'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. IV. 1917' [‎36r] (76/530)

EOUTE IV I
67
The following is the account given by Mr. Dobbs of the navigation
of the river from Birijik to Meskeneh in January 1903 :—
'Between Birijik and Alif Orfu (Oghlu?) the average depth is
12 ft., the pace of the current 3 m.p.h., and the width of the river
200 yds. | m. below Alif Orfu (Oghlu ?) is an island unnamed about
1 m. in length. The navigable channel goes to the r. ^ m. further
down is another small island unnamed. The navigable channel goes
to the 1. Here the stream increases to 4^ m.p.h. and continues at
that pace until past Jerablus. . . . The stream as far as this point
seems now to present no difficulties to navigation, and the depth was
in no places where I sounded less than 6 ft.
HfM 'Half a mile below the ruins of Jerablus the pace of the cur
rent increases to about 6 m.p.h., and there is a somewhat dangerous
Jo» rapid lasting about 500 yards. The navigable channel is only about
11, 25 yards broad, but in this channel the depth of water is ample,
ii6to being about 12 ft. At the head of the rapid the channel keeps in
irreBl mid-stream. After 350 yards it runs close in under the high 1. bank
s wi and continues on this course until the rapids end 150 yards further
)f fc down. We passed some boats full of grain stuck in the rapids about
below half-way down, having kept too much to the left, and our boatmen
and said that numbers of boats were lost here every year. One and
iss j]ij a half miles lower down, opposite Yerablis Zir (? Ashaghi Jerablus),
irate! a village on r. bank, there is another rapid stretch, extending
j {I j over a distance of about 3 m., the current being about m.p.h.
; ty This rapid, however, contains no shallows. About 6 m. below
j tlie Jerablus we passed the island known as Jezireli Ahmad, the navi-
le too gable channel going to the right. About 4 m. lower down is the
island of Boiraz, the navigable channel, 100 yds. broad, going to the
fjoji left. The pace of the current, which had been only about 3 m.p.h.,
,jy er here increased to about 5 m.p.h., the average depth of the water
. r t a t being 9 ft, At the S. end of Boiraz, the stream spreads into several
ya tioi small channels, the navigable one goes to the left and is not more than
50 yds. wide. Three m. lower down (about 3 m. above Qizil
r [y e i Euyuk) is the island of Qirq Maghareh, the navigable channel going
^jt to the left. About a mile below Hammam there is a short piece of
| roI1! rapid, the current about 6 m.p.h., but no shallows, the depth being
jj[ s about 6 ft., and a short way below this is the whirlpool of Chaulik,
A[jjj which is said to offer some difficulties in heavy floods. From this
point to a point about 3 m. below Qal'at en-Nejm the width of the
■ atest river is about 150 yds., the current about 3 m.p.h., and the average
, ^ depth 6 ft. At the latter point the stream broadens out over a wide
llj gravelly bed, the width of which is about m., and this broad stretch
continues for about 6 m., the navigable channel, about 6 ft. deep,
'■ e 2