"February 10.-I gave orders to discharge all cargoes, so that no vessel
should draw more than three feet. All hands are now employed at this
work, as it is impossible to cut a channel through the sand, which fills
in as fast as it is deepened.
"February 11.-Twenty-seven vessels passed the diahbeeah, having
lightened their cargoes; these vessels must discharge everything at
Khor, one and a half mile ahead, and return to fetch the remaining
baggage. The work is tremendous, and the risk great. The damage of
stores is certain, and should a heavy shower fall, which the cloudy
state of the weather renders probable, the whole of our stores, now
lying on the soft mud, will be destroyed.
"To-day I cut a deeper channel near the diahbeeah, and divided the men
into gangs on the various shallow spots, to tow each boat past as she
may arrive. The steamer is hard and fast, although she has discharged
everything, and she must be literally dug out of the passage."
March 9.-From Feb. 11 to this date we had toiled through every species
of difficulty. The men had cut one straight line of canal through a
stiff clay for a distance of 600 yards.
