'Field notes: Mesopotamia. General Staff, India. February, 1917.' [‎61r] (128/350)

113
the Persian
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but is not
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oe supple-
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carts can
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ir, Umm
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oute leads
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it bank of
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riyer bank
Few supplies are obtainable, except from Bedouins. An
easy track, with khans at intervals, leads from Baghdad along
the left bank to Samarra, a Persian place of pilgrimage.
There is an important route to the north-east leading into
Persia by Khaniqin and the Tak-i-Girreh pass up to Kirman-
shah. ,
There is a well-used caravan route from ’Amarah and Kut-
al-Amarah, generally following the left bank of the Tigris, and
crossing the Diyalah by a bridge of boats near its junction
with main stream. An important route, along which a rough
kind of diligence plies, leads from Baghdad to the celebrated
shrines of Karbala and Najaf, and another to Hillah and Diwa-
niyah.
From Baghdad westward along the Euphrates to Damascus-
and Aleppo the route crosses the plain towards a bridge at
Fallujah over the Euphi'ates.
For river navigation see Chapter VI. Page 95, et seq.
For details of Routes see end of this chanter. Pages 121—
122 .
’Arabistcm.
The principal means of communication is by the Karun
river.
Troops moving up the Karun by land from Muhammareh
would follow the right bank until the marshes on the left bank'
in the Muhammmareh district were left behind. The tracks to
Fallahiyeh are practicabie for transport animals.
Karun Kiver .—The largest river of Persia and the only one
navigable by steamers. It has its rise in the mountains of
the Bakhtiyari country about 100 miles due west of Isfahan
and enters the plains of ’Arabistan some 15‘ or 20 miles north of
Shushtar Town. The name Karun appears to have been
unknown to the Arab and Persian geographers of the middle
ages, who called the river the Dujail, adding the epithet ‘‘ of
Ahwaz ” or “ of Shushtar” to distinguish it from the Pii]ail
canal near Baghdad.
Upper course .—Not far below its exit from the hills, which
takes place by a defile 3 miles in length known as Tang-i-Qal’eb-
i-Dukhtaran, the Karun passes the village of Gotwand on its
right bank, here there is, upon that side, a fertile alluvial
plain sloping down slightly from the west, and opposite to it