﻿MESOPOTAMIA. 



MESOPOTAMIA. 



770 



south. They extend in length about 50 miles, and in breadth from 7 

 to 9 miles. The highest part of the hills . is near the eastern extre- 

 mity, where they rise about 1500 feet above the plain. This is an 

 agricultural district. Considerable quantities of wheat, barley, and 

 cotton are raised in the lower and more level parts, and the sides of 

 the hills are covered with plantations of fig-trees and vines, which 

 yield articles of export. A portion of the hills is covered with oak- 

 trees, the acorns of which afford a plentiful supply of food to the 

 numerous wild boars that frequent the hills. The number of the 

 inhabitants, who are Yezidis, is stated to exceed 6000. 



The plain between the Sinjar Hills and the Tigris has an undulating 

 surface, and is for the most part barren, and covered with coarse 

 scanty grass and thorny shrubs; there are large tracts of barren 

 marshy soil, strongly impregnated vrith saline matter. The most 

 common vegetable production is an oat-grass, which at many places 

 covers tracts of several miles in extent, to the exclusion of all 

 other plants except a few flowers. Cultivation is only carried on in 

 some of the beds of temporary watercourses, and between some low 

 ridges of rocks, where wheat and barley are cultivated. Some tracts 

 are covered with wormwaod. In the vicinity of the Tigris the culti- 

 vated tracts are more extensive. This river flows hero in a valley 

 from 8 to 10 miles wide : the projecting headlands of the higher 

 country form large embayments, which have a fertile alluvial soil, 

 overgrown in their natural state with grass and small tamarisks, but 

 where cultivated giving abundant crops of grain or rice. In proceeding 

 from Mosul southward the cultivated tracts decrease in number, as the 

 agricultural inhabitants are too much exposed to the predatory incur- 

 sions of the Shammar Arabs, who are in possession of the micultivated 

 interior of this part of Mesopotamia. 



The Jebel-Majchul extends about 40 miles along the Tigris, and 

 at a very short distance from the banks. It must be considered as 

 the continuation of the Jebel-Hamri, which near 35° comes dose 

 up to the left bank of the Tigris from the south-east. The Jebel- 

 Hakhul may rise about 600 feet above the level of this river: 

 it consists mostly of two ridges, and is composed of transparent 

 gypsum. In its present state it is a waste. At its western base is a 

 lai^e tract of country with a sandy soil, which contains a great num- 

 ber of bitter wells that are frequently visited by the nomadic tribes 

 of the Arabs. The banks of the Tigris between the Jebel-Hakhol and 

 the town of Tekrit are uninhabited on account of the neighbourhood 

 of these tribes. Between Tekrit and the Median Wall the alluvial 

 tract on the banks of the Tigris grows much wider, and appears to 

 have been formerly a well-cultivated country, which was irrigated 

 from a large canal that still exists under the name of Ishaki, and 

 extends from the town of Tekrit to Baghdad; a great number of 

 smaller canals for irrigation are connected with it. But at present the 

 canal rarely contains water, as the whole work hag gone to decay from 

 want of attention ; and this tract, which has an exceedingly fertile 

 soil, is without inhabitants, and almost without cultivation, except a 

 few isolated spots. 



The higher ground west of this alluvial tract, as far as the river 

 Tharthar, is described in article Baoqdad, Pashalic of. On the left 

 bank of the Tharthar are the extensive ruins of Al-Hadhr (the ancient 

 Hatra). The Tharthar falU into a salt-lake called El-Milh, or AshUk. 



The country contiguous to the banks of the Euphrates is much 

 better cultivated than that which skirts the Tigris. Between Bir-el-Jik 

 and Balis the Euphrates runs in a narrow bed between very high rocks ; 

 there is no bottom along the banks of the river, and the adjacent country 

 is sterile and uncultivated. Bat between Balis and Racca the high 

 grounds present themselves as low and rounded hills, and they are 

 from one to six miles distant from the banks of the river. The bottom 

 in these parts is an alluvium. On the banks of the river are tamarisk- 

 bushes. A great part of the low plain is occupied by swamps, and 

 the more elevated tracts between the swamps are either overgrown 

 with tamarisk-boshes or used as pasture-ground. There is hardly any 

 cultivation. In these parts the bed of the river is wider, and there 

 are several ishinds in it A few date-trees are planted. 



At the month of the Khabur are some ext«isive woods, composed 

 of high trees, especially tamarisks and poplars. Lower down the low 

 and level fiats increase in extent, and here also cultivation is much 

 more attended to ; but still by far the greater part of the bottom is 

 swampy or only used as pasture. The number of islands increases as 

 wSiproceed farther south; they are partly bare and partly well wooded 

 with tamarisks. Before reaching Annah the cultivation begins to be 

 more general. Round this place a large tract is well cultivated ; com, 

 cotton, French beans, and sesamnm are raised to a great extent; the 

 plantations of dates are extensive, and the numerous orchards yield 

 oranges, lemons, pomegranates, figs, and olives. The olive-tree is not 

 met with farther south ; but the other trees and branches of agricul- 

 ture are greatly attended to in the bottom of the Euphrates as far 

 down as Hit. The banks of the river present a continual plantation 

 of date-trees ; and between them and the low rounded gently-sloping 

 bills at the back the bottom is, with the exception of some swampy 

 ground, in a high state of cultivation and full of villages. The great 

 fertility of this tract is mainly to be ascribed to the system of irrigation 

 which has been introdnced. A great number of canals traverse the 

 river bottom in its width, exten^g from 200 to 2000 yards from the 

 banks, and the water, raised by machine!!, is distributed over the 



0100. BIT. TOL. ui. 



adjacent lauds. The numerous Isl.inds which occur in this part of tha 

 course of the Euphrates are mostly cultivated, and on some of them 

 towns are built. 



