"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" [و‎‎١‎٥] (٣١٢/٣٤)

Ali ShergliL N
Eight hours hy steamer (55 miles) above Amara is Imam Ali Sherghi,
a small shrine to which numerous sick are brought. It is on the left bank
in a small grove of trees.
Fijla .—Two hours higher up, on the left bank, is Fifla, a place of 50 Arab mud
huts, surrounded by gardens and a few date trees. Extensive mounds, the
site of an ancient city, could be seen a short way inland.
Imam Ali Gherbi.
Imam Ali Gherbi is a place of 300 mud houses on the right bank, 105
miles above Amara. It is a place that has sprung up within the last 15 years,
and contains some well-built brick houses of otficials and merchants. There
is a small post of zaptiyahs and a telegraph office. Close by is a small shrine,
a favourite place of pilgrimage. A large tract of country round is under
wheat and barley crop. Steamers only stop here when there is any cargo
or passengers.
The river here is 300 to 350 yards wide, and the banks slightly increase
in height as we ascend. An hour above Ali Gherbi is a difficult reach in the
low season. The river is broad, but the channel narrow and makes a sharp
curve nearly at right angles, between two stakes which mark out the course.
The steam capstans in the bow and stern of the steamers are very useful for
getting over such places.
Several buggalas were seen here in the low season unloading their cargoes
preparatory to crossing.
In the beginning of September the channel, which changes from year to
year, has not yet formed. The bad reaches are always difficult to navigate,
the shoal parts merely shifting from one part to another. Good reaches
remain as a rule easy to navigate, and do not silt up. The pilot can know
by the almost imperceptible ripple on the surface what depth of water there
is, and when it is becoming shoal.
It is easier steering going up than coming down stream, as the vessel
answers her helm quicker.
Two hours above AH Gherbi is another difficult reach, where in September
we got aground and took two hours warping off.
From constant passage of steamers the navigation is improving every year.
At Ali Gherbi the river has made a wide eastern bend, and approaches to
within 30 miles of the Pusht-i-Kuh range.
In April there is a fringe of firm ground, 2 to 3 miles wide, from the
hank, uncovered except by an occasional high freshet. Beyond this were
large sheets of water, which had dried up in September.
“Suss^ or liquorice plant grows wild along the banks, and is exported
from Busra. The tree jungle and brushwood, which existed 20 years ago along
the banks, and from which the steamers obtained fuel, has now entirely
disappeared, and nothing remains but occasional patches of low brushwood.
Even this was being rooted up and carried into Baghdad for firewood.
Wild pigs are numerous, and occasionally a lion is met; they wander from
the Karun river, where they are still in considerable numbers.
Old Dujaila Canal .—Fifteen miles by river below Kut-T-Amara, on the
right bank, could be traced the line of the old Dujaila canal.
It consists of two parallel ridges about 30 feet high and 300 yards apart,
extending inland some 4 miles. The bed of the old canal is now entirely
filled up by drifting sand.