'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎40r] (84/862)

description of the land 43
season, when it is occasionally fordable at certain points, though
guides are necessary. 1 o r . u
At Qala Sharqat the Tigris in September is at about 482 feet above
sea-level, having fallen over 500 feet from the Turkish boundary.
The ruin mound of Qala Sharqat rises steeply to a height ot 150 teet
and marks the site of Ashur, the ancient capital of Assyria (p. 213).
Qala Sharqat to Tikrit (direct distance 64 miles; by river 78 miles)
At Qala Sharqat the Tigris meets the last barrier across its course
before entering its delta. This is the Jabal Hamrin, whose two paralle
components west of the river, the Jabal Khanuqa (1,272 ft.) and Jaba
Mak-hul (1,616 ft.), are separated by a deep valley only 650 feet above
sea-level The Tigris flows close to their north-eastern foot, gradually
biting into the rocks, and there is little room for a road. Open steppe
country stretches away to the north-east, and there are the ruin
mounds of a number of small towns on the left bank between Qa a
Sharqat and the Fat-ha gorge. About half-way between these two
places the Little Zab enters on the left bank. Known to the Abbasi s
as the Majnun, ‘the mad river’, because of its impetuous flood-
currents, it drains a mountain basin of about 5 , 75 ° square miles
(P At Altun Kopru the average discharge of the Little Zab in Sep
tember is calculated at 1,340 cubic feet (38 cu.m.) per second, an in
March at i 6 , I4 o cubic feet (457 cu.m.). The maximum is reached
nearly a month earlier than that of the Great Zab because the moun
tains in its basin are lower and the snow therefore melts earlier,
moreover, it is from its January characteristics that it earned
Abbasid name, for it is much affected by rain
About 16 miles below the junction of the Little Zab 8
breaks through the Jabal Hamrin at the Fat-ha gorge. Here the
Iraq Petroleum Company’s pipe-line crosses the rive The hdb
rise steeply on either side of the river, but the river just above the
gorge is as much as 400 yards wide. It cuts its P assa S e s ™ th 7 “ t ;
wards, at right angles to the strike of the hills, and immediately after
wards near Baiji bends south-east and breaks up into a number o
channels, enclosing bush-covered islands, a characteristic which con
tinues to Tikrit. Baiji was of no importance until it became for a few
years the terminus of the Iraqi railways.
1 The river wa s forded by General R. A. Cassel’s Cavalry Brigade in October
1918 at Hadhraniya, about 14 miles above Qala Sharqat, thoug a ew men
animals were lost (p. 285).