'Mesopotamia' [‎48v] (96/152)

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ECONOM[C CONDITIONS
[No. 92
seasion a« tenant holding from the State. He was the
representative of a corporate right, which the State
could not disregard. Where the tribes were split into
many sections, as was the case more especially upon the
Euphrates, the Turkish Government attempted to set
aside their tribal right to certain specified lands. The
result was acute discontent, which kept the Euphrates
valley in a constant state of disturbance, and recently
had reduced ordered government there to a mere pre
tence. On the Tigris, however, there has been a certain
amountof assimilation of cultivators belonging to other
tribes, a fact which suggests the possibility of a gradual
assimilation of the Arab tribes in Mesopotamia.
A very considerable portion of Mesopotamia (it is
said, as much as one-third of the cultivable area) was
owned by the late Sultan Abdul Ha mid; this estate was
known as the Da'irat es-Saniyeh, and was managed by
a committee in Baghdad. By degrees the most pros
perous portions of Mesopotamia had been by some
means or other acquired by the late Sultan; and in
1904 the Saniyeh enlarged its activities by acquiring
the whole stock and assets of the Oman Ottoman branch
of the Ministry of Marine, and beginning, to trade on
the Tigris. The activities of the Saniyeh were not,
however, popular in Turkey; and it is stated that the
fact that Abdul tlamid had become possessed of so
much of Mesopotamia had much to do with his down
fall. After he had been deposed, the property form
ing the Da'irat es-Saniyeh was transferred to the
Ministry of Finance, and was nominally administered
as State property for the benefit of the Exchequer.
(3) Minerals
Little information is available with regard to the
minerals of Mesopotamia. Lack of means of transport,
insecurity, and other causes have combined to hinder
their exploitation, and the deposits which have been
worked have been dealt with by more or less primitive
methods. Scientific examination of mineral fields has