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'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎731] (786/1050)

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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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HAMMAE LAZE
731
the
and the current runs through with great force, making it necessary for up-going steamers
and boats to be hauled through with ropes. The sounding at this cutting was about 5 to
6 feet in June 1915, but it may in time scour deeper.
A little way beyond the dam an irrigation channel, the Gurmah Hasan, leaves the main
channel on the right bank, and half a mile further, after passing the house of Shaikh
Farhud, on the same side is the Umm Madizah creek, also for irrigation. Half a mile
further the Ma Sha'irah flows in on the left, leading to the Euphrates about Ij to 2 miles
above the junction of the Gurmah Safhah and Euphrates. It is shallow and narrow
at the mouth, and unfit for anything except mashhvfs and light draught hallams.
From this point (where the Ma Sha'irah joins the Gurmah Safhah) up to Muhararaad-
al-Habi (where the Gurmah Safhah joins the Euphrates) the width is 100—150 yards and
the depth ample. Along this reach, after the Ma Sha'irah mouth has been left, the XJmm
Barur leaves the South bank to irrigate a patch of cultivation ; and beyond this is the
Bufaiyah, which is connected with the Abu Shater* which runs out of the ' Aqiqah 500
yards east of the main Euphrates. In the neighbourhood of the Umm Barur is a good
landing place on the southern side. On the north bank between here and the Euphrates
is the house of A. T. I., whence runs northward a long bund with a footpath.
Belts of date-palms dotted with villages extend from the Ma Sha'irah to the Euphrates,
and the adjacent country, although liable to inundation, is richly cultivated and fairly
populous.
Suq-ash-Sheyukh is about 2 miles down-stream from this point. There are no diffi
culties, The river runs through palm groves on either side, and has an average breadth
of 175 yards.
For pilots for the Gurmah Safhah, the Bani Khaigan should be asked, and doubtless
Shaikh Farhud of the Al-hasan, or Hasan Hamdani at Suq would help.
(6) Westwards, the second channel to Suq-ash-Sheyukh, the Mezlik channel or
Gurmah Bani Said.
This channel is quite useless for Lynch steamers, but native craft nse it freely. The
latter, if carrying cargo, transfer some of their load into smaller craft before crossing the
bar at the mouth of the lake. This bar is from 1 to H feet less than the remainder of the
channel, and if it were dug out, the Mezlik channel would form an alternative route be
tween the Hammar Lake and Muhammad-al-Habi. It has the advantage for light draft
not only of being shorter than the 'Aqiqah route, but also of possessing a good towing-
path the whole way to Suq-ash-Sheyukh, and, in addition, the rapids at the 'Aqiqah
dam are avoided. Mahailahs take about 8 hours to traverse the distance from Suq to
the Hammar Lake.
The entrance of the Mezlik in the Hammar Lake is difficult to find in the flood season.
From the mouth to Mezlik the channel is only 25 yards wide, and the usual depth in June
is from 6 to 7 feet. In the dry season this falls to as little as 2} to 3 feet, and the bar at the
mouth in Hammar lake is only 15 inches in August. The bar itself is about 150 yards
long and consists of soft black mud.
Mezlik is a group of scattered villages on the left bank and the Juwaibar villages and
towers are a little way further on, situated in a rich rice-growing area. Previous to the
British occupation the Juwaibar tribe had been accustomed to take a toll of six rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf.
from each safinah owner, guaranteeing him in return a safe passage to Gurmah. They
were also under obligation to keep the bar always dredged during the low season, an
operation which they carried out by hand.
From Mezlik onwards for four miles the channel deepens to seven feet but after
this at the village of Gurmah (Bani Said) it shoals again. Gurmah lies on the right bank
large and prosperous, with about 1,000 inhabitants, whose principal business is the export
of dates, sheep, and rice.
This shoal here is caused by a gravel bar 200 yards long, and 3-| to 4 feet deep in
August.
h ( Al-
♦Phonetic spelling, for the accuracy of which I will not vouch.
The original Euphrates stream has been completly silted up below Gurmah, and only a dry bed remains
which may easily be followed in its course. It leaves the Umm Nakhlah a mile below the junction of the latter with
the Mezlik, and follows a line between the Bani Said and Mumanin tirbes, running almost parallel to the present
Mezlik channel. It comes out into Hammar lake about a mile below the Mezlik,
6b2

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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' [‎731] (786/1050), 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_100023909214.0x0000bb> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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