. Mossul The Gunboat “Redbreast” is further down; & the SS. Abdulkadur from Constple in the quarantine ground also the mail S. Kilwa             I went up to Rufail’s house & saw my wife there; they have news from Alexander since I left Baghdad; and they say that the Arabistan has left Marseilles on the 1st  Instt as Gabriel Asfar has told them, so Père Pièrre & Alexander could not have come out in her,             Rufail is still building his upper story, they have had lots of rain here today for about 2 hours & the ground is very muddy, weather keeps very cloudy & dark; 7 Mond Light S. Westerly and cloudy; at 9 am I came on board the Mejidieh, she is alongside the Blosse Lynch shipping cargo out of her; The Redbreast left this morning for down the river to patrol the river between this & Fao; The S.S. Phrat arrived last night at 10 3/4 P.M.; At 12 am I took Cowley's son Douglas with me to Rufails house where he stopped for 2 or 3 hours & sent him back; Jeboory Asfar called on us in the evening, he says that the Arabistan has left Marseilles on the 31st Octor; ~ Weather became fine with a Light n.w. breeze; 8 Tuesd 1898 noon [A48_211_08:065] Light N.W. & fine weather At 8 am I left Rufail's house & came on board, we are still alongside the Blosse shipping cargo; & at noon we finished loading ; Père Louis (Johny Sayegh) who came down in the Khalifah last time, and Edward Blockey are going up with us in 1st Class cabin, the latter has a deck passage and occupies a 1st Class; My wife Eliza came on board for 2 hours also Rufail & Rezooki & Nessoory Andrea etc; Some clouds are coming on, light n.w. breeze & not cool at all; we received the mail at 4 P.M.; Basreh to Baghdad [9 NOV 1898 --- V048_12_N] (//) PassgOkesG. S. P. LocalDraft 238131,55917167 ¼3,,11 At 4,45 P.M. we got underway & proceeded, very light air & fine ~ We have Edward Blockey in 1st Class paying deck & messing with us, also Père Louis (Johny Sayegh) paying 1st Class but he messes in his Cabin from the ship; At 10,,45 passed Gonna 9 Wedn 1898 Novr Light n.w. & fine but dampy weather, at 2,,50 Am. passed Azair, at 3,,20 anchored ~ At 6 proceeded; we passed Ghumeyjeh alright without touching; We passed the SS. Ressafah bound down at 10 ~ We went easy all the time since this morning until we got up to near K. Saleh Finished with the passengers tickets; We have in all 167 (2 in 1st C. Père Louis & Edward my nephew,) 9 are Persians with through tickets from Bushire; At 1,,50 P.M. landed 2 passengers at Kalat Saleh & went on; At 6,,30 arrived at Amara landed 28 passengers & the 6 Zaptyes; Took in 8 Tons of coal; we shipped some cargo as ghee & copper etc, they say here that the river rose about 4 Inches; (We landed here 100 empty coal Baskets & 2 Bundles of Coir rope & a large boats sail for Abdul Kadur Khdery free of freight by Capt Order and Abdul Kadur gave the Captain a sheep, a gazelle and 4 Bags of rice as present, and all the kit that came on board with Abdul Kadur’s mother free also) ~ At 8,,30 P.M. we left Amara; Light n.w. & fine clear weather; 10 Thursd The 6.54 Light S. Erly & fine cold morning At 6,,40 AM. landed 5 passengers at Ali Gherbi took 4 1/2 & went on at 6,,55 gave tickets to 43 1/2 Amara passengers; (one in 1st Class the mother of Abdul Kadur Khdery) ~ At 12 am landed 4 passengers and 3 packages at Sheikh Saad and went on at 0,,5 PM. At 6,20 we grounded below Coot reach & kept working with the Engines & then grounded took an anchor out & hove off; at 8,25 proceeded At 8,,35 arrived at Coot landed 9 passengers, took 5 Tons of coal, Alfred Holland & Polus & 2 servants came on board to go back with us , The piece of ground is brought near our Coal Depôt for the wool Press~ At 10,30 we left Coot, 11 Frid The @ 6.55 1898 Novr Light n.w. & fine, some clouds are appearing; at 4,,30 Am. we touched the shoal at Mehdi sounded & found little water took out anchors ahead & hove over ; at 7,,50 proceeded ~ Gave tickets to 23 Coot passengers Weather becoming cloudy, At 9,,10 passed Memlah At 10,30 touched at Sheresh and could not pass after trying several times; so we anchored & Capt Cowley went to sound (as the Pilot was asleep) at 12 we went on alright ~ Getting cloudy all over with a S. westly breeze ~ At 0,,15 P.M. passed the SS. Khalifah going down I saw Jeboory Asfar's wife & her two children going down in her ; Toward sunset the clouds begun to clear off toward the south, a light n.w breeze prevails, At 6,,15 P.M. passed Azizieh, At 8,,15 grounded at Rmelat sounded & took an anchor out hove back, at 10,,15 proceeded ~ At 11,,50 passed Baghdadieh fine cold weather ; 12 Satur Ther @ 6.51 [A48_216_22:066] [A48_217_05:067] 1898 Novr Light n.w. & fine cold weather At 6 1/2 am passed Bostan, At 9 passed Ctesiphon Detained in Shaol water & sounding at Gusseiba from 10 till 10,,40 Detained 15 minutes in Shoal water at Jaffer ~ At 0,,35 P.M. passed Diala river ; At 1,,40, Edward Blockey my nephew & I landed at Gherrarah just below the Bridge, where the steamer went alongside & landed a mare we have from Basreh We walked to town; all the Tents at Gherrarah have gone in this week except 6 Tents of Fetoohi Magho Polus Serkis & Tooza wife of Georgi Asfar, & Dr. Sekhoor I got home at 3 very tyred & dusty, no rain has fallen yet; my servant gave me my letters amongst which two from Alexander one of the 14 Octor, he only complains of his indisposition and want of money & having seen Père Pièrre & the next one is only a Postal Card letter, he writes me a few lines and complains bitterly of having just returned from the Doctor & writes this Card in the Post Office on his way he says he is suffering very much in health & want of money to live by & if he gets better he will leave with Père Pièrre I also received a letter from Böhm also about Alexander & a letter from Yousif Serpos from Alexandria also about Alexander; In fact I do not know what to do, I am utterly disappointed & getting mad, & what am I to do with my son; I am so weak & unwell from the grief & sorrow; Johny & Artin called on me in the evening ; The Mejidieh arrived at 4 1/2 P.M. ~ Weather unsettled and cloudy ~ 13 Sund Ther @ 6.52 1898 Nov 1898 Novr Very unsettled weather, Cloudy & squally, at 7 am a squall of dark dust blew & wind shifted from S. to West & N. West and at 7 1/2 it began to rain steadily and became very cloudy gloomy all over, at 8 1/2 am I went to the Latin Church in the rain & got wet through ~ After mass at 9 1/2 I went to see the Pêre Marie Joseph the school master who wished to see me, he took me to his room & red to me Père Pièrres letter, he has received from Paris & tells him about Alexander that he does not wish to come out but he is trying to pursuade him & will wire if he succeeds (which he has done on the 26’) & thinks of leaving in this month some time & that Alexander is little unwell & fatigued etc et I called on sister Medula with Johny & Artin also on Menusha, they tell me that Louisa’s marriage shall take place next Sunday the 20th because in December no marriage is permitted to take place according to the Church rule; Rain continues to come down lightly but regular the streets got very muddy I am all soked with water, Went home & breakfasted working in cleaning a sitting room for me as it is too cold to be out on the verandah & wet, Rain continues with a short intermission ~ At 2 P.M. called on my sister Eliza also on Alice & Emilia in the rain and fearful mud & water, I sent the following telegram at 1 P.M. to enquire from the Carmelite fathers in Paris about the departure of Père Pièrre & Alexander "Père Ferdinand "Carmes Passy " Paris "Prière informèz date "départ Père Pièrre et, "Alexander dix payé " Svoboda 26 mots Frc 14.85 13/11/98 Antoine Giulietti has also received a long letter from Alexander which he gave me to read, he complains of his bad life he is spending, being miserable without money, & very ill with the pulmonary complaint & begs him to speak to me to send him money & wire him quick etc et, Antoine came to me in the evening & I asked him if he wants to wire to Alexander that he can say so; "Père disposé rendre tons vos desire condition accompagnèr Père Pièrre" ~ Rain ceased at about 3 P.M. & remained cloudy & wet; 14 Mond Therm 6.51 1898 Novr Light n.w. & fine, at 8 am I came on board the Mejidieh went alongside to discharge; very clear weather; I sent money to the office & went home at 10 am got the oorsy cleaned and furnished & arranged for winter & shifted furniture & kit with the servant & his relatives, I got awfully tyred; At 10 1/2 I received the following telegram from Paris from Alexander it is dated the 13 (yesterday) in which he says "Svoboda " Baghdad "Before leaving obliged "pay debts 350 priest "Absent~ It is so confused I cannot make out whether he has paid his debt or he expects me to send it to him the 350 francs and not to Père Pièrre because he is absent from Paris, and if it is only a trick he wants to convince me that he is leaving but must pay his debts first; So I sent the following to the Carmelite father Ferdinand since Père Pièrre is Absent "Pere Ferdinand "Carmes, Passy Paris "Antorise Père Pièrre payêr "toutes debtes Alexandre "Condition partant "15 mots F 8,,65 Svoboda Père Emmanuel had been to see me & he concurred with this telegram ~ I took a warm bath & had the stove lit to warm the bath as it is too cold Antone Guilietti wrote to me this evening and says that he has wired to Alexander today the following "Père disposé remplir "tous vos désirs condition "partir compagnie Père, "Pièrre, obeissèz Volonté "Cabléz, Frcs 11,45 Guilietti, "20 words I wrote back thanking him & sent him one T. Lira to take from it the cost of the telegram ~ Johny called in the evening for an hour Light n.w. fine cold weather ~ 15 Tuesd Th @ 6,,50 1898 Novr Light N.W. & fine cold morning, at 8 am called on Sister Medula & then come on board, we are discharging ; At 10 1/2 went home, worked in the house in arranging Kit & furniture; Sister Emilia called at 11, also Antone Julietti comes with the answer of his telegram to Alexander which he had sent yesterday, it went very quick & Alexander has answered immediately as it is dated the 14th at 2,,10 P.M. & arrived today, it says thus, "Guiletti, Baghdad "Conformerai surement "Volonté accomplisséz; Still he does not give any decisive answer or say when he is leaving;~ our departure from here has been altered to friday instead of Thursday, so I did not go on board for cargo; I went at 4 P.M. to sister Eliza & stayed there to dine with them, The marriage of Regina Sister Elizas daughter with Duncan Alexander the Clerk of the SS. Comet will take place on the 27th, At 9 P.M. I came [strikeout] home, fine clear & cold weather~ I bought one case of Loaf sugar today to send to Henry's house & to sister Eliza's for the occasion of the marriage of their daughters; 16 Wed Th @ 6,,51 Delegate Altmayer & Bishop Aghnatius arrived from Mossul 1898 Novr Light N.W. & fine cold weather;~ I sent this morning one Tray with 9 Loaves of Sugar to Menusha & a similar one to Sister Eliza~ At 8 am I came on board & copied in some cargo~ At 11 I went home & then went to call & breakfasted at Sister Medula & Grzesiki & came on board at 1 P.M, We are shipping cargo; At 4 I went home and then went over to Alice & Sister Emilia to dine with them; at 6 1/2 we heard that the Delegate monseigneur Altmayer & the Assyrian Bishop Aghnatius had arrived to the beach near here in the steam Launch of Kadem Pasha who had offered her to go up & meet them somewhere near Fahama (Kadem Pasha's property) I & Artin and Johnny went at once and met them as they entered the house of Mr Altmayer near Alice's house; They had left Mossul on Wednesday last in the Kelek, Mons Roué also was there, We left after 1/2 hour & I came to Alice;~ At 9 P.M. I came home Weather cloudy all over 17 Thursd 1898 Novr 1898 Novr N. Erly breeze & cloudy all over, It rained for about 1/2 hour~ At 8 am I came on board cloudy all over~ At 9 1/2 if begun to rain moderately & became very cloudy; Antone Guilietti called on me at 9 1/2 with a Telegram from Alexander in answer to his which he had wired on the 15, telling him that father Pièrre will pay his debts & must wire date of his departure; Alexander says "Guilietti Baghdad "Pièrre absent, difinitive- "ment accompagnerai "30 régléz~ 16/11/98 After on hour I received on board two telegrams one is from father Ferdinand in answer to mine sent on Sunday, he sends it from Tarascon, & says "Svoboda Baghdad "Alexandre parti Messageries "Beyrouth, Pièrre partira "Decembre, Ferdinand "16/11/98 "4,,20 P.M. The other one from Ibrahim Gejou from Paris also arrived together it is dated the 15 at 2 P.M "Svoboda Bagdad "Just back America "ignorant Alexander's "address illness humbug "15/11/98~ This is a very confused news I do not know which one to believe & what became of Père Pièrre what is he doing & where is he? I went home to breakfast & returned at 1 1/2; I sent for Isak son of Elias Gejou & asked him if he would wire to Ibrahim his brother to pay Alexanders debt, in his name, he accepted willingly & I then made out the following telegram, "Gejou "3 Place Cambronne "Paris "Alexander wires indebted "350 francs leaving "30, remitted Père Pièrre "200, please pay balance "provided leaves absolutely "23 mots Gejou "17/11/98 F. 13,,15 Raining drizzly & very cloudy & gloomy, Light N. Westerly breeze; At 5 P.M. I went home, weather very cloudy; I had made out a Telegram to my wife at Basreh to tell her that Alexander is leaving on the 30th but the line is not working to Basreh, Johnny & Artin called on me to see the telegrams Weather kept cloudy at night~ 18 Frid At 5 1/2 am I came on board; clouds clearing off but breeze is from the East~ Baghdad to Basreh [18 NOV 1898 --- V048_13_S] (//) 1898 Novr PassgOkesGS PiastDraft 204 1/275,76621110 3/43,,6 At 6,,20 AM. proceeded ship drawing 3 feet 6 Inches; no rise of the river yet; At 8,,45 passed Diala, it has risen this river about 2 feet; At 9 passed the SS. Phrat & Barge going up at Jaffer; At 9,,45 we anchored at Gusseiba & sent to sound, At 9,,55 the S.S. Khalifah came to pass up; I saw Nassoory Andria his wife & children going up for the wedding of Yousif Yaghchi with Louisa daughter of my brother Henry, on Sunday next At 10,,15 we weighed and proceeded; the Khalifah had stopped further up, apparently repairing some thing in the Engines;~ At 11 passed Ctesiphon, Finished with the passenger Tickets; we have in all 139 ½ (4 in 1st Class, one is the Persian consul dismissed, going to Bushire Mirza Ali Khan, 2 persons relations of Agha Khan to Bombay Moolchoob Shah & an other and Gorgi Shantab to Basreh)~ At 4,,50 P.M. passed Baghdadieh Fort;~ Weather clearing up & becoming fine, moon 4 days old;~ At 5,,50 we touched at Rmelat & could not get passed we anchored for the night; Light air & cloudy weather, At 2,,50 Am. the S.S. Mossul & Barge passed up, 19 Saturd Th @ 6,,54 1898 Novr At 6,,20 we left Rmelat, Cloudy but broken; At 7,,40 passed Azizieh It became cloudy all over the banks are all wet since we left Baghdad it has rained all over these parts, At 1,,10 P.M. passed Nemlah; At 1,,35 landed 4 Passng. at Bughela & went on at 1,,40~ At 2,,20 anchored below Shadi to sound further down, a Boat here belongs to Khdeir son of H. Ismail has sunk She made a hole in her bottom through her anchor, a few days in a S. Erly wind she was loaded with Liquorice from Azizieh belonging to Shamoon Daniel, they now have got her close to the sand bank on the west bank & there she sunk her stern & bow are out of the water~ At 3,,10 we proceeded but we grounded on a shoal and took an anchor out astern & hove off; took an other anchor on the East bank & hove her in close along the bank & Kept dropping down, at 5 we went on wind shifting to west & north, clouds disappearing, Clouds again gathering up & lightning on the South & West horyzon; it became very cloudy at 6 and threatening bad weather; At 6,,10 we touched at Umel Ajaj; backed and worked the Engines, but she did not move took out an anchor ahead & hove her round; we knocked off and remained for the night Light S. Erly & little cloudy At 6,,30 AM. left Umel Ajaj 20 Sund Th @ 6,,54 Louisa my niece was married with Yousif Yaghchi (see 26th) weather dampy & fog rising on the surface of the river, At 9 arrived at Coot landed 26 passengers and 46 packages~ I received Henry's letter & papers etc, The Khalifah had only about 85000 Okes & 160 passengers, Eliza my wife also wrote to me, she has no news from Alexander or of his departure, They have had lots of rain here too, and yesterday they say it rained in Baghdad At 10,,10 am we left Coot took 46 Passengers At 2,,50 P.M. passed the SS. Ressafah going up~ At 2,,40 passed Sheikh Saad;~ S. Erly breeze & clouds again begin to gather up~ At 6 P.M. landed 2 passengers at Ali Gherbi, cloudy all over but moon light 6 days old; took one passenger & went on at 6,,10, very cloudy all over without dark; 21 Mond Th @ 6,,60 1898 Nov At 3 AM. arrived at Amara weather cloudy & dark; landed 55 1/2 passengers and 86 packages; weather cloudy dark & slight rain; At 5 it rained for 1/2 hour At 6,,20 we left Amara, Took 18 passengers (one in 1st Class Rashid Effendi the Mohasebchi of Amara to Basreh) At 10 passed Kalat Saleh It rained for 1/4 hour & keeps very cloudy & overcast; Again at 10 3/4 begun to rain, At 11 1/4 it ceased & clouds breaking up; At 1,,40 P.M. passed Azair weather getting fine & clouds disappearing At 4,,45 P.M. anchored off Gorna landed 14 Bags Tobacco 3 passengers and at 5 proceeded, very fine & clear weather, light S. Erly; At 9,,35 arrived at Basreh fine moonlight night; the Gunboat Redbreast and the SS. Wolf are lying here no Belem came for me from Rufail & it appears that they are all asleep, I waited till 11 o clock & then I turned in~ 22 Tuesd 1898 Nov. Calm & cloudy all over, We are discharging and taking coal;~ at 8 am Rufail’s Belem came for me, I at once went up (as we are leaving today) I saw Eliza, Rufail & Rezoki & Tooky also there, they have no news from Alexander & wire is broken for the last four days, I read to her Alexander's letter & the telegrams etc, Eliza wanted to go up with me this time as she does not feel well here, & the dampness is too much, but I stopped her to see, until we hear of Alexander's departure, they heard from Asfar that the SS. Parran is to leave London on the 20th Instt; Jeboory Asfar’s wife called to see Eliza, thinking she was going up; I breakfasted with them also Yousif Marine who came down this morning from Shaebyeh At 11 1/2 I left and came on board; we are loading cargo; My wife Eliza came on board at 2 P.M. Rufail Rezooki & Rezooki Angoorly also came afterward; we are going to await till 8 P.M. for the mail steamer arriving, as the one which is in quarantine the Simla went to make her 10 days quarantine & come up here, Eliza & Rufail went at 5 PM ~ at 5 1/2 the mail steamer arrived in quarantine, we sent for the mails~ Weather fine & clear; at 6 it begun to get foggy and it got thicker; Flood tide came at 7 P.M. we swung round, Mail was brought up at 9 P.M. it is the SS. Pchamba's Basreh to Baghdad [23 NOV 1898 --- V048_14_N] (//) PassgOkesG. S. Piast LocalDraft 191 1/213116311,0404,,0 At 9,,45 P.M. we proceeded from Basreh, Flood tide running up, ship drawing 4 feet Fog disappeared and became fine, very bright N.W. air and not cold at all, 23 Wedn. Ther @ 6.63 1898 Nov At 2,,30 AM. passed Gorna, Fine clear weather and light N.W.~ At 6,,25 passed Azair Detained few minutes at the Elbow, the Ghumeyjeh is good there are 4 draaz water. Finished with the passengers tickets. We have altogether 132 1/2 (2 in 1 Class the widow of the Mufty of Basreh and her daughter) 14 of the passengers are with through tickets from Bushire among these there is a Persian Woman with a¬† 2d Class fare but we have none to be let, the only one we had the Captain has given to the Pilot Mahmood At 0,,40 P.M. landed one 1¬† passenger at Kalet Saleh and went on; The river looks to- be rising~. At 5,,30 P.M. arrived at Amara landed 24 passengers & Took in 10 Tons of Coal; Mr. Guilietti is here he came from Gorna & is going with us to Ali Gherbi to put to right the; telegraph line & poles, We have given him a cabin to sleep & only charging him deck fare, I asked Capt Cowley to let him have it.~ At 7.40 we left Amara, Modte Cold N.W. wind & fine, Ghadban the Sheikh of Beni Lam has returned to his place from Howeza and encamped above Amara he is coming to town tomorrow & has paid a part of his arrears of debt (2000 TLiras) 24 Thursd Therm @ 6. 55 Modte N.W. & fine~ At 6,,40 AM landed 9 Passengers at Ali Gherbi including Mr. Guilietti, took one¬† and went on at 6.50~ We took 39 1/2 passengers from Amara, the wind is blowing very sharp and cold; it became stronger and has to furl awnings it is so sharp & penetrating, At 1 P.M. passed Sheikh Saad ~ Wind fell down a¬† little but it is getting cold. At 5,,5 P.M. passed the¬† S.S. Phrart & Barge going down at Aboo Nakhal; At 7.50 P.M. arrived at Coot landed 13 passengers Took in 5 Tons of Coal; The river has risen only about 6 Inches in all, At 9,,15 left Coot light N.W. & fine cold weather; Modte N.W. & fine cold morning, 25 Frid Therm. @ 6.49 1898 Novr At 5,,30 am landed a¬† passenger from Coot at Bughela a man for Khdeir's sunken Boat at Mehdi At 5,,50 passed Memlah Gave tickets to 18 1/2 Coot passengers sharp cold wind At 1,,35 P.M. passed the S.S. Mossul & Barge going down just at Azizieh; At 4 passed the S.S. Khalifah at Gutnyeh going down, I saw Faust Lurion on board returning back to Vienna; I have not seen him in Baghdad yet; At 4,,45 passed Baghdadieh Fort; Very light N. Wester & fine Weather; The river is red & turbid, it has risen about a foot; Detained in finding the channel and sounding at Oweyn from 8,,20 till 10 P.M; ~ 26 Satur Th@6. 48 [A48_245_07:068] [A48_245_23:069] 1898 Novr Light N.W. & fine cold weather at 2,,30 am passed Ctesiphon, Detained at Gusseiba and Jaffer ½ hour in Touching shoal~ At 5,,20 passed Diala At 6,,30 passed through the Bridge of Gherrara Cut open for us; We did not land a man at Gherrara; At 8,,30 Am landed the mail at the Residency & Went on to the Custum House, I saw Mr. Richarz the German Consul at his house on passing so he has Arrived from Europe; I went home found no letters or telegrams from Alexander except one from Alois Schweger and one from the Handelsmuseum, about business; but Johny sent me a Postal card from Alexander dated the 27 Octor which arrived the day before, he simply says that he is leaving with Père Pièrre on the 15th Novr;~ The S.S. Ressafah is here alongside discharging~ I called on Sister Medula she related to me about the marriage of Louisa daughter of Henry with Yousif Yaghchi on Sunday last the 20th Inst~ I received an invitation from Yaghchies to breakfast with them tomorrow, but wrote back excusing myself~ At 4 P.M. I called on Henry’s wife Menusha for an hour & came home; Johny & Artin called on me till 7 P.M.; Light N.W. & fine Weather, 27 Sund. Mr. C Richarz arrived on 18th as German Consul [A48_247_10:070] Light N.W. & fine cold morning, at 9 am Went to Church & then called with Artin my nephew on Antone Marine, Abduljebbar the Lawyer Asfar, the Bishop Aghnatius (but was not at home) on Abboods, Sister Medula; and at 2 P.m. called on Sister Eliza, on Monseigneur Altmayer (but was not at home) and on Mr. Richarz who arrived here on Friday the 18th by Aleppo & Deir from his Vogaye to Europe since Feby last having left Baghdad I then called on Alice & Emilia & had to leave them after a very disgusting quarrel they got up with me about some stupid & false report supposed to have been spoken by my Wife Eliza to Mrs. Cowley etc, I came home, Antone Marine called on me till 7 P.M. Today the new large Chaldean Church was consacreted, a large Ceremony was performed by the Patriarch Abd Ysho & the Monseigneur Altmayer the Assyrian Bishop & the Chaldean Bishop of Kerkook; the French Consul Mr. Rouèt was also there; Light N.W. & fine Weather 28 Mond. [A48_247_24:071] 1898 Novr Light N.W. & fine, at 8 am I called on Menusha she took ill yesterday with her Old Complaint the Gravel & Dr. Sturock of the English Missionary is attending her; at 9 I came on board The river has been rising since yesterday morning it rose altogether about 2 feet; The Ressafah is still inside;~ I went to the Office for some money & came home at 11 ½~ I took a warm bath & remained at home 29 Tuesd Th@ 6. 44 Light N.W. & cold morning & fine weather; The SS. Ressafah left at 6 Am; At 8 I came on board Paid the ship’s company their wages for this month; The Mejidieh is discharging At 11 I went home, called on Eliza & Adoola my cousins, also on Père Emmanuel, he has no news of the departure of Père Pièrre & Alexander, & the Baluchistan leave Marseilles today or tomorrow as Yousif Asfar told me today, he has received a telegram from Nessoory Sayegh saying so; I called in the afternoon on Sister Medula, there came Monseigneur Altmayer, & Père Augustin~ At 5 P.M. I went over to Sister Eliza & dined with them, at 9 came hone; Fine Clear weather & light N.W. breeze~ 30 Wedne Th@ 6. 46 1898 Decr Light N.W. breeze & fine weather; at 8 Am called on Menusha, she is still suffering from pain of the Kidneys, & the gravel; Rosa daughter of Antone Marine has had the small Pox since Sunday, but it appears to be mild, At 9 I came on board, We are discharging Cargo, The river fell about 1 foot but is still good the late rise having got up about 4 feet; I went home & breakfasted At 2 P.M. came on board, We are shipping cargo; At 4 ½ went home, I called on Sister Medula to dine with her. Johny came there & he dined also with us, at 9 we left & I came home; Light N.W. & fine cold Weather; 1st Thursd Th@ 6. 45 Light N.W. & fine cold morning at 8 Am. I came on board, we are shipping cargo~ The river is falling a little At 11 ½ went to breakfast & returned at 12 ½;; We shipped a good lot of Cargo~ At 5 I went home Johny & Artin called on me till 6 ½~ Light N.W. air & fine weather; 2d Frid Th@ 6. 37 [A48_251_20:072] [A48_252_03:073] [A48_252_07:074] [A48_252_09:075] Light N.W. & fine Weather At 6 AM. I came on board~ Very calm and fine weather; Baghdad to Basreh [2 DEC 1898 --- V048_15_N] (//) 1898 Decr PassengOkesG. S. PiastDraft 192 1/287,373,,20,181 1/23,,7 At 6,,30 Am we proceeded Weather very mild & not so cold at all;~ It became quite cold after we got underway & the Thermometer went down to 37 outside my cabin; At 8,,35 passed Diala River; At 10 passed Ctesiphon, Finished with the passengers tickets; We have in all 147 (4 in 1st Class, Père Scheil a Dominican father and an Archeolgue, who was here four years ago in the digging of Aboo Habba by Bedry Beg for the Turkish Government, and now going to Shushter to join the french excavators under their head [crossout] Monsr De Morgan who was the Keeper of the Egyptian Museum at Cairo and a friend of my late brother Alexander,~ also we have Jemil son of Elias Serkis and Solon son of Calothi both in one Cabin, and Nessoory Andrea returning to Basreh with a free Return passage by Lynch Brothers himself and a servant woman)~ At 1,,50 P.M. passed the SS. Khalifah going up at the lower end of Dawer reach; At 3,,20 passed Baghdadieh Fort; At 5,,20 passed Azizieh; Fine clear weather, moon 18 days old; we have not been aground or touched anywhere; At 7,,30 anchored for the night at Shedeif~ 3d Satur Th@ 6, 42 [A48_253_18:076] 1898 Decr Light N.W. & fine Weather At 6,,15 Am. proceeded from Shedeif~ At 9,,15 passed Nemlah At 10,,15 had to anchor at Mehdi to sound, the rise having upset the Channel & we touched just near the sunken Boat of Khdeir who is here trying to get her up with the aid of two empty Boats~ At 10,,45 We Weighed & proceeded; At 2,,20 P.M. arrived at Coot, landed 27 passengers and 34 Packages; I received Henry’s letter, also one from my Wife, she does not feel Well on account of the dampness at Basreh & Wishes to come back with me; Jeboory Asar has told Rufail on Saturday last, that Strick had wired to him about Alexander’s passage if it is to be paid at Basreh & he answered him that he has received his passage already, we do not know whether he is coming in the SS. Baluchistan Which has left Marseilles on about the 29th Ulto, as Yousif Asfar had told me so in Baghdad, The Khalifah had about 150 passengers & 122000 Okes At 3,,5 We left Coot; Took 17 passengers (one in 1st Class Abbass el Ali going to the Haj to make a pilgrimage)~ At 7,,15 passed Sheikh Saad;~ At 7,,20 anchored at the top of Aboo Dood for the night, took 2 passengers came from Sheikh Saad~ We have caught the rise of the river, it has not fallen yet here~ Fine clear weather 4 Sund Th@ 6. 45 [A48_255_08:077] Light N.W. & fine weather At 6 AM. We proceeded, At 7,,20 passed the SS. Phrat & Barge going up; At 8,,50 landed 2 passengers at Ali Gherbi & took one and went on at 8,,55~ At 4,,55 P.M. arrived at Amara landed 63 Packges and 30 passengers~ We took 4 Tons of Coal & it took a long time to get it on board,~ At 6,,55 We left Amara; Light N.W. & fine clear weather We have the Reîs of the Sennyeh, going down with us to Kalat Saleh, he slept in the cabin of Abbass el Ali who offered him his cabin by Captain Cowley’s Consent & paid 2 Mejidees (double deck passage, his name is Mahomed Rafik Beg~ At 8,,10 We anchored above Aboo Sedra for the night; 5 Mond Th@ 6. 42 1898 Decr [A48_257_03:078] [A48_257_14:079] Light N.W. & fine cold weather~ At 6 Am left; gave tickets to 25 ½ Amara passengers At 8,,10 landed the Reis of Sennyeh & his 2 attendants at Kalat Saleh & went on at 8,,15 Detained at the Elbow in dropping down from 9,,50 till 10,,10 and again We stopped just below the Elbow & made fast along the West bank to await for the SS. Mossul coming up, she had stopped also about two miles distant from us to await for us to pass down as the rule is, but we did not go & so had to await until she at last had moved up & passed us at 11, We hove & proceeded at 11,,15 this is a thing I never saw before; At 0,,30 P.M. passed Azair At 3,,30 landed 4 passengers & 7 packages at Gorna & went on at 3,,35~ At 8,,10 P.M. arrived at Basreh; The Gunboat Redbreast here, and the Mail St Patna is in Quarantine as well as the Arabistan which arrived four days ago, there are Yacoob Essayi & his Wife on board coming from Port Said, also Mr. Heyns the American excavator of Nuffar & his family, they will have to complete their 10 days Quarantine I went up to Rufail’s & saw my wife Eliza, Rufail & Rezooki there, there is no news of Alexander’s departure, Although the Baluchistan has left Marseilles on the 28 Ulto as Jeboory had told them, Nessoory Andrea also came with me & he slept there; 7th [6th?] Tuesd. 