"دليل الجزيرة العربية المجلد II" [‎١‎٢‎٤‎١] (٦٨٨/٢٩٠)

BflHHflHHHHHHRHHHHflHHHSHRHHHHRHHHHBHHBHHI
iihhhhhhhhhhhhhbhhhbhih
Oir
MOSUL 1241
centre for European goods imported through Aleppo, and for Indian goods which come
through Baghdad ; and to it are brought for re-export the abundant raw products and
the textile fabrics of Kurdistan and N.-W. Persia.
The following statistics (giving value in £ sterling) for 1012 show that before the war
trade was still on a fairly extensive scale:
United Kingdom ..
India
Other foreign countries
Other parts of Turkey
Total
Imports.
Exports.
£
£
51,000
163,000
41,000
22,000
56,000
53,000
148,000
238,000
30,000
188,000
178,000
426,000
Grand Total
The chief articles of import were cotton piece-goods and yarn, and the demand was
increasing in spite of the superior durability of locally woven articles. Iron and
copper were always in large demand, Swedish iron being much used. From France
came tanned leather and cigarette papers, from Austria broadcloths, from India cotton
goods, coffee, and gunnies, from Persia carpets. Petroleum was also imported. The
imports from other parts of Turkey included piece-goods, soap (from Aleppo), dates
(from Baghdad), dried fruits, peas, and nuts. The main exports to other countries
were wool, hides and skins, boots and shoes ; and to other parts of Turkey wheat, sheep
and cattle, galls, hides, and fruits. In favourable seasons exports of wheat were on
a very large scale ; in 1908 their value amounted to £ 200,000.
There is a large local production of flour, the number of mills being not less than 200,
and there is a good opening for the introduction of western methods of milling.
About 40 miles from Mosul, near the bank of the Tigris, are the Kaiyara naphtha
springs' which yield a thick black product. In 1908 the right of exploitation was
leased to a native of Arbil, who sold the refined product at his own village at 9 to 15
piastres for 4 gallons.
Inhabitants. —Fully three quarters of the peopic are Muhammadans, and practically
all of these are Sunnis. The Mosulis are a race of mixed origin, their language being
Arabic. They have a bad reputation for turbulence, cruelty, and viciousness. In
normal times there is a considerable floating population of Arabs and Kurds.
The Christians (perhaps about 15,000) are chiefly Syriac speaking and belong to
various sects—the Chaldae uis. West Syrian Catholics, and Jacobites arc all represented ;
there are also some Nestorians. There is a large and important French Dominican
Mission in Mosul, and at the Dominican mission-school many of the Chaldseans
and West Syrian Catholics have learnt to speak French. There are also a few
native Protestants, the converts of an American mission ; some of these probably
speak English. The strong Jewish colony lives in a quarter oi its own.
Administration and Authorities. —The municipal administration before the war was
in the hands of the Wali of the province and a council of notables. This council has
a particularly evil fame for corruption and intrigue. Its members are wealthy merchants
and landowners, some of the latter being descended from the Arab oligarchy which ruled
Mosul in the eighteenth century. So far as they could not make the Turkish officials
their tools, they were generally in more or less concealed opposition to the Wali's ad
ministration. For the furtherance of their ends they used their money and influence
among the lower classes of the city, and they have been known covertly to instigate
violent outbreaks of riot.
The Chaldaian Christians have a patriarch in Mosul; the West Syrian Catholics and
Jacobites have their respective bishops. There was also before the war a Papal Legato
with supervisory powers over the Uniate churches of the country.
In 1914 there was a French consul at Mosul, and also British, Russian, and German
vice-consuls.
C52(w)GSB 7u