'Field Notes on Lower Mesopotamia' [‎11v] (29/112)

8
es, by which local Arabs, on foot and lightly
equipped, could find their way down to
Basiah, unaccompanied by transport and
impediments.
The Shatt-el-Arab.
General .-The Shatt-el-Arab is the river formed
by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates above
Basrah, and flowing into the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. at its
north-western extremity.
From the mouth to a point about two miles
above Muhammareh it forms the Turco-Persian
boundary, though the waterway is Turkish.
It is a fine liver, IJ miles v ide at the mouth, and
navigable as far as Basrah by any vessels that can
cross the bar at the entrance (22 feet draught). The
l0W 0n both sides of the entrance,
but differs much in appearance, that on the west
ern or Turkish side being fertile and thickly cover
ed with date trees, that on the Persian side beum
on the other hand comparatively bare and barren
tor several miles up the river.
There are two channels leading into the river
entrance, the eastern or Khor-el-Amaya, and the
western Khor-el-Kafka. The latter is the principal
c annel, and is the one used by steam vessels;
), 1 ' uri3 in between two large banks and across broad
fiats, which form the bar.
There is an available depth at low tide of 13 feet
and vessels drawing 21 and 22 feet can enter at
high tide. The report does not distinguish between