'Field notes. Mesopotamia' [‎62r] (128/230)

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The following were the nahiyahs of the Basrah qadha :—
Basrah town.
Zubair town.
Harthah (north of Basrah).
’Abdul Khasib (Basrah to Za’n).
Shatt-al-’Arab (left bank of the Shatt-al-’Arab to Persian
territory).
The Fao q/idh r i was small, and was believed not to be sub
divided into nahiyahs.
At Basrah His Majesty’s Government was represented by
a Consul and at Baghdad by a Consul-General, who was also
Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. .
’ARABISTAN.
Persian territory met the Shatt-al-’Arab nahiyah of the
Basrah qadha on the left bank of the river Shatt-al-’Arab.
This part of the Turco-Persian border was demarcated
early in 1914, and the boundary follows the Shatt-al-’Arab as
far as the upper entrance of the Di'aiji creek, 61- miles by river
above the mouth of the Karun, the island of Umm-ul-Khasif
and Shamshamiyah being upon the Turkish side, and thence
leaves the bank of the river Shatt-al-’Arab in a north-westerly
direction towards Hawizeh.
The whole province of ’Arabistan is nominally under the
Persian Government. The seat of Government is Shushtar, but
of late years, the Governor-Generals have spent most of their
time at Dizful, owing to their unpopularity at Shushtar, where
there is great rivalry between the Shaikh and the Bakhtiaris
with regard to predominance. The Shaikh of Muhammareh is
almost independent of the Persian Governor-General at Shushtar,
and controls all the Arab tribes of ’Arabistan. The districts of
Fallahiyeh, darrahi, Ma’shur, and Hindiyan are under tribal
chieftains, who are also responsible to the Shaikh for good gov
ernment.
Ahwaz is managed through a Deputy Governor with head
quarters at Bandar Nasiri. He only acts under the Shaikh’s
orders, and has but little power.
Muhammareh is managed through the Naib-ul-Hukumah,
who is practically the head of the police. In most matters
S 212 (W)GSB