'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎271] (380/496)

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sources of the Abi Kirrind, the N. W. tributary of the Kerkha* river. It
joins the main river, after flowing past Harunabad, in the neighbour
hood of Hudbar, about due east ot Baghdad, and south of Kirmanshah.
The temperature in the room at sunrise was 66 °, and at 3 p. m., the
hottest time, only 85° ; a delightful change after a long residence in sultry
Baghdad. A mild easterly wind prevails throughout the nights, and is
followed by a refreshing westerly breeze that lasts during the day.
These are as regular as the land and sea-breezes experienced on the
Malabar coast of India.
We spent two days in the company of our friends the Kirrindis, and
were much pleased at the frank and hospitable reception they extended
to us. It is true Major Bawlinson had spent some time amongst them
when serving in Persia, and, indeed, commanded a regiment of Gfurans,
which he raised and trained, composed solely of these mountaineers,
* The Kerkha river is generally recognized as the ancient Clioaspes. It was
until lately navigable as far as Hawiza, but by the “ bund’' or dyke at that place
bursting in 1839 its waters have been distributed over the whose adjacent country,
—but principally accumulated in a large lake formed (by the Tigris passing
through the Hud, and the Duarij stream) in the low ground laying between the
Tigris and Hawiza. This lake inundates the whole country as far South as Kurna,
and is connected again with the Tigris by numerous outlets, some of considerable
size, which debouch in the neighbourhood of the tomb of Ezra. The Suaib is
however the principal mouth of the Kerkha river. It joins the Shat al Arab five
miles below the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates.
The Hud, spoken of in the above note, has given rise to much controversy. Many
travellers have treated it as a distinct river, and the compilers of a recent work
entitled “ Ancient History,’’ erroneously identify it with the Gyndes of antiquity.
The Hud indeed is but a branch of the Tigris, and the term river, as frequently
applied to it, is an egregious misnomer. In latitude 31° 52' N. the Tigris turns
abruptly to the East, and continues this course for sixteen miles to the mouth of the
Hud in the same latitude, whence it again suddenly turns to the south. This for
mation of the bed of the Tigris then sufficiently accounts for the existence of the
Hud in the angle of its diverging courses. The Hud, from where it leaves the
Tigris, pursues a direction generally of E. S. E, ? but becomes divided into many
smaller branches a few miles distant from the main stream—where the country is
considerably depressed and below the margin of the Tigris. In 1841, I descended
the Hud in the Steamer Nitocris, but was compelled to retrace my course against
the stream when I had advanced but twenty miles, from its intricate and numerous
turnings. A few miles further, I was informed, would have conducted me into the
Bake of Hawiza, but, impeded as I was by numerous dykes, with scarcely sufficient
room to turn the vessel in, and surrounded by hostile tribes ever ready to take
advantage of any accident that might happen to the vessel, I felt that the risk
incurred would be more than commensurate with its advantages, even did the
depth of the lake permit of its navigation by the steamer, which is a very doubtful
point. The karadeh, a small boat resembling a canoe, in use among the tribes inha
biting these marshes, 1 am told, performs the distance between the mouth of the
Hud and Hawiza in three or four days. On the subject of the Hud, see also page
256, where it is alluded to in a note.