File 2764/1904 Pt 2 'Baghdad Railway: General negotiations 1908-10.' [‎60v] (129/799)

camels hides (to Europe and America); intestines (to Europe); albumen Method of printing photographs using an emulsion of salt and egg white (albumen). (to
Marseilles); liquorice (to America) ; wheat and barley (to Bagdad and India); durra,
Sf tobacco sesame gum tragacanth (two kinds), linseed, lentil peas, wool (to
Sand and America/; mohair (to Europe); fur, silk honey, manna walnu s, hazel
nut! pistachios, almonds, figs, raisins, olives, opium, turpentine, alkah, fennel, myrrlg.
coriander, colocynth, rhubarb, hyssop, samphire soap-bark mustard camomile, lemon-
grass nigella, cummin, lavage, wormwood, angelica and others of which it is not easy
to be’sui! of the English names, but of which samples have been collected and sent to
the Board of Trade; mulberries, lemons, peaches, apples, pomegranates, apricots,
pears oranges, grapes, quinces, melons, cucumbers tomatoes, onions, beans, acorns (are
important articles of consumption among the poor), &c. i j -i
P 23. Minerals. —Coal, petroleum, asphalt, &c„ pitch, sulphur, salt iron, lead, silver,
copper, arsenic, alabaster of two kinds, and a substance called gdl which I presume
to be a kind of fuller’s earth. Its presence suggests the possibility of aluminium.
24. Recent Events, 1908-9.~The revival of the constitution proved a convenient
opportunity for getting rid of an unpopular vah Mustapha Beg, the brother of the
notorious Izzet Plsha) ; but this personal satisfaction apart the new order o things
found the people of Mosul without enthusiasm, and has left them rather complacently
sceptical of the success of this new experiment on the part of then rulers. Abdul
Hamid is frankly regretted, and it was curious to note the promptness with which an
unfavourable estimate of his successor found general acceptance Ihe ex-Su tan was,
at least, a power and a name to fear ; with his withdrawal the old familiar landmarks
of authority seem to have disappeared, and the population have come not unnaturally,
to the conclusion that the dislocation here is only the reflection ol the state o things
at Constantinople. In short, the Government have lost prestige, and have not yet
contrived to demonstrate the merits of the new dispensation. The conduct of the first
parliamentary elections and their result, in the sending to Constantinople of individuals
who command no special respect among their fellow-citizens, have not diminished the
general sentiment of cynical misgiving for the future.
25. Mustapha Beg was succeeded as vali by the Fenk Zekki Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , former y an
instructor in the military academy at Constantinople, who—as was anticipated—proved
a failure. With no administrative or personal reputation, it required little ingenuity
on the part of the ulema and notables to completely shatter his authority. I e
occasion was the massacre of Sheikh Sa'id (6th January, 1909). Two mont s o
anarchy followed, and Zekki