'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎14v] (33/862)

2 INTRODUCTION
tribesmen in their seasonal migrations, and it is impassable over long
stretches, particularly in winter.
The boundary with Persia is that which was agreed between
Turkey and Persia in the Treaty of Erzurum in 1847, demarcated
by a Boundary Commission in 1913-1914, and reaffirmed by an
agreement between Iraq and Persia in June 1937 * ^ f°H 0WS a general
south-south-easterly direction along high watersheds, rarely passable,
and broken only once by a tributary of the Little Zab until that river
enters Iraq from Persia. It then follows this river and the Baneh
tributary eastwards for about 18 miles, and by an irregular course
encloses within Iraq territory the upper basin of the Qala Chulan
tributary of the Little Zab, and the northern tributaries of the Diyala.
The Diyala is reached at a defile 12 miles east of Halabja, and the
boundary then keeps roughly parallel to it, following the crests of
foothills to the east of it and crossing its left-bank tributaries at right
angles. At the Ab-i-Naft, 17 miles to the south of Khanaqin, the
boundary changes its character. For some 200 miles it follows the
southern edge of Persian Luristan, often bordering the Iraq plain.
The boundary between Iraq and Persian Arabistan is arbitrary,
drawn to leave the marshes on the left bank of the Tigris to Iraq and
the Hawiza grazing-grounds bordering the Karkheh river to Persia.
The Shatt al Arab is reached at Saiyid Raqir, and thence the boundary
follows the low-water line on the north bank to the mouth, but
leaving the anchorage opposite Mohammerah to Persia. The frontier
with Persia is formidable. Only one easy route crosses it, that by the
Diyala, Khanaqin, Qasr-i-Shirin, and the Tak-i-Gireh pass to
Kermanshah. Farther north two difficult roads lead through
Penjwin to Hamadan and through Ruwandiz to Urmia. Elsewhere
even mountain tracks are rare. South of the mountain zone passage
of the frontier is hindered by vast expanses of soft desert and marsh,
but the waterway of the Karun gives easy access.
The southern and western frontiers differ entirely from the fore
going. There are no obstacles save those of desert conditions, and
generally the boundaries are arbitrary lines drawn for administrative
convenience. That with Kuwait, which was accepted by the British
Government in April 1923, alone makes some use of natural features.
From the junction of the Khors Zubair and Abdulla on the coast it
goes west to the Batin depression and follows this south to its
tributary, the Shaib Auja. The boundary with Saudi Arabia was
defined by the Treaty of Mohammerah and a subsequent protocol
in 1922, but has not been demarcated. West of the mouth of the