'Military Report on Mesopotamia (Iraq)' [‎9v] (23/226)

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Area. The area of Northern Jazirah is estimated
approximately at 19,480 square miles.
General Description.—Northern Jazirah within the
above boundaries consists of rolling steppes broken by tw T o
main mountain ranges—Jabal Abd al Aziz and Jabal
Sinjar and diversified by occasional ranges of low hills
and sporadic mounds. These latter, varying in height
and dimensions, are the most characteristic feature of the
surface. From the south it continues the Iraq basin
northward to the Kurdish hills, which rise from the
Jazirah in a clearly-defined geographical line.
The district is drained by streams, the majority of
which flow from north to south and form tributaries of
the tw r o great rivers, and which disappear in the desert,
or swell the saline waters of numerous large lakes in the
Jazirah. During the summer many of the lesser streams
dry up and water is only obtainable from wells, water-
holes and stagnant pools. The soil, though rich and
cultivable, only produces a minute fraction of what it is
capable, owing to the marauding habits of desert nomads.
In the winter season it provides unlimited grazing for
flocks.
Altitude .—The mean altitude of Northern Jazirah,
exclusive of the Jabal Sinjar, which rises to 4,700 feet in
height, is 900 feet M.S.L.
Mountains.- —There are only two ranges of any
significance in Northern Jazirah—the Jabal Sinjar and
Jabal Abd al Aziz. The former rises at Eski Mosul on
the Tigris as a low range, the Jabal Shevket, skirts the
Tel Afar-Mosul plain, and, 20 miles w^est of Tel Afar,
climbs abruptly to its main mountain mass, which
reaches a height of 4,700 feet and drops gradually to the
Khabur River. The Jabal Sinjar proper, i.e., from 20
miles west of Tel Afar to Samokho at its western
extremity, forms a barrier to wheel communications,
which are forced to use either the so-called Hogena Gate,
16 miles north-east of Tel Afar, or the western gate
between Samokho and the Khabur. The southern and
northern foothills of the Jabal Sinjar are plentifully
supplied with water, and support a settled Yezidi popu
lation, which cultivates figs and vines on the hillsides
and cereals in the Sinjar plain.
The Jabal Abd al Aziz, striking east to west, extends
from the Khabur River to the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hama. It attains
no great altitude and, unlike the Jabal Sinjar,