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'Routes in Arabia' [‎677] (708/852)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (425 folios). It was created in 1915. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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677
R oute N o . 185— contd.
The town or village ^of Samarra contains about 600 houses,
and about 2,000 people ; many houses are empty audit appears
to be a declining town. Its raison d'etre is that it is the burial
place of two of the Imams and it is therefore peculiarly sacred
to the Shiahs, who make pilgrimages to it in large numbers,
especially from Persia. It is surrounded by a polygonal (about
16 sides) wall, 20 feet high and 4 feet thick up to about 15 feet,
after which it is only about 2 feet thick. This wall is crenelat
ed and has two rows of loop-holes, one at a height of about 6
feet and the other near the top. It has four gates, north, south,
east and west, and the wall has a semicircular bastion at each
end, which is intended to flank the curtains. It has ruins and
broken ground all round it which would afford excellent cover
for an attack. It is about 400 yards from the Tigris on the river
side and is on the left bank, on a salient. The houses are mostly
of brick with a covered bazar. Supplies limited. The garrison
consists of 100 Redifs and about 15 Zaptiehs and there is a Kaim-
makam here.^TheJdome of one mosque is covered with gold plat©
or leaf and is situate in the centre of the town. Th^ right bank
of the river is low, sandy, the left bank consists of a few preci
pitous bluffs of conglomerate interspersed with 3 or 4 Shariahs
or landing places. The soil round the town is old bricks and
pebbles (raised beaoh).
10 harba (jisr 22 m. Prom Samarra the
______ jiarba). road goes south-west
jgj m over a level and partly
cultivated plain of sandy clay. At If miles the Tigris approaches
the road on the left at 800 yards distance, and on the right there
is some high ground (50 feet) about 1 mile from the road. At
3f m iies pass a ditch on the left 20 yards wide with good water
2 feet deep ; this is rain water ; the banks of this ditch are easy
but muddy. At 5 miles on the right the high ground continues
roughlv parallel to the road and from 1 to 3 miles off : on the left
there is a branch of the Tigris 300 yards off, 80 yards wide, easy
banks, good camping ground for 5,000 troops. At 5^ miles the
high ground on the right curves round and goes to the river on
the left; the road crosses this high ground and the country is
slightly undulating. From this point to Harba the road is al
most continuously pebbly and the country a desert without any
cultivation. There is, however, a little scrub acacia in the

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Content

This volume contains descriptions of the 'more important of the known routes in Arabia proper' produced by the General Staff in Simla, India. It is divided up as follows:

Part I - Routes in North-Eastern, Eastern, and Southern Arabia.

Part II - Routes in South-Western, Western, and North-Western Arabia.

Part III - Miscellaneous Routes in Mesopotamia.

Appendix A - Information about Routes etc in the Rowanduz District by Abdullah Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , Hereditary Chief of Rowanduz and ex-official of the Turkish Government.

Appendix B - Information relating to Navigation etc of the Tigris between Mosul and Baghdad supplied by our Raftsmen.

The volume contains a Glossary of Arabic Terms used in the route descriptions and a map of Arabia with the routes marked on it.

Extent and format
1 volume (425 folios)
Arrangement

Divided into three sections as outlined in the scope and content.

The file contains a contents page that lists all of the routes included on folios 6-13 and uses the original printed pagination system.

Physical characteristics

Condition: A bound, printed volume.

Foliation: The file's foliation sequence commences at the front cover and terminates at the inside back cover; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Please note that f 424 is housed inside f 425.

Pagination: The volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'Routes in Arabia' [‎677] (708/852), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/16/3, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023799992.0x00006d> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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