'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎269] (278/568)

COMMUNICATIONS AND TKANSPOET 269
or descending from the Persian hills forms lakes or marshes at some
distance inland from the banks; but even the ground close to the
river may become marshy in many places when the floods are at
their height. It appears that where the Euphrates flows in a
definite channel through the alluvial plain, as well as along the
Shatt el-'Arab, analogous conditions are found.
The alluvial plains are destitute of stone for metalling; this can,
however, be obtained at points along the edge of the Arabian Desert
(in the neighbourhoods of Hit and Samaweh and at Jebel Sinam
30 miles SW. of Basra).
{a) Principal routes for wheeled traffic are :
Baghdad—Nejef via Museyib and Kerbela.
Baghdad—Hilla.
Baghdad—Mufraz (at the head of the Mahmudiyeh canal on the
Euphrates).
Baghdad—Fellujeh (for Aleppo).
Baghdad—Samarra (continued to Mosul).
Baghdad—Delli Abbas via Baqubeh (for Kufri, Kirkuk, and
Mosul).
Baghdad—Khanikin via Baqubeh (for Kirmanshah).
Basra—Baghdad via Kurna, Amara, and Kut el-Amara.
Basra—Nasirlyeh by the edge of the desert.
Nasirlyeh—Kut el-Amara by a track running some distance
inland from the right bank of the Shatt el-Hai.
Of these roads all but the third and the last three were much
used, and under favourable conditions were practicable for wheeled
transport before the war; but they were unmetalled, and after
heavy rain were liable to become impassable for wheels and difficult
even for pack-animals. The neighbourhood of Baghdad may be so
widely inundated during the flood season that on the right bank of
the Tigris the city can be approached only along the tops of bunds,
while on the left bank passengers and goods coming by the Khanikin
road have occasionally to be ferried across the floods to the bund
protecting the city on that side.
The plains of Irak, where they are not encumbered by marsh or
intersected by water-cuts, and at times when the surface is dry, are
usually more or less passable by light wheeled transport, and even
by light motor-lorries ; but patches of soft sand may cause difficulty
in places, and 1 even where the surface is good at first it soon cuts
up and becomes heavy if a succession of vehicles attempt to make
a track'; see further on mechanical transport in Irak p. 276. The
large dry canals may in parts (e. g. the Nahrawan between 'Azlzlyeh