1898 Decr Light N.W. & fine cold morning; I had tea & breakfasted with them Yousif Marine also came down; At 10 ½ I came on board & called on my way for few minutes at Jeboory Asfar, he told me that he is going to wire to Saunièr at Marseilles asking him to let him know if Svoboda is in the Arabistan & will wire to me in Baghdad the answer; We are discharging & loading & will leave this evening;~ Eliza came to me on board & spent the day in my cabin, also Rufail came & Rezooki Angoorly; Jeboory Asfar wrote to me that he has wired to Saunièr Marseilles enquiring about Alexander’s departure in the Baluchistan & will wire to me the answer; The Arabistan will leave Basreh on Saturday next chartered for Kurachi; Eliza & Rufail left me at 5 P.M; we got the mails, and at 7 P.M. finished the loading of cargo, having loaded her down to 4,,2; weather very calm & fine; Basreh to Baghdad (//) SS. Mejidieh Voy 379; [7 DEC 1898 --- V048_16_S] (//) 7th Wedn Th@6.41 1898 Decr PassngOkesGSP. LocalDraft 132 1/2171,59510,946 1/24,,2 At 8 P.M. we left Basreh Light N.W. & fine cold weather, Flood tide with us, it had made since 6 P.M; At 1,,20 am passed Gorna At 2 anchored on account of fog~ At 6,,45 proceeded Finished with the passengers tickets, We have in all 79 ½ (one in 1st Class Gorgi Shantob) 11 deck are Persians with through tickets from Bushire, At 10,,25 passed Azair, Detained ½ hour in the narrow bends etc~ At 4,,30 P.M. passed Katat Saleh; At 8.50 arrived at Amara landed 13 ½ passengers and 10 Bales of through Bombay cargo, Took 100 Loads of Coal & some tins of ghee~ At 11,,10 left Amara, light N.W. & fine cold weather 8 Thursd Th@6.39 Light N.W. & fine cold weather; Gave tickets to 30 ½ Amara passengers; At 9,,30 passed Ali Gherbi there is fall in the river of about ½ foot here; At 2 P.M. passed Sheikh Saad; At 8,,10 P.M. arrived at Coot landed 9 ½ passengers, Took in 5 loads Tons of Coal; cold weather & fine; At 9.30 we left Coot; Fine clear & Cold weather 9 Frid Th@6.38 1898 At 1 am detained at Um= el Ajaj in shoal water for about ½ hour; also at Mehdi for about 2 hours, grounded & took out an anchor & hove off, At 7 am passed Memlah very fine clear weather & cold N.W. breeze; gave tickets to 22 ½ Coot passengers (including 2 ½ from Mehdi; being Khdeir son of Haji Ismail who has not been able to save his sunken Boat on the sand bank) At 2.10 detained in shoal water just below Azizieh for 10 minutes ~ At 2,,20 P.M. passed Azizieh Village; At 4,,40 passed the SS. Khalifah going down at the top of Gutnyeh; At 5,,30 passed Baghdadieh Fort, Light N.W. & fine weather ~; Touched at several places & backed & went on; 10 Satur Th@6.34 Decr [A48_263_05:080] 1898 Decr [A48_264_12:081] [A48_265_06:082] 1898 Decr Light N.W. & fine weather At 1 am passed Ctesiphon Detained at Gusseiba about ½ hour in touching shoals & backing~. At 4,,30 Diala river, met the Boat of the Mossul which had got adrift & they asked us to tow them up, we took her in tow and met the Mossul at Dedewyeh on her way up & cast her with her crew; Passed the Bridge of Gherrarah at 5 ½ Light N.W. & cold weather At 8.10 landed the mails at the Residency & went to the Custom House, the SS. Phrat is here discharging I went home, my servant Meekha gave me a letter from Alexander dated the 11 Nover; there is nothing decided in it, he only complains of Johnys letters to him in which he had given him all the advises & councils & told him that his complaints & illness are lies & humbugs, and Alexander insists that they are all true, & hopes if he leaves he will try & accompany Père Pierre & all these sorts of non= sence which made me so sorry; as I got occupied in cleaning & arranging our big sitting room etc, with the servants, at about 9 am I received an other large registered letter brought by the Post man on its envelope was written in french & Arabic that on no account must this letter be delivered to any other person except into my proper hands, it is dated the 13thNovr from Alexander in answer to my long letter of the 12 Octor which I had sent from Basreh & kept a copy; it is about 4 sheets a most fearful one he complains of himself and confesses of all that I have written to him to be true & that he has betrayed me, & he is mad & has lost his sense & so on and does not say a word about his leaving, I was so awfully struck down from sorrow & grief that I felt unable to walk or do anything I was trembling & weeping, my knees got shaky & powerless, I became miserable, while I was reading the letter, Père Emmanuel called on me, with a very sorrow face and gave me a card from Père Pierre from Paris dated the 7th Novr he writes to me & says that Scander came to bid him his last farewell & told him that he was going to leave by the Messagerie via Beyrout so as to be here by Christmas & before him, & so he requires 250 frcs for his expences to travel with and Pièrre gave it to him & obtained a receipt, and so the stupid Pièrre let him go & paid the money against my express order in the telegrams that he is only to pay him on condition that he must accompany him, he played Père Pierre also an other trick & got 450 frcs in all from him; I was mad from sorrow and grief, I am sure now that Alexander is not with father Pièrre, and that he is & remains still in Paris and in his letter he tells me that he is mad & thretens to commit suicide and will never be able to see us any more; ~ I passed a most miserable time in my house, Antone & Johny called on me they red the letters, and they were astonished at his writing & were very vexed for such a mis= behavior ~ The Mossul came up at about 11 am ~ 11 Sund [A48_267_09:083] 1898 Decr [A48_268_10:084] [A48_269_05:085] [A48_269_15:086] 1898 Light air & fine weather, at 8 ½ am called on Antone Marine to take him to Church; Rosa his daughter about 18 years old had the small Pox very badly & she is getting better, she is confined in a closed room by herself We went to church & there I called on the Bishop Aghnatius, but was not there; I called on Menusha Henry’s wife she is still suffering from the gravel I called on Medula and on Yacoob Pehlewan’s family, & then went to breakfast with Medula as I could not stay at home from the sorrow at Alexander’s doings & am constantly weeping I feared that Ibrahim Gejou may advance him some money as per my telegram to him on the 17 Novr; so I sent the following telegram at noon today to him Gejou 3 Place Cambronne Paris Don’t advance money Alexander since not left with Pièrre 11 Decr 98 Svoboda Frcs 8.65 I went to see Sister Eliza then were Sister Emilia & all of them are preparing for wedding of Regina with Duncan Alexander the Clerk of the Comet, tomorrow at 9 am. The house is decorated with flags & green date branches and preparations getting ready; Cards printed in Gold letters are sent round to many people inviting them; I left & called on Mons Rouet the french Consul living in Blockey’s house; we talked about Alexander & I told him that I intend to take some steps to get him sent out here through our Austrian Ambassador in Paris, since he is still a minor & he has nearly ruined me in money & health, he agreed with me on this measure & told me to talk to Mr. Richarz & ask him to do it but it must go through the channel of the Austrian Consul General of Beyrout and he is going to see also Mr. Richarz & will talk with him on this subject; I came home at 4 ~ Went to dîne with Sister Medula and returned at 9 Pm, weather unsettled & wind shifting to East 12 Mond Decr Regina daughter of Sister Eliza was married today [A48_270_24:087] [A48_271_12:088] 1898 Decr [A48_272_11:089] 1898 Decr 13 Tuesd. [A48_274_14:090] [A48_275_09:091] 1898 Decr [A48_276_12:092] Ely wind & clouds are gathering sign of bad weather coming; At 8 ½ am I went to Sister Eliza’s house for the wedding of her daughter Regina, but feel so very unwell weak & very sad about Alexander’s doings, he is killing me, the tears always running down my eyes; Many people came & at 9 ½ we all went to the house of Monsigneur Altmayer to his Chapel where he performed the ceremony short & simple and we then all left and went to the British Residency where Mayor Melville the Officiating Consul made out the Certificates of marriage and both husband & wife had to sign them, the husband M. Duncan Alexander having turned a Roman Catholic, we then went to my sister Eliza’s house and all the invited party were there they had Champagne & cakes; there were about 50 persons, the Comets people Capt Cooper & the Chief & 2d Engineer, Mr. & Mrs. Bottomly, Alfred Holland, Mr. Hall & wife, Dr. Zakhur, Selman Durion & wife, Grzesiki & sister Medula & many others, I came on board at 10 ½ sent money to the office; and I then sent the following telegram to my wife Eliza in Basreh Sayegh " Basreh "Alexander not coming "tell mother prepare "return Svoboda "12/12/98 At 12 I went over to Sister Eliza & found all the people there making merry, the Jewish music or Brass band & the Tabul playing, they danced & did all sorts of amusements; but the people were sorry to see me in this state of grief I was in, not even at the table could I keep myself from weaping, If it had not been for the sake of my sister Eliza who is our eldest sister I would not have gone; At 4 P.M. I left them & came home; Mr. Richarz came to me and I explained everything about Alexander & asked him to take that step & get him sent out by force through our ambassador in Paris, he concurred with me in the matter, and was just going to see M. Rouet & dîne with hîm and will also talk & consider the way for doing it, & if I call on hîm tomorrow to give him the address of Alexander & any other information on the matter; ~ I called on Antone Marine for an hour & returned at 7 S. Ely wind & cloudy weather 1898 Decr 13 Tuesd Strong S. Ely wind & cloudy all over dusty & thretening weather, at 8 am I came on board, the mejidieh went alongside to discharge, the SS. Phrat left at 6 am At 10 am I called on Mr. Richarz, son also Dr. Hesse his chancellier who took in writing all the affair of Alexander, his birth, place of abode in Paris as well as that of Ibrahim Gejou should in case the Austrian Consul General is not able to find him also about the woman he keeps called Marie Marguerite Derisbourg & how he went to Vienna in May, & the woman followed him there & his sudden departure with her to Paris & begging the Austrian Consul General to send him under surveillance to Marseilles & get him embarked in one of the Anglo Arabian & Persian S N. Copy through the Agent Saunièr & given in charge of the captain, & I enclose for the Consul a cheque for 300 frcs for his expenses to Marseilles whence his passage is paid to Basreh and all what was requisite & they asked to send them my Passport to see in which place it was written, & to come tomorrow & sign this protocol, & pay the fee of 1/2 T Lira, the cheque I am to take from the Ottoman Bank; I left at 11 3/4 came home had my breakfast & came on board took my Passport & money & went to the Ottoman Bank & obtained a cheque payable to the Austro Hungarian Consul General for 300 Frcs & sent it to Dr. Hesse to enclose it in the letter, I met Isak Gejou who was coming on board to see me & he has received a letter from his brother Ibrahim from Paris of the 18th who in which he tells him that Rezooki Korkis had sent him the 15 £ Stg in order to pay Alexander's expenses & passage to Marseilles, & he obtained for him a ticket for the Train & the Balance he obtained a Bill on Marseilles to cash it there; but Alexander afterward tore up the ticket, & cashed the money in Paris on a discount of some 10% & did not start & Ishak gave me a letter to read which Ibrahim had written to Alexander dated the 25 Augt in which he advises him to give up all these foolishness & part from that woman & go to Baghdad and many other good councils, which letter I took a copy of ~ At 5 P.M. I went to dine with Antone Marine Père Emmanuel was there I came home at 8 1/2 Blowing strong S. Ely & cloudy, very few drops of rain came down; 14 Wedn. 1898 Decr [A48_278_10:093] [A48_279_06:094] 1898 Decr [A48_280_09:095] Fresh S. Ely Wind and cloudy; at 8 am. I came on board; we are discharging cargo, At 10 1/2 I went over to Mr. Richarz, & Dr. Hesse had copied out my application to the Austro Hungarian Consul General of Paris in the way of a Protocol regarding Alexander to be sent out by Order of Government, and I had to sign it & then Mr. Richarz, signed under it after certifying the document as true made out before him; it is dated today & will be sent tomorrow by the Damascus mail through the Austrian Consul General of Beyrouth and I paid them 1/2 Lira as fees: ~ I then called on Monseigneur Altmayer & related to him all that P. Pîèrre & Alexander wrote to me, & told him what I had done through the German Consul & requested him to write to Cardinal Richarz in Paris to assist & use his influence to get my son liberated from this bitch of a girl to whom he is in love, & that she is an illegitimate Belgian woman from the Streets he promised to write to him tomorrow, & also to Père Henri at Argeuil to come & see him & speak to Alexander; I came home at 11 1/2 it is dropping a little & blowing strong ; I took breakfast and came on board to work, we are shipping cargo ~ At 1 P.M. it rained for 15 minutes & still blowing strong & Ely ~ I wrote out three letters dated tomorrow for the Damascus Post, one to Alexander, one to Ibrahim Gejou and one to Rezooki Korkis, Copies of which I have kept At 4 1/2 P.M. I went home, and thence I called on sister Medula & dined, Artin my nephew also came & dined with us Medula tells me that Antoine Juilietti had been at her & tells that he has also received a letter from Alexander by this Post, a short one & he seems to be dissatisfied with what Antoine had wired to him on the 14 & 15 Ulto, & tells him that it seems he has also gone in accord to his parents wishes etc etc; I left at 8 1/2 & came home, wind fell down and began to clear up; 15 Tursd Therm @ 6.46 1898 Decr [A48_282_12:096] [A48_283_08:097] 1898 Decr Light S. Ely & fine weather no clouds to be seen at 8 1/2 am I came on board The Mossul & Barge went inside to discharge & we are loading over them The river is as low as before at 10 it began to get cloudy, at 11 1/2 went home to breakfast & sent my letters to the Post Office to Ibrahim Gejou including one for Alexander to R. Korkis London & to the news paper offices of the St Leclair in Paris for a subscription; at 12 1/2 I came on board worked hard, we shipped a lot of Cargo but not heavy we took 81,000 Okes, At 5 P.M. I went home, Johny & Artin came, the Damascus mail arrived at 3 P.M.; I had to send my servant to the Post Carrier for letters but he only brought me one letter from Schweiger Vienna, none from Alexander ~ Père