"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد II. ١٩١٧" [‎٣‎٣‎٤] (٥٤٢/٣٤٣)

834
LAND ROUTES
Appendix
Notes on the Shatt el-Hai (Fords, etc.) in July-Dec., 1916
The Shatt el-Hai was fordable on July 16, 1916, and practically
dry on September 5. Water had begun to flow again on November 15;
oji November 19 it had reached a point about 15 m. below Kut el-
Amara, and on November 25 there was continuous water in it from
Kut el-Amara to a point about 8 m. S. of Kut el-Hai. On
November 28, owing to a fall in the Tigris, there was apparently
no longer any flow down the Shatt.
In August the Shatt was easily fordable between Abu Maliau and
Karadi (see under m. 39 above); it had been unfordable at Karadi
in June. In August it was almost dry at various points between
4 and 10 m. above Kut el-Hai (m. 95 above), while towards the
end of November it was 6-10 yds. wide 1—3 m. N. of that town.
At the beginning of July Kumiyeli ford jm. 107 above) was
passable. In August there was a ford at Zinabiyeli, the Shatt being
almost dry, and early in December, again, there were two dry
reaches, each 1 m. long, down-stream of this point. At ISuwe-ia,
apparently in this neighbourhood (14 m. below Kut el-Amara), the
stream was 5 yds. wide towards the end of November: the ground
here looked bad for heavy wheeled transport or guns, though the
approaches to the river-bed seemed good. In the neighbourhood of
Basrugiyeh and the UTalur Gizan (m. 114 above) the Shatt, almost
dry in August, was dry over a stretch of 100 yds. again in early
December, showing that the level of this ford is higher than that of
any other between Kut el-Amara and' Zinabiyeh. 5 m. above Bas
rugiyeh, and about 4-|- m. below the head of the Shatt el-Hai, there
is a ford at Bessouia.
EOUTES 19 b (i-viii)
THE TIGRIS—SHATT EL-HAI
Authorities : —Force ' D ' Route Reports, Serial no. 8, May 1916 : Additions and
Corrections, September 1916.
It appears that in the flood season there is no practicable la,nd-
route between the Tigris and the Shatt el-Hai. From the neigh
bourhood of Sheikh Sa'ad downwards there is, in the h. w. season,
a continuous belt of flood-water several miles wide- That part of the
marsh which stretches from the neighbourhood of Hirdabeh on the