'DIARY OF A TOUR IN THE PERSIAN GULF AND IN TURKISH ARABIA, DECEMBER, 1906 (WITH MAP)' [‎13r] (25/106)

19
Grazing.
There is grazing for catt e on both
banks of the river above and below the
town. Beyond the strip of cultivation
along the river the country is a desert.
Coal.
Garrison.
* It is quite possible, however, that judicious
treatment could easily succeed in turning the
local Arab against the much-hated Turk.
W. M.
Camping-grounds.
Voyage up the Tigris.
Kurna.
Coal is stored in small quantities by
Lynch & Co. and Gray, Mackenzie & Co.
Probably about 600 to 800 tons altogether,
fhe wood of the date palm is used for
firewood. This is plentiful and cheap.
Price about 3 annas a maund.
Two battalions and 1 battery. Six guns
were seen which looked like Krupp 12-
pounders. There is one gunboat mounting
four small guns permanently at Basra.
There are no defences and a landing could
easily be covered from ships in the river.
The country is quite flat and liable to
inundation. In May it is possible to go
to Zobeir from Basra in small boats. In
addition to the regular garrison a large
number of Arabs could be collected to
resist a landing* No information available
to form an estimate, but the Arab tribes
in the neighbourhood are all well armed
with Martini and Mauser rifles. These are
smuggled overland from Koweit.
Turkish troops are often camped on the
side of the town furthest from the river
where the Zobeir track leaves the town.
This is above flood level. It would be two
miles away from the river water-supply,
but water could be obtained from an
adi acent creek. The size of this ground is
not known. There is room for a brigade
to camp behind the Naval hospital on
the left bank opposite the Consulate.
This is only 500 yards from the river.
Behind this again about 400 yards further
away from the river the space is unlimited.
Half a battalion could be camped at the
Customs House and there is room tor
another half battalion on the opposite side
of the Ashar Creek in the arsenal grounds.
We left Basra in the good ship
a flat-bottomed paddle boat, on Saturday,
the 15th December, about as wretched a
day as I remember for some time past
There was a leaden sky, a biting north
wind, and it rained cats and dogs. In
tact, it might have been England . Slow y
we steamed away up stream, tf 16 r''”
being of a very similar character to what
it is below Basra. At 10 p.m. we reached
Kurna, the pi ace where the Euphrates and
Tigris join and one of the reputed sites of
the Paradise of Adam and Eve. It is hardly
one’s ideal of the Gardenof Eden,
as it is a strip of sandy desert with a
fringe of palm trees along the banks of the
rivers and bounded some way to the
north’ by marshes which extend for 50