Emmanuel called on me, with a letter from Père Pièrre dated the 21st Novr from Montpellièr he has not left yet & will not leave before the end of this month by the Turkistan Alexander has again played a trick to Pièrre & got from him 200 frcs more, Pièrre says that Alexander had sent him on the 7th a receipt for 50 Frcs which he was still in want of & Pièrre thinking that Alexander must have left Paris by that time as he had told him before so, he therefore annulled the receipt & wrote on the back of it to Alexander & sent it to the fathers here which they gave me just now; But Pièrre says in his letter to the fathers that he was surprised when he received a letter from Alexander from Parîs, dated the 12th and asking him to advance him 200 frcs more, & Pièrre like a fool sent him the money, it is new already 650 frcs that Pièrre has given Alexander But ought to know well that my telegrams to him expressly say that he is only to advance him on condition that he should accompany him; I am awfully vexed and sorrow at what Pere Pièrre has been doing and all my work with him proved fruitless, I therefore made out the following telegram to him to Montpellier, since he is still there; ~ " Père Pièrre " Couvent Carmes " Montpellier " Dépéches Autorise "avancer argent Alexander "condition vous accompagne "déplore, encore Paris, "déployèz votre activité mêmes "necessaire Allèr Paris, "N'avancèz plus ~ "27 mots Svoboda 16/12/98 I gave it to Johny to be sent tomorrow morning; & Light S. Ely & fine weather ~ 16 Frid [A48_285_04:098] At 5 am I came on board Fine weather & very light air from S. Est; Baghdad to Basreh [16 DEC 1898 --- V048_17_S] (//) PassgOkesGS. PiastDraft 13980,90916,783 1/23,,6 At 6.15 am we proceeded S. Ely breeze but fine cold weather; At 8,30 passed Diala river; At 9,,20 anchored at Gusseiba to sound; at 11 Pilot returned having marked the channel, we weighed & proceeded on to it, and grounded; Took anchors out & hove ~ At 1,,20 P.M. we got off & proceeded~ weather fine & wind from n. Wester Finished with the passengers tickets we have altogether 86 1/2 (4 in 1st class the Persian Consul Mirza Ali Naki Khan of Baghdad, a Mahomedan Mahmood Effendi; a christian boy Yousif Demyanes, and the wife of Khdeir ibn Haji Ismail to Ali Gherbi, & her husband Khdeir is also with her but has paid Deck) At 1,,50 passed Ctesiphon At 4,,15 P.M. passed the SS. Ressafah & Barge going up at Ledj;~ At 6,,15 the Steamer went Against the bank just below Swera Village on the shore of the West maîn bank and had to anchor, for the starboard wheel got damaged & have to repair, we made fast alongside the bank; The Engineers worked till midnight and did not finish it~ At 11 ½ P.M. the Khalifah came up, she sent her boat to us with a bundle of specie for [illegible] to take back, Henry sent me a letter, but I got it in the morning and did not know of her passing up; 17 Satur [A48_287_02:099] Light N.W. & find cold weather; Engineers working at the weel~ H Talub Effendi the Kaimakam of Swera (now Called Hamidyeh) Came on board to see us, I had not seen him since I passed Ramadi on my way back from Europe, in October last year;~ We remained all the day here they are working in stretening & boring arms & segments in the wheel, I am very sorry because we have to lost our Christmas day in Baghdad;~ Weather very fine & getting cold toward sunset; Engeniers finished the wheel at 8 P.M. & we remained for tomorrow morning; 18 Sund The @ 6,,30 1898 Decr Light N.W. & fine cold weather, At 6,,30 AM. left Swera At 7,,30 passed Baghdadieh Fort;~ At 10 passed Azizieh~ At 3,,15 P.M. passed Nemlah, Clouds coming on; at sunset they disappeared and became fîne~ At 6,,30 we rounded and anchored for the night above Um el Boony; Fine weather and moonlight night 5 days old;~ 19 Mond [A48_289_01:100] 1898 Light N.W. & fine cold weather, In getting underway at 6,,15 am we grounded in turnîng round; had to take an anchor out & heave off. At 6,,45 proceeded; At 8,,50 arrived at Coot landed 8 ½ passengers and 213 packages (160 Poles for SLynch & Co for the new ground they bought to erect a wool Press here;~ Mr. Guilietti is here he came to me, he is going on to Azizieh & thence to Baghdad repairing the wire~ I received Henry’s letter & papers also a letter from my wife Eliza she had not received my [strikeout] telegram yet, I sent her on on the 12th~ Mr. & Mrs. Heyns the American excavator at Nuffar & two other Americans Mr. Fisher & Mrs. Geer were on board the Khalifah; they came out in the Arabistan~ At 10,,15 am we left Coot; took 20 ½ passengers (1 ½ in 1st Class, Rezooki ibn Elias Kheder & sister, they are to occupy the double cabin at Ali Gerhi when Khdeir & his wife leave it there) At 2,,20 P.M. passed Sheikh Saad; At 3,,50 anchored at Seyd Abbass to sound, although the Boats there told us that there are 3 ½ draaz (5 feet) water; at 4,,15 proceeded At 6,,5 we anchored at Ali Gherbi & landed 5 ½ passengers (one in the 1st class Khdeirs wife & himself)~ very fine & clear weather moonlight night; At 6,,35 left Ali Gherbi took 7 passengers~ 20 Tuesd The @ 6,,42 Decr [A48_291_10:101] 1898 Light N.W. & fine cold weather At 2,,55 am arrived at Amara landed 33 passengers and 62 packets; Took 4 tons coals;~ At 6 am left Amara took 24 passengers (Revd: Mr. Cantine the English Missionary came to go down but there is no cabin he slept in the saloon I charged him 2 mejidies only) At 9,,25 passed Kalat Saleh; Detained at the Elbow & below it from 11 to 11,,20 in dropping down; At 9,,45 P.M. passed Azair weather became cloudy, all over~ One passenger from Amara to Gorna died on board this afternoon; At 3,,40 P.M. landed 19 passengers at Gorna including the dead passenger; went on at 3,,50;~ Flood tide has made; Breeze shifted to S. West & very cloudy; At 8,,15 P.M. arrived at Basreh, very cloudy weather. The SS. AbdulKadur only here & the mail Stmr Kilwa in quarantine; I went up to Rufail, saw Eliza there they have no news at all of Alexander no telegrams I related to her every thing; & red her [strikeout] the letters of Alexander & Père Pièrre she was very touched and grieved at the way our son wrote to us. She has made up her mind to go up with me; we were so upset that we could not sleep at all; Rufail has finished the 3 rooms in the upper story & are living in them, they are very well built & arranged Weather very cloudy & calm; 21 Wedn Decr [A48_292_12:102] Raining all day 1898 Decr [A48_294_03:103] Light S. Erly breeze & cloudy weather; After tea Yousif Marine came down from Shaehyeh, at 9 I left to come on board, called on my way at Jeboory after & related the him secretly what I have done through the Consul Mr. Richarz & the report to the Austrian Consul Generl of Paris to send Alexander under the surveylance of the Police to Marseilles & there to he handed over to the Agent of the Auglo- Arabian steamers & to recommend the Captain to look after him; so I asked Jeboory to write to Mr. Saunièr & to recommend him to tell the captain of any steamer he promised to do it today & send letters my both ways, I came on board it is raining drizly & very gloomy overcast weather; we are discharging & loading;~ many people are wanting Cabins; Jeboory told me that the Parran will leave Marseilles on the 24th Instt & the Turkistan will follow after a fortnight; Raining continually, Mr. Yacoob Eassayi came on board to take passage up by Capt Cowley said that there are many who want to go they are Europeans & will be out of quarantine this evening, he could not promise him; I wrote to my wife if she likes to go & take her birth in my Cabin Yacoob Eassayi related to me all about my son Alexander when he went to London from Paris with his woman in Augt, The English Gunboat Pigeon is down in the quarantine S. Erly wind & keeps cloudy, my wife is going up with me she sent her kit on board I kept it in my cabin & some in the hold;~ Eliza came on board with Rufail but Capt Cowley has given the Cabin of Francis to Yacoob Eassayi & his wife, and then he came to tell me that one of the passengers is not going with us, so that I can give the cabin to my wife & I did give it, Weather rainy & very cloudy;~ Basreh to Baghdad [21 DEC 1898 --- V048_18_N] (//) PassegOkesG.S.P. LocalDraft 179 1/2144,36914,4644, At 6,,15 P.M. we left Basreh, fresh N. Erly wind & cloudy It begun to rain steadily for about 2 hours, & blowing too At 10,,50 passed Gorna Cloudy all over & blowing fresh wind~ 22d Thursd. [illegible] [A48_295_14:104] [A48_295_16:105] [A48_295_19:106] [A48_295_22:107] [A48_296_08:108] 1898 Decr Raining At 1,,30 am we anchored At 6,,15 proceeded; weather clearing up & getting fine but breeze from S. West;~ At 7,,30 passed Azair; I finished with the passengers tickets we have in all 121 (6 are in 1st Class, they are Dr. Ramsay Residency Surgeon Mr. Cooper of the Société du Tombac, Mr. Edmund Candler a young English traveller going up via with Deir & Damaseus, Mr. W.H. Diamond an American merchant coming to see the wool trade of Baghdad & goes back gave him a Return Ticket, and Yacoob Eassayi & his wife Mariam they occupy the cabin in the passage given to Francis the Butler but Yacoob sleeps on the table in the Saloon, and my wife Eliza got a Cabin in the Saloon which Capt Cowley thought there was an other European passenger coming and he did not come, so she shifted from my cabin into that) At 0,,50 P.M. landed 5 passengers at Kalat Saleh & took one & went on at 0,55 P.M.~ Clouds passing over from the north driven by a fresh N.W. wind~ At 4 it became very cloudy and gloomy weather, wind from S. Est~ At 5,,30 P.M. arrived at Amara landed 22 ½ passengers; Took in 8 ½ tons of coal, & shipped cargo Bags of Rice & Tins of Ghee Weather very cloudy and raining drizzly, S. Westerly breeze; Yesterday & last night it rained here and up above as far as Baghdad, At 8,,30 we left Amara Very cloudy weather & gloomy;~ 23 Frid 1898 Decr Very light air & cloudy gloomy overcast weather At 7,,5 am landed 1 passenger at Ali Gherbi & went on at 7,,10 took 1 passenger;~ The SS. Mossul passed down last night at 9,,45 P.M. ~ Gave tickets to 22 Amara passengers~ The wind shifted to N.W. this afternoon & clouds are clearing off & getting fine & cold;~ At 6 P.M. arrived at Coot landed 22 passengers; Took in 8 tons of coal~ At 7,,40 we left Coot; Weather lîttle cloudy and N.W. wînd cold; 24 Satur. Th @ 6,,46 [A48_299_13:109] Light N.W. & fine cold weather At 3,,30 AM. passed Nemlah At 5,,30 Obliged to anchor it became foggy; at 6,,30 tryed to go on but after a few minutes it came on again & anchored~ At 8,,10 cleared off, we proceeded~ Gave tickets to 12 ½ Coot passengers; At 8,,40 met the S.S. Khalifah coming down at Deboony; we sent our Boat off with a passenger from Coot who had no money to pay his passage I received a letter from Henry, he says that they left yesterday morning with 63000 Okes & 94 passengers, They have had much rain in Baghdad, it begun on Wednesday at 4 am & lasted till Thursday at 8 am; the river rose two feet; Henry says that a telegram came for me on Monday from Montpellier in answer to mine of the 15th Instt to Père Pièrre saying that P. Pierre is absent but they have sent him the telegram; At 8,,50 we went on, Light S. Erly breeze; Detained 15 minutes in Shoal Water at Um Sneyem; At 1,,50 P.M. passed Azizieh;~ Clouds clearing off wind shifted to S. West; At 5,,10 P.M. passed Baghdadieh S. Erly breeze & fine weather with few clouds, the river must have resin about 3 feet; At 11,,45 P.M. passed Bostan, 1898 Decr 25 Sund. [A48_303_11:110] Christmas day, Light S. Erly breeze, & little cloudy~ At 2 AM /passed Ctesiphon At 4 passed Diala river; At 7,,5 landed the mails at the Residency & went up to the Custum House, the SS. Ressafah only here she is loading ~ Very strong S. Erly wind blowing cold & swell in river, Eliza myself & the servant girl Mariam landed & went home, We soon put the sitting room to right for visitors ~ I found no letters at all from Alexander by the Damascus Post which arrived yesterday; but I found the telegram which arrived here on Monday last the 19th, from Montpellier which is dated the 18 in answer to mine to Père Pièrre sent on friday the 16th, but as he was not there, it is as follows ~ "No 3940 16/12 Père Pièrre "Couvent Carmes Montpellier "parti faisons suivre par "poste~" We went to church & then I called on the Carmelite fathers, on the Assyrian Bishop the Chaldean Patriarch Abed Isho; & on father Philippus the Armenian, came home at 11 it is raining a little for about 10 minutes; many Visitors called on us ~ in the afternoon I called on Menusha, Sister Medula Yagchies saw Louisa my niece & on Antone Marine, came home at 4, the Delagate Monseigneur Altmayer called on us; At 5 Père Marie Joseph the Carmelite father sent for me to say that a telegram has just arrived & wishes to see me; I went to the church and he showed me a telegram from Père Pierre from Tarascon dated the 22nd which has just arrîved it says " Carmes " Baghdad " Turquie "Bonne féte,donné "argent Alexandre parti: "Constantinople avertissez "Pièrre I told them that I cannot believe it. P. Pièrre is being sold by Alexander & he always promises to leave if he gets the money Besides this telegram P. Marie Joseph received last night a letter from P. Pièrre dated the 29 Ulto from Montpellier, in which he tells him that Alexander had written to him asking him for money that he was going to leave Paris on the 2d of Decr via Marseilles to catch the Baluchistan at Port Said if he can if not he will wa√Æt for the Turkistan, and P. Pi√®rre objected paying him until he sees him left; ~ By this telegram he says that he has paid him, all this story I cannot believe; Alexander, he is playing tricks with P. Pi√®rre to get money out of him I came home found Eliza nearly fainting from fright of probable sad news from Alexander However I calmed her down & explained everything 26’’ Mond [A48_304_12:111] Light air & foggy cloudy weather~ at 8 am I came on board The Ressafah left yesterday noon for Basreh; At 9 ½ I left the ship & called on Sister Eliza to bid her a happy Christmas~ I came home more Visitors called on us; Sister Medula came & Grzesiki~ Edward Blockey my nephew has got the Small Pox since five days, also Mr. Richarz the German Consul, Small Pox is still bad in town & in all the villages even along the Euphrates & Aleppo & other places, the Old people are also getting attacked; the Jews are suffering the Most; Pere Marie Joseph has had it, also Mr. Blumsum but they recovered~ I called on Shemoony Korkis, also on Yacoob Eassayi & came home at 5~ Johny came to us & he stopped to dine with us, at 6 it began to rain for about an hour, and then it became fine; 27 Tuesd Th@ 6. 32 1898 Decr Light N.W. breeze and Very fine & cold weather at 8 ½ Am I came on board, We are discharging cargo; at 9 ½ I left & went to call on Yacoob Pahlawan’s family on Yousif Hannosh Tessy; I went to the Office to Mr. Bottomly & took 45 £ Stg to pay wages of Officers tomorrow; After breakfast I made more calls, on Polus Serkis, Shekoory Andrea, Habib Chiha, Asfars, Abduljebbar Effendi, Eliza Erame, Yacoob Tessy, & came home, it is bitterly cold & cloudy, I cannot stand such a cold, at night could not get warm 28 Wedn Th@ 6. 