IOR/F/4/2634/167145

This item consists of copies of correspondence, resolutions, and consultations cited in, or enclosed with, extracts of Political Letters from the Government of Bombay to the East India Company Court of Directors, 13 October 1855. The enclosures are dated 5 October 1854-5 October 1855.

The correspondents are: the Government of Bombay; the Government of India; Rear Admiral Henry John Leeke, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Navy; Commander James Felix Jones, Commanding the Company vessel Comet and Surveyor in Mesopotamia; Mr A Holland, Acting Master, Comet; and Lieutenant-Colonel George Inglis Jameson, Military Auditor General, Bombay.

The item concerns:

• The submission by Commander Jones of two maps: one of ‘Kaleh Sherkat’, described by Jones as ‘one of the primeval cities of Assyria’; and the second a plan of Baghdad, with an accompanying report
• The suggestion that the above report, along with other narratives produced by Commander Jones while employed as Surveyor in Mesopotamia, be published by the Government of Bombay
• The proposal to grant an additional allowance to Mr Holland as remuneration for the periods during which he had charge of the Comet while Commander Jones was absent on surveying tours.

The two maps are not included with this item, but there is a copy of the report that accompanies the plan of Baghdad, titled: ‘Brief observations forming an Appendix to the Map of Baghdad’, dated 8 October 1854. This contains:

• A description of the city, including its history, the city walls, the population, the different ethnic and religious groups, the languages spoken, and the climate
• A description of the province, including its government, penal system, customs duties, and the conditions of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers
• An appendix, ‘On the tribes of Irak [Iraq]’ (ff 1088-1106).

Also included are the following lists and tables:

• ‘Disposition of the east portion of the town’ (ff 1022-1045)
• ‘Disposition of the west portion of the town’ (ff 1045-1047)
• ‘Price current of provisions procurable in the bazars of Baghdad with their estimated maximum and minimum prices during the year’ (ff 1052-1054)
• ‘Scale of daily wages paid to artificers, tradesmen, labourers, etc., at Baghdad’ (ff 1054-1058)
• ‘Table showing the relative proportions which the authorized weights and measures in use in the bazaars of Baghdad bear to English standard weights and measures’ (ff 1059-1060)
• ‘List of coins current in Baghdad’ (ff 1061-1062)
• ‘List of the various breeds of horses… in Syria and Mesopotamia’ (f 1107)
• ‘Fragmentary portions of the zoology of Irak - Babylonia’: ‘Vertebrata - birds and small carnivora’ (ff 1108-1109) and ‘Fishes of Babylonia’ (f 1110)
• ‘List of medicines, drugs, etc., procurable in the bazaars of Baghdad’ (ff 1111-1115).

The item contains a table of contents (ff 1004-1005), and the title page (f 1003) contains the following references: Draft Number ‘376 -/56’, ‘Collection No. 5’ and ‘Examiner’s Office’. The collection number was originally given as ‘1’ but this has been crossed out and replaced with ‘5’.