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'Diary of a Tour in the Persian Gulf and in Turkish Arabia December 1906, by Lieutenant-Colonel Malleson Assistant Quarter Master General, Intelligence Branch, Division of the Chief of the Staff.' [‎15r] (29/46)

The record is made up of 1 volume (23 folios). It was created in 1907. 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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23
Its former glory,
and decline.
ad;
sociations
istory.
The modern city.
frown; even in those days f the grester part
of Europe had hardly emerged from the
primitive barbarism into which it had sunk
with the fall of the Roman Empire, or from
which it had never emerged. Beautified
and embellished by Haroun-er-Rashid and
by his celebrated consort, whose remains,
still covered by a much renovated tomb,
lie close at hand, and by the succeeding
Caliphs, for five hundred years, with vary
ing fortunes, Bagdad maintained its posi
tion as one of the most important capitals
of Asia. Then came the Mongols from the
great central steppes, carrying death and
devastation with them, and Bagdad, like
many another haughty capital, had to bow
before the storm. A century and a half
later Timur, that second Scourge of God,
followed in the footsteps of his forbears,
leaving a ravished and ruined city and a
pyramid of 90,000 Bagdadi heads as
mementos of his handiwork. Into the later
vicissitudes of this once mighty capital it
is unnecessary to enter. Enough has been
said to show that here one is on classic
ground. In the near neighbourhood em
pires, as mighty in their way as any the
world knows now, have had their rise,
whilst the ruins of their capitals to this
day proclaim their fall. Here, if we are
not in the very cradle of the human race,
we are at least on ground the associations of
which take us back into the as yet scarce
ly explored depths of history, to the days
when the world was young. Here, too,
all around us, lie the battlefields of the
earliest nations of our race, where the war
ring peoples, led by the greatest captains
of antiquity, met in deadliest conflict, and
dynasties and empires rose and fell. If
Belgium has any right to be called the
cockpit of Europe, then assuredly may
Mesopotamia be termed the battle-ground
of Asia. It is only by remembering these
things and by attuning oneself to its
glorious past that one can with advantage
study or appreciate the Bagdad of to-day.
For assuredly, apart from those traditions,
there is little in the modern city to excite
either our admiration or our interest. The
traveller who, attracted merely by the
glamour of a name, expects to find in Bag
dad the wondrous city of his dreams is
doomed to bitter - disappointment.
Having said so much I can resume the
prosaic record of our doings. We ascend
ed to the high roof of the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. and
from that vantage ground obtained an
excellent view of the city.
A photograph in the collection which
accompanies this report shows the view
up-stream. Across the river, here some 300

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Content

The diary, written by Lieutenant-Colonel Wilfrid Malleson, comprises daily entries and accounts of his travels from 3 to 29 December 1906.

The diary commences on his arrival at sea off Maskat [Muscat] before recounting the journey to Basra via Bushire and Koweit [Kuwait] and on to Baghdad, Babylon, Seleucia [Minţaqat as Salūqīyat al Atharīyah] and Ctesiphon.

Each entry contains descriptions of places visited and notes on trade, climate and local customs along with accounts of conversations with people; in addition, there are observations on other matters such as quarantine arrangements, pilgrimages and local shortages of labour.

Printed at the Government Monotype Press, Simla 1907.

Extent and format
1 volume (23 folios)
Arrangement

The report comprises daily entries arranged chronologically by date.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 23; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'Diary of a Tour in the Persian Gulf and in Turkish Arabia December 1906, by Lieutenant-Colonel Malleson Assistant Quarter Master General, Intelligence Branch, Division of the Chief of the Staff.' [‎15r] (29/46), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/66, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100025648363.0x00001e> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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