28 [A48_306_19:112] Light N.W. breeze and Very Cold fine weather, At 8 ½ Am I came on board & paid the Ship’s Company their wages; the decks are frosty; I feel it bitterly cold At 10 ½ I went home found Sister Eliza & her daughter Terrooza & Catterina Yaghchi, At 1 P.M. I went over to Sister Eliza, took Terroza my niece & went to call on Regina my niece (Sister Eliza’s daughter) & her husband Duncan Alexander they have hired a small house near Alice’s; I gave her a Diamond earrings as a present for her marriage which I bought for 60 Beshlics at 2 I left & came home; I called on Menusha & then came on board we are shipping cargo; I heard today of the death of Kass Yousif Segman the Assyrian Priest who had left this about 2 months ago for Beyrout, & he went up the Lebanon Mountains to see his Sister in the Convent & died there, from an ulcer operation on hîs back; At 4 ½ went on shore called on Sister Medula for ¼ hour there were Regina my niece & her husband Duncan Alexander, I went home found there Antone Marine, Artin also came~ Very Cold Weather & fine clear, moon 15 days old; 29 Thurs Th@ 6. 28 1898 Decr Draft/ 3,,5 Light N.W. & very foggy, still bitterly cold & freezing; My Thermometer is exposed in our Verandah facing the N. West, At 8 ½ I came on board Weather keeps foggy~ I wrote a letter to Mr. Böhm Vienna by today’s Post via Damascus & told hîm all about Alexander that he is still in Paris & is humbuging Père Pièrre & getting money out of him; & that I have sent a formal demand through Mr. Richarz to our Austrian Consul General of Paris to force Alexander to leave & be sent out here, At 11 ½ I went to breakfast & came at 1 P.M. We shipped a good deal of local cargo up to No. 63 It was 6 ½ P.M. when I went home,~ Very cold weather & fîne~ 30 Frid Th@ 6. 28 Light N.W. & fine cold weather~ At 5,,30 AM. I came on board, River has risen since yesterday morning about 2 feet, Baghdad to Basreh [30 DEC 1898 --- V048_19_S] (//) 1898 Decr PassegOkesG. S. PiastDraft 15367,05818,506 ,,3,,5 At 6,,10 Am. we proceeded, Fine cold weather;~ The banks & trees are covered with white frost, & so is the ship’s deck; it became very cold before sunrise; The Thermometer outsîde of My cabin fell to 28°~ At 8,,10 passed Diala river; the water is still frozen on the decks; At 9,,30 passed Ctesiphon, Gave tickets to the passengers we have no one in 1st Class Cabins~ At 11,,25 passed the S.S. Phrat & Barge going up at Ledje reach; Weather became cloudy since 9 am, it is still bitterly cold I can’t write in my cabin; We have in all 122 Deck passengers only; I have been obliged to make a fire in my cabin, as my feet & hands are quite chilled~ We passed the SS. Khalifah at Rwebyeh at about 1,,30 P.M. but I did not see her, as no one told me of her & I was in my cabin, At 2,,5 passed Baghdadieh Fort; still cloudy a little At 4,,15 passed Azizieh; At 6,,10 We rounded & came to for the night at Shedeif, Light N.W. breeze & little Cloudy, still Cold; I have got a bad cold all my bones & muscles pain me, & feel so feverish, 31 Satur Th@ 6. 34 1899 Jany Light N.W. & fine cold weather there is some frost on the banks, but not so cold as before~ At 6,,20 Am we left Shedeif At 9,,15 passed Nemlah, At 1,,30 P.M. arrived at Coot landed 40 ½ passengers and 60 packages; I received Henry’s letter & paper, the Khalifah had 138000 Okes & about 160 Passng, Mr. Cole who was her Chief Engineer & had gone to England on leave last year, was discharged by Lynch, from the service & have put Tom Tartt in his place, has come up in the Khalifah to go to his wife in Baghdad At 2,,35 P.M. We left Coot, took 16 passengers, At 6,,45 P.M. we rounded and anchored at Aboo Dood, just below the Village of Sheikh Saad, Very fine Weather & light N.W. 1 Sund Th@ 6. 40 Modte cold N.W. Wind and fine Weather~ At 6,,30 Am We left Aboo Dood the wind blowing cold; At 9,,25 landed 6 Bales at Ali Gherbi, took one passenge & went on at 9,,45; At 11,,20 passed the SS. “Mossul & Barge going up at Flefleh Village; At 5,,35 P.M. arrived at Amara landed 29 passengers & 143 Packages, Light N.W. breeze & and still Cold Weather; We took 2 Tons of Coal; finished work at 8 & we remained at Amara for the night; 2nd Mond. Th@ 6. 32 Light N.W. & very fine and cold weather~ At 5,,20 Am left Amara, Very cold & the desert is frosty, At 7,,30 we anchored it became foggy~ We took 13 ½ passengers from Amara~ At 8 fog cleared off we proceeded~ Detained at the Elbow from 10,,40 till 11~ At 0,,30 A.M. passed Azair, At 3,,30 P.m. landed 20 Bags of dry fruit at Gorna and Went on at 3,,45~ Took 6 passengers~ At 7,,20 We anchored about Kteban, it being rather misty but not so foggy~ 3rd Tuesd. 1899 Jany 1899 Jany Light air & little foggy; At 6,,30 Am got underway from below Kteban, but it soon became foggy. We drifted easy until we got near Maghil it became thicker, flood tide is made up; We saw a sunken Boat just near the Canal Aboo Sboor above Maghil, laden with Cases of Paraffin, we met a lot of Cases floating down as we got near Jubela Canal, and our Launch went with the crew and picked up 12 cases, the water is slack & there is no current; they also brought about 15 Bundles of Coir rope & the door of the boat’s cabin, & we remained at anchor, the fog having cleared off at 8 am; At 8 ½ weighed & proceeded down to Basreh; The sunken boat belongs to Hotz & Co, & the cargo to H. Hmood el Mellak; At 9 arrived at Basreh there is only the English Gunboat “Pigeon” here, There are the Mail S. Pachumba and the SS. Baluchistan for Asfar arrived 3 days Ago in Quarantine, Mr. Mackey (who was employed) at Darby Andrewes before) is on board of her he is employed at Frank Strick & Co now in London & has come to see about some business with G. Asfar here; Rufail & Yousif Marine called on me, we proposed to go in to Basreh to see Tukyeh & other people, they went back to breakfast & will return; At 11 ½ We went in to Basreh called on Tookyeh also on Terrooza wife of Nessoory Andrea, I went to Angoorliy’s Shop & returned to Tookyeh had Tea & we left at 3 P.M. came on board & then we went to Jeboory Asfar for an hour & then went up to Roofail’s house where We dined & slept~ Weather getting cloudy & breeze from N. Est; Yousif Roofail & I slept in the large sitting room, there was fire in the stove~ 1899 Jany 4 Wedn. Light N. Erly breeze & very Cloudy overcast; It begun to rain at 8 am. I came on board in the rain; We are shipping Cargo; The SS. Ressafah & Barge left last night to Baghdad at noon it begun to open a little, breeze from N.W. It cleared off in the afternoon & became fine~ Rufail called, also Rezooki Angoorly, & Rezooki also; We loaded down deep & took several steamers’ cargo, Basreh to Baghdad [4 JAN 1899 --- V048_20_N] (//) [A48_317_21:113] PassegOkesGSP. LocalDraft 204217,70510,998 3/44,,10 At 4,,30 P.M. We finished and got underway, drawing 4 feet 10 Inches Fine weather and calm, Flood tide just began to make Mr. Holdway our 3rd Mate, has again taken to his usual yearly fits of drinking to excess, He had left the ship on Christmas day in Baghdad & remained for 2 days on shore at his brother in law, & came on board very sick & shut up himself in his Cabin unable to come out & keep his watch on the Bridge until the day before for a short time & shut up himself again in his cabin till now;~ At 9,,40 passed Gorna 5 Thursd Th@ 6. 44 1899 Jany Light N.W. & fine weather; At 2,,30 Am passed Azair at 3 anchored near Ghumeyjeh At 6 got underway and proceeded; Finished with the passengers tickets;~ We took 2 from Gorna We have in all 136 ½ with the 2 from Gorna (3 ½ are in 1st Class, being one Mahomedan Raoof Effendi to Baghdad, 2 Mahomedan for Kalat Saleh and a girl, Emilia daughter of Elias Kheder Faraj to Coot ½ Passage) At 11,,15 landed 10 Passeng including the 2 in 1st Class at Kalat Saleh & went on at 11,,20 ~ At 4,,55 P.M. arrived at Amara landed 20 passengers; Took in 6 Tons of Coal, The Ressafah left this today at 11 am, we shipped 4 Bund Copper At 6 P.M. left Amara Fine clear weather & light N.W. breeze ~ 6 Frid Ther@ 6.38 Light N.W. & fine ~ at 1,,30 am passed the S. Ressafah & Barge going up; At 6,,15 landed 2 passengers at Ali Gherbi & went on at 6,,30 took 7 passengers weather getting cloudy; Gave tickets to 43 ½ Amara passengers; At 11,,30 landed a Jew passenger at Sheikh Saad who had no money to pay he is from Amara Weather became cloudy again with S. Ely wind blowing modte; ~ At 6,,5 P.M. arrived at Coot landed 35 ½ passengers (one in 1st Class the daughter of Elias Ferej half person); Took in 5 Tons of Coal finished at 7 ½, weather cloudy but there are stars to be seen; we shipped 23 packages of ghee, gums etc and remained for the night at Coot, blowing strong S.Ely & Cloudy, 7 Satur Ther@ 6.47 1899 Jany [A48_320_13:114] [A48_321_01:115] Arabic Strong S.Ely & cloudy a little ~ at 6 AM. we left Coot; clouds clearing off & getting fine, but the wind is strong from S.Et; Gave tickets to 17 Coot passengers At 0,,15 P.M. we met the Comet coming down at Hamraya, both Steamers anchored & they sent for the mails of Major Melville the Acting Resident on board going to Basreh and back, Dr. Ramsay is also on board going away on leave; The new Consul for Basreh Mr. Wratislaw who arrived on about the 20 Ulto ; in the Arabistan is a Civilian & was attached to the English Embassy at Constaniple & had been Consul in Philippopolis & Sophia the Basreh Consulate has been transferred now from under the Indian Government to that of the Foreign Office, and Mr. Wratislaw has been for about 15 years in Turkey and speaks several languages At 0,,45 P.M. we went on blowing very strong S. Ely wind; ~ At 1,,40 P.M. passed Memlah, At 2,,20 passed the S.S. Khalifah going down I saw Alfred Holland & Polus Bahoshy going down in her to Coot, for the building of the house for a wool Press; At 9,,30 anchored at Zweyet- el Zère (above Humeyeh) although the weather is very fine and clear; Capt Cowley is afraid to run at night because the ship is deep, he is more timid than before; the river is good & there is still a rise of about 5 feet from the last rise ~ 8 Sund 1899 Jany Light breeze from S. West and fine, some clouds are hanging about on northern parts ~ At 5 AM. proceeded, at 6 passed Azizieh; At 9,,45 passed the Fort of Baghdadieh, and at 9,,50 passed the S. Phrat & barge going down; thick clouds came on & passed over from the north being driven by a N.W. breeze as it shifted & became cold; The river has fallen about two feet from its last rise~ At 7,,5 P.M. passed Ctesiphon, light westerly breeze & fine night; At 7,,35 anchored at the bottom of Gusseiba for the night, on account of the Shoals at Gusseiba~ 9 Mond 1899 Jany [A48_324_16:116] S. Ely breeze & little cloudy, At 6,,15 am we proceeded, but touched a shoal & sent to sound, at 7,,15 proceeded At 8,,55 passed Diala, weather getting cloudy; At 10,,10 I landed at Gherrara & walked in to Baghdad, I felt it very hot, as the S.Ely wind was behind me & the sun hot, I went straight to Lynch’s office got there by 11 ½ saw Mr. Bottomly for some business & also told him about the mistake I had made in last voyage up in the calculation of the Basreh passengers, I had only found it last night, after much searching & examining account as I had made the Balance of my cash Book on the way down this trip for the end of the year & found that I was 2400 G S. P. over & could not find it where it occurred, until I counted the passengers old ticket Book & found that I had omitted 40 passengers on the voyage up on 21 Decr, @ 60 P. each it just came to 2400, this 40 passengers were issued in the ticket Book which I had sent to the office after it was finished; I told Mr. Bottomly that I will enter these 40 passengers in next voyage up so as to ignore every thing~ I left & came home, but so very tyred & giddy with very bad headache, the was had stirred my bile, & not having had breakfast, I saw Eliza, she said that no letters from Alexander had arrived for the last two weeks by Post; but one letter from Père Pièrre from Tarascon dated the 14 Decr arrived on Saturday (the day before) which was sent by Père Marie Joseph, there is nothing decided in the letter about his or Alexanders departure, he only relates the way in which Alexander is humbuging me for drawing money, & he has already advanced him 750 frcs, & Alexander always promises hîm of leaving in such & such a date etc etc; The Mejidieh arrived at about 0 ½ P.M. ~ The S.S. Mossul is here only she is loading & leaves tomorrow ~ I called on sister Medula at 2 P.M. also on the Carmelite fathers saw Père Emmanuel spoke about P. Pière etc, & came home; Johny & Artin called in the evening Light N.W. & fine weather, 10 Tuesd Ther@6.40 1899 Jany Light N.W. & fine cold morning, I called on Henry’s wîfe, & also on Sister Eliza, and on Monsigneur Altmayer but was not at home, I went to Mr. Richarz & gave my card, as I did not want to go in & see him because he has had the Small Pox since a fortnight, but I heard that he is well & goes out, I also passed to enquire about Edward Blockey my nephew who also has had the Small Pox, but is better, I did not go up to see him but asked him how he was from the court yard & he said that he was well; I came home & found the Delegate Altmayer in my house; I went over to sister Medula where Sister Eliza was as I did not see her in her house so I took her to my house to breakfast & pass the day: ~ I took a warm bath; Regina my niece (Mrs. Duncan Alexander) & her sister also called & they all left at sunset; Antone Marine & Shekoory Antone Sayegh called in the evening & left at 6 ½ Fine cold weather and light N.W. breeze; 11thWedn Ther@6.39 Light N.W. & fine cold morning; the SS. Mossul left at 6 am; at 8 I came on board; we went alongside to discharge cargo; we also did yesterday River rose about ½ foot; ~ At 11 I went home and breakfasted & at 1 ½ P.M. came on board & shipped cargo, I worked hard for the through cargo shipped; ~ At 4 ½ P.M. went home, took Eliza & went to Sister Medula spent the evening, Artin also came there we left at 7 ½ Weather fine & cold 12 Thursd Ther@6.38 1899 Jany Light N.W. & little cloudy The SS. Ressafah arrived from Basreh at 3 am. She had left the day before we did~ At 8 am I came on board, I wrote a letter to Mr. Alois Schweiger in Vienna of todays date, via Damascus by todays Post, in answer to his 4 former letters; At 11 I went to breakfast & I came at 12 ½; At about 4 ½ P.M. we finished shipping cargo, hauled out of the Custum House~ At 5 I went home & then went to Sister Eliza where my wife had gone & we spent the evening, Regina also came from her house being close about; at 7 we came home~ Light N.W. & fine weather cold ~ 13 Frid Ther@6.34 [A48_329_19:117] [A48_329_20:118] 1899 Jany Light N.W. & fine weather At 5 ½ am I came on board; Today being the first of Ramadan the fasting month for the Mahomedans~ Baghdad to Basreh [13 JAN 1899 --- V048_21_S] (//) PassgrOkesGS. PiastDraft 137,,113,42318,795 3/43,,9 At 6,,20 AM. we got under- way & proceeded; the river has risen about one foot; we have 112,000 Okes cargo; Very cold morning, frosty, the banks & islands, and the