'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎282] (291/568)

282 COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPOKT
(ii) Amara—Kut el-Amara.
Measures recommended are:
(1) Maintenance and improvement of existing bunds, and con
struction of new bunds.
(2) Restriction of the amount of water taken off by irrigation-
channels so far as may be consistent with the needs of agriculture;
closure of unimportant and useless channels.
(iii) Kut el-Amara—Baghdad.
The frequency of banks of silt in this part of the river is due largely
to the untrained condition of the river-bed and the very winding
course which it follows. ' Bandallingor the construction of groynes
of bamboos and reed-matting at the upper ends of sand-banks so as
to increase the size of the banks, proved successful in the summer of
1917. The digging of new cuts across the bends (as the Turks cut
the bend below Ctesiphon, 1915) might, unless based on a most care
ful examination of local conditions, have undesirable consequences.
(6) The Euphrates up to Fellujeh.
The lower Euphrates is navigable for laden native boats of the
larger or smaller types according to the season and the conditions
on the different stretches or channels of the river. In the years
before the war small steamers had occasionally made the journey
from Kurna to the Hindiyeh Barrage ; but in low water steamers
and fully laden native boats of the larger kinds could not pass the
shallows in the lakes, or the mud bars which occurred here and there,
and especially near the entrances and exits of the lakes. Conditions
have now been somewhat improved by dredging between Kurna and
Nasiriyeh, but the shallows of the Bahr-i-Shinafiyeh are apparently
still impassable in low water for anything but the smallest, or quite
lightly laden, native craft. The navigable arms of the river are in
parts narrow and tortuous. The details of navigation are liable to
change from year to year.
(i) Kurna— Nasinyeh.
In high water steamers drawing 5 ft. can pass from Kurna to
Nasiriyeh. Upto 1916 steamers and large native boats fully laden could
not reach Suq esh-Shuyukh in low water owing to shallows on the
Chubeish bar, the Hammar Lake, and the Haqiqeh bar. Dredging
operations were undertaken in the autumn of 1916 in order to open
a channel for the low-water season. In 1915 and 1916 the main navi
gation channel between the Hammar Lake and Suq esh-Shuyukh had
followed the Haqiqeh arm, the Haqiqeh dam having been destroyed
by the British in 1915; but as rice-cultivation in the neighbourhood
was dependent on this dam it was reconstructed, and the Mezlaq