'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎60r] (124/862)

DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND 75
intermittently by springs in the hills, but the water from these is
invariably brackish. The crest rises steeply some 300 feet above the
foothills (p. 82).
There are few landmarks or other features in the desert, and still
fewer permanent settlements. Between the Adhaim and the irrigated
belt of the Diyala, the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. al Ubaitar, an old course of the Shatt al
Adhaim, forms a depression with 10-foot banks in places. West of the
Adhaim is a region with low sandhills—some of them 100 feet high
and beyond them an expanse of shallow brackish water, the Shari
Lake, which is fed by the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Abdul Aswad and the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Asam.
These are reported to be perennial, but they cannot carry much water
since the lake mostly dries up during the summer. Between the Tigris
opposite Tikrit and the Jabal Hamrin the desert has a hard smooth
surface and is easily passable in all directions. Gypsum is a common
component of the soil. There are a number of wells, but all contain
brackish water or are dry.
Near the Tigris the most prominent feature is the ancient Nahrwan
canal with its banks still standing from 15 to 30 feet above the plain.
Between hand the river are the ruins of Abbasid Samarra (photo. 121).
To the north of its Sassanid head below Daur there are the embank
ments of other ancient canals, the Nahr al Atiq and the Nahr Hadid,
the former of which drew water from the Tigris almost opposite
Baiji. None of these have carried water for many centuries.
Upper Mesopotamia
The boundary between Upper and Lower Mesopotamia for pur
poses of description can only be arbitrary. It has seemed convenient
to describe the country on the left bank of the Tigris as far north as
the Jabal Hamrin with Lower Mesopotamia. It is equally convenient
to include in Upper Mesopotamia the whole plateau between the
Tigris and Euphrates as far south as the low ground near Baghdad,
although this takes in the delta on the right bank of the Tigris
between Qadisiya and Baghdad. The difficulty partly arises from the
use of the terms Mesopotamia, Jazira, and Iraq at different periods of
history. 1 Upper Mesopotamia is divided by the Tigris into the Jazira
of Iraq and the Assyrian plains and foothills.
(a) The Jazira of Iraq (fig. 22)
The Jazira of Iraq is the south-eastern part of the great region
between the Tigris and Euphrates south of the southern foothill
1 Introduction, pp. 4, 5 -