'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎124v] (253/470)

230
Administrative Report for Hit District for the Year 1918.
1. Political and Tribal. —On our occupation of Hit in March the town was
found to be dirtier even than most towns in the province of Iraq, and provided
a parallel in this respect to the town of Mosul, which fell months later. Cultivation
had almost completely ceased, land lay fallow, and trade was at a standstill. This
was due more to the ravages of the Turkish soldiery as they passed through,
than to the conditions brought about by war. What had once been a flourishing
industrial town and the centre of important trades, became a city of the dead,
and what had been before a district producing such valuable fruit as apricots,
peaches, apples, and pears, was found on our entry to be a barren, untilled region
in which little was produced beyond wheat, barley, and rice in small quantities.
There is little tribal work to be done in the area. The Albu Nimr inhabit the
left bank of the Euphrates river (the so-called “ Jazirah ”). Nijris al Qa‘ud of this
tribe has given some trouble by paying periodical visits into the district and organising
looting parties. But after obstinately refusing to come in for several months, though
the defeat of the Turks was obvious, he has at length surrendered and is now with
the Political Officer at ‘Anab. His future area of overlordship is in course of
settlement.
2. Revenue : (a) Land Revenue .—This has come in fairly well, and no
particular dissatisfaction has been felt.
(b) Tapu .—The tapu situation has not yet been investigated in Hit district.
(c) Waqf .—One house and ten shops are owned and five pieces of land which
are ‘uqr. There is one garden ‘(Mulhaqah Auqaf), but no agricultural land. The
revenue is small and not sufficient even to meet the salaries of the Waqf establishment,
though the shop rentals were increased in September.
3. Irrigation.— The whole of the cultivation is irrigated in the district by
lift. Waterwheels (na‘urs), which first appear at Hit, are here built at intervals
of from 500 to 600 yards along the bank. Several, however, are out of action,
chiefly owing to the lack of wood, and if oil engines are not soon available steps
should be taken to repair these. The cost of construction of a waterwdieel is about
Rs. 400/-, though in Turkish times the cost was as low T as Rs. 150/-.
Where wood is scarce there is, therefore, a considerable initial outlay and the
efficiency of the waterwheel is not such as entirely to justify the expenditure.
Some of the cultivators are specially keen on the introduction of the oil engine, and
any hesitation there is in coming forward with demands is attributable in part
to the uncertainty as to who will look after them when once they have been installed.
But supervision should not be difficult, since one engineer could keep an eye on a
large number.
The Euphrates is navigable for anything larger than shahturs only up to Hit,
though Turkish launches have gone up higher. When the river is in flood, navigation
is difficult and uncertain even up to Hit, owing to the presence of the weirs which
lead the water to the waterwheels, and information has been received that shahturs
cannot proceed beyond Hadithah when the river is at its highest; but this is no doubt
without foundation, for the draught of a shahtur is only about 22 inches when laden
and 6 inches when empty.
4. Agricultural.— The cultivation in the district consists of a series of narrow
strips lining the river bank up-stream as far as Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. MiTaliyah and down-stream as
far as Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Muhammadi and Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Suwaib. These strips vary from 10 yards to
600 or 700. With the introduction of the oil engine and its greater power these
should broaden out, and the area fit for cultivation should increase.
The soil is not exceptionally good, though it appears pre-eminently suited to
such fruits as the apricot, pear, apple, orange, bitter lime, citron, grape, fig and plum.
Before the war these grew in abundance, but the trees were ruthlessly cut down
and the wood used as fuel by the Turks, as they passed through. Hence little of
this fruit is now produced. But the cultivators are particularly keen on obtaining
cuttings or slips with a view to their re-introduction and this desire is in every way
to be encouraged. A letter on the subject has already been despatched to the