'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎55] (102/905)

CHAP. III.] I'SA AND NAHR SERSAR CANALS.
55
bridge 1 at its commencement, as well as the geograpliical
position, leave little doubt that this is the I'sa canal, which,
according to Abu-l-feda, is so great that large boats sail upon
it from Baghdad to the Euphrates. 2 Elsewhere the same
author says, that it separates from the Euphrates near Anbar,
and goes from thence to join the Tigris above Baghdad.
This cut (he adds) was called after I'sa, a descendant from
the family of Khaliph A1 Mansur ; 3 and was excavated, says
Edrisi, in order thus to reach Baghdad. 4
Below this castle there is a pastoral, but thinly inhabited ^ a ?^^ 0 e posed
country, extending along the river for 37 miles to the mounds rivers,
of Muhammed. From thence to the mouth of the Sakla-
wiyah canal on the Tigris, this part of Mesopotamia is but
18 miles broad, and the ground has a gentle slope, so as to
be admirably suited for a canal, which would, as in ancient
times, connect the commerce of the two rivers; and, in
this way, Baghdad might be reached from the Upper
Euphrates, without the circuitous route by the peninsula of
Kurnah. 5
Between the Saklawiyah and the mounds just mentioned Remains of
may be still traced portions of three other ancient canals of
intercommunication. The most northern of these is known
as the Abu Gharib inlet; from a spot six miles below Felujah
it first runs eastward, and again, from a point about two
miles south of the extensive Babylonian mounds of Kushk,
or Sindea, it inclines E.S.E., or towards the Tigris, at a spot
eight miles below the river Diyalah. Abu-l-feda 6 says, the
river Sersar separates from the Euphrates below the I sa, till it
1 Djisir Dehma of AM-l-fedd, and Djisir Dina of Edrisi; Tome VI., p. 157,
Recueil de Voyages, &c.
2 MS. translation of Abii-l-feda, by Mr. Rassam.
3 Ibid. . i o • u ( j
4 Page 144, Tome VI, Recueil de Voyages et de Me moires par la Soci^te de
Geographie de Paris, 1840.
5 In the printed Reports submitted to Government in 1833, I proposed the
line between Makdam and Baghdad, a distance of 22 miles; but the line of
levels carried from one river to the other in 1837, by Corporal Greenhill, of
the Royal Sappers and Miners, has shown that the object might be more
easily accomplished from a spot a little southward of Baghddd.
6 MS. translation of Mr. Rassam.