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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. II. 1917' [487] (498/542)
The record is made up of 1 volume (269 folios). It was created in 1917. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
OIL-FIELDS
487
bered that the continued working of the bitumen-wells for so many
centuries may have exhausted a large proportion of the supply.
Above Hit, the indications of oil are confined to small bituminous
springs here and there (e. g. near Jibbeh, near Alus below Hadlseh,
near Anah, near Lubtar Island): and in the appearance of
bituminous rocks in parts of the valley (e. g. in a stretch below
Meyyadln). It is quite uncertain what amount of oil may be thus
indicated.
Commercial E
Before the war the only important exploitation of this area was to
be found in the bitumen industry at Hit. There were five bitumen
springs, or groups of springs, in the neighbourhood of the town;
four of these were on the right bank, and one on the left. In 1909
four of them were being worked and were said to be capable of
yielding between them over 2,000 donkey-loads a day: much less was
actually collected. The methods of collection and preparation were
primitive. The bitumen was used for pitching boats (there is a boat
building industry at Hit), bridges, floors, &c. Lack of transport
confined the sale of bitumen to the local Mesopotamian market.
The springs appear to have been the property of the Government
and to have been let on lease.
It has been reported that there is now (1916) a petroleum store at
Hit. If this be true, it may indicate that an oil refinery has been
established here.
Bitumen for local consumption may have been collected near
Jibbeh and Anah ? but the evidence on this point is unsatisfactory.
At any rate the industry elsewhere than at Hit was quite un
important.
Communications
The Euphrates valley obviously affords the one line of communica
tion running through the area, and by reason of the deserts to E.
and W. the main approaches to the area are limited to that valley.
The area may be entered at its NW. or SE. end either by the river
itself or by the Baghdad—Aleppo road along the right bank.
The Middle Euphrates, like the Middle Tigris, is a better line of
communication down-stream than up-stream. Above Hit the river
can be navigated up-stream only by steamers and motor launches,
and by such craft only in high water. Even then the journey would
be slow and difficult in places. The Germans claim to have improved
About this item
- Content
This volume is A Handbook of Mesopotamia, Volume II, Irak, The Lower Kārūn, and Luristan (Admiralty War Staff Intelligence Division, May, 1917), covering the regions of the Shatt el-‘Arab [Shaṭṭ al-‘Arab], Kārūn, Luristan, and the Tigris and Euphrates up to Baghdad and Fellūjeh [Fallūjah]. The volume was prepared on behalf of the Admiralty and War Office, and appears to be based on official and unofficial publications and maps which are cited in a bibliographical section in the volume.
The volume includes a note on confidentiality, a title page, 'Note', 'Abbreviations'. There is a 'Contents' which include the following sections:
- Introduction;
- River Routes (Shatt el-‘Arab, The Kārūn, The Tigris, The Euphrates, The Shatt el-Hai);
- Land Routes (The Region of the Shatt el-‘Arab, The Tigris Valley, The Region of the Lower Kārūn River of Luristan, The Euphrates Valley, Connexions between the Tigris and Euphrates Valley, The Arabian Desert);
- Railways;
- Gazetteer of Towns;
- Bibliographical Note and List of Maps;
- Transliteration of Names;
- Glossary;
- Appendices (A: Notes on Weather on the Tigris, B: The Control of the Tigris Water, C: The Control of the Euphrates Water, D: Oil-Fields of the Mesopotamia and Persian Frontier, E: Note on Mules);
- Index;
- Plates;
- Maps.
The volume includes eight plates that illustrate the volume. There are also three maps:
- 'Baghdad';
- 'City Map of Baghdad';
- 'Mesopotamia: Outline Map Showing Routes'.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (269 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged accourding to numbered routes. There is a table of contents at the front of the volume and an alphabetical index at the back. There is also a list of plates and two maps are house in a pocket and one is a foldout.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the first folio and terminates at the last folio; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of the folio.
Pagination: The volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/41/3
- Title
- 'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. II. 1917'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1:374, 374a:374b, 375:530, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence