'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎89] (98/568)

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INHABITANTS 89
line of the Tigris ; perhaps the population on or within 20 miles of
the Euphrates between Museyib and Kurna is about six times as
great as the population on or near the Tigris between Ctesiphon and
Kurna. This greater concentration on the Euphrates has existed
for thousands ot years. It remains to-day, and is likely to remain,
because the slope of the ground-levels 1 and the work of past ages in
distributing the water of the Euphrates make that river more applic
able than the Tigris to the purpose of irrigation.
The number of pure nomads whose movements are confined to
Irak is very small, but the desert south and west of the Euphrates
is visited by tribes from the Nejd and elsewhere at certain seasons
of the year, and in Irak itself a proportion of the inhabitants still
keep to a ' semi-nomadic' life (see p. 97).
Towns of Irak.- —The position of the chief town of Irak,
(140,000) 2 , is eminently favourable to the existence of a great city.
For Baghdad stands where the Euphrates and Tigris approach within
40 miles of each other, and where the country between the rivers
begins to be easily traversable below the arid part of the Jezlreh
that lies to north. On Baghdad converge naturally, in conformity
with physical features, all the lines of communication which enter
Irak from the north-west, the north, and the north-east: the
Euphrates valley line leading from northern Syria and south-eastern
Anatolia Peninsula that forms most of modern-day Turkey. ; the line of the middle Tigris from Mosul; the other line
from Mosul that runs under the southern Kurdish hills by Erbil,
Kirkuk, and Kufri; the line from Kirmanshah by Qasr-i-Shlrln,
leading from Persia through a natural gate in the mountains. To
the south there is easy communication with the thickly populated
Kerbela—Hilla region, with its agricultural districts and its pilgrim-
centres ; and lastly there is the waterway of the Tigris leading from
the Persian Gult and navigable to Baghdad by river-steamers.
For its food-supplies Baghdad can draw easily both on the Euphrates
to the south and on the Baqubeh—Khalis canal area to the north.
Basra(33,000) is the port at the southern gate of Mesopotamia ;
ocean-going steamers can ascend to it by the Shatt el-'Arab.
and Nejef (60,000 and 30,000) are pilgrim-centres which attract Shiahs
from all parts of the Mohammedan world (chiefly from Persia and
India); Nejef is also the starting-point of a pilgrim-route to Mecca,
1 Almost the whole country between the rivers in Irak, down to the line Knt
el-Amara—Nasiriyeh, is commanded by the flood-levels of the Euphrates, and
can be irrigated by its water.
2 The figures given for the population of towns must be taken as guesses,
giving perhaps some rough indication of their size ; they may be often wide of
the truth by some thousands.
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