"تقرير عن التنمية في بلاد الرافدين مع إشارة خاصة إلى تجديد أنظمة الأنهار" [‎٢] (٥٠/٨)

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action on the proposal, more especially as works being carried out for military
purposes would have largely interfered with the scheme.
Subjects dealt with in this Report.
(4) The country discussed in this report is the whole of the area within the
delta of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates known as Irak or Mesopotamia, and I
propose to deal with the case under the following heads :
(a) Mesopotamia as it was.
(b) Mesopotamia as it is.
(c) Reasons for the deterioration of the country since ancient times.
(d) Description of the Tigris and Euphrates as they appear to-day.
(e) Sir William Willcocks's Irrigation Projects.
(/) Suggestions for river regeneration.
(g) Agriculture in Mesopotamia.
(h) Navigation on the Tigris and Euphrates.
(i) Conclusions and recommendations.
The report is accompanied by the following plans and photographs
(i) Reproduction to a reduced scale of Sir William Willeocks'sconceptions
of the ancient Tigris-Euphrates delta.
(it) Cross-sections of the Tigris.
(m) Photographs of the Tigris between Baghdad and Kurnah.
(w) Survey of .the country between Amara and Kurnah.
(v) Survey of the country between Kurnah and Nasiriyah..
(vi) General plan of Sir W. Willcocks's irrigation scheme.
(a) MESOPOTAMIA AS IT WAS.
(5) I do not propose to attempt a description of Mesopotamia from earliest
times ; it is sufficient that we are told by historians and others who have made a
study of the subject, that in this region civilization has succeeded civilization,
and kingdom has succeeded kingdom, from the earliest records of the human race'
and that for thousands of years Mesopotamia was one of the richest countries in
the world -in a high state of cultivation, with giant canals taking off from the
livers Tigris and Euphiates, the remains of which can be seen to-day, prosperous
cities in great number, and a population which was calculated by millions.
Babylon was at the height of its prosperity about 2,000 B.C., and Baghdad
833 A. D. when its population numbered 2 million souls and the city was 5 miles
across within the walls.
The general configuration of the country must have greatly changed since the
beginning of the Babylonian Empire . we know that the delta has extended seaward
130 miles since Eridu was the principal seaport of the Sumerians, with the result
that the slopes of the rivers must have flattened considerably, whilst at that
period the Tigris and Euphrates entered the Persian Gulf as separate rivers with
their mouths a full day s journey apart. The country was also covered with
dense forests and probably had a larger rainfall and more equable climate than
obtains to-day. Accompanying this report is a reproduction of Sir William
Willcocks's conception of the ancient Tigris-Euphrates delta