'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎223] (232/568)

COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
223
animals are delivered at a fair price. The export of camels in 1912
from Diarbekr to Egypt and the interior was valued at £4,000, in
1913 at £6,000.
~ i
(&) Horses, —The horse export trade has been a fluctuating one,
owing to various restrictions placed upon it by the Turkish Govern
ment. From 1902 to 1914 the export of horses was permitted,
except at the time of the Balkan War. An export duty of 1 per
cent, ad valorem was charged. Horses exported, with the excep
tion of those from the Diarbekr vilayet, were sent to Basra, and
thence to India ; the breed of horses exported was mostly Arab.
A few Persian horses were sent to India, and from the Kirkuk
district a fairly useful sort of Kurdish pony was also sent. The
bulk of the horses from the Mosul vilayet were purchased for the
markets at Mosul, Kirkuk, and Baghdad by dealers from the Sham-
mar Arabs, who visited Arab and Kurdish tribes for the purpose.
Up to 1906 the price of horses at Basra increased rapidly ; from
that date, however, it has remained at about the same figure. In
1910, 2,123 horses, valued at £53,075, were sent from Basra to India,
but 900 of them remained for some time unsold at Bombay ; in
1912, 1,413, valued at £35,325, were exported, and in 1913, 1,749,
valued at £43,725 ; a large number of these horses came from the
Mosul district. From Diarbekr horses and mules were exported at
a value varying between £4,500 in 1908 and £6,500 in 1913 ; these
were for the most part sent overland to Syria and the Interior ;
a certain number were at times sent to Egypt and to India.
(c) Mules. —Mules, mostly Persian, are bought in the markets of
northern Arabistan and eastern and northern Mesopotamia for use in
this area; the supply, however, was diminishing before the war. There
is not much export of mules from Mesopotamia ; about 400 animals
passed through Baghdad market as re-exports for Syria in 1907.
A certain number of mules is bred in the Diarbekr district, and of
these some were sent to Syria. The Diarbekr mules are slightly
inferior to the Baghdad mules ; they were valued in 1907 at about
£10 each, as compared with £15 for the Baghdad mule.
[d] Sheep and Goats. —The chief markets for the export of sheep
from Mesopotamia to Syria and Egypt are Mosul and Diarbekr. The
Baghdad export seems to have practically ceased before the war.
The Diarbekr sheep came in part from outside this area, from the
Dersim district, as well as a small number from Erzerum.
In 1908 the Mosul district was sending annually about 100,000
sheep to Syria at about 125. each. In 1910 the value of the export
of sheep from Mosul was estimated at £80,000 ; in 1912 (after the
loss of stock in the severe winter of 1910-11) at £35,000. From