'Routes in Arabia' [‎47] (80/852)

47
Route No. 14— contd:
nt ffMt&lfil L ■ t s / / ^ ri IT II A SI A MA t a ■- -f'
above the town. It is the centre of the district, and has a
barrack for 200 men. There is a customs cffice and a
telegraph cffice. It is a regular stopping-place ior steamers ;
they come alongside the wharf, which is faced with brick and
is about i a mile long. A small supply of coal is kept here
belonging to the Lynch Company.
There is a bridge of boats, of 23 light wooden pontoons,
covered with bitumen, each 25 feet long and 10 feet broad,
with a freeboard of 6 feet. The waterway is 12 feet, and the
roadway 20 feet wide, of wood, with fascines covered with clay,
'Amarah is a thriving place, exporting wheat and barley
from the country along the Chahalah (Hadd) channel. Be
tween 'Amai -ah and Dizful, in Persia, there is a certain caravan
traffic.
Along the east bank there are a few date plantations and
gardens.
At mile 15 above 'Amarah cultivation ceases. At 'AmSrah
the river is 250 yards wide, and up stream becomes wider, less
water losing itself in the marshes.
'ALI-ASH-SHARQI 42 m. I 172| m.
of trees.
FILAIFILAH
Pass 'Ali-ash-Sharqi,
a small shrine on the
east bank in a grove
20 m. i I92| m.
Two hours higher
up on the east bank
is Filaifilah; 50
Arab mud huts with small gardens and a few date trees.
'ALI-AL-GHARBI 17| m. ! 210 m. 'Ali-al-Gharbi is
i a place of 300 mud
houses on the west
bank, with gome brick houses occupied by merchants, and
a telegraph office. A certain extent of' the country round
is usually under wheat and barley. Steamers only stop when
they have cargo or passengers.
The river is 300 to 350 yards wide and the banks slightly
increase in height. At 'Ali-al-Gharbi the river makes a wide
eastern bend, and approaches to within 30 miles of the Pusht-
i-Kuh range, on the Persian Frontier,