"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد I. ١٩١٨" [‎٢‎٥‎٤] (٥٦٨/٢٦٣)

254 COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORT
I. Routes from Anatolia entering
of the Euph
(а) The line of the Baghdad Railway. Haidar Pasha—Baghdad,
about 1,520 miles. The railway had not been completed at the
beginning of 1918.
(i) Haidar Pasha—Jer alius via Konia and Aleppo, 950 miles.
Baghdad Railway. At the end of 1917 the tunnels in the Taurus
south of Kara Punar (645 miles from Haidar Pasha) were apparently
not yet pierced for standard gauge, but a narrow-gauge line was
working here. There was a motor-road across the gap in the
standard-gauge line (Kara Punar—Geldek ?).
(ii) Jerablus—Nisibin ; by railway, about 200 miles.
(iii) Nisibin— Samarra via Mosul; by road, passable for motors,
about 300 miles (for railway N. of Samarra see p. 263) ; or by river
from Mosul, see p. 287.
(iv) Samarra— Baghdad ;by railway, about 74 miles.
(б) By the Baghdad Railway and the Euphrates valley.
(i) By railway to Jerablus, and thence by river to Pellujeh
(Jerablus—Pellujeh, 650 miles, 12-45 days by shakhtur; compare
pp. 251, 286).
(ii) By railway to Aleppo and thence by road Meskeneh and
the Euphrates valley to Pellujeh (Aleppo—Baghdad, 527 miles;
compare pp. 251, 286).
(c) Ad ana—Jerablus or Meskeneh, by road. There may be now
communication for wheeled traffic between Adana and Killis or
Aleppo via the Hasan Beyli Pass in the Amanus. From Killis to
Jerablus there was before the war a pack-road that could easily have
been made passable for wheels ; and from Aleppo to Meskeneh there
is a motor-road.
[Before the war there was a road from Adana to Birijik the
Baghcheh Pass in the Amanus and c Aintab (about 170 miles). It was
not passable for wheels in the Amanus.]
(d)From the direction of Malatia there appears to be a moderately
easy way across the Taurus by Pelvereh and the valley of the Aq Su.
This is followed by the route from Malatia to Mar'ash (before the war
a half-completed chaussee) and to 'Aintab Belveren or Mar'ash),
Killis, and Aleppo ; from which places the Euphrates is easily acces
sible by roads which either are passable for wheels or could easily be
made so (e. g. Mar'ash—Samsat (Euphrates ferry) —Urfeh ; 'Aintab—
Birijik; 'Aintab—Jerablus; Killis—Jerablus; Aleppo—Meskeneh).
[From Albistan to Mar'ash, and from Malatia to Adiaman (in the