'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎191] (206/1050)

AQR—ARA
191
AQRABl—
A sub-division of the provinceof Lahaj, in the Aden Protectorate, situated about 30
miles west by north of Aden. Tha district is poor and contains no towns of any
importance.— {Harris), See Aden Protectorate.
2 AQRABI—
Some wells in the Hazaim (q.v,) district of the Kuwait principality.
'AQRABl Y AH—
A village in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Bani Umr-al-Gharbi {q.v.) in 'Oman.
AQRAN (A l)—
At Al-Aqran, about 5 miles east by south from Al-Qatan, in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hadhramaut, are
the ruins of a well built fortress perched on a rock beneath the high wall of the
plateau. Here are to be found stones containing Sabaean inscriptions.
AQUM (A l)—
A village in Hadhramaut, consisting of a large cluster of high houses situated at the junc
tion of the Wadis Ser and Lata, about two hours' journey, or 5 miles, below Al-Hadd.
The housss are surrounded by stables and dwellings excavated in the sandhills, where the
inhabitants and their cattle live during the hot weather.— [Bent, 1894),
'AQUR—
A village in Bahrain island.— {q.v.)
AQUT—
One of the Aulad Was! families of the Braih division of the Bani Mutair {q.v,),
'AR (J abal-al)—
An important mountain 7,585 feet high, in the Raidhah district of the Aden Protecto
rate {q.v.),
'ARBA (T alul)—
Four small mounds in Mesopotamia on the left bank of the Shatt-al-Hindiyah about
midway between Musaiyib and Tawairij.
'ARAB (S hatt-al)—
The largest, or, if small native sailing vessels be excluded from consideration, the only
navigable river that enters the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; it carries the whole drainage of 'Iraq and
a large part of that of Persian 'Arabistan as well.
Course and general characteristics, —The Shatt-al-'Arab is formed by the confluence at
Qurnah village of the Tigris and as much of the Euphrates as still flows in its old channel.
The new Euphrates reaches the Shatt-al-'Arab at Gurmat 'Ali, about 7 miles by river
above Basrah. In winter the swift brown Tigris the Qurnah village of the Tigris
and the Euphrates ; in winter the swift brown Tigris and the feeble transparent Euph
rates, the latter strained of its sediment in a journey of many days through marshes, pre
sent a remarkable contract at their junction At about 40 miles below Qurnah village
the Shatt-al-'Arab leaves the celebrated city of Basrah, about 2 miles inland from its
right bank ; 22 miles further on it passes the smaller and less ancient but important town
of Muhammareh, situated at a short distance from its left bank within the embouchure
of the Karun; immediately below Fao, at a distance of about 50 miles from Muhammareh
and 112 miles from Qurnah, it ends in the water of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . The average
direction of the river is to the south-east, but in the reach between Basrah and Muham-
marah it has a more easterly and a less southerly inclination.
The width of the Shatt-al-'Arab at Basrah is about 600 yards, and from
Basrah to Muhammareh its mean breadth is probably about the same ; but after receiv
ing the Karun at Muhammareh it expands at once to half a mile, and its dimensions
thereafter gradually increase to a miximum of about one mile in the neighbourhood of its
mouth.