'Routes in Arabia' [‎771] (802/852)

771
"R oute N o . 202— contd.
of 60 houses of 'Ajl Jibur and Jahaish. It is near the river, but
au island called Haw!jat-al-Hisan intervened between it and us.
At 67 miutes we passed a village called Sanadiq, 10 houses
of Jibur, on the right bank. The name Sanidiq (" Boxes ")
is given to a series of square-topped mounds on the right bank
between this point and the Makhlat or confluence of the Great
Zab and Tigris, and there may be other villages called after them
besides this one. From Hammam 'Ali to Sanadiq there are no
hills on the right bank.
At 1 hour 15 minutes another rapid is passed, but at the
present high level of the river it hardly extends to the left bank.
There is au island hero dividing the river into two ; we follow
the north -eastern side of it; the south-western channel also
contains a rapid. Just below this place there are considerable
rock cliffs on the right bank of the river, rising in places to 20 or
30 feet!
At 1 hour 30 minutes, comes the village of Umm-al-'Asafir,
1 omitted to note on which side of the river it was. It is in two
parts of almost equal size, divided by a gully, each containing
20 to 25 houses of Wawi Jibur.
At 1 hour 37 minutes on the left bank is Jaifah, a village o(
Jibur. There are some 10 houses near the river, and 100 more
are said to lie less than a mile inland. Here the direction of the
river changes from south-east to south-west.
At I hour 48 minutes there are sunken rocks near the right
bank making broken water. There is an island just above
this, and from about here a rocky clift runs along the right
bank for perhaps a mile.
At 1 hour 55 minues the river divides round a green island,
to the right of which our raft passes. On the right bank there
are bold rocky cliffs perhaps 150 feet in height.
At 2 hours 4 minutes the end of the island is reached ; and to
the east, at about 2 miles distance, we see a mound called Kashaf,
which is said to be on the south side of the Great Zab.
At 2 hours 10 minutes we reach the Makhlat or confluencs
of the Great Zab with the Tigris : there is nothing remarkable
about it. Just inside the mouth of the Zab is an island ; and
Tall Kashaf appears to be situated on the proper left bank
of that river some 2 or 3 miles up it. (On enquiring about
ferries over the Great Zab we are told that there is a ferry-boat
at Quwair about 2 hours from Makhlat, and another at Kilik