811 



BAGHDAD. 



The bazaars are in ordinary times well supplied with oriental 

 produce and nianufuctttres. The baths as in all other oriental town* 

 re numerous. The khans, or caravanserais, which amount to about 

 30, are inferior to those of some other Turkish town*, and do not 

 admit of companion with thoee of Peru*. 



The communication between the two parts of the city divided by 

 the Tigris it by means of a bridge of 80 pontoons. Another mode 

 of communication U by means of large round baskets, coated with 

 bitumen, which are the wherries of the Tigris, Euphrates, and 

 Diyalah, which last flows at some distance to the east of the city, and 

 joins the Tigris about 10 miles below it The Tigris i* about 250 

 yards wide in full stream at Baghdad, and the rapidity of its course 

 varies with the season. Its waters are very turbid, although perfectly 

 clear at Mosul, and until the Great Zab enters it 



The existing ancient remains in Baghdad are very few ; but these 

 few far exceed any of the modern structures in solidity and elegance. 

 There are three or four mosques, the oldest of which was built in 

 A.D. 785 and has now only remaining a minaret which is said to be 

 the highest in the city, near the centre of which it stands. It com- 

 mands a most extensive view over the town and adjacent country, and 

 on a clear day the Tak Kesra, or Arch of Chosroes, at Ctesiphon can 

 be distinctly perceived from it Of the mosques of more modem 

 date that of Abdul Kadder is the largest and finest Underneath its 

 lofty and Beautiful dome are deposited the bones of a famous Sonni 

 doctor of the above name, who lived at the latter end of the 12th 

 century, and who is considered the patron saint of Baghdad. This 

 mosque is well supplied with water by a canal from the river, and the 

 court is furnished with a vast number of cells for the accommodation 

 of 300 devotees, who are supported from the funds of the establish- 

 ment Baghdad was at one time the literary and scientific capital of 

 Mohammedan Asia. The college, founded in the year 1233 by the 

 caliph Moostanser Billah, acquired great fame in the East : it still 

 exist* as a building near the bridge of boats, but it has been trans- 

 formed into a khan, and the old kitchen is now the custom-house. 



The city wall has six gate entrances, three in each division of the 

 city. The largest and finest is the Talism gate, which according to 

 an oriental custom was wailed up when sultan Hurad IV. had passed 

 through it on his return to Constantinople, after he had recovered 

 Baghdad from the Persians. It has never since been opened. Outside 

 the walls on the eastern side of the town there in a large burial- 

 ground, in the midst of which is a tomb erected to the memory of 

 the wife of the caliph Harun al Raschid, the famous Zobeide of the 

 ' Thousand and One Nights.' It is an octangular structure, capped 

 by a cone which much resembles a pine-apple in shape. The ruins 

 and foundations of old buildings, and even the lines of streets, may 

 be traced to a great distance beyond the present walls of the town. 

 On the western side these remains extend nearly to Akkerkuf, or the 

 Mound of Nimrod, as it is called by the natives. Thin structure must 

 originally have stood at no great distance from the gates of the ancient 

 city. It is now reduced to a shapeless mass of brickwork about 

 126 feet in height, 100 feet in diameter, and 300 feet in circumference 

 at the lower part The natives think that it was originally intended 

 u a beacon for signal-fires ; the late bishop of Babylon, M. Coupperie, 

 is of opinion that it was designed for a grand observatory. 



The climate of Baghdad is salubrious, but intensely hot in summer. 

 The heat is much greater than the geographical position of the place 

 would lead a person to expect ; and this is easily accounted for by 

 Hs situation in a vast naked plain on the borders of a desert, an well 

 an by the prevalence, during part of the summer, of the hot wind, 

 the Samicl. This wind commonly begins about noon, or somewhat 

 earlier, and continues until three or four o'clock in the afternoon. It 

 w felt like a gentle breeze which has just passed over the mouth of a 

 lime-kiln. Its heat and that of the summer months in general is so 

 oppressive and relaxing and of such long continuance without the 

 intervention of storms, or showers, or cloudy days that the spot 

 would at that season scarcely be habitable but for two compensating 

 circumstances : one of these is the bracing coolness of the nights, to 

 enjoy which the people sleep upon the flat roofs of their houses from 

 the middle of Hay to the Utter part of September; the oth<T i 

 provided by the people themselves, who hare under their houses 

 spacious vaulted cellars, in which ]>tntonii whose circumstances or 

 occupations allow it live almost entirely by day during the summer 

 season. These cellars are rather gloomy abodes ; the light is very 

 sparingly admitted; but the apartments are well ventilated by 

 excellent wind-chimneys, which appear on the house-tops like mas- 

 sive towers strengthening and crowning the parapet On these 

 ventilators the numerous storks which frequent the city in the 

 summer build their vast cylindrical nests. 



Snow never falls at Baghdad, and hail very seldom. In the month 

 of January the freezing of towels hung to dry upou the river, and the 

 formation of a thin surface of ice upon water left standing in jugs in 

 the open air are regarded as indications of a surprising degree of 

 eoliL The people nevertheless suffer mure from the cold of winter 

 than would be imagined : this arises from their rooms being exclu- 

 sively constructed for summer use ; and from the temperature of the 

 Mine rooms being very little heightened by the brariers, which in the 

 absence of stoves and fire-places are employed. According to a 

 record of observations made during twelve month* in 1830-31, the 



temperature of the day during the month of January varies in thu 

 shade from about 37 to 68 Fahr. ; in the sun from 48 to 88 ; in 

 the month of August, the hottest in the year, the temperature by day 

 varies in the shade from 87 to 119, in the sun from 96 to 140 ; 

 and the mean annual temperature is about 85*. 



