"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد II. ١٩١٧" [‎١‎٢‎٦] (٥٤٢/١٣٥)

126
RIVER ROUTES
r
Eight Bank
flood season. It is therefore difficult to estimate the size
or to define the boundaries of the lake, but it may be said
roughly that it is about 6 m. broad from N. to S., and
12 m. long from E. to W. On its northern and southern
sides are belts of island-villages. Northward from the
northern islands is a shallow inundation area, southward of
the southern are marsh and thick reed-beds dividing the
Hammar Lake from the open water of the New Channel.
On the N. the Hammar Lake is fed by the two great canals
known as the Majarr el-Kebir and Majarr es-Saghir,
which run from the r. bank of the Tigris between Qal'at
Salih and Amara. On the NW. it is entered by the Nahr
el-Beidha and the Ualu? Hamzeh., which run from the
Shatt el-Hai, the former from a point a few miles N. of
Shatreh, the latter from about half-way between Shatreh
and Nasirlyeh. For the navigation of the Beidha and Hamzeh
see J\out6\,The Old Channel of the Euphrates enters the
Hammar Lake on the W., and crosses it in a broad curve
to N., leaving it at a point SE. of Beni Huteit.
The Hammar Lake is fed by the Old Channel of the
Euphrates (called Haqiqeh), by the canals above mentioned,
and by other channels on the W. and N., and is drained
partly by the old bed of the river already described, and
partly also by the channels running SW. and SSW. to the
open water through which the new main channel of the
Euphrates runs to Grurmat 'All.
In October 1916 it was intended to survey the Hammar
Channel. See further Appendix C.
All the villages to S. of the lake are marked by palm-
groves, and appear as islands in the midst of swamp or open
water. Their names, order, and relative positions are very
differently given in various recent maps.
Many kinds of wild-fowl abound in the lake, including
coot, mallard, widgeon, and pochard.
In the spring of 1915 the following was given as the
description of the course of the channel through the lake.
The general direction of the channel was first NW. and
then and ^VSW. From the point where the river first
broadens into the lake the channel was at first some 200
yds. wide, and was marked on either side by reeds, those
Total
distance
Miles