'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎866] (927/1050)

866
'IRAQ
are among the self-propagating teres of the country, and there is also a mimosa which
goes by the name of Shok-ash-Shami. i j j r i
A small thorny plant, called simply Sh5k, is common everywhere and affords fuel
and camel grazing. In the desert between Basrah and Kuwait are found, in addition
to other common forage plants, a shrub called Haram and a grass called Shahbah, both of
which are eaten by camels : the leaves of the Haram are small and globular and contain
Two vegetable products, natural but possessing a commercial value, are colocynth
or Handhal and Sus or liquorice. The colocynth occurs everywhere and is obtamed m
large quantities from the waste country between Baghdad and Hillah ; but it is inferior
to the Syrian colocynth, and the dried pulp only is exported instead of the whple fruit.
The trade in liquorice is dealt with in one of the paragraphs on trade below. The liquor
ice plant grows chiefly in river bends, on the concave side of the curves, and is said never
to be found at more than two miles distance from the water's edge ; it requires a good
deal of moisture and benefits by occasional floods. Its maximum height is about 10
feet, but on the average it does not exceed 4 or 5. Liquorice wood is a staple article oi
fuel at Baghdad. - .
Fauna.—Wild animals are rare in 'Iraq except gazelles, pigs (which abound m the
marshes) and jackals ; hyaenas, foxes and hares also are said to exist.
Duck, black partridge and snipe are among the feathered game ; and the bustard is
found in the desert, while heron and other aquatic birds are numerous in the marshes.
The rivers produce fish, but not many kinds that are good to eat. The best known
are the Bizz, which is often 6 to 7 feet long and over 100 lbs. in weight; the Shabut,
a fish weighing from 2 to 6 lbs; the Bunni, a smaller but better tasting fish than the
Shalrot; Qattan, along, round fish measuring about 4feet; the Jurri, a kind of scaieless
catfish about 2| feet long, eaten by Sunni Muhammadans but rejected by Shi ah Muham-
madans and Christians: and the Abu Zumair, a mustachioed fish which only the desert
Arabs will eat. There are also a fish about 6 inches long, called Biyah, and a kind ot
flat fish known as Mazlag. Sharks over 6 feet in length visit Baghdad in the hot season
and make bathing in the Tigris dangerous; they have been found as far up stream as
Samarrah. . j
In the marshy districts mosquitoes abound and sometimes make lite a burden.
Minerals. —The minerals of 'Iraq are bitumen, mineral oil, and salt; of these the first
two occur outside the limits to which this article is confined, the bitumen at Hit and
' Anah on the upper Euphrates, and the oil at Hit and in the neighbourhood of the Persian
frontier at Mandali, etc. The principal salt fields are those described in the articles
on the 'Azizlyah, Karbala, Najaf, Nasirlyah, Samawah, Shatrat-al-'Amarah Qadhas ;
there is one also, but of less importance, on the outskirts of Baghdad City near the Bab-
at-Tilism.
It may be added that Juss or gypsum mortar is found in many parts of 'Iraq, especially
at Mahmudiyah, Samarrah and Tikrit; that a whitish-yellow clay, suitable fcr pottery,
is obtained from the banks of the Tigris ; and that the desert about Baghdad and
Ba'qabah yields a clay good for making bricks.
Climite and health.—The climate of 'Iraq is on the whole not unhealthy, but it may
be described as extreme, for the temperature in the shade ranges at Baghdad City
from a minimum of 18-6 0 F. in winter to a maximum of 123° in summer. De
cember, January and February are cold, crisp, and even bracing months, during which
some rain falls ; March and April are warm and unsettled, with occasional thunder and
dust-storms ; May and June are hot but fine, often with a refreshing north-west wind or
Shamal at night; in July, August and September the heat is excessive and almost in
supportable, driving the inhabitants of the towns to live in subterranean^ rooms ^ or
Sardabs by day, and upon the roofs of their houses from sunset to sunrise; during
October the heat begins to debate, and in November the weather becomes cool again.
More precise details of temperature and rainfall will be found in the article on Baghdad
City, the only place in 'Iraq for which exact statistics exist.
In 'Iraq the prevailing winds are those from the north-west and north ; but calm
weather is the rule. High temperatures accompany the east wind or Sharqi when it
blows in the months of June, July and August; and the south wii^d is invariably
oppressive and is generally accompanied by dust.