'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎90] (99/568)

90
INHABITANTS
and both towns, situated on the edge of the Arabian Desert, are
markets for the Bedawin. Kufeh (5,000) and Samarra (8,000) are places
of pilgrimage for Shiahs, but much less important than Kerbela and
Nejef. Of the other towns some are markets along the Euphrates,
Tigris, or Shatt el-Hai, the centres of fertile districts, or owing their
importance to their positions at the junction or diverging-point of
waterways, e.g. Kurna (5,000), Suq esh-Shuyukh (10,000), Nasirlyeh
(10,000), Samaweh (500 houses), Diwaniyeh (500 houses), Hilla
(30,000), Tawarlj or Hindiyeh (4,000), Museyib (6,000), Amara
(10,000), Kut el-Amara (4,000), Kut el-Hai (4,000), Shatrat el-
Muntefiq (500 houses). Others are strung along the great Baghdad—
Kirmanshah road, as Baqubeh (6,000), which is the centre of a very
fertile district, Qizil Kibat (2,000), Khanikin (5,000). Others are in
oases, as Beledruz (3,000), Mandali (6.000), which is supported
partly by the oil-wells in its neighbourhood, and Bedrah (3,000).
Zobeir (1,500), on the edge of the desert near Basra, is a starting-point
of desert-routes and a centre of intercourse with the Bedawis. Some
of these towns have small local industries—boat-building, weaving,
&c. A very ancient bitumen industry, as well as boat-building and
the passage of caravans, supports Hit (1,600).
Arabistan
Here the population is gathered mainly on the left bank of the
lower Shatt el-'Arab, in the very fertile Shushtar—Dizful area, and
in other fertile watered areas, such as those of Fellahlyeh, Kamuz,
and Behbehan.
The proportion of nomads and semi-nomads to the whole population
is higher than that of Irak. Some of the Arab tribes move back
wards and forwards over the Irak-Arabistan border, or have sections
in both territories.
Towns of Arabistan. — Mohammareh (12^000) derives its political
supremacy in southern Arabistan from its position at the junction
of the Karun with the Shatt el-'Arab. Its population has increased
considerably since the opening up of the Shushtar—Ahwaz oil-field
and the establishment of the Lynch trade-route across the Bakhtiyari
country to Isfahan.
Dizful (15,000) and ShusMar (10,000) lie in plains of great fertility.
There are ways across the mountains north of Dizful which are
easier than any other routes into Persia between the Gulf and the
Qasr-i-Shlrln depression. Both towns have decayed owing to anarchy
in south-eastern Luristan and the consequent closing of trade-routes,
and also owing to the general insecurity in northern Arabistan.