"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٢‎٨‎٣] (١٧٨٢/١٤٣٨)

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consisted of 4,000 mounted and 2,000 unmounted men ; but of purely
Turkish cavalry there were not more than 1,200 iu the province. The
number of effective Janissaries was not ascertainable. The garrison
of Baghdad city comprised about 8,000, and it was believed that more
than 15,000 could be assembled there and elsewhere, if required; but
the Janissaries could not be employed by the Pasha except for the
defence of the stations at wbicb they were posted, only the Porte
having the power to order them on other service. Much reliance was
placed on the military contingents provided by Kurdistan, then
governed by three chiefs who were nominated by the Pasha of Baghdad
and graded as Pashas of one horse-tail, and whose forces amounted in
the aggregate to some 12,000 or 15,000 mounted men. From the
Arabs of the province it was possible to'raise a force of 10,000 to 12,000
mounted men, but this was an unrelia,ble and expensive levy. Unorgan
ised bodies of musketeers could also be collected, in an emergency, in
numbers dependent on the prospect of booty and success. The military
force of the Pashaliq was estimated at 40,000 to 50,000 men, all told;
and it was understood that this number could be maintained in the
field without drawing on revenues external to the province.
The fiscal receipts of the local Government amounted in an ordinary
year, according to M. Olivier, to about 4,000,000 francs, derived from
taxes on land, assessments on Arabs and Kurds, contributions of non-
Muhammadans, customs, etc. The income from customs had been of
especial importance since the diversion in part of the Indian trade from
Persia to Turkish 'Iraq—which took place in the time of Kanm Khan.
The proportion of the local revenue remitted to the Porte did not exceed
one-eighth, the remainder being absorbed in local expenditure ; and in
years of war with the Kurds or the Arabs the remittances to Constan
tinople were liable to serious diminution.
According to Mr. Jones, who went to Baghdad as British Resident
in 1798, the revenue of tbe Pashaliq for some years previous to 1797
was not less than * £1,000,000 per annum, out of which the Pasha sent
less than £100,000 to the Porte and laid by, on his own account,
£100,000 to £150,000.
Early in April 1802, bubonic plague again made its appearance at Plague at
Baghdad, and by the 9th of May it had carried off, it was estimated, fsosl^*
about 2,000 souls; but from the absence of later references to the
disease it may be assumed that the epidemic was not of Jong duration.
* Tho annual revenue of tho modern WilfiyHts of Baghdad and Basrah together
is about £400,000.
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