'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. IV. 1917' [‎13r] (30/530)

INTEODU OTION
21
^ I has its centre in the Qarajeh Dagh. Near the Tigris the plain is
fWellj undulating, with a certain amount of broken ground: north of the
Sinjar Hills it is very flat: west of the Jaghjagha river it is
dtlwl undulating again and sometimes rises in low hill-ridges. To the
le Mosul- east of the Jaghjagha the plain is empty of settled inhabitants
•track (t except near its borders: west of that river it contains villages in
MtS some districts along its northern side and in the country E. of
peAapsi Jerablus: elsewhere they are infrequent, small, and unimportant.
Mill to II The plain as a whole is not naturally unfertile, and with a strong
n 1 of fit government and a good irrigation system agriculture might be
.| to In revived over a great part of it. At present, however, cultivation
\ Mi exists only near its edges, or, in the interior of its western part,
mayki on the perennial streams (the Khabur and Belikh), and here and
BoliW there in better-watered areas, such as the valley of Migteleh, E. of
s anil oil Jerablus. On the whole cultivation seems to have been on the
meetsl increase in the western part of northern Jezlreh during the years
mule in preceding the war, and there is no clear information as to its present
oftkl extent. Part of this cultivation is the work of semi-nomads.
(7)1 The surface of this country does not present much difficulty to
ute of* movement. There are a good many wadis and stream-beds, and
Usanill there are patches of marshy ground, but generally the terrain is easy
n i S) ojj and open. The difficulties, as in the southern JezTreh, arise chiefly
s {1)0 (Hi from the lack of water and supplies. Supplies are apparently either
e yiffli altogether lacking or very scanty except in the districts of Mardln,
Urfeh, Seruj, and Migteleh, E. of Jerablus. The most favourable
}}( f ( §S;: time for movement across the plains is the spring, for though the
jreatei' going may then be heavy owing to rain, there is much good grazing,
and the water-supply is at its best. In summer water is, in general,
onlvnt very scarce ; most of the streams dry up either altogether or in their
^ gj[| lower courses; the grass is burnt up ; and the nomads for the most
part move towards the hills or the few perennial rivers. Along the
' j gj foot of the northern hills there is apparently a better water-supply
between Jeziret-ibn-'Omar and Mardln than between Mardln and
Urfeh. The plain of Nisibin, especially, is well watered by the
Jaghjagha and its affluents. From Mardln to Urfeh water is very
scarce except in the neighbourhood of Veiran Shehr and in that of
Urfeh itself. Between Urfeh and the Euphrates is the fertile
i district of Seruj. The interior of the plain is on the whole better
, jj| watered in its western than in its eastern part. The Jaghjagha, the
H* , ji Khabur, and the Belikh are perennial rivers. Fuel is very scarce,
f F: as there is practically no timber throughout the plain.
\ $ ip) TheTur Ahdin. —The northern border of the plain between
1 1 Jeziret-ibn-'Omar and Mardln is very sharply marked by the abrupt