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'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎601] (644/1050)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (523 folios). It was created in 1917. 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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601
sheep ; for these some lucerne is cultivated, but their pasture consists chiefly of the
grass that grows everywhere on the banks of the Shatt-al-'Arab.
In recent years reclamation of land from the river and the sea has been undertaken
by the Shaikh of Kuwait who is owner of all the land in Fao. By means of sadds
or embankments a quantity of arable land has been added below the fort both on the
bank of the river and on the side towards the sea, but not in* the direction of Khor
'Abdullah ; and at another place the Shaikh has endeavoured to check erosion of the
river bank by causing large Ballams filled with earth to be sunk close in shore. Creek
No. 49 is a new one and is called after the land-agent of the late Shaikh of Kuwait.
Shaikh Mubarak is also preparing to cultivate a new strip of land on the side next to
the desert; it extends with a breadth of 600 yards from the civil station to the Hadd
creek, a distance of 5 miles ; at present this plot is saline and produces nothing.
Climate. —The year at Fao may be divided into seasons as follows :—
Winter—December, January and February.
Spring—-March, April and May.
Summer—June, July, August and September.
Autumn—October and November.
This distribution of months being taken as a basis, the highest and lowest temperatures
recorded (in degreess Fahrenheit) since observations began to be taken have been:—
Highest
Lowest
Season,
temperature.
temperature.
Winter of 1904-05 ,. ,, . ,
84
51
Spring of 1905
106
70
Summer of 1905 .. .. ,,
116
93
Autumn of 1905 ..
105
78
Winter of 1905-06
84
47
Spring of 1906
107
68
Summer of 1906 (to end of July)
120
73
The winters of 1904-05 and 1905-06 are believed to have been colder, and the summers
of 1905, and 1906 less hot, than those of ordinary years. January and February
are the wettest months; but rain may fall at any time between the middle of
November and the middle of March, and in 1905 some rain was received in May.
The total cold weather rainfall in 1904-05 was 3*65 inches, and in 1905-06 it was
1'63 inches. There are occasional showers at all seasons. During July and the
first half of March north-west winds ordinarily prevail, with dry heat; ard from the
middle of July to the end of September the atmosphere is damp as well as hot. In
September and October there are frequently fogs at night and in the early morning.
The civil station of Fdo. —The station of Fao covers the riverward end of the spit
between the Haji Rashid creek (No. 22 above) and the creek of Haji 'Abdullah (No. 23
above) immediately below, and its frontage upon the river is about 600 yards.
The telegraph offices—for the sake of which, chiefly, the station exists—are
bituated on the southern bank of the Haji Rashid creek. A garden, lawn tennis
couct and other appurtenances adjoin the old British quarter on the two landward
sides, and there are 7 tanks of 400 gallons capacity each for storing water.
On the south side of the old British compound, about equidistant from the two creeks
and from the river, is an old Turkish Government building, which is a substantial single-
storeyed brick structure of five rooms.
A marsh lies behind the entire station, reaching practically from creek to creak and
upon the river also there are two marshes. At the back of the inland marhs, at about
C52(w)GSB 4 h

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Content

Volume I of III of the Gazetteer of Arabia. The Gazetteer is alphabetically-arranged and this volume contains entries A through to J.

The Gazetteer is an alphabetically-arranged compendium of the tribes, clans and geographical features (including towns, villages, lakes, mountains and wells) of Arabia that is contained within three seperate bound volumes. The entries range from short descriptions of one or two sentences to longer entries of several pages for places such as Iraq and Yemen.

A brief introduction states that the gazetteer was originally intended to deal with the whole of Arabia, "south of a line drawn from the head of the Gulf of 'Aqabah, through Ma'an, to Abu Kamal on the Euphrates, and to include Baghdad and Basrah Wilayats" and notes that before the gazetteer could be completed its publication was postponed and that therefore the three volumes that now form this file simply contain "as much of the MSS. [manuscript] as was ready at the time". It further notes that the contents have not been checked.

Extent and format
1 volume (523 folios)
Physical characteristics

Foliation: This volume's foliation system is circled in pencil, in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. of each folio.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎601] (644/1050), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/16/2/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023909214.0x00002d> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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