Rain rarely falls at Baghdad from May to the end of September. 

 After September the rains are copious for a time, but the winter is on 

 the whole dry; the number of days on which any rain fells in the. 

 whole year, does not exceed twenty-five. N . \ . i bales*! the autnmn.il 

 rains at Baghdad and other parts of the country are so heavy that 

 the Tigris, which sinks greatly during the summer months, again 

 fills its channel and becomes a powerful and majestic stream. This 

 occurs again in the spring when the snows dissolve on the mountains 

 of Armenia and Kurdistan. The lowlands on both sides of tin 

 and the Euphrates are then inundated ; and when the fall of snow 

 has been very great in the preceding winter, the country between 

 and beyond the two rivers, in the lower port of their course, assume* 

 the appearance of a vast lake, in which the elevated grounds look 

 like islands, and the towns and villages are also insulated. During 

 the calamitous inundation of 1831 the waters found an entrance to 

 the city, and fully one half of the town was ruined. Thousands of 

 lives were also destroyed ; and as the most destructive plague which 

 had visited Baghdad for sixty years was at the same time raging, the 

 combined operation of these calamities reduced the population from 

 about 75,000 to 20,000 or 25,000. The population was in 1844 

 estimated at about 65,000, and was said to be yearly decreasing. 



The plague is observed to visit Baghdad at intervals of ten years ; 

 but the amount of destruction which it generally effects is exceedingly 

 light compared with that to which we have just adverted. There is 

 only one other malady to which the Baghdadees are much exposed: 

 this is a cutaneous disorder called the Aleppo Button. It is first a 

 tumour, and then a wide, deep, and distressing ulcer, for the cure of 

 which no means have hitherto been found, until after six or eight 

 months it heals of itself. It leaves an ugly and indelible scar, and 

 as children are generally attacked in the face, the countenance sutler* 

 so greatly in consequence that the people of Baghdad may without 

 injustice be considered the ugliest people in Turkey. Adults are 

 generally attacked in the limbs. It is said tltat thoee who have once 

 suffered this disorder are exempt from future attacks. 



The population of Baghdad is exceedingly mixed; and the v, TV 

 distinctive dresses of each people clearly indicate the component part* 

 of the population. The Osmanli Turks scarcely ever wear at Baghdad 

 the embroidered jacket, capacious trowsers, and close cap so common 

 in the neighbourhood of Constantinople; the civil dress prevails : long 

 loose gowns of cotton, muslin, or silk, with wide shapeless cloaks of 

 broadcloth or shalloon ; while the red cap with its blue tassel, instead 

 of fitting close to the head hangs loosely backwards, and ia wound 

 about with white muslin flowered with gold. Christians dress much 

 in the same manner. They are not as in many other towns restricted 

 from light colours in their drees, or from wearing yellow slippers ; 

 but they are expected to abstain altogether from green colours and 

 from white turbans. The Jews are generally distinguished l>y havim; 

 their red caps fitting close to the head, with only a yellow hondk< 

 tied around them. The Arabs form a very important part of the 

 resident population, besides a large number from the desert as 

 occasional sojourners. They are distinguished chiefly by their head- 

 dress, which consists of a coarse shawl of silk and cotton, with wide 

 stripes of red and yellow ; this is folded triangularly and laid upon 

 the head, around which a thick roller of brown worsted is then 

 passed. The ends of the shawl cover the neck and shoulders ; and as 

 it is also furnished with a fringe of knotted strings which hang ilwu 

 the back, it helps to give a wild appearance to the Arab countenance. 

 They are also distinguished by tlieir wide sleeveless cloaks, which are 

 wholly black, or white with a wide stripe of blue, brown, <>r n !. 

 This cloak (abba) is made of hair and wool, and when confined at the 

 waist by a leathern belt, it generally with a coarse shirt underneath 

 forms the entire dress of on Arab. His turban also distinguiiihes the 

 Kurd; it is frequently of silk, with stripes of blue, ml, and wliil' ; 

 and its fringe of knotted strings, though not so long as in the Arab 

 turban, which is also differently worn, excellently seta off the Irald, 

 grave, and strongly-marked countenance of the pure Kurd. Then 

 thure are in considerable numbers the active and animated subjects 

 of the Persian shah, in their curly, black, and conical caps, high- 

 heeled slippers, and gowns of green or blue, which are distinguished 

 from those of other eastern people by their tightness in the body and 

 the sleeves. Such are the figures which on horseback or on foot 

 appear in the streets of Baghdad, or sit smoking by the way-side. It 

 would bo incorrect and impossible to comprehend these various masses 

 of people under one general character. They can only be upok< 

 in the mass with a reference to their knowledge ; and it may be said 

 that they are prejudiced, self-conceited, and bigoted, because they are 

 profoundly ignorant The Armenians are decidedly the best-informed 

 people in the city. Many of them have been in India, and x< 

 have spent much of their lives in that country. Tin, 

 become acquainted with English manners, institutioux, and modes of 

 government. It in |>crhaiM an approximation to state that four-fifths 

 of the population of Baghdad are Turks and Arabs in nearly equal 

 proportions. In the remaining fifth the Jews are apparently the 



