'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎36r] (76/862)

DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND
37
which are clear-cut to Abu Sukhair and Shamiya, though much
water is already drawn from the eastern channel above Shamiya (fig.
8). Below these two villages the banks are low, the water is dissipated
into marshland, and in the flood season the land between the two
channels and on either side for about 25 miles southwards is under
water. But in the low-water months the marsh drains out into sepa
rate expanses of flood water, each with a different name, 1 and the
drainage channels to Shinafiya and Samawa become distinct.
In the first reach below the barrage, Hindiya or Tuwairij is built
mostly on the right bank, at the point where the road between Hilla
and Karbala crosses the river. Flood marsh begins on the east bank
about 10 miles to the south. Between Hindiya and Kill the river
reaches a width of 200 yards. Perennial creeks enclose Kill on three
sides, but in flood time the village is surrounded by water and can
only be reached by a winding embankment, its solitary minaret
affording a landmark. Of the two channels below Kill, the eastern, or
Shatt ash Shamiya, carries the most water; it varies between 50 and
150 yards wide. The western or Kufa channel passes close to Najaf.
The marshes are much overgrown with reeds, but the land is under
rice cultivation wherever possible.
The marshes are mostly drained by three main channels into a
single bed at Shinafiya, but about 10 miles lower down two new
courses are formed, the Shatt as Sabil (or Daghfaliya) and the Shatt
al Atshan, which unite about 5 miles above Samawa. As this town is
approached the river is enclosed by date plantations.
The old eastern bed of the river from the Hindiya barrage past
Babylon, Hilla, Diwaniya, and Rumaitha is now occupied by the
controlled Hilla canal. The banks are fairly high and well maintained,
and the land on either side is comparatively well drained and affords
a good route for roads and railways. About 20 miles above Diwaniya
the Daghghara barrage controls water in an intricate network of
small inundation canals in the eastern Diwaniya district (much of
which is given over to rice cultivation), but the Hilla canal continues
as a perennial stream below Diwaniya, its waters being gradually
dissipated by irrigation. Only a very small proportion of the volume
taken by this canal at the Hindiya barrage finds its way back by small
creeks into the main channel of the Euphrates below Samawa.
The history of this section is of great interest to engineers, for it
illustrates several fundamental principles of river drainage and erosion
1 The name Bahr Najaf is now restricted to the comparatively small expanse of
marsh west of the town of Najaf.