"استطلاعات في بلاد الرافدين وكردستان وشمال غرب بلاد فارس ولرستان في الفترة من أبريل إلى أكتوبر ١٨٨٨، كتبها المقدم ف. ر. مونسيل، فرع الاستخبارات. يوجد مجلدان. المجلد الأول: تقرير سردي ووصف للمدن الكبرى والطرق المؤدية منها. شيملا: فرع الاستخبارات، إدارة قائد الإمداد والتموين، ١٨٩٠" [و‎‎١‎٤] (٣١٢/٣٢)

yards square, with walls some 12 feet high and about 3 feet thick at the-
base.
On the right bank was a fringe of dry ground uncovered by the floods^
varying in width from 2()0 yards to | mile. This affords grazing for large
herds of cattle, and for growing patches of wheat and barley.
On the left bank are tall reeds and sedges, and the marshes unite with
the water of the river.
The telegraph from Fao to Baghdad follows the general direction of the
river, about 1 mile distant on the right bank. Two small reed villages were
passed, each with a small fort like that at Rasr Saidi. These are intended for
defence against Arab raiding parties.
These villages are on the right hank, where the ground as a rule is firmer
and not so liable to floods.
At 3 hours above Ezra's tomb is a large square fort on the right hank
more substantial than that at Kasr Saidi. Walls are of sundried bricks, Iff
feet thick at the bottom and 3 feet thick at the top, with an upper coping
along the top of the parapet of burnt bricks.
The fort is about ffff yards side, with a gateway of brick opening on the
river.
In April large encampments of reed huts line the bank, each with herds of
cattle, sheep, and water buffaloes grazing on the short grass. Channels from &
to 10 feet wide are cut to drain portions of the marsh.
Most cultivation is on the right bank, the left hank being swampy.
In September this water was gone, and the Arabs had moved furtheir
inland.
Kala Saleh.
Twenty-four miles above Ezra’s tomb w r e passed Kala Saleh, on the left
bank, a place of 500 houses stretching about f mile. There were some-
good two-storied brick houses on the river front. Steamers do not stop
hare.
It is a kaimmakamlik of the Busra Waliat. There is a telegraph office,,
and the line is carried across the river here on poles of sufficient height to carry
the line over the funnels of steamers.
The houses in Kala Saleh are surrounded with gardens of fruit and
date trees, each enclosed by a high mud wall. The population consists chiefly
of people from Nazarieh on the Euphrates. They are of the Sabean sect,
the principal religious observance of which is baptism, which they say was
instituted at the Creation, and restored by their prophet John the Baptist.
Their religion contains several Christian rites and ceremonies, and is interest
ing mainly as the instance of the survival of the Christian tradition in Arabia.
They do not acknowledge Muhammad at all.
Several of this sect are to be found in Amara. Their total numbers are said
not to exceed 4,000 families.
The river gradually widens above Kala Saleh. A large belt of wheat and
rice cultivation extends on either bank, and the banks are thickly dotted with
reed hut encampments of the Marsh Arabs, and also the black blanket tents
of the desert nomads now seen for the first time. A large quantity of rice
is grown round Kala Saleh.
At 12 miles above Kala Saleh the marsh ends, and both banks get slightly
higher. Barley, wheat, maize, millet, sesame, and rice are the chief products
of this district.