Opposite the town of Hit the bottom is only a mile wide, and nearly 

 without vegetation, as the surface is mostly composed of gravel, inter- 

 mixed with flint and pieces of chalk. There are only a few da^e-tree8, 

 poplars, and tamarisks ; and at a few places are isolated fields of wheat, 

 barley, or sesamum. Below this place the high grounds disappear 

 entirely, and the whole country is very little elevated above the level 

 of the river. The soil of this tract is extremely soft, and as the 

 banks of the Euphrates are very low, it is annually subject to inunda- 

 tions, which leave behind them large pools and lagvmes, the water of 

 which is generally salt. The whole tract is in possession of nomadic 

 tribes, who find here during the dry season abundant pasture for their 

 buffaloes and horses. The number of islands in the river decreases, 

 and they are no longer cultivable ; their soft soil consists of sand and 

 mud. Such is the country between Hit and the Median Wall, which 

 is noticed in the article Baghdad, vol. i., col. 820. 



This region is divided between the pa.shalic3 of Mosul and Baghdad. 

 No remarkable places are found, except the towns built on the banks 

 of the two rivers which inclose the region. On those of the Tigris 

 are Mosul and Tekrit. Tekrit is built on a cliff, and occupies the 

 eastern part of the site of an ancient town, the ruins of which are 

 very extensive. [Baghdad, Pashalic of, vol. L, col. 819. ] 



C'ircetiam {Kerketiah), at the union of the Khaburwith the Euphrates, 

 was a very ancient town : it is called Carchemish in the Old Testa- 

 ment. It was the most advanced fort held by the Romans in this 

 direction, and was strongly fortified by Diocletian. The Kbabur is 

 the Kebar of the Old Testament. 



The Uu-gest towns on the Euphrates are the following : — Annah (the 

 ancient Ajoatho), which is partly built on the western bank, and partly 

 on an island of the Euphrates, contains 1800 houses, and is considered 

 the capital of the Arab tribes inhabiting the country west of the river. 

 Farther down lies Hediaah, on an island in the river, in the midst of 

 date plantations, and contains more than 400 houses. EIrUz is also a 

 considerable place, and like Annah partly built on an island. Jibba/i, 

 another town built on an island, contains 500 houses, and is a thriving 

 place. Hit (the Is of Herodotus) contains bitumen springs, which ore 

 mentioned by Herodotus (i. 179). It is built round a hill, and has 

 good houses of stone. In the vicinity there is very little cultivation, 

 and the inhabitants derive their subsistence from making salt, pre- 

 paring bitumen , manufacturing woollen-stuffs, and building boats. 

 The number of bitumen springs in the neighbourhood of this place is 

 very great, and the produce of a single spring is sufficient to meet 

 the demand, though it is used in these parts as fuel. A great number 

 of river-boats of diflerent sizes and forms are made here. They consist 

 of wicker-work, made of branches bx)m an inch and a half to two 

 inches in thickness. The interstices are filled up with bark or straw, 

 and then the whole is caulked with bitumen. In such boats the 

 bitumen, salt, and prepared lime are taken to Hilkh, Bassora, and 

 Baghdad. 



The plain of Babylonia, or Irak Arabi, extends from the Median 

 Wall (34° N. lat.) to the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris at 

 Komah (31° N. lat), and between 44° and 47° E. long. In length it 

 does not much exceed 200 miles, and in breadth it varies consider- 

 ably. Between Felujah and Baghdad it is not more than 40 miles 

 wide, but lower down it widens to 100 miles : 80 miles may be the 

 average width. This gives an area of 16,000 squai'e miles to the 

 region, which is notioed under Babylonia; see also Baghdad, 

 Pashalic of. 



The banks of the Euphrates, from the ]ilace where the Sakldwiyeh 

 Canal (the most northern of the canals from the Euphrates to the 

 Tigris) branches off, to the ruins of Babylon and the town of Hillah, 

 are of moderate height. The country adjacent to them is of indifferent 

 fertility, and is mostly overgrown with grass, thistles, and mimosas. 

 Cultivation is limited to a few spots, and as the posture-grounds are 

 also indifferent, the number of cattle, sheep, and goats is not great. 

 It appears to be little inhabited, and only from time to time a grove 

 of date-trees is seen. Below Hillah the country improves greatly ; a 

 large portion of it is under cultivation, and the plantations of dates 

 are more numerous. It is a populous country : between Hillah and 

 Diwaniyeh a number of large villages are observed. 



A sliort distance below Diwaniyeh begin the marshes of theEuphrates, 

 which lower down are called the marshes of Lemlun orLamlun. They 

 extend from Diwaniyeh to El Karayin, a distance of upwards of 80 

 miles in a straight line, and they vary in width from 6 to 20 miles. 

 This tract is the most productive and most populous on the banks of 

 the Euphrates, and is inhabited by an Arab tribe called the Kasahel, 

 who are estimated at half a million, which however is probably an 

 exaggeration. The river runs between low banks, from which tho 

 country on both sides rises imperceptibly towards the interior, where 

 it extends in level flats, between which are many extensive depressions 

 which are swampy all the year round. The soil of this tract consists 

 of a firm tenacious clay of a dark-blue colour, in which numerous 

 shells are imbedded. The soil is very fertile when irrigated, and the 

 means of irrigation are abundant The Euphrates divides into 

 numerous branches, so as to convert a lar;ge tract of the marshes 

 into islands. The marshes are also traversed by two largo canals, 



8d 



