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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917' [166] (175/432)
The record is made up of 1 volume (214 folios). It was created in 1917. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
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166
LAND ROUTES
Miles from
Baghdad
263|
269i
are taken off and put in the boats and the animals swim
There are 15 houses (inhabited by Kurds who have to
work the ferry) and a khan on the 1, bank. The r. bank
is open shingle, but the 1. is rather steep, with gravelly
cliffs in places. A short way down-stream the 1. bank
is easier.
Girdaresh village is 4 m. up-stream on the 1. bank
and Baishir 3 m. up on the r. bank. (On the Great Zab
see Tigris, Boute III E, at m. 150^.)
An alternative track to the Zab leaves Erbil in a W. by N. direction
and crosses the Demir Dagh downs, while the post-road skirts
their northern side. (Details from report of 1903.)
This other way, after | m., crosses a nullah, the banks of which
afford complete cover from the Erbil citadel. It runs NE. by
SW. The country is undulating and cultivated. At fl m. two
small enclosures are passed to the 1., the first 15 yds, square with
a wall 12 ft. high, and the other 50 yds. square with a wall 12 ft.
high. Both have mud walls and watch-towers. Then a small
stream is crossed 10 ft. wide and 1 ft. deep. At f4 m. a small
village lies | m. to the 1., with mud-walled enclosure 50 yds.
square. At m. the route begins to ascend over ground undu
lating to hilly. At t7 m. the top of the downs is reached, and
at fS m. their
watershed
The boundary between adjacent drainage basins.
is followed over ground full of holes.
The T.L. (two wires) crosses the road in this neighbourhood. At
flG m. a village 1 m. to 1. is passed. The road is stony over undu
lating country. At flS m. another small village lies to r. of
road, with a small well containing good water: thence over undu
lating country gradually descending to river. At t20| m. the
final descent to the river leads down by a steep and stony track
winding along a pebbly ravine bed. A little farther on emerge
on cultivated plain. At ^22 m. the Zab is reached. The river
bed is here 800 yds. wide, of pebble and sand, but in flood ex
tends to 1 m. in width. In February 1903 the stream was about
150 yds. wide with a current of about 4 m. an hour. Ferry-boat
was punt-shaped, and lightly built, 20 ft. long and 8 ft. wide.
There is a village on each bank. That on the 1. is 1\ m. distant
with 50 mud houses, and a walled enclosure on a mound which
commands the road as it descends from the high ground to the
river plain.
The road leaves the river and ascends some low gravelly
undulations. Tamarisk shrubs and a few trees in the
river-flat.
Manguvar village on the 1. bank of the Ghazir Bu, which
in October 1903 was 60 yds. wide and 2 ft. deep. The
bed is 300 yds. wide, and consists of shingle and sand.
In spring there are freshets from 8 ft. deep with a great
rush of water. It has then to be crossed by raft. In
About this item
- Content
This volume is A Handbook of Mesopotamia, Volume III, Central Mesopotamia with Sourthern Kurdistan and the Syrian Desert (Admiralty War Staff Intelligence Division, January, 1917), covering the Tigris and Euphrates from Baghdad and Fellūjeh [Fallujah] to Mosul and Meskeneh [Maskanah], the Lesser Zāb, the country east of the Tigris towards the Persian frontier, and the routes running westward from the Euphrates valley across the Syrian Desert. The volume was prepared on behalf of the Admiralty and War Office, and appears to be based on official and unofficial publications and maps which are cited in a bibliographical section in the volume. This volume was supplemented with corrections and additions in June 1918 (see IOR/L/MIL/17/15/41/5).
The volume includes a note on confidentiality, a title page, 'Note', 'Abbreviations'. There is a page of 'Contents' which includes the following sections:
- Introduction;
- River Routes (The Tigris and the Lesser Zāb, The Euphrates);
- Land Routes (The Tigris Valley with Region to East, The Euphrates Valley, Connexions between Tigris and Euphrates Valleys, The Syrian Desert);
- Gazetteer of Towns;
- Bibliographical Note;
- Transliteration of Names;
- Glossary;
- Appendix;
- Index;
- 'Sketch Map of Routes', which includes 'City Map of Baghdad' (f. 212) and 'Mesopotamia: Outline Map Showing Routes, Volume III' contained in a pocket.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (214 folios)
- Arrangement
This volume is arranged according to numbered routes. There is a page of contents and an alphabetical index. There are two maps housed in a pocket.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover and terminates at the inside back cover; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio (except for the front cover, where the folio number is located on the verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. ).
Pagination: The volume also has an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/41/4
- Title
- 'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1:422, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence