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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917' [331] (340/432)
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.
ROUTES 58, 54
(s)
331
EOUTE 54
DEIE EZ-ZOR—DAMASCUS
Authorities: —Oppenheim, Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golfe, journey in 1893 ;
Lady Anne Blunt, The Bedouin of the Euphrates, journey in 1877 ; Military
Eeport on Syria, part ii, sources of 1900-10 ; E. Sachau, Syrien und Meso-
poiamien, journey in 1879 ; oral information.
This is a portion of the regular caravan route between Baghdad
and Damascus, both goods and passenger traffic between these two
places being fairly regular. Caravans cross each way every 40^ or
60 days. The present route occupies about 100 hours. According
to a consular report of 1911 the Euphrates is left at Meyyadln,
whence one goes direct to Blr Qabaqib; others, however, make
Deir ez-Zor the point at which the river is left. The latter is
accepted here as the beginning of the route.
The caravan route across the desert consists of narrow footpaths
worn by the feet of camels, and of these there may be a dozen or
more at varying distances from one another. In the neighbourhood of
brooks or settlements these paths may become hundreds in number.
The route goes over the Hamad, the 6 hard stony desert' which
extends from the Euphrates Valley and the mountains of Hauran in
the N. to the oasis of El-Jauf in the S., crossing rather hilly country
with numerous more or less independent parallel chains running
from NE. to SW.
Generally speaking, the Hamad sinks from W. to E. towards the
Euphrates, and also occasionally inclines towards the S. as in
the NE. part. These are accordingly the directions taken by the
numerous wadis by which it is intersected. The water from these
numerous slopes and wadis is gathered partly in natural pockets
or depressions {radir), where it soon evaporates. Partly, how
ever, it is collected in a few larger rain brooks, as in the
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Grharreh and the
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Hauran, which flow into the Euphrates, In
winter and spring, during and after the rainy season, the steppe
which constitutes a considerable part of the route has numerous
Arab camps, and herds of gazelles may be seen. As the vegetation
withers the Arabs draw nearer the cultivated districts and are
followed by the gazelles, and the Hamad becomes a desert or desert-
steppe in which water is only to be found in a few springs or in
a few artificial cisterns or draw-wells. On account of the scarcity of
water and the likelihood that marauding parties of Arabs may have
been attracted to the few watering-places, the Hamad is seldom
traversed by caravans in summer.
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