deck also has frozen the water ~ At 8,,20 passed Diala At 9,,50 passed Ctesiphon; Gave tickets to the passengers we have altogether 111; (3 in 1st Class, Mr. A. Veillant a Swiss silk merchant, who had come up with us two years ago in Decr 96; & been to Persia now going to Bombay; and Jemil Beg the son of Saîd Pasha Motserrif at Hassa and his mother, they are going to Said Pasha at Hassa, I know him well & he was formerly at Basreh & Amara he is a Musully) At 2.55 P.M. we met the S.S. Khalifah coming up at Rwebyeh, we stopped and sent Mr. Holdway our 3rd mate to her, and her chief mate Mr. Brain came on board to go down to Basreh to be put in the SS. Malamir to act in place of her Captain Aidy who is going for 6 months leave to England;~ I received a letter from Henry saying he had let my papers & letter at Coot with Alfred Holland, as he was not sure of our stopping We went on at 3,,5 P.M. the Khalifah has 142,000 Okes & 215 passengers, none in cabins; ~ At 3,,20 passed Baghdadieh Fort; At 5,,25 passed Azizieh, Calm but fine cold weather; At 7.35 we anchored at Shedeif for the night, Light N.W. & fine weather moon two days old 14 Satur Ther@6.40 Therm @ 6.40 Light air & getting cloudy At 6.15 am we left Shedeif, it became cloudy all over like a fog spred all over ~ At 9,,20 passed Memlah, S.Ely breeze & cloudy all over, wind increasing~ At 2,,5 P.M. arrived at Coot landed 19 passengers and 39 Packages; ~ Alfred Holland & Polus the Engineer of the Wool Press came on board, they are building the house for the Wool Press down near our Coal Depot, I received Henry’s letter & my papers ~ At 3,,10 P.M. left Coot Took 9 passengers;~ At 6,,10 P.M. we rounded & came to for the night above Sheikh Saad; weather cloudy & light S. Ely wind; it blew strong at night, with slight rain occasionally~ 1899 Jany 15 Sund. Th @ 6.40 Light S. Ely & cloudy at 6,15 proceeded ~ At 7,,5 passed the S.S. Baghdad & Barge bound up she was under repairs for the last six months ~ At 4,,40 passed Sheikh Saad getting clear on the west & north ; At 10,,50 stopped at Ali Gherbi and landed 5 Bales and went on at 11,,10 ; ~ Took one passenger ~ Wind shifted to a sharp N.W. but remains still cloudy all over ; ~ at noon it cleared up & became very fine, At 4,,15 P.M. met the S.S. Comet coming up with Major Melvill on board she stopped & sent her boat off for the letters, & we went on at 4,,20~ At 4,,5 arrived at Amara, landed 35 passengers and 83 Packages; ~ At 8,55 left Amara, At 9,10 anchored above Aboo Sedra for the night; I have the stomach ache since I walked in from Gherrara on Monday last, & am restless, & cannot sleep, this night I had about two hours only, The ship’s clock in the Saloon kept me up striking so hard that I had to go & stop it at 12 o'clock ~ 16 Mond 1899 Jany Light N.W. & fine clear weather at 6,15 am proceeded, I feel so weak from not having had a good sleep last night, We anchored on account of fog for 10 minutes & left at 7.30 ~ Gave tickets to 9 Amara passengers At 8,,35 passed Kalat Saleh, at 9 we grounded at Nafikh took out an anchor and hove off; at 11,30 we got off & proceeded ~ S. Ely breeze & fine ~ At 2,,15 P.M. landed 3 Jews at Azair (2 with Return Tickets) & went on at 2,,20 At 5,,15 P.M. anchored off Gorna landed 20 Packages & 6 passengers At 5,,45 left, very Calm weather, & cloudy in most part; At 10 anchored at Jubela for the night, being dark cloudy ~ 17 Tuesd S. Ely wind & cloudy all over, it rained at night; At 6,,45 am we left & steamed down to Basreh & anchored at 7 ~ The Gunboat Pigeon is only here; ~ I had a good sleep, but feel very weak this morning from my stomach so out of order & with nervous debility; The Mail Steamer Pemba & the Malamir are only in quarantine ~ The S.S. "Scarsdale" which came out again on account of Yousif Korkis is aground at Fao, & lightining her in the Esther which went down to assist- Raining drizzly at 9 am & continued so far the rest of the day, working in discharging cargo & coaling during the rain, very wet day; Roofail sent me his Belem twice, but I not go, not feeling well; ~ Rufail came to fetch me, & I went with him at 1 P.M. Raining & blowing fresh Ely wind continues I found Yousif Marine at Rufail's house; the weather kept very stormy & rainy All the night too, it rained & blowed strong, very dark & cloudy; Yousif & I slept in the big sitting rooms, but I could not sleep well from my stomach the pain & weakness ~ 18 Wedn 1899 Jany Strong wind & drizzling rain still continues ~ At 8 am they got me the Belem to come on board but the rough weather and strong head wind prevented the Belem from going, near Asfar's house we stopped & asked for an extra man to go with me, but still they could not make ahead, I landed at Asfar's and walked down in the mud & crossed over the Khandak canal & walked to the Ashar where I engaged a Belem for 1 Keran and came on board at 9 1/4 The wind fell down at 11 1/2 am but remained very cloudy, We are shipping cargo; wind shifted to n.w. and it cleared off & became very fine by 1 P.M. ~ Rezooki Angoorly, Nessoory Andrea & Rezooki Sayegh came off to me ~ We kept loading Cargo all the day ~ There are 274 packages of Household furniture, Liquors Table services, sugar, coffee, mineral waters, mirrors & all sorts of things, for the new German Ambassador Graf Rex for Teheran, they are to go via Baghdad, some very large boxes etc; Basreh to Baghdad [19 JAN 1899 --- V048_22_N] (//) PassgOkesG. S. P. Local Draft 219222,47315,118 ,,4,,8 At 11,,15 P.M. we got under way & proceeded from Basreh having loaded the ship down to 4,9 Inches which is too much for the present state of the river; Weather again getting cloudy and a light westerly breeze, Flood tide just finishing; 19 Thursd 1899 Jany [A48_338_09:119] [A48_338_13:120] Light westerly breeze; & cloudy weather ~ At 5,,50 am we passed Gorna ~ At 10,,35 took the two Return Passengers from Azair and went on at 10,,40 ~ Finished with the passengers tickets, we have in all 139 1/2 (added the 40 passengers which I had omitted to enter on the up trip of 21 Decr) 5 in 1st Class Cabins all Persians, Assad Khan, Nedam ul Oolema & 3 friends they belong to Agha Khan’s people of Bombay, and one Sheikh Zein ood Din from Mohamerah also 2 in 2d Class a Turk & his wife, we let the cabin of M. Holdway ~ At 4,,25 P.m. landed 7 passengers at Kalat Saleh, and took 16 Arabs and Madams & Jews went on at 4,,45 ; At 9,,40 P.m. arrived at Amara landed 22 1/2 passengers Took 6 Tons of Coal At 11,,30 left Amara 20 Frid S. Ely wind & little cloudy gave tickets to 46 1/2 Amara passengers ; ~ Rvir is rising, there has fallen a lot of rain up in these parts ; At 11 passed the S.S. Reesafah going down ~ At 11,,5 passed Ali Gherbi, At 4,10 P.m. passed Sheikh Saad, the creeks below & above the village are pouring water into the river from the flooded desert caused by the last rain fall; n.w. breeze & clouds are dispersing ; Weather got bitterly cold with a sharp n.w. wind blowing after sunset & all clouds disappeared, this shows that it has rained up the country, ~ At 9,50 P.m. arrived at Coot landed 17 passengers There were too many Boats alongside, & we could not go alongside our Depot to coal, Alfred Holland came on board, I was asleep; 21 Satur Therm 6.34 At 0,15 am we left Coot, I awoke after having slept about 3 hours, and could not get a wink since till morning, I again got so fidgety on account of Engine room bell striking the hours & so kept tossing about till sunrise, my stomach ache is much better & nearly gone; Very cold weather and fine n.w. breeze ; At 8,10 am passed Memlah ~ Gave tickets to 13 Coot passengers; At 10,,30 passed the S.S. Khalifah at Deboony bound down; At 4,,55 P.M. passed Azizieh ~ Very fine and cold weather ~ At 8,30 P.M. passed Baghdadieh Fort ~ Light n.w. & fine cold weather; 22 Sund Therm @ 6.36 1899 Jany At 1,40 am we anchored to repair a loose float & left at 2 ~ I slept better last night, from 9 till 1 am. & from 4 till 6 & feel better; At 7,,15 passed Ctesiphon River is still rising, At 9.50 passed Diala river; At 11,30 landed a Deckman with the letters at Gherrarah & went on; I could not land feeling rather weak & it is too cold ; River keeps rising & is very turbid ~ At 2,,15 P.m. landed the mails at the Residency & went up to the Custum house the S.S. Baghdad & Barge are only here; I went home saw Eliza, she is also unwell & very weak from affliction & sorrow; There is a dancing party; given tonight by Asfar's we are invited too, but we cannot go, for both of us are suffering ; 23 Mond Therm 6.38 [A48_342_15:121] Light n.w. & fine cold weather; I slept for about 4 hours & still feel very weak; At 8 am called on sister Medula & thence came on board; Father Emmanuel called on board, to tell me that P. Pièrre telegraphed to him from Port Said yesterday having arrived there in the Turkistan, & also gave a small letter from P. Pièrre to me of the 27 Decr from Tarascon & that he has advanced Alexander 350 frcs more & told him that he was going to Constantinople etc etc I sent money to the office & then went home; Pere Emmanuel called, I was furious about P. Pierre's having advanced more money to Alexander, & that he has left in the Turkistan without bringing him with him; Terrooza, wife of Antone Marine & her two daughters Rosa & Ellen called in the day, also Antone called in the evening; Johny & Artin also called ~ Light n.w. & fine weather 24 Tuesd Therm 6.34 1899 Jany Light n.w. & cold weather; at 8 am I called on Menusha, Medoola my sister, Antone Marine & sister Eliza & came home at 11 am ~ The S.S. Baghdad left this morning at 4 1/2 am sister Medula called on us; I took a warm bath I feel still very nervous & weak, I am sleeping well, but have much debility~ 25 Wedn [A48_344_09:122] [A48_344_20:123] 1899 Jany [A48_346_10:124] 1899 Jany Light n.w. & fine weather; at 8 am I called on Georgis Segman to console him on the death of his brother Kass Yousif who died in Beyrout about a month ago ~ came on board the Mejidieh is alongside discharging; My wife desiring very much to were to Constple to enquire if Alexander is there, as I had called on M. Habib Chiha yesterday evening to confer with him & obtain the address of his sons Yousif & Nejib at Constple. & made out the following telegram, to be sent today; " Chiha, Tonietti "Etude Mizzi " Galata "Cablèz si Alexandre, Cons = "tantinople, Reponse payée " Svoboda I sent this telegram with my servant H. Hamadi ; & I came home ; at 11 Hammadi brings me a Telegram & returns mine not being wired; I opened the telegram & found it from Alexander from Constple; Viz "Pera 24/1/99. 4.45 P.m. "Svoboda, Baghdad "Serai 28 Port Said, "Autorisèz Bazin Avancèr "700 Voyage désért ~ " Alexandre We could hardly believe it, my wife was weeping from the rejoice she felt, and also myself, how and why did he do it, we cannot guess unless, the letters of the 15 Ulto as I have mentioned here must have taken effect, I called on Habid Chiha to confer with him & how to do, we thought that it would be better & safe not to remit to him the 700 francs through Bazin, but to askin him to pay his passage from Port Said to Alexandretta & also give him 100 frcs & let Alexander know that the rest he will find at Aleppo from the Ottoman Bank; I then called on Asfars, saw Yousif Asfar Asked him if he can draw on Bazin & wire to him jointly to pay Alexander, we drew out a telegram as follows “Bazin Svoboda “PortSaîd “Payèz passage Svoboda “Alexandretta, plus cent “francs, lui rémîmes “restant Ottombank Alep, “18 Asfar Svoboda “[strikeout] mots @ 1 frc. = Frcs 18,,25 “25/1/99, 2 P.M.; I received at 2 P.M. a telegram from Mr. Böhm, Vienna “Svoboda “Bagdad “Telegraphièz adresse Alexandre “Böhm I suppose he must have received my letter of the 29 Ulto in which I had told all what I had done with the Consul here & the report to the Austrian Consul at Paris, & requested him to assist me also in getting Alexander out of Paris through the authoritees & I must have omitted giving him the adress, I thought at the time, that he knew it, so I wired to him this~ “Böhm “Handelmuseum “Vienne “Alexander, Constantinople “Cablé aujourd’hui partant “S dîd “Svoboda 10 mots; Frcs 4,,85 All the people heard the news, Sister [strikeout] Medula came to me;~ I went on board at 3 P.M. & copied some cargo; left at 5, called on Mr. & Mad Danon the Jews School master & came home; Johny Artin their sister Terooza, Antone Guilietti, Yousif Metchich & Jemil Abdulkerim all called on us till 8 P.M., Light N.W. & weather getting little cloudy; 26’ Thursd. 1899 Jany Light N.W. & cloudy all over at 7 am it begun to rain drizzly~ at 8 ½ I came on board, the streets are getting mudy; We are shipping cargo; At 11 ½ went to breakfast, Eliza would insist to wire to Constple to enquire if Alexander is there or was there; so I sent the following “Chiha Tonietti “Etude Mizzi “Galata “Informèz si Alexandre “Constantinople, reponse “payée~ Svoboda “12 words [and] 10 for reply “G.S.P. 32~ At 1 P.M. I came on board The S.S. Mossul arrived at 12 am she had left on Wednesday last; Weather cloudy; Mr. Richarz sent a Circular round to read & sign for the reception tomorrow of the birth day of the Emperor William II of Germany; But he is not going to receive any visitors on account of his indisposal yet, since he had the Small Pox; At 5 ½ P.M. I went home found Antone Marine; his idea about Alexander’s telegram from Constple are doubtful, & can hardly believe it because he has many times played tricks with us; Light N.W. & cloudy weather; It rains very drizly occasionally, 27’ Frid At 5 ½ am I came on board, cloudy weather, it has rained a little; Baghdad to Basreh [27 JAN 1899 --- V048_23_S] (//) 1899 Jany PassgOkesG. S. PiastDraft 119 1/257,16713,9423,,4 At 6,,15 AM. got underway & proceeded; clouds clearing off~ At 8,,15 passed Diala river; some fog came blowing down from the West; it is getting very fine, Gave tickets & finished with passengers we have in all 100 (3 in 1st Class Jacque Rigo an Armenian merchant; Saleh the son of Mahd Pachachi, and an Indian, & two Jewess in the 2nd Class Cabin; At 2,,30 P.M. passed Baghdadieh Fort; Clouds are passing down from the north; At 3,,40 passed the SS. Khalifah at Sened going up; At 4,,30 P.M. passed Azizieh Weather getting fine; Fine weather all clouds have disappeared; moon 16 days old; it rose at 6,,10 P.M.; At 6,,25 we rounded and came to at Shedief for the night; 28 Satur The @4,,47 Light N.W. & cloudy a little, at 6 AM. left Shedief At 8,,45 passed Memlah, At 9 landed 3 passengers at Bughela & went on at 9,,10, At 1,,5 P.M. arrived at Coot landed 12 ½ Passeng and 92 Packges, also 2500 Bricks for S Lynch & Co for building the wool Press here;~ I received Henry’s letter & papers; The Khalifah had 202000 Okes of Cargo & few passengers about 80;~ Alfred Holland is still here; building the house for the wool Press; At 4 P.M. left Coot took 8 passengers (one in 1st Class, Rezooki Faraj Khedir to Amara) At 8 we anchored at Aboo Dood for the night, Fine clear weather~ 29 Sund Th @ 6,,46 1899 Jany Light N.W. & fine weather At 6,,15 AM. proceeded, At 8,,50 passed Ali Gherbi, Lots of rain appear to have fallen here lately, all is wet, At 4,,15 