1S6G.] MeynarcVs Ibn Khordadbeh. 135 



to have been the first Mahommedan who recovered some land. Much 

 greater efforts were made by the Nabathean -Hassan, who was collector 

 under the reigns of Walyd and Hischam b. Abd al-Malik, and cut two 

 canals to carry off the water. In A. H. 75, Hajjaj was appointed 

 governor of Babylonia. He represented to Walyd II., that the drain- 

 age of the country would cost three millions of Dirhams. The Khalyf 

 thought he could spend the money more pleasantly on eunuchs and 

 singers, and refused to grant so large a sum. Moslima b. 'Abd al- 

 Malik, a relation of the Khalyf, proposed to him to drain part of the 

 swamps, under the condition that he should draw the revenue of the 

 recovered land. The Khalyf accepted the offer, and Moslima cut the 

 two canals called Saylaya, and raised dykes. He succeeded in recover- 

 ing a great extent of land, and the peasantry flocked to him to culti- 

 vate it. His family continued to derive the revenue from it up to the 

 time of the overthrow of the Omayide Dynasty. The 'Abbaside 

 Khalyf granted it to one of his relations, Dawud b. 'Alyy b. 'Abd 

 Allah b. 'Abbas. His heirs remained for some time in possession of it, 

 but eventually it was considered as one of the crown-lands c ^*&-M 



In A. H. 75 Hajjaj was appointed governor of Babylonia, and he 

 ruled 20 years over that country. Ibn Khordadbeh says of the finan- 

 cial condition of the country during his sway : " The revenue gathered 

 by Hajjaj did not amount to more than 18 millions Dirhams, and there 

 was consecpiently a diminution of one hundred (and two) millions. This 

 was owing to his burning down villages, and to his oppression. More? 

 over he was obliged to give advances to the cultivators to the amount 

 of two millions, so that only 16 millions reached the public treasury.''' 

 It seems that the peasantry fled, for under the just 'Omar II. who 

 ruled in A.H. 99, the revenue of the Sawad suddenly rose to 124 

 millions. 



It is a very unexpected fact that at the time of Ibn Khordadbeh 

 not only the limits, but also the names of the districts were in the 

 official language precisely the same which had been in use among the 

 SAsanians, nay some of them seem to be even more ancient than the 

 Sasanians ; for we neither find a district called Baghdad, nor one called 

 Madayin (Ctesiphon). The province in which these two cities lie, is 

 called Shad-Hormuz and the district Kalwadza, from an ancient town 

 half way between Baghdad and Madayin. 



