'Report on the Development of Mesopotamia with Special Reference to the Regeneration of the River Systems' [‎17] (23/50)

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River Euphrates.
(36) I have not the necessary data to express any opinion as to the works to
be executed on the Euphrates between Hit and Nasiriyah, but from Nasiriyah
downwards my proposals are as follows :—
At present, the whole of the water from the Euphrates 'plus the spill from
the Tigris down the Hai and other canals finds its way to Garmat Ali, and Sir
William Willcocks proposes to continue this arrangement so far as the Euphrates
water is concerned, but to construct a bund from the right bank of the old
Euphrates channel at Kurnah to the left bank of the Euphrates at Suk-esh-
Sheyukh and so arrange a passage for the spill waters of the Tigris down the
old channel to Kurnah,
I have examined the Euphrates delta from Garmat Ali to Nasiriyah, and
am unable to see the advantage of these proposals. There seems no sound
xeason for adhering to what is known as the new Euphrates channel, which is
really no channel at all but a vast shallow lake with no more claim to permanency
than the old channel The river could, of course, be made to adhere to this align
ment, but it would always be unsatisfactory, and would make the marshes
which mark its course a permanent feature of the landscape.
(37) The scheme 1 recommend is the re-establishment of the Euphrates in its
old channel via Suk-esh-Sheyukh, Mezlik, Ghabaish and Kurnah (as indicated
on the plan accompanying this report), the closing of the Hakika channel by a
permanent bund and the retention of the Tigris spill in its own bed. A certain
.amount has been done in this direction, as a military work, to form a low-water
channel to Nasiriyah ; and, until recently, three powerful dredgers were at work
cutting a channel between Chabaish and Mezlik, but I am informed the work has
been abandoned owing to a change in the military situation.
The closing of the Hakika channel is a work requiring considerable engineering
skill, and every year it will be increasingly difficult to accomplish.
Effect of works.
(38) The regeneration of the rivers will result in their undertaking their normal
functions as the main drainage channels of the country, and the elimination to a
great extent of the swamps which might then be planted with trees, but it must not
be overlooked that Whatever action is taken in respect to the rivers will be felt at tne
mouth of the Shatt-el-Arab. The draining of the swamps will mean that the silt
hitherto deposited there will be carried down the river and tend to the more rapid
extension of the delta seawards, and possibly an increase of dredging on the Outer
Bar : whilst, on the other hand, the utilization of the low-water supply of the Tigris
and Euphrates for irrigation will mean an increased volume of salt water coming up
the Shatt-el-Arab.
[g) AGRICULTURE.
(39) The Mesopotamian Trade Commission have given in their report a general
description of the agricultural resources of the country, and I endorse their remarks
that all schemes for the agricultural development of Mesopotamia are conditional
on, and limited by, the capacity^ character and temperament of the inhabitants.
There is little doubt that with irrigation and population, cotton, jute, wheat,
barley, rice, fruits and vegetables can be grown in immense quantities; but existing
systems of agriculture will have to be swept away, and with a people so conservative
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