'Precis Containing Information in regard to the First Connection of the Hon'ble East India Company with Turkish Arabia, as far as the Same Can Be Traced from the Records of the Bombay Government, together with the Names of the Several British Residents and Political Agents Who Have Been Stationed at Bagdad [Baghdad] and Bussorah [Basra] between A.D. 1646 and 1846, accompanied by Other Information' [‎105r] (213/226)

[ xli ]
its whole surface is furrowed, prove not only the pains taken of old to secure
an ample supply of that necessary from the great rivers that bound the
province, but the success by which these effects were attended. Misfor
tune and misrule have indeed made useless many of these great works
of the ancient time, and they have consequently gone partially to ruin ;
but such is the solidity of their structure and the nature of the country
they were formed to irrigate, that most of them might be renewed at
comparatively little cost, and would render cultivable so extensive a tract
as, under a fixed Government, would very speedily repay with immense
interest the outlay, whether private or public, of the work.
Without an accurate map of the country it would be difficult to
convey an idea of the extensive system of irrigation which it exhibits;
some portion of it may, however, be readily comprehended by inspection
of the common maps. In addition to the two great rivers, the Euphrates
and Tigris, from the banks of which only a narrow slip of land could
be watered, there were of old two great canals formed which, running
nearly parallel to, but at a convenient distance from, their course, and
being derived from points on these rivers so far above as to permit of the
waters being conducted upon a level with the country they were intended
to irrigate, were capable of watering an immense tract of land. These
two canals were the Pallacopas and the Naharwan.
The Pallacopas, taking its rise from a point on the Euphrates near
ancient Babylon, maintained a course west of, but nearly parallel to, the
Euphrates till it was lost near the sea below Bussorah.
The Naharwan, a still more extensive work, derived its supply of
water from the Tigris by other sources near Shamerak, and holding a
course at various distances from that river crossed and obscured the
waters of the Athem or ancient Lyens, those of the Diala which now
enters the Tigris below Bagdad, and those of the Heed or Choaspie of
antiquity still further below, till after a course of more than 350 miles
it joined the Kerkha or Karosa in Khazistan, the ancient Susiana. From
this immense canal, which is as broad as the Tigris itself, was derived a
system of minor water-courses which can even yet be traced through a
country, the greatest part of which is now utterly abandoned to the
Arabs.
Nor were there wanting canals of junction to unite the two princi
pal streams. From Felugia, 25 miles west of Bagdad, upon the Euphrates,
is derived the Nahr Ism, which crossed the country and entered the
Tigris an hour above Bagdad, and at distances of from six to eight miles
between successively are to be traced the Nahr of Serrer Mullick and
Kootha, besides many of lesser note, all of which, though now dry, might,
if required, be rendered efficient by a little labor.
In like manner, on the eastern side of the Jezeereh, we find the
Dijail canal, derived from the right bank of the Tigris some miles below
Samarah and flowing parallel with that river or within 25 miles of
Bagdad, while on either side of the Athem are discovered the Nahr But
and Nahr Bath wan, both now dry, but each commanding a large and
fertile district. These are but a few of the numerous engines of irriga
tion which this country exhibits, and all in the vicinity of Bagdad.