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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917' [290] (299/432)
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.
290 LAND KOUTES
are using the pastures. After the second hour from Baghdad flocks
of 80 to 100 sheep are met with. On leaving Fellujeh the track
passes through corn land, and there are only occasional flocks.
After 2 m. of cultivation the track from Kamadiyeh to Hit strikes
across the desert. From Hit to Anah the track leads for the most
part across the desert, touching the river at long*intervals. There
are narrow strips of cultivation on the river hank. About Anah
cultivation improves, but beyond Anah, between Nahiyeh and Abu'l
Kemal, the river-valley is almost uncultivated. From Abu'l Kemal
to Deir ez-Zor there is almost continuous but poor cultivation. Round
Deir ez-Zor there is a belt of cultivation and good grazing. From Deir
ez-Zor the cultivation becomes only occasional instead of continuous,
but the route traverses a plain on which there is rich grazing. Continu
ous cultivation begins again at Abu Hureireh. At Meskeneh the route
leaves the Euphrates and runs through cultivated country. Of this
stretch a traveller in 1906 says: ' On the way from Haleb (Aleppo)
to Meskeneh, as far as the eye can see, there stretches a glorious
tract of corn-bearing land, spotted with mud villages, containing a
mixed race of people who reply equally readily in Turkish, Kurdish,
or Arabic to the questions put by the passing traveller. Many of
the villages are the property of wealthy citizens of Haleb, whose
influence is sufficient to obtain protection for their tenants from the
Government. The cultivation is not elaborate, but the ground is
fairly tilled, and the continual influx of industrious people is steadily
regenerating the land. ... At present the reclamation only extends
within an hour of Meskeneh, but as the most easterly villages
were only built last year, there is every hope that within a short
time the river banks themselves will be populated.'
Miles from
Bagiidad
0 Baghdad. For details of the route as far as Fellujeh, see
vol. ii, JRoute 22. For Decauville Railway to Ridhwaniyeh
see p. 396.
43-| Pelliijeh. Here the route meets the Euphrates Valley
and crosses by a bridge of boats from 1. to r. bank.
Except in flood-time there is very little current; but in
flood-time the crossing is difficult.
At the bridge of boats the river is 200 to 250 yds. broad.
Khan at each end of the bridge. The track starts at
first S. by W. round a bend of the river, then generally
W. by N. for 5 m. through corn-fields irrigated by
cherrads (water-lifts). A few mud huts of settled Arabs.
Many irrigation cuts. Ground rather heavy and liable to flood.
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