"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد II. ١٩١٧" [‎٧‎٥] (٥٤٢/٨٤)

THE TIGKIS—ROUTE III A
75
Inter
mediate
distance
Miles
3.
4
jL
2
1^
4
Abn'l Chayah (?) tract; date-groves opposite Bitar-
bitlyeh Greek extending about 1,200 yds.
Shoal in 1915 at river-bend to N., extending from above
date-groves for 1,000 yds.
Qal'at Salih. or Shatret el-'Amareh or Jillah. Pop.
4,000. P.O. T. (Basra—Baghdad line). The town was
before the war an occasional stopping-place for river
steamers. It is divided into two portions by a canal, and
consists of brick houses and huts. It has one Sabian and
three Mohammedan schools. The Turkish Imperial Estates
Department {Da'irat es-Samyeh) had an office here. There
are some dates, and the chief local products are rice, maize,
millet, sesame, cucumbers, onions, and radishes. The bazaar
is well stocked with cotton, cloth, sugar, coffee, and tea.
The people, said to be largely of Central Arabian origin,
are nearly all Mohammedans, Sunnis greatly predominating;
but there are some 400 Shiahs, about 50 Jews, and a small
Sabian community. The Sabians here are goldsmiths and
makers of mashhuf canoes. The surrounding Arabs are the
A1 Bu Mohammed.
Qal'at Salih is the head-quarters of the Kaza of Shatret
el-Amareh in the Sunjaq of Amara; the Kaza has no
administrative subdivisions. The chief Turkish official here
was a Kaimmakam.
The town is of recent origin ; on the site was a fort of
the A1 Bu Mohammed tribe. During the last twenty years
the place has grown out of a small village through the
pacification of the country and the development of the rice
trade, of which it is a centre.
The T.L. here passes from the r. to the 1. bank.
Michriyeh. Canal, extending E. towards the Khor-el-
Azlm. It has been recently reported (summer, 1916) that
nearly half the flow of the Tigris has been passing down the
Michriyeh Canal, and it has been recommended that a
weir should be built across this. Turkish police post on N.
bank a short distance from mouth.