"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [ظ‎‎٨‎٩] (٨٦٢/١٨٣)

GEOLOGY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND
there are cultivated terraces of rice and wheat. The Sipna Nihail
valley is broader still, more fertile, better watered, and generally well
cultivated, though often swampy near the river banks. Amadia, on
an almost detached plateau, is a small town among a dozen or more
Fig. 28. The Basin of the Khahur in Iraq {heights in feet)
villages, mostly on the lower slopes and spurs of Ser Amadia, or
across the valley to the south; a fair amount of rice, millet, vines, and
tobacco are grown on terraces. The Sipna Nihail is perennial,
varying at different seasons from 10 to 80 yards wide near its con
fluence with the Zab, and 18 inches deep in June. Amadia is easily
accessible from the Khabur on the west.
Behind this chain of ridges from the Chia-i-Shirin to the Ser
Amadia there is a parallel trough drained by tributaries to the gorges
of the Rukuchuk, Rubar-i-Shin, or Zab. Then the ground rises to
a second ridge, cut through by these same gorges, after which the
ridges, though maintaining predominantly their direction parallel to
the strike, become more closely packed and confused. Occasionally,
where the slopes become more gentle, there is a cluster of Kurdish
villages. The valleys are often wooded with dwarf oak, poplar, maple,
and scrub; wheat is grown wherever possible, and there are small
vineyards and orchards.
The Oramar and §emdinan rivers have the greater part of their
courses in Turkish territory. They unite about 10 miles inside the
Iraq frontier to form the Rubar-i-Shin, which on its passage to the