'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎187] (202/1050)

AQA—AQA
187
'AQALAH (D5 hat-al)—
A Bedouin camping-place on the west side of Qatar (q.v,)*
'AQAQ—
One of the springs irrigating the cultivation of the village of Lajam, in the Qatif oasis
{q.v.).
'AQAR—
A village in the Hasa oasis (g.v.) in eastern Arabia. 1
'AQAR NIMRUD—
See 'Aqarquf.
'AQAR—
One of two contiguous village (the other being 'Ain) situated in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Bani Habib in
Jabal Akhdhar in the 'Oman Sultanate. They are apparently known jointly as Bani
Habib
'AQAR—
One of the two offshoots of the village of Saiq {q.v.). in the Sultanate of 'Oman.
'AQAR—
One of the annexes to the village of Sharaijah {q.v.) in 'Oman.
'AQARQUF—
• ; A lake in Iraq, which when full stretches almost from the Baghdad railway at Kadhi-
main to the Euphrates, its southern limit being the Baghdad-Fallujah road. The
water supply is obtained almost entirely from the Euphrates in flood time. The fall
in water surface between the Euphrates in flood at the intake channel (the SaqlawTyah)
and the Tigris in flood at the out-take, is 31 feet and therefore a heavy flow of water
takes place. In order to prevent this large volume of water from getting into the
Tigris and threatening Baghdad, Midhat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , Wali of Baghdad, caused an earthen
dam to the built across the intake on the Euphrates at Kananiyah about the middle of
the 19th century. This bund which is still in existence, is repaired every year before
the floods and a second bund has been built one mile down-stream of the first in case of
accidents.
The Saqlawiyah Canal, as its head on the Euphrates 12J miles upstream of Falliijah,
has a width of 70 yards and a depth of approximately 20 feet with very steep side
slopes. After a devious course of 36 miles it losses itself in the 'Aqarquf Lake ; its bed
has a fall over this disance of 13 feet.
A channel known as the Khar takes off from the south-eastern corner of the 'Aqarquf
Lake and flows into the Tigris about 1J miles down stream of Baghdad. This channel
only carries water when the lake is nearly full and has a depth then at its shallowest
part, which is at the place where it takes out of the lake, of 3 feet of water. The Khar
is crossed by a steel bridge about 100 yards long and 10 feet wide.
The flooding of the 'Aqarquf Lake is due either to a failure of the bunds at the head
of the Shaqlawiyah Canal, or the bursiting of the Euphrates' containing bunds up
stream of the Saqlawiyah. When the latter event occurs the water pours into a deep
cut which joins up with the Saqlawiyah about 3J miles from its head and flows down
into the Lake. Some five years before the great war, a small steam tug, the Berinji,
drawing 3 feet of water, was taken, during the flood seasons, from the Tigris to the
Euphrates by way of the Khar, the 'Aqarquf Lake, and the Saqlawiyah, reaching the
Euphrates at a point near the ruins of Ambar. Apparently the only difficulty
experienced on this occasion was that of keeping to the channels. During the passage
the tug had a occasionally to be dragged back into the channel out of the paddy fields
which border the Lake.
Between floods the lake shrinks to an area of about 4 miles by 2, and appears to be
shallow although it never completely dries up. The water is then brackish but quite
drinkable. French beans are largely grown over the area left by the receding water.