'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917' [‎94] (103/432)

94
THE EUPHRATES
Jerablus to Fellujeh during the present war. The Germans claim
to have improved the navigation. There is reliable evidence that
special craft have been constructed (compare p. 396).
Banks. —Between Fellujeh and Hit IV E) the 1. bank
appears to be stony desert, with little or no cultivation. On the
r. bank there is cultivation by water-lifts Above Hit, as
far as Nahiyeh, chermds are replaced by (water-wheels), but
the strip of cultivation is very narrow and no grain is available for
export. Between Nahiyeh and Abu Kemal both banks are prac
tically uninhabited, and either bare or covered only by tamarisk
scrub. Between Abu Kemal and Deir ez-Zor IV G, m. 192)
there is almost continuous cultivation by means of but the
cultivated strip in no case reaches more than -J m. from the bank.
Between Deir ez-Zor and Sabkhah cultivation to J m. from the river
on either side is carried on intermittently by In 1903 no
grain available for export was produced in this region. Above
Sabkhah to Abu Hureireh there is hardly any cultivation except in
the delta of the Belikh on the 1. bank in the neighbourhood of
Eaqqah. The low hills on the bank are of marl, and the valley is
covered with a dense growth of tamarisk, bramble, and liquorice.
Above Abu Hureireh there is a fertile belt 1-3 m. broad, bordered
by marl or gypsum hills, which produces wheat and barley without
irrigation. See also Routes 46, 47 for the river valley.
The terms Shamiyeh (esh-Sham = Damascus) and Jezlreh are
used by the inhabitants for right and left bank respectively.
Inhabitants. —The permanent inhabitants of the Euphrates Valley
are mainly either fellahln or semi-settled Arabs, who are more or
less liable to be raided or blackmailed by the great nomadic tribes
of the desert, the principal of which are the Anazeh, Dilaim, and
Shammar.
The predominant tribe in the Syrian Desert W. of the river is that
of the Anazeh, though some of the subdivisions of that tribe are also
found on the 1. bank. The Anazeh are large camel-breeders, and their
sheikhs own a certain amount of land in the Euphrates Valley. They
have a constant antagonism to the Shammar. The Amarat division
of the Anazeh are found W. of the Euphrates between Kerbela and Hit,
where their paramount chief, Ibn Hadhdhal, owns palm gardens. They
are generally near the Euphrates in summer. The Ped'an division
of. the Anazeh (paramount chiefs, the pan-Arab Ibn Muheid and
Ibn Geshirsh) ranges from Deir to Aleppo on both sides of the
Euphrates and up the Khabur Valley. The Amarat and also the
Sba' division of the Anazeh (from the region of Palmyra) may be
driven into the Ped'an country by lack of pasture elsewhere.