'MEMOIR on the Climate and Diseases of Southern Turkish Arabia by Surgeon-Major J. Hyslop, M.D.' [‎51r] (2/12)

Memoir on the Climate and Diseases of Southern Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. ,
by Surgeon-Major J. Hyslop , M.D.
Mohamreh. —Mohamreh,* a Persian town, is situated (lat. 30° 26' N.
and long. 48° 13' 30'' E.) on the HafFer canal, which connects the
Karoun river and the Shut-al-Arab, at a distance of about half a mile
from the latter, on the left bank. The town on the north side of the
Haffer is enclosed by plantations of the date palm. The population is
composed chiefly of Persians and Arabs of the Chaab tribe. The breadth
of the HafFer here is about two hundred yards; the tide rises and falls
as much as nine feet, during' the ebb leaving a bank of filthy mud, con
sisting mostly of decomposing animal and vegetable matter. Beyond
the date plantations, both to the north and south, extensive marshes and
rice swamps exist.
Busreh. —Busreh is situated in lat. 30° 31' N., long.^T? 50' E., on the
right bank of the Shut-al-Arab, at a distance of about nu miles from the
sea. A narrow creek intersects the town in its whole length, and as
the rise and fall of the tide is as great as at Mohamreh, the slimy banks
are there also, but giving out a more noxious effluvium, from the greater
quantity of refuse from the town. Busreh at one time was a place of
great importance and much trade, but now it is comparatively a ruin,
and the population, which consists of Arabs, Persians, Turks, Jews,
Abyssinians, and some Indians, has dwindled to a small proportion of its
former numbers.
The chief occupation of the inhabitants is trading with Baghdad, the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and India. A considerable trade in drugs is carried on;
gums and gum-resins are brought from Baghdad and shipped to India,
while in return Indian medicines, spices, and drugs are carried to
Baghdad and the north. There are some fruit gardens at Busreh, pro
ducing pomegranates, figs, apricots, &c., but the great produce of the
place is dates, which are largely exported, and from which the principal
revenue is derived. Vegetables are grown sufficient for the consumption
of the inhabitants. Between forty and fifty years ago an extensive
marsh was allowed to form and remain on the north and west of the
town, which in summer and autumn causes fever, often of a malignant
nature. Before the formation of this marsh the climate was tolerably
healthy, and Busreh was not then, as now, shunned by Europeans j
indeed, for a series of years, the East India Company had a factory An East India Company trading post.
there, and in later times a Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. , and among their large establish
ments the mortality was by no means great.
Climate. —The climate of Mohamreh and Busreh is very different
from that of Baghdad and the country north of the marshes. In the
former, the air is constantly loaded with moisture, which, in summer,
acts as a vapour bath, producing and maintaining a copious and
exhausting perspiration.
I have made no extended thermometrical observations in this country,
except at Baghdad, the mean annual temperature of which is 76°, the
thermometer having an annual range of 90°, but in the lower parts of
* Mohamreh, though not in Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. , as it is now a Persian town, is noticed in this
report, becansei t is contiguous to Turkish territory, and, from its position, must in the future
be a place of importance. Moreover, it was once occupied by a British force, and may be
again.
10928. I. 188. A