"دليل الجزيرة العربية المجلد I" [‎٨‎٩‎١] (١٠٥٠/٩٥٢)

'IRAQ
891
green as
Trade generally. —During the last 20 years a substantial, and on the whole steady,
increase has been observable in the volume of trade in 'Iraq and it still, apparently,
continues. It is attributed to the spread of what has been styled " comparative civil
isation " in the country itself ; and to a larger demand in Persia for the " comparative
luxuries" which that country obtains through'Iraq,
Bombay is felt, throughout 'Iraq, to be the nearest great centre of commerce and
civilisation ; and since the recent institution of a rapid steamer service to India it is
a common though not strictly accurate remark among natives, that Bombay and Bagh
dad are equally distant from Basrah, Two facts in regard to the trade of 'Iraq should
be clearly realised at the outset: first that it consists to a large extent merely of a transit
trade between the Persian Gulf and Western Persia, secondly that it has only one real
centre, namely, Baghdad. The position of unique importance occupied by Baghdad
as a point of divergence and convergence in transit, in foreign, and even to some extent
in internal, trade is indeed remarkable ; no less so is its mercantile predominance over
Basrah, which, but for a local trade in dates and grain, would be little more than the
seaport of Baghdad, The hides of 'Amarah often ascend the Tigris to be pressed at
Baghdad for shipment to Europe, and the retail traders of Basrah itself obtain quantities
of European goods, especially piece-goods, from the wholesale merchants of Baghdad.
On the Tigris from 'Amarah town upwards, and in the Euphrates valley above Kufah
and its neighbourhood, most commercial dealings are with Baghdad. Even the remaind
er of 'Iraq, though nearer to Basrah, is partially served from Baghdad through Basrah and
other places. The commercial influence of Baghdad balances at Musal with that of
Aleppo ; and the whole of Kurdistan and the parts of Western Persia about Kirmanshah
and Hamadan are dependent on Baghdad for their supply of foreign goods. As Basrah
is the limit of ocean-borne traffic, so Baghdad marks the point where carriage by river,
against the stream, ceases to be profitable ; and, except for rafts which descend the
Tigris from Musal to Baghdad, all commerce to the east, north, and west of the capital
is carried on by mule or camal caravan.
From a political point of view imports by sea and, in a lesser degree, exports by sea
are the most important features of the trade of 'Iraq ; but, in order to understand the
basis on which ocean-borne imports and exports rest, we must first examine the questions
of internal trade, local manufactures and imports by land.
Internal traiif.—Tha functions of Baghdad are, in relation to internal trade, compara
tively restricted ; but it is the principal centre for the distribution of cotton piece-goods
in the whole country. Moreover, it sends to Musal sugar, colfee, spices, twists, window-
glass and metals,—but not piece-goods, which the people of Musal procure mostly through
Syria,—and receives in return the best of the 'Awwasi or 'Awaisi wool* and the whole of
the mohair and gall-nuts which constitute important items of the general export trade,
besides oak and walnut wood, partly for exportation, and beams and rafters of poplar
for local use. Ba'qubah is dependent on Baghdad for manufactured articles, and sends
much fruit and firewood to Baghdad by way of the Diyalah river.
The chief centres of internal trade in the west are Karbala, which imports piece-goods,
sugar, kerosine, Indian spices, tea, Persian medicines and Persian fruit, and exports
dates, consecrated objects, skins, wool and inferior tobacco ; Musaiyib, which takes
piece-goods and sends away wheat and barley; Tawairij, which buys piece-goods and
sells wheat, barley and dates ; Hillah, which imports piece-goods, sugar and coffee or;
a large scale and exports wheat, barley, ghi, dates, sheep-skins and goat-skins on a still
larger; finally Najaf, which receives large quantities of piece-goods, sugar, tea and Indian
spices and disposes of lambskins and 'Abas. All of these receive their pieco-goods
from Baghdad, and the general trade of Musaiyib and Karbala seems to be mostly
with Baghdad ; but Hillah and probably Najaf receive most of th^ir goods (other than
piece-goods) by way of the Euphrates via Kufah, and Hillah exports its dates direct to
Basrah. It is from these western districts that the capital draws a large part of its
supplies of wheat and rice.
On the Tigris below Baghdad, the towns of Kut-al-Amarah and 'Ali-al-Gharbi are the
principal seats of the trade with Southern Kurdistan ; hereabouts many Kurds are
settled, and Kurds from the Persian frontier come in to satisfy their wants, bringing
*'Awwasi wool is obtained from a crossbreed between the Arab or plain-reared sheep and the Kurdish or his
reared sheep, Arab wool is fine and curly, Kurdish is coarse and straight; while 'Awwasi, which is considered to
form a class by itself, is intermediate between the two.
5 y 2