P.M. arrived at Amara landed 19 passengers (1 in 1st C. Rezooki Faraj) and 63 Packages; The SS. Ressafah & Barge are here on their way up~ I expected a telegram from my wife to let me know the answer of mine to Constple enquiring if Alexander was there last I received none; We took 5 Tons of Coal; At 6,,10 we left Amara, the Ressafah also was leaving bound up;~ At 7,,25 we came to for the night above Aboo Sedra, Fine clear weather, 30 Mond The @ 6,,44 1899 Jany Light N.W. & fine weather At 6,,5 am proceeded from above Aboo Sedra~ At 8 passed Kalat Saleh; Gave tickets to 9 ½ Amara passengers;~ At 8,,30 grounded at Nafikh worked with the Engine and got off & proceeded at 8,,55; At 11,,25 passed Azair, At 11,30 passed the S.S. Baghdad & Barge going up; At 2,,10 P.M. landed 4 passengers at Gorna & went on at 2,,15~ Weather getting cloudy all over~ Frogs have appeared here and out in the Shut el Arab for the first time the Season; Flood tide made up at Kteban & we are going slow, the ship being very light too; At 6,,40 arrived at Basreh very dark and cloudy night; there are no ships up here but the main steamer Kilwa, the Scarsdale Chartered by Yousif Korkis their Agents here are Gray Mackenzie, & the S.S. Parram are in quarantine, the latter arrived about 3 days ago; Jeboory Asfar sent their Belem & asking me to come up to them, as Yousif Marine Rufail & Rezooki are there; I went to them, & we all dined & remained till 9 P.M. I related to them all the news about Alexander, some disbelieved it; & thought it might be a trick, no telegram for me from my wife & cannot make out the cause;~ We went over to Rufail’s house; the two Boxes of samples one for me a large Box, and one for Rezooki from Alois Schweger have arrived & cleared from the Custum House, they charged 108 G. S. P. duty on both; Yousif & I slept in the sitting room but I could not sleep at all; 31 Tuesd S. Erly breeze & cloudy all over, very little rain fell last night; I passed a very restless night, without sleep & with palpitation & nervousness; & cold in my head; at 8 am. I came on board, I brought some of the boxes of samples with me~ we are coaling discharging & loading cargo; I felt very miserable today feeling very weak & out of humour, not having slept last night;~ Yacoob Eassayi called on me, he came down in the Khalifah last trip to settle his business with Jeboory Asfar about the Liquorice; Rufail and Rezooki came also Nessoory Andrea;~ We worked at night in shipping cargo;~ Basreh to Baghdad [31 JAN 1899 --- V048_24_N] (//) 1899 Feby PassengOkesG. S. Piast LocalDraft 114 1/2233,9828,261 ,,4,,8 At 9,,30 P.M. we left Basreh loaded deep ~ Fine weather, we have no passengers in the Cabins~ I suffered a most miserable night, I went to sleep at 8 ½ but it was impossible, the fright of bell hours striking in the Engine room kept me awake, with palpitation & kept tossing till 12 P.M. when I went out aft and got my bed & spred it on the Hatch, where I could not hear the bells, it is cold but I covered myself well; 1 Wednes Th 6,,49 Weather very fine & mild, Since I came out at 12 last night I could not get a sleep even outside on the Hatch I took whisky & water, and still I cannot feel sleepy, At 4,,20 am landed a passenger at Gorna & went on at 4,,25; at 6 I took my bed into my cabin, having felt then sleepy but it is getting broad day light; I am suffering from weakness, it is the same thing with me as when I got so some 16 years ago on board the Blosse Lynch & had to take leave & stop in Baghdad for more than a month, At 9,,45 passed Azair Finished with the passengers’ tickets~ We have altogether 57 ½ Passengers; At 2,,55 P.M. picked 3 Passengers from Kalat Saleh & went on at 3;~ At 8,,5 P.M. arrived at Amara landed 13 passengers & took 8 ½ Tons of Coal; also shipped Packges Hides & Sheep Skins etc~ on arrival here I received a notice from my wife which arrived yesterday she says, Svoboda, Amara, Chiha telegraphie Alexandre probablement Egypte Eliza So it shows that he has been really at Constple & has gone through Egypte as he wired on the 24th Instt~ At 9,30 we left Amara; I took a glass of hot Punch & went to bed ~ 2 Thursd Light N.W. & cloudy a little I slept last night well, from 10 till 4 am this morning, & feel better~ Gave tickets to 33 Amara passengers At 9,,50 passed Ali Gherbi, the river hereabout is falling consistently, about 5 feet from it's highest rise last month; I paid the Ship's company their wages for January; At 3,,45 P.M. passed Sheikh Saads; N.W. Wind and cloudy in most parts; ~ At 9,,20 P.M. arrived at Coot landed 16 1/2 passengers, took no coal; ~ The Ressafah had left this morning, & the Baghdad about 2 hours ago; I advanced Alfred Holland 30 Mejidies on account of the expenses for the building of the Wool Press, At 10,,30 We left Coot, I again had no sleep and kept so till aftermidnight 3 Frid Therm. @ 6.44 1899 Feby Light N.W. & fine weather At 6,,15 Am passed Memlah; I slept from 1 am till about 5, but I feel weak & not refreshing, At 6,,45 we passed the S.S. Baghdad & Barge bound up; There is a little rise in the river~ Gave tickets to 11 Coot passengers,~ The SS. Mossul was at Coot last night , bound down she was on the opposite side along Eassayi's Press, shipping Liquorice; At 2,,30 P.M. passed Azizieh Village; At 5,,50 P.M. passed the S.S. Khalifah going down just at Baghdadieh Fort ~ Light N.W. and fine weather; I turned in at 8 1/2 but again I could not get a sleep, The palpitation of my heart & fright & the ringing of the Bell, although I drunk Punch & am very sleepy; at 12 I took my bed out on the hatch & laid down it is cold, but I have lost my sleep & could not dose off 4 Satur, Therm. @ 6.46 1899 Feby At 1,,30 AM. We passed the Ressafah & Barge going up at Temreh ~ At 4 I again went into my Cabin after a useless attempt to sleep; We passed Ctesiphon at 3 and Diala at about 5 1/2~ I dosed off at about 5 for 1/2 hour & awoke shivering At 7 we went alongside the bank at the Bridge of Gherrarah & landed at Horse, I feel so very weak that I could not get out of my bed, at 7,,10 we went on ~ Fine clear & cold weather; Light Erly breeze; At 9,,30 landed the mails at the Residency, steamed up to the Custum House, no other steamers are here; I went home found Eliza unwell in bed & Antone Marine her brother there; She has had an attack of diarrhea & vomiting some 4 days ago at night and had the fever, but she is a little better; I was too weak to speak & relate my sufferings to & sleeplessness; so we are both convalescent; I found the telegram from Chiha Tonietti from Constple arrived here on the 31st Jany they say, "Pera, 31/1/99 "Svoboda, Bagdad, "Suivant renseignements "Alexandre, probablement "Egypte~ Tonietti, Chiha, It has no meaning to my enquiry; we cannot Know certain whether Alexander has really been to Constple or this only guess that he must be in Egypte; Antone, Pere Emmanuel & others doubt it, & that he must again have been playing trick to get the money from Bazin; found also a letter from Yousif Serpos with the Photo of himself wife & children, also a letter from Böhm, Vienna in which he mentions of our Emperor Francis Joseph’s 50 Years Reign’s Jubilee past off well & he has been presented with a decoration for both his military & Civil Service etc~ After breakfast I had a short nap but the palpitation of my heart & the sinkness of breath are troubling me much, The Ressafah arrived at about 6 P.M.~ Johny my nephew called in the evening; S. Erly wind 5 Sund Th @ 6. 48 [A48_365_09:125] Strong S. Erly wind and Cloudy; Eliza is unable to go to church, I went at 8 Am to Sister Medula & then went together to church, I slept very well & sound last night & feel much refreshed;~ I called with Johny on Chiha, Antone Marine, Abduljebbar Effendi, Eliza & Adoola my cousins; on Yaghchi Guilietti, & Menusha & came home at 12~ It is blowing strong S.E. & cloudy thretening weather, few drops of rain came & passed away, but kept blowing, at 3 P.M. I called on Sister Eliza, & thence with Johny Called on the Monseigneur Altmayer who is in bed & suffering from the Gout, we sat with Père Augustin~ We also went to visit Sister Medoola & I came home at 5 P.M. Antone came for an hour; Blowing still hard but it is fine~ The SS. Baghdad arrived at about 2 P.M.; 6’ Mond Th @ 6. 50 1899 Feby S. Erly wind & little cloudy, at 8 Am I came on board, We went alongside to discharge cargo; having discharged also on Saturday some~ I went to the Office at 11 for some English Sovereigns; & came home at 11~ I sent a telegram today at 10 Am to Yousif Serpos in Cairo as my wife is very anxious to know if Alexander is really in Egypt~ “ Serpos, Caire “ Informèz si Alexandre “ Venu Egypte “ 8 words Svoboda “ Frcs 8,, I took a warm bath; Weather became cloudy & windy; It begun to get dark at 7 P.M. with lightning on the Eastern parts & by 8 a strong squall came shifting the wind to West & north, and it rained heavy for ½ hour & then it cleared off & became fine~ 7’ Tuesd Th @ 6. 44 [A48_366_21:126] [A48_367_08:127] Modte S. Westerly & fine at 8 am. I came on board, We are discharging still, I went home at 10, called on the Assyrian Bishop Aghnatius to condole him on the death of his mother at Mardin the day before; she was about 78 years old and I had seen her at Deir in 1891 on my way to Europe~ At 4 P.M. Eliza & I went over to Sister Medula & Grzesiki, & got our dinner there & dined with them, Artin came and also dined; at 9 we left~ There is a marriage to night taking place between Naoomy son of Behnan Sabbagh and the daughter of Fetoohi Toma Loca~ 8 Wednes Th @ 6. 43 1899 Feby [A48_368_17:128] Light N.W. & fine cool Weather; At 8 ½ AM. I came on board; The Ressafah is inside of us at the Custum House loading to leave today~ The river begun to rise since last night & has risen about 2 feet; I went to the Ottoman Bank as Mr. Kritchly the Director wished to see me, he has got the B of Lading for 10,00 Empty boxes of dates sent out to [illegible] by Mr. Alois Schweiger of Vienna to pay the Bank 31. £ Stg & obtain the Bill of Lading from them, I refused to do so now, until I go to Basreh & see if Rufail Sayegh will buy them, as they had not arrived yet, I went to breakfast at 11~ The SS. Ressafah & Barge left at 12~ At 2 P.M. I came on board, We are shipping cargo~ Weather is getting cloudy~ At 4 P.M. Went on shore called on Shekoory Sayegh, saw his mother Catherina & his Wife Takoohy; they have bought the house of Yousif Sayegh from the brothers Pere Augustin & Père Jean & their Sister Catherina for 500 T. Liras & they are going to shift into it next Week; I came home found Sister Medula & Giuseppina my niece there;~ Artin called in the evening; Eliza & I do not feel well at all, she is suffering from the sorrow about Alexander & I am very weak too, & nervous debility and my stomach is very weak Light N.W. & fine; 9 Thursd Th @ 6. 45 1899 Feby [A48_369_19:129] Light N.W. & fine weather at 8 AM I came on board The river is falling about ½ foot~ The Ressafah which had left yesterday noon, came to Grief at Kerradah, her Boiler is leaking, it has been repaired & she left this morning; The newly appointed Nadir of the Custum House of Baghdad Husny Beg who arrived here about 15 days Ago went down in her to Basreh~ I wrote two letters of todays date & Post of Damascus Registered one to Mr. Böhm and one for Blanche to Constple all about Alexander and Kept Copies~ At 11 went to breakfast & came on board at 12 ½; We are shipping Cargo; The Baghdad is also loading & leaves tomorrow~ At 5 P.M. I went home, Père Emmanuel called also Johny my nephew; Light S. Erly & fine; 10 Friday Light Air & little cloudy I awoke at 2 ½ Am & could not sleep; at 5 ¼ Came on board River has Again risen since last night of about 1 foot (4 bricks) Baghdad to Basreh [10 FEB 1899 --- V048_25_S] (//) 1899 Feby PassgersOkesG. S. PiastDraft 132 1/26821913,1843,,5 At 6 AM. We got underway & proceeded; The Baghdad also left about 5 minutes before us & we passed her soon; Weather cloudy & light S. Erly Air~ At 7,,40 passed Diala river, cloudy all over; At 8,,45 passed Ctesiphon, Gave tickets & finished with the passengers; We have altogether 117 ½ (4 in 1st Class, a Turk Mahd Memdooh Beg & his wife, a Jew Yousif Moshi, & Jemil son of Elias Serkis, and Artin Awannessian in 2nd Class all for Basreh) At 1,,20 P.M. passed Baghdadieh Fort; At 3,,30 passed Azizieh, still very cloudy all over, We caught the rise of the last four days,~ At 5,,55 P.M. we anchored at Deboony, very cloudy, & dark, with drops of rain & S.Ely breeze; It rained during the night for a long time & remained cloudy 11 Satur Th@6.50 [A48_372_10:130] Light S.Ely & cloudy, it rained drizzly all the night until 2 am ~ At 6 am. we left Deboony; At 7,,35 passed Memlah; At 9.45 passed the S.S. Khalifah going up at Algayah I saw Alfred Holland from Coot, also Yacoob Eassayi At 11.35 arrived at Coot landed 9 passengers and 147 Packages (120 Bags of Juss & Lime for Lynch’s wool Press, @ 1 ½ GSP. per bag of 80 Okes); I received Henry’s letter & Papers, the Khalifah had 210,000 Okes & about 100 passengers; ~ At 1,,10 P.M. we left Coot, Took 11 passengers wind shifted to N. Wester but is still cloudy all over; At 4.50 passed Sheikh Saad; A modte N.W. wind blowing & the clouds are clearing off from the North & N.West ~ At 5,,50 we rounded & came to for the night; the clouds are not cleared off, yet only from the North is getting fine ~ Moon appeared two days old, At 8,,10 the SS. Mossul & Barge passed up; 12th Sund Th@6.44 1899 Feby Modte N.W. breeze & fine At 4 AM. the SS. Baghdad & Barge passed down; At 5,,45 we proceeded, It became foggy; At 6,15 we anchored too foggy ~ At 7,,30 cleared off we proceeded; Today being the first day of the Ramadan Holyday At 8,,20 anchored again it became foggy and at 8,,40 proceeded, having cleared off ~ Breeze shifted to S. East & brought back the fog ~ At 9,,5 passed Ali Gherbi & at 9,,15 anchored below the village it became again foggy ~ At 10,,20 fog lifted up we proceeded; but it remained covering all the sky like a cloudy weather, Weather getting very cloudy & dark clouds with lightning & rain on the Northern part ~ At 3,,10 P.M. passed the SS Baghdad proceeding down; It became very cloudy all over dark and raining very gloomy & blowing strong S.W. wind, very thretening weather; At 4 ½ rain ceased & clouds opening on the west & north; At 5,,35 P.M. arrived at Amara, landed 17 ½ Passengers an 34 Packages; Very wet & muddy from the rain, the weather is still very cloudy gloomy & dark, They have had lots of rain here, last night & this after- noon; No telegram for me from Baghdad about the answer of Yousif Serpos telegram I sent him on the 6th enquiring if Alexander had come to Egypt; At 6.35 the SS. Baghdad came down; ~ Wind shifted to N.West, but is still very cloudy & dark, 13th Mond Th@6.46 1899 Feby [A48_377_01:131] Light N.W. & cloudy weather the SS. Baghdad left at 3 am ~ The SS Phrat & Barge arrived from Basreh at 5,,30 ~ At 5,,30 we also left Amara; Clouds clearing up from the North; ~Took 4 passengers (one in 1st Class Kasim Khdery) ~ The river is very high in these parts it is nearly in a level with the bank; ~ At 11,15 passed Azair At 2,,10 P.M. passed Gorna & at 2,,20 P.M. passed the SS. Baghdad steaming down, Flood tide making, Breeze shifted to N. East & the clouds are still covering the sky; At 6,,30 P.M. arrived at Basreh, Fine clear weather, breeze from N Wester very light; no steamers here, but there are the mailboat Pemba & the Turkistan the latter arrived 3 days ago, and Père Pièrre & P. Jean are on board of her; ~ no Belem came from Rufail & I was waiting all the time I was very disappointed & took dinner on board, when at 8 ½ Rezooki came to me he was in Basreh, & Rufail is up at Shaybieh with his Uncle Yousif; so he pressed on me to go with him to their house & I went, but could not sleep at all; the big room is too cold & I had lost my sleep; 14 Tuesd. 