'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎901] (962/1050)

'w
'IRAQ
901
i are gaily
Stone attached to a rope and dragging along the bottom of the river. The larger
Mahailahs sometimes have a Quffah as dinghy.
There is also a class of small boat On the Euphrates about Musaiyib which is called
8ajah.
Tbe last and most primitive kind of river craft in 'Iraq are the Kalaks or rafts which
come down from Musal to Baghdad and sometimes to 'Amarah Town. They consist of
a square or oblong platform, either of timber or built up with iayers of crossed branches
to a thickness of 1| or 2 feet and then covered with rough planks: the usual size is 14
by 15 feet to 16 by 18 feet, but some are even 30 feet long. The buoyancy of the
materials is increased by 30 to 50 inflated skins which are attached to the submerged
portion of the platfom ; the Kalak can Only move with the current and is kept in mid
stream by means of two roughly fashioned sweeps. These rafts bring with them pottery,'
wood, fruit, empty oil-tins, etc., which they sell on the way to villagers and Bedouins ;
on arrival at their destination they are broken up, the wood being sold as scantlings
to house-builders and the skins conveyed up the river again to the original point of
departure. The load of a Kalak varies from 5 to 30 tons.
It is impossible. Owing to defective registration, to obtain a clear idea of the number
of boats which exist on the rivers.* At Basrah Town, in 1903-04, there were 635
mastless and 475 masted vessels upon the Government books } but the Naqib of Basrah
alone then owned 200 boats, other notables among them perhaps 50, and a large number
of private individuals 3 or 4 each, none of which were registered. Mashhufs, too, ar©
never registered. The chief seats of boat-building are Basrah Town and Sangar on the
Shatt-al-'Arab below Basrah. The times taken by native boats to ascend and descend
the large rivers are extremely uncertain, varying with wind and current: thus the upward
journey from Basrah to Bahgdad varies between 15 and 45 days, and the downward
journey from Baghdad to Basrah between 10 and 30 days, but river and wind both being
favourable Basrah may even be reached from Baghdad in 5 days.
In the tables which follow below of the administrative divisions of 'Ir'aq as they
existed under Turkish rule, opportunity has been taken to insert some details elucidative
of facts given in the paragraphon population above.
The Baghdad Wilayat consists of 3 Sanjaqs, viz,, those of Baghdad and Diwamyah,
which are both of the first class, and that of Karbala which belongs to the second class.
The following are the details of their composition :—
Name of Qadha.
Chef-lieu of Qadha
and its population in
souls.
Population of Qadha
in souls and class to
which it belongs.
Nahiyahs composing
the Qadha and class
to which each belongs.
(1) Sanjaq of Baghdad.
^Anah ..
'Aziziyah
Badrah .
Baghdad
'Anah Town
5,000.
'AzIzTyah Village.
200
Badrah Town
2,500
Baghdad City
000
f Bag
C 140,
r 20,(
I 3rd
r 2o,(
^ 2nd
r i5,(
I 3rd
f 150,(
^ /Mar
,000
3rd class
,000
2nd class
,000
3rd class
,000
(Markaz)
Hadaithah (3rd).
Jubbah-Alus (3rd).
Qaim (2nd).
Salman Pak (1st).
[
Gharaibah (2nd).
Jassan (2nd).
Mu'adhdham (2nd) i
•Estimates of the river transport which might be obtainable at Baghdad and Basrah are given by Captain
H. Smyth in his Reconnaissance liifon, 1904.