'Field notes: Mesopotamia. General Staff, India. February, 1917.' [‎95r] (196/350)

Route No. IQ—contd.
River. The inhabitants are Bani Turuf. There is a good
camping ground on rising sandy soil one mile from the river.
Unhusked rice and rice straw are usually available, but no other
grain. Water from the Khor.
4 BISAITIN . . . 18.—General direction of
stage N.W. The track
52 continues parallel to
the Karkheh River, but at a distance of three miles from it
(avoiding the marsh which extends along the right bank of the
river) and is good hard going at all seasons. At mile 5 the
village of Khanizeh is passed on the left at a distance of over
three miles; this village is unapproachable from the north.
Basaitin is a Bani Turf village of some 450 huts scattered
over a large area on the left bank of the Karkheh River. There
is a good camping ground one mile north of the village with
plenty of brushwood in the vicinity. The grazing is poor.
Water from “ Khor.”
5 THAILAH (or SAIL AH) 11.—General direction of
stage N.W. for the first
63 eight miles, then W.
The going is poor, the ground being pitted with rat holes and
sandy which makes it necessary for wheeled transport to
select its route with care, additional obstacles in the shape
of sand hills being met with at miles 2% and 5. There is no
village at Thailah. The water is from the Khor, which is
brackish and salt to the taste and produces a feeling of
nausea, loss of appetite and energy, and diarrhoea. The
camel and horse grazing is poor. Sufficient low scrub is
available for fuel and slightly better fuel can be got from the
sand hills a mile from camp. Ground infested with mosquK
toes.
Umm Chir is on the Turko-Persian border.
5 MAZLAK . . . 12.—General direction of
stage, west for the first
75 five miles through
Umm Chir then south-west. Going is flat and good, the only
obstructions being five small watercourses, 6 to 10 feet wide,
easily made passable for guns and transport in a few minutes by
small working parties. There is no village at Mazlak. The'