"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [و‎‎٢‎٨] (٨٦٢/٦٠)

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DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND 27
its width from 150 to nearly 500 yards, and its current about 2 miles
an hour. But navigation is dangerous even for native boats (shakhturs)
because of rocky outcrops in the bed. The river can be forded at
two or three places in the low-water season, but guides are necessary.
There is very little cultivation on either bank. The escarpments are
about 10 miles apart, the river keeping generally close to the desert
escarpment on its right bank, which rises to nearly 800 feet above
sea-level.
The ancient town of Ana is on the right bank, about 130 miles by
river above Hit, at the point where the Euphrates changes direction
south-eastwards. It lies among palm-trees and marks the northern
limit of the ripening of the date. There are several small islands,
one of which, Ardeshir or Lubbad, is cultivated and has palms.
The boatmen of Ana are noted for their intimate knowledge of the
Euphrates.
Ana to Haditha (direct distance 35 miles; by river 60 miles)
In this section the course is south-east, but the river makes a wide
detour in the second half, below Fuhaimi. There are dangerous
currents in some reaches caused by rocky shelves in the river bed,
but as Haditha is approached the current slackens. The escarpments