"ملاحظات ميدانية: بلاد الرافدين. هيئة الأركان العامة في الهند. فبراير ١٩١٧". [و‎‎٧‎٣] (٣٥٠/١٥٢)

Route iS'o. 4— contd.
No. of stage
and total
Details.
distance.
i A'' 'd " A-’'b2
... QURNAH . . . 46.—From the sea to the
junction of the Euph
rates and the Tigris
at Gurmat ’Ali at mile 5|, the river is called the Shatt-al-’Arab.
Above Basrah the banks are low and fringed with date
plantations. A few villages, clusters of mud huts, are scattered
among the trees, and herds of cattle, sheep, and buffaloes
graze° along the banks. Much rice is grown between Basrah
and Qurnah.
Qurnah is a place of 700 houses on the west bank of the
Tigris, on the actual promontory at the old junction with the
Euphrates.
There are a few 2 -storeyed brick houses on the bank, with
gardens and date plantations. It was the seat of a Qaim-
Maqam under Basrah.
The date plantations extend some 4 miles above Qurnah,
but after that only a few solitary clusters are to be seen until
near Baghdad.
Above Qurnah begin the great marshes of the Tigris and
Euphrates which extend between the rivers, and as far as
Hawizeh to the east.
In spring the country is under water, with little visible
but tall reeds and sedges.
The marshes to the east are formed by the overflow of the
Karkheh, Tib, and Dawairij rivers from the Pusht-i-Kuh
mountains. One outlet called by Europeans the Hadd, but
known locally as the Jahalah (always pronounced Chahalah),
runs out of the Tigris just above ’Amarah. Another, the
Swaib, the main outlet of the Karkheh, enters the Shatt-al-
’Arab 6 miles below Qurnah.
75 AL ’AZAIR (EZRA’S 29.—Pass A1 ’Azair
TOMB). (Ezra’s Tomb), a
group of buildings
on the west bank, an important place of pilgrimage for Jews.
Above this the river flows in a winding channel through the