1899 Feby [A48_378_07:132] [A48_378_16:133] [A48_378_22:134] [A48_379_22:135] 1899 Febry Very sharp cold N.W. wind ~ at 7 ½ am. Rezooki & I went down to the quarantine station & went alongside the SS. Turkistan to see P. Pierre, they were at breakfast & had to wait at the ladder, he came & also P. Jean; P. Pièrre seems not to know anything at all about Alexander’s story, he saw no one to tell him, he had not been to London; he did not see Ibrahim Gejou, but he says that when Alexander came to see him in Paris, he had told him of his intention of marrying but since his father had objected he therefore gave it up, we left after ½ hour & I came on board ~ We are discharging & loading; I received by this Bombay mail the first numbers of French Paper L’Eclair to which I subscribed myself from the 1st of Jany for one year ~ Nassoory Andrea came to me; The two Bycicles one for Johny & one for me I ordered it for my son Alexander have arrived I cleared them from the Custum House & paid duty of 144 G S P. on both, valuing them @ 900 G S P. each, he will send them up in the Khalifah” Rezooki Sayegh came to me for an hour. We have all the Cabins taken Mr. & Mrs. Taylor, Mr. Richards of Lynch Brothers office, Dr. Sturrock of the missionary & an Engineer for the Comet Mr. J.J. Walmsley coming from the SS. Laurence from Bushire all in the 4 1st Class & Ali Beg Zheir in a 2nd Class Cabin; At 5 P.M. Rufail came to me, he came down from Shaebyeh, we had a long talk about Alexander & my state of despair & told him that I intend to resign as my health does not permits me to serve any longer; I feel so weak and unable to sleep; he advised me not to do it for the present, & to try & resist it as much as I can etc______, We finished loading deep down to 4,,10, by 10 P.M ; Basreh to Baghdad [15 FEB 1899 --- V048_26_N] (//) PassengersOkesG. S. P. LocalDraft 82 1/2235,664,4,398 1/44,9 At 10,,50 P.M. we got underway, but after 10 minutes had to anchor on account of fog came on just opposite Rufail's house ~ 15 Wedn [A48_381_18:136] 1899 Feby At 0,,30 AM. we proceeded fog cleared off ~ at 3,,30 again it came on we anchored At 4,,30 proceeded very calm weather ; I slept pretty well last night better than I expected; but my tooth ache troubled me much ~ At 8,,15 passed Gorna Finished with the passengers tickets; We have in all 55 (5 in 1st Class; Mr. & Mrs Taylor, Mr. Richards head of Lynch Brothers Clerks, they are all free; Dr. Sturrock with a Retn Deck passage but occupying 1st Class, & Mr. Walmsley Engineer for the Comet; and 2 in 2d Class Ali Beg son of Kassim Pasha Zheir & one with him ; ~ At 1 P.M. passed Azair At 4,,55 got detained at Nafikh in shoal water & could not hit the channel, the river is very high here; in a level with the bank; breeze shifted to S. Est; ~ We dropped down & tryed the other side of the west bank & found good water & went on at 7 P.M. Fine weather & moonlight night, moon 5 days old, At 7,,40 P.M. landed 2 passengers at Kalat Saleh & went on at 7,45 ~ 16 Thursd At 1,30 AM. arrived at Amara landed 11 1/2 passengers took 8 Tons of Coal; At 2,50 left Amara, Light S. Ely & fine weather; Gave tickets to 9 Amara passengers, the river is very high at Amara, but today it begun to show its fall further up; At 3,,20 P.M passed Ali Gherbi ~ River falling, weather little cloudy in the afternoon ~ 17 Frid At 3 AM. arrived at Coot, landed 5 passengers & 1 Bale P. goods, Took 4 Tons Coal & finished at 4 am, but remained until the morning, as Taylor wanted to see the new Wool Press house getting built ~ At 6,,50 am we left Coot, Took 12 1/2 passengers Abduljebbar the Lawyer wired from Azizieh to Capt Cowley wanting to go up with us in all 4 persons; ~ At 2,,10 P.m. passed Memlah ~ At 6,,50 passed the S.S. Khalifah bound down at Shedief ~ At 10,10 P.M took from Azisieh Abduljebbar Effendi & his followers Six persons in all & went on charged them passage at 2 Mejidies each; 18 Satur Therm @ 6.46 1899 Feby Mr. Felix Faure President of the French Republic died on 16 th @ 10 P.M. from Cerebral Hemorrhages aged 59 [A48_385_27:137] 1899 Feby Light n.w. & fine weather at 1,30 am. passed Baghdadieh Fort; Detained in shoal water at Bostan from 8,30 till 8,45 a.m. ; River is falling; Abduljebbar & his followers are on Hatch, he breakfasted with us; At 11 am passed Ctesiphon the smoke of the S.S. Phrat is in sight ahead of us; At 1,30 P.m passed Diala river ~ At 2,30 landed a Deckman at Gherranah with letters & went on; At 4,35 P.M. landed the mails at the Residency & went up to the Custum House; we saw the Consul's flag stafs half masted flag; we were told that the President of the french Republic Mr. Felix Faure died suddenly from appoplexy, in Paris the night before, I went home saw Eliza, she is much grieved & unwell on account of Alexanders news; I found a letter from him to his mother which was enclosed in Antoine Guilietti’s letter, it is dated the 19 Jany from Paris (so it showes that he has not left for Constple & that his telegram from this town of the 24th Jany was false) he complains awfully for his state of life & wanting money & begs to his mother to be allowed to marry the girl otherwise he will commit suicide & finish with this world & other stupid talks, which made me very vexed; & the worse still is that I received a letter from P. Pièrre from Port Said of the 21 Jany telling me that Alexander wrote to him from Zurich in Switzerland to Marseilles asking him to advance him 250 frcs, & as soon as he receives it, he will leave for Constple & he sent it to him like a fool, and I was terribly angry; he says that he has now advanced him in all 1,350 francs; ~ Johny called on us for an hour; ~ Light S. Ely & fine ; There are the Mossul and Phrat here, the latter arrived at 3 am this morning; 19 Sund. [A48_387_01:138] [A48_387_13:139] Strong S. Ely wind & cloudy squally weather, at 9 am we went to Church I called on Antone Marine, & on Asfar where I saw Monseigeur Altmayer he has come there since yesterday as he is suffering of Rheumatism on his Knees, & has been recommended a hot bath in a public bath in the bazaar, he went yesterday to the Shorjeh Bath & he feels better a little; ~ I came home at 11; Mr. Guilietti & others called on us ~ At 2 P.M. I called on Sister Medula & then on sister Eliza; very strong wind & cloudy dusty weather; Antoine Guilietti called in the evening till 8 P.M. he says that Alexander wrote to him to ask him that should his father & mother consent to let him marry that he should telegraph to him; ~ 20’ Mond Therm @ 6.59 1899 Feby [A48_388_15:140] S. Ely wind & mild weather, at 8 am I called on Henry's wife & then came on board; The Mossul is loading & will leave tomorrow ~ I went home at 11 ~ I took a warm bath; Shekoory Sayegh called in the evening ~ Weather cloudy~ S. Erly wind & dark; 21’ Tuesd. [A48_389_01:141] [A48_389_05:142] [A48_389_09:143] S. Erly breeze & cloudy; it thundered & rained very little last night since12 oclock, At 8 ½ am I came on board, took my Certificate of the German Consular protection to be endorsed for this year & pay the fees of 25 G S. P.~ The SS. Mossul left at 6 am;~ I went home & at 9 went to the Latin Church, were a high mass & requiem was celebrated for the repose of Mr. Felix Faure the President of the French Republic all the foreign consuls were, Major Melville & with him Antone Marine, Mons. Grougloff the Russian & his Chancelier, Mr. Richarz the German & his Chancelier Dr. Hesse; Mr. Hürner the American consular Agent & his Dragoman honorary Habib Cheeha; & Mons Rouèt the french Vice Consul & his Dragoman Shawrize, all the Consuls in their uniforms; also the Chaldean Pathriarch & the Bishop Gabriel, & the Assyrian Bishop Aghnatius, With the Choir & Brass band; At 10 I left & came on board;~ At 11 I went home; S. Erly & cloudy a little; Antone Marine called in the evening for an hour; I heard that a new President for the French Republic has been chosen a Monsr. Roubet; Shortly after the death of Felix Faure; 22’ Wedn Th 6,,38 1899 Feby [A48_399_04:144] Modte N.W. & fine cold morning; Sister Medula & Grzesiki called on us at 9;~ I came on board at 10 ½ we are alongside the bank discharging;~ I heard that the Waly of Baghdad Atta Alla Pasha is dismissed, he has been ill for a long time suffuring from Dropsy~ Went to breakfast at 11 1/2 ~ I called on Naoom Loca to pay him a visit; At 2 ½ P.M. I came on board; we are shipping some cargo; At 4 ½ went home & then called on Catterina Yaghchi where my wife had gone & then we went to Antone Marine spent the evening & came home at 8 P.M., Weather cold since this morning, 23 Thursd. Th @ 6,,38 1899 Light N.W. & fine cold weather; at 8 am. I came on board; This is the last cold we are going to have The river rose one foot last night~ I wrote two letters for today’s Damascus Post, one for Mr. Allois Schweiger Vienna copy I kept; & one for Mr. J. Böhm Vienna & told him about Alexander being still in Paris & his adress still at 124 Rue des Rennes; & asked to try & get him sent out, also told him about Schweiger; At 10 ½ I went to breakfast & returned at 12 am; We are getting a lot of Persian Pilgrims for Mecca the deck is full; The SS. Baghdad & Barge arrived at 2 P.M.; At 4 P.M. we finished the loading, also the SS. Phrat, At 5 I went home, the Damascus Mail has arrived & I only received a letter from Mr. Schweiger Vienna & none from Alexander; Johny & Artin called in the evening till 8 P.M. 24 Frid Feby [A48_392_02:145] [A48_393_10:146] [A48_393_16:147] Light N.W. & fine weath at 5 am I came on board, the river rose more than two feet altogether; Baghdad to Basreh [24 FEB 1899 --- V048_27_S] (//) 1899 Feby PassngOkesG. S. PiastDraft 3,,4 26934,24917,7353,,4 The SS. Phrat left at 5 ½ am At 6,,5 we proceeded; S. Erly breeze & few clouds; At 7,,50 passed Diala We passed the Phrat at Gherrara~ At 8,,45 we stopped & landed Naoom Loca & his son Phillip at Menary just below Gusseiba on the West bank where he has two stations of Liquorice collecting for G. Asfar; at 9 we went on;~ At 9,,5 passed Ctesiphon At 10,,30 passed the SS. Khalifah going up at Bostan;~ Fresh S. Erly wind; Finished with the Passenger tickets we have in all 240 (6 in 1st Class Cabins Mr. Richards of Lynch Broths free returning with us & 2 deck people with him, Mr. Banyar the Engineer of the Comet with through ticket; & 4 Persians (3 women & 1 man being pilgrims, also 3 Persian women in 2nd Class); Yousif Metchich my friend of Aleppo is also going to Basreh & back, he paid a deck passage; At 1,,35 P.m. passed Baghdadieh Fort; At 3,,20 passed Azizieh Fine clear weather and moon 14 days old At 7,,50 passed Memlah We are going on to Coot, the steamer is light, the river is high & the weather is very fine, and the SS. Phrat will steam on following us~ At 9,,45 we passed the S.S. Ressafah & Barge going up; At 12 arrived at Coot landed 23 ½ passengers & 20 Packages; hauled out & remained for the night; [strikeout]~ I received Henry letter & my papers; the Khalifah has 263000 Okes Cargo & about 90 Passeng, 25 Satur Modte S. Erly breeze & fine, the Phrat [strikeout] arrived at 4,,30 am~ We left at 5,,50~ Took 4 Passengers Weather getting little cloudy~ At 0,,10 P.M. passed Ali Gherbi;~ At 7,,55 P.M. arrived at Amara landed 11 passengers & 15 packages; took 3 Tons Coal~ At 9,,30 left Amara, fine moonlight & clear night, 26 Sund 1899 Feby [A48_395_16:148] [A48_396_04:149] & At 0,,30 am we dropped anchor above Kalat Saleh, At 5,,30 proceeded, S. Erly breeze & clouds on the S. Erly horizon~ Took 25 passengers from Amara (one a French man Mons. F. Vienne employed in the Règie of Tobacco who had come down in the Khalifah and wanted a 1st Class but have none, so he put up on the quarter Deck aft); At 8,,50 passed Azair At 11,,45 landed 11 passengers at Gorna & went on at 11,,50 S. Erly wind but fine At 4,,15 P.M. arrived at Basreh, no steamers are here except the mail steamer Patna in quarantine & The Malamir; We are going to stay 2 days here for letting our Engineers put the new steam steering gears arrived for the "Blosse Lynch".~ Rufail & Rezooki came on board, I went then with them to their house, but we carried on Jeboory Asfar on my way to see P. Pièrre but him & P. Jèan are in Basreh, We sat with Jeboory & his wife till 6 P.M., & then went to Rufail's house found there Yousif Marine we talked about Alexander & read to them his letter to his mother of the 19th Jany; Yousif seems to be against the idea of Eliza's going to Paris to bring him, & Rufail does not show a strong inclination of accompanying her. & so every one talked what fancies to himself; Yousif and I slept in the big room,~ Light S. Erly breeze~ At 10 P.M. the S.S. Phrat arrived down;~ 27 Mond 1899 Feby Tookyeh delivered of a son on 22d. [A48_398_09:150] Erly breeze & fine; I awoke at 3 am & could not sleep;~ I took tea in the morning & came on board at 4 1/2 am; We are discharging and loading Cargo; Takooyi Sayegh (wife of Rezooki Angoorly) has been confined and she delivered a son for the second time on Wednesday midnight the 22d. Instt, At 12 am Rufail came to me & we entered to Basreh We called on Angoorlies, I saw Tookyeh she is in Bed & little Baby, her husband Rezooki is still in bed~ We went to see P. Pièrre in the church & he related to me all about Alexander and his intrigues in getting money from him, I did not loose my temper & spoke to him about his fault in giving him against my orders, We left & came back to Tookye’s house had tea & at 3 P.M. left & came on board,~ The SS. Mossul & Barge left for Baghdad at 3 1/4 P.M.;~ S. Erly wind At 4 1/2 Rufail & I went up to his house & then we went over to Jeboory Asfar where we dined, P Jéan who came out with P. Pièrre there living, they will go up in the Khalifah~ We came to Rufail's house at 9 P.M~ I have a very bad cold cought last night all over my head & chest, Took a Punch & turned in, Light S. Erly breeze, 28 Tuesd [A48_399_13:151] Light S.E. & clouds on the East, At 7 1/2 AM I came down to the Mejidieh; We are loading,~ The son of Shah's uncle & brother in law is going up with us & his followers about 40 they came on board~ See Diary N. 49 (EMPTY PAGE) 1 Augt 1898 1000 G. Asfar 1000 Rufail Sayegh 500 Nawab Agha Mahdi 250 At home ---------- 2,750 1st Jany 1899 1000 G. Asfar 1000 R. Sayegh 500 Nawab Agha Mahdi 300 At home ---------- 2,800~ 1 April 99 1000 G. Asfar 1000 R. Rayegh 500 Nawab Agha Mahomed 300 At home ---------- 2,800,, (BACK COVER)