"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد II. ١٩١٧" [‎١‎٥‎٠] (٥٤٢/١٥٩)

150
KIVER ROUTES
flood season the Shatt el-Khar is continuous from Diwaniyeh to the
Butnijeh Lake N. of Nasirlyeh, but it is clammed about 2 days'
journey from Diwaniyeh by the bund called Sagban. Over this
no craft can be taken, and the water E. of it for 10 miles is shallow
even in the wet season, and navigable then only for up to
l^r tons ; in the l.w. season it is dry. After these 10 miles the
channel deepens and it is always possible to reach the Butnijeh Lake
by water. In the neighbourhood of Diwaniyeh this canal is
apparently known as the Nahr Yusuflyeh. Above Diwaniyeh the
Shatt Dfghareh takes off water to the SE. into the Khor 'Afej,
and forms what is apparently still a fertile region of cultivation
and villages^ SE. of the khor some of its water reaches the
Shatt el-Khar. Above Hilla lies the district between Euphrates
and Tigris, which was in ancient times fertilized by the system
of canals (see vol. i, pp. 112 seqq. ), of which the lowest, the Sliatt
en -Nil, runs E. from the ruins of Babylon to the neighbour
hood of Kut el-Amara. W. of the Hilla Branch the country
stretches away to the marshy ground of the great which
lie along the Hindiyeh Branch, but there is always, even in the
nanow est part, a considerable margin of ground comparatively
free from flood. The Hilla Branch thus runs through country
which with proper regulation of the water-supply ought to be, as
apparently the greater part of it was until recent years, both fertile
and populous. But the drying up of the river has done immense
harm, and before the building of the 1914 barrage the condition of
the country was becoming more and more desperate. Up to the
Shatt Dighareh there was apparently little cultivation except
occasional patches of arable land and the date-groves round Rumei-
theh and Diwaniyeh. The shatt itself watered a comparatively
fertile area, but was an additional danger to the Hilla Branch, as
it carried off much of the little water which came down it. Above
the shatt there seems to have been at one time an almost continuous
stretch of date plantations with populous villages right up to Hilla —
a any rate on the 1. bank but the limit of these has been gradually
rece mg until it is doubtful now whether it stretches much more
than 10 m. below Hilla. The existence of the barrage and
legu ator should restore prosperity to the country on the Hilla
tfranch. But an efficient scheme of control is needed for the
irrigation. Under existing circumstances this cannot be expected,
and the gradual decay and waste of irrigation works is certain, unless
a new regime takes the place of the old at an early date.
'Land Communications. —See Land
The main TL. (Basra Hilla—Baghdad) runs from Samaweh