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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917' [196] (205/432)
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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
196
LAND ROUTES
Miles from
Baghdad
u
and a proportionate number of mules or other animals.
The sides of the boat were only about 8 ft. above the
water, and if the animals were restive there was some
danger of their jumping out of the boat or putting their
feet through the sides, which were lightly built of laths
laced between timbers about 4 to 6 inches in diameter
which formed the ribs of the boat. The outside of the
boat was covered with a kind of pitch or bitumen
apparently a sufficient protection against leakage. The
boat was furnished with a long rudder built out on
a framework of light timber. The rudder made a powerful
lever, and the boat was proportionately handy. Despite
the steepness of the banks, it is not necessary to unload
animals laden with ordinary weights. On the far, or 1,
bank there are at a distance of 50 ft. the remains of an old
canal—the Nahrawan Canal. It is silted up but is about
20 ft. wide and about 10 ft. high.
Abu 'Aruj, a little N.
General direction of route NE. The country E. of the
Diyaleh is said to be much greener than that on the
Baghdad side. There is sporadic cultivation in some
hollows where rain-water has collected, but it is not
annual. There are one or two encampments of wander
ing Arabs who halt at places where there is water until it
is finished. The country is featureless and flat, with
a few mounds at intervals. During the h. w. season this
portion of the desert is dotted with shallow lakes,
and it is not possible to move in a straight line in
any direction for more than 3 or 4 m. at a stretch.
These lakes are merely collections of rain-water in depres
sions of the ground, and do not generally exceed 3 ft. in
depth. There are no reeds or grass in these lakes and no
cover of any kind on or near them. During winter grass
is abundant but very short, and in the hot season the
water and grass disappear, and the place becomes a burn
ing desert of dust. A portion (not located) of the land
along this route belongs to the es-Saniyeh and is
fertile. As one approaches Beledruz the land becomes
lower and marshy. During or soon after rain this part of
the country must be quite impassable.
At 2 or 3 m. from Beledruz a few irrigation channels are met
with, but they are not a serious obstacle even to carts.
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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Copyright: How to use this content
- 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