'Routes in Arabia' [‎675] (706/852)

675
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Route No ISS—eontd.
a true desert on both sides. At 10 miles cross small nullah, road
very stony : after that the road passes through the ruins of old
Tikrit until at 12 miles the modern village of Tikrit is reached.
Tikrit contains about 2,000 houses, mostly of mud and stone,
and the population are poor. Supplies obtainable in moderate
quantities. I went on a mile beyond Tikrit and camped in the
bed and at the foot of a nullah on the left which meets the river.
This camping ground is sandy and stony and about 100 yards
by 50. There is cultivation about 100 yards wide between the
river and the adjoining cliff 50 foot high. . This appears to be
the only camping ground near Tikrit, the immediate neighbour
hood of which is a tangled mass of ruins and broken ground.
There is a Mudlr here and a few Zaptiehs. Five hundred sheep
grazing en route, (near Tikrit).
8 lowaiya. 18 m. On leaving camp
ascend nullah 150 feet
149 m. high, road on top stony
and flat, leaves river on left and turns slightly to the right:
ground on left raviney. For the first half of this march the
country is a true desert, for the last half there is much cultiva
tion. At If miles road approaches river, which is 200 yards dis
tant on left, up and down, stony, broken ground on both sides ;
at 2 miles descend into and cross bed of dry mountain torrent
200 yards wide and very pebbly. At 3 miles descend steep
ravine 200 yards wide and 150 feet deep, very stony, running
into river 300 yards on left. At 3J miles country is still raviney
on left, more open and flat on the right. At 4 miles country
raviney on both sides, road very stony. At 4 miles descends into
alluvial plain on bank of river Tigris, first crossing small and
dry mountain torrent. Tigris 100 yards on left, on the right
cliffs 50 feet high for about If miles and about 100 yards from
the road. The road then leaves the river and skirts the hills
on the right, which gradually dwindle in height: road good.
At 6| miles there is a ditch on the right of the road which runs
roughly parallel to the hills for about 4 miles : this ditch is dry,
35 feet wide and 5 feet deep, easy banks. At 10 miles pass
Doura on far bank of Tigris and 3 miles off, hills on the right
recede. At 12 miles cross a pebbly ridge which is an 'offshoot
from the hills on the right to the river on fthe left. There are
here two roads and the one to the left is preferable, beoauie it