‘Memorandum respecting the frontier between Mohammerah and Turkey.’ [‎35v] (70/82)

60
Mahommedans of Bussorah purchased many of
these children for 18 or 20 kurnah a-head, and
restored them to their parents.
From Mohammerah to the town of Fellahiah on
the River Jerrahi, where the sheikhs of the Keab
trihe have their residence, merchandise is con
veyed in small boats named by the inhabitants
" belem " and <c shuyeh," as well as in the large
boats which navigate the Shatt-el-Arab. The
distance from Mohammerah to Fellahiah amounts
to 10 farsangs ; the usual method of performing
the journey is in small boats upon the river, but
the traveller can, if he desires, ride along the
banks on horseback, being obliged, nevertheless,
at two places to take his saddle and other property
into a boat and cross his horse over the streams
which oppose his progress by swimming.
The Hiver Jerrahi, formed by the junction of
three streams named respectively the Kurdistan,
the Bebahan, and the Ram Hormuz, directs its
course towards Fellahiah ; but before reaching
that city it divides itself into five branches, two
of which only pass through the place. At three
different spots the lands are irrigated and devoted
to a large extent of rice cultivation. The country
for the space of 30 farsangs presents a very com
pact (tres uni) appearance, and belongs to the Keab
Arabs, who are employed in every species of
agriculture.
The whole territory along the course of the
river is extremely fertile, the water which remains
after the wants of the cultivation are supplied
being carried off by a subterranean passage [ ? ].
The plain, moreover, produces a vast quantity
of reeds which are both used for fuel and in the
construction of all the houses that are not intended
for the .sheikhs and great people.
From Arkoot Mihna, a village which is situated in
the district of Zeidan, containing also seven other
villages and two forts named Deh Moolah and
Bunder Hindonam, as far as Fellahiah, the capital
of Sheikh Thamir Khan, the cultivation of corn and
green vegetables (legumes) is general. Sheikh
Thamir Khan's various possessions extend over a
space of ten stages upon each side [ ? ] the lands
being watered by the rivers Jerrahi and Zeidan,
and the revenues which are realised from the
cattle and pasture grounds accruing to the said
sheikh.
Mohammerah possesses a port which, had it not
The water communication between Mohammerah and
Fellahiah is by the artificial canal which connects the
Jerrahi with the Karun, and the navigability of this canal
by vessels of a greater or less draught depends entirely
on the state of the great dyke on the Jerrahi. When
this dyke is in repair belems c»n alone ascend the canal,
when it is destroyed the usual river boats of the Karun
can be tracked to Fellahiah.
I have always understood the banks of the Fellahiah
Canal to be so densely covered with reeds as to be altoget her
impassable to a horseman.
I do not understand how the traveller would require to-
cross tw o rivers; it appears to me that between Moham
merah and Fellahiah the bed of the Karun itself would
form the onlj obstruction.
This description of the Jerrahi is exceedingly incorrect.
The Kurdistan, the Bebahan, and the Ram Hormuz are all
the same, the three names being applied to the Jerrahi iu
different parts of its course; the only affluent of conse
quence that joins this river after leaving the mountains west
of Bebahan is the united stream of the Ah Allah and Abi-
Zard, which falling into the Kurdistan in the plain of Earn
Hormuz forms the Jerrahi, identical with the Oroatis of
the ancients and the Tab of the Arab geographers. At
present two branches of tiiis river, named the Jungeri and
Kolfi, leaving the mainstream a few miles above Fellahiah,
unite and form the Nahr-i-Busi, which disembogues into
the sea at the Khur-i-Musa, the remaining waters are divided
between the Boteynaut, the Fellahiah, and theRaghiodhee,
the Fellahiah passing through the town of that name and
joining the Karun about 15 miles above Mohammerah, and
the other two canals being consumed in the irrigation of
the Cliaab lands.
I have never heard of this " souterrain," and conclude^
therefore, the allusion to be to the mere absorption of the
superfluous waters.
Between the district of Zeidan, which is on the river of
Hindiyan, usually named Zohreli } and formed by the united
streams of the Abi-Shur and Abi-Siiirin and the rich
country of Fellahiah on the Jerrahi, the interval, 50 or 60
miles in extent, is entirely desert and devoid of permanent
inhabitants. It belongs to the Chaab, but is only of value
for its winter pasturage.
The general shape of the Chaab territory is triangular,
that is, taking as a base the sea coast from the mouth of
the Shat to the mouth of the Zohreh (the Brizana of
antiquity), the western side will be formed by the Shat,
the Hafar, and the Karun, and the eastern by the course
of the Zohreh to Deh Moolah, and by an imaginary line
stretching from that point to the Karun, the point of inter
section of the two sides being at Weiss, which thus becomes
the apex of a triangle. The extreme distance from north
to south is about ICQ miles and from east to west 80 miles.