BAGHDAD. 



BAGHDAD. 



the ruins of SUB, where it sweeps round to the south-west across the 

 plain of Khuzistan, passing through extensive marshes that surround 

 Hawiza (a commercial town of 12,000 inhabitants), and enters the 

 Shatt-el-Arab below Kuruah, after a course of 500 miles. 



The Karun (the ancient Eulczus) rises on the western declivity of 

 the Koh-i-zerd, on the opposite side of which the Zend-a-rud (the river 

 of Ispahan) has its source. It runs west by north through a moun- 

 tainous country and past the ruined city of Shushan to about 20 

 miles north from Sinister, where it turua nearly south, and breaks 

 through the Zagros range. A little above Shuster the Karun divides 

 into branches, insulating that city, and uniting again only to the south 

 of Bandikir, two miles north of which the western arm is joined by 

 the Dizful River (the ancient Koprates), which comes from the north. 

 After its junction with the Dizful River, the Karun is said to have a 

 greater body of water than either the Tigris or Euphrates. From 

 this point the river runs in a very tortuous course and nearly in a 

 south-west direction to Sabla, whence in ancient times it ran direct to 

 the sea, without communicating, as it does now by the Hafar Canal, 

 with the Shatt-el-Arab. From Sabla another cut called the Dorak 

 Canal runs eastward to join the Jerahi, while from the main stream 

 through the Hafar Canal, and at a distance of eight miles east from the 

 town of Mohammerah, a large navigable branch called Bah-a-Mishir 

 runs 31 miles south by east, and parallel with the Shatt-el-Arab, into 

 the Persian Gulf. The ancient bed of the Karun is still traceable 

 below Sabla ; it is 200 yards broad, and has still a small channel in 

 the centre which is filled during flow tide. 



The Jerahi or Kerdittan River, which we notice here although it is 

 not in the Turkish empire because its navigation is closely connected 

 with that of the Shatt-el-Arab, rises in the Bakhtiyari Mountains, iu 

 the south of Persian Khuzistan, and flows south-south-west to the 

 town of Beihabun, which it reaches after breaking through a pass in 

 the mountains. Through the fine well-wooded plain of Beihabun the 

 river runs north-west with a deep rapid course past Kaliphabad, where 

 it becomes navigable for boats ; and after flowing for several miles 

 nearly due west, it bends sharply to the southward a little above 

 Dorak, and continues in this direction to its mouth in the Persian 

 Gulf. In the district of Dorak a large portion of the waters of the 

 Jerahi are carried off by six canals for the purpose of irrigating the 

 populous country between it and the Kanm ; part of the water thus 

 diverted is carried into Dorak, where it unites with the canal which 

 comes from the Karun near Sabla. The navigation of the Jerahi is 

 thus connected with that of the Karun and the Shatt-el-Arab, and 

 Dorak trades by water with Mohammerah and Basrah. A few miles 

 below Dorak another portion of the waters of the Jerahi is lost in 

 some marshes, and the remainder under the name of Lusbah runs 

 south into the Persian Gulf, and is still navigable for boats. There 

 are extensive rice-grounds and fine date-plantations along the Shatt- 

 el-Arab, Karun, and Jerahi. 



The country between the Euphrates and Tigris, from la*. 34 N. to 

 Kuruah, is intersected by the dry beds of many natural and artificial 

 canals. The only canal now useful is the natural one of Shatt-el-Hie : 

 it is about 1 00 yards in width where it opens into the Tigris, and is 

 navigable during eight months in the year, but becomes nearly a dry 

 bed in summer. Its stream divides at about 35 miles from the Tigris, 

 and afterwards re-uniting forms an island about 30 miles long by 15 

 miles broad. Besides such waterless natural and artificial beds as we 

 have noticed, others may be traced which extend in a direction parallel 

 to the Tigris and Euphrates, and might have been originally intended 

 not only to serve the purposes of irrigation and to drain the marshes, 

 but to avoid the delay and trouble which vessels have now to encoun- 

 ter in following the windings of the rivers. The most important of 

 these canals is the Naharwau, which commenced near Samarah, on the 

 east side of the Tigris, and received the Diyalah in its course. Rums 

 of towns on both sides of this noble canal, and aqueducts leading from 

 it towards the Hamrin Mountains on one hand, and to the ruined 

 towns of the Tigris on the other, remain to this day. The extensive 

 ruins at the mouth of the Adhem are those of the ancient city of Opis. 



J>ittrict <ut of the Tiyrit. In a brief notice of this pashalic it may 

 be allowed to consider separately the part to the east of the Tigris, 

 that to the west of the Euphrates, and that between the two rivers, 

 which has been already described. Of these three portions that to 

 the east of the Tigris is the most fertile. Part of this district now 

 forming the pashalics of Kerkuk and Suleimauiyah consists of por- 

 tions of Kurdistan and Khuzistan. Kurdistan is altogether a hilly 

 country. The stern and lofty summits of the centre are exchanged, 

 on proceeding towards the borders, for wooded and vine-clad hills, 

 which inclose many beautiful plains, fertile valleys, and romantic 

 dells. The Kurds who live within the limits of the pashalic are prin- 

 cipally cultivators ; and were till lately governed by chiefs of their 

 own choice. These independent chieftains have been lately subdued 

 by the Turks. Their plains and valleys produce rice, wheat, barley, 

 sesame, tobacco, gall-nuts, and all sorts of fruits, particularly grapes. 

 The inhabitants of the other parts of the pashalic draw largely upon 

 the fertile plains east of the Tigris for their agricultural produce. 

 SultMinaiiiyah, Kerkuk, and Erbil are the principal towns. 



K'l-kuk, now the capital of a pashalia of tlmt name, is situated near 

 the source of the Adhem, at the eastern extremity of the Kara-Chok 

 hilln, a limestone rango which runs in a general north-west direction 



to the Great Zab. The town is large and open ; part of it, as is the 

 case with nearly every town in the province, is in ruins. It is inha- 

 bited by Arabs, Kurds, Osmanlis, Christians, and Jews. Date-trees 

 flourish here. There are bitumen-beds near the town, which is defended 

 by a fort built on a mound. The district north of Kerkuk, between 

 the Tigris and the two Zabs, is renowned for its fertility. The prin- 

 cipal part of it to the north-east of the Kara-Chok hills is called the 

 plain of Shomamok, which is the granary of Baghdad. Its pastures 

 are grazed by the flocks of the Tai Arabs. The cultivation is left to 

 sedentary Arabs, Kurds, and Turkomans. Gazelles are very numerous 

 in this district. Artificial mounds marking the sites of ancient Assyrian 

 towns rise on all sides of the plain. 



Suleimaniyah is situated about 70 miles E. from Kerkuk, at the foot 

 of some hills at the extremity of a plain. It has about 1000 houses, 

 but many of them are in ruins. There is a large bazaar well supplied 

 with meat, fruit, and vegetables. 



Erbil or Arbil stands in the plain of Shomamok : it consists of 

 two towns, both of which however are in ruins. One of them, built 

 on an ancient mound 300 yards long, 200 yards broad, and 70 feet 

 high, is surrounded by a bastioned wall. The lower town is defended 

 by a mud wall. Erbil has three large mosques, ten baths, and about 

 6000 inhabitants. This town, which marks the site of the ancient 

 Arbela, sometimes gives name to the decisive battle that put an end 

 to the Persian empire. The battle however was fought iu the plain 

 to the north of the Great Zab, on the banks of the Bumadus, now 

 called the Ghazir and sometimes the Gomel. The ford by which 

 Darius in his flight and Alexander iu pursuit crossed the Zab, is a 

 little above the mouth of the Kordereh, on the western side of the plain 

 of Shomamok. Xenophon and the 10,000, after traversing the plain 

 between the Kara-Chok hills and the Tigris, marched along the left 

 bank of the Zab and crossed this river by the same ford. In the plain 

 west of the Kara-Chok is the great mound of Mokhamour, explored by 

 Dr. Layard. 



The limits of Khuzistau are so variously defined that in order not 

 to multiply distinctions we will consider it nearly to correspond to 

 the ancient Susiana, and to comprehend the country between the 

 mountains of Luristan on the east and the Tigris on the west, and 

 between the Diyalah on the north and the Persian Gulf on the south. 

 The climate of this district is on the whole very similar to that of the 

 city of Baghdad. The province may be described as actually a desert, 

 although no soil could in its natural state be more fertile ; and this 

 is true of extensive territories which are called deserts in Western 

 Asia, which only want water and the care of the cultivator to 

 become luxuriantly productive. In Khuzistan however extensive 

 morasses have been formed on sites once inhabited, and the sands of 

 positive deserts have encroached upon its once fertile plains. The 

 spots that still retain a productive soil are chiefly in the neighbour- 

 hood of the rivers, and either afford good pastures or richly repay the 

 labour of cultivation. The cultivated districts are almost exclusively 

 within the limits of Persia. Nearly all of Turkish Khuzistan is occu- 

 pied by different tribes of Araba There are extensive rice-grounds 

 and plantations of date-trees on the Shatt-el-Arab, on the Hafar, and 

 on the Jerahi River. The dates of Khuzistan attain very high perfec- 

 tion, and those produced in the Mendeli district are considered the 

 very best in the Baghdad pashalic, which is not much less than to say 

 that they are the best in the world. 



The portion of the pashalic of Baghdad which lies to the west of 

 the Euphrates may be dismissed very briefly. Beyond the immediate 

 vicinity of the river the whole territory is a desert of the most posi- 

 tive character sandy, flat, without herbage and without water. The 

 banks of the river are however very fertile in many parts, and the 

 annual overflowings of the river in its lower course form the most 

 productive rice-grounds in the country. 



Products and Animal*. The banks of the rivers, more especially 

 the Tigris, are skirted to a very great extent with the tamarisk shrub, 

 which in some places grows to the height of 20 or 25 feet, and the 

 liquorice plant which sometimes attains the height of 10 or 12 feet. 

 These two form the fire-wood used at Baghdad and other places. The 

 willow and poplar also frequently appear as shrubs, but they are not 

 so common as the former. Tiudition states that the castor-oil plant 

 once grew luxuriantly in the country, but now there is only one 

 specimen, which grows as a tree on the site of ancient Ctesiphon. 

 The Aaclepica Syriaca is tall and abundant in some places; and it 

 is worthy of note that its follicles are when young eaten as beans by 

 the Arabs, although with us this lactescent tribe is deemed poisonous 

 and unfit for the food of man. The carob plant sometimes attains 

 the height of 6 or 7 feet. Camel-thorn is very common, and a species 

 of buckthorn is seen occasionally, as well as the blackberry bush. 

 The caper shrub is rather common ; the Arabs express a sweet juice 

 from its berries, and eat the leaves as we do spinach. Among the 

 other plants which fringe this desolate region the most common are 

 a rare species of rue, and colocynth, the horizontal runners and gourds 

 of which overspread large tracts of ground behind the brushwood 

 which skirts the rivers. The desert pastures bloom in the winter and 

 spring with a great variety of beautiful flowers. The marshes near 

 the Tigris are in ' some parts thickly covered in tho spring for the 

 extent of many miles with the blossoms of the white floating crowfoot. 

 Of the cultivated fruit-trees near the towns the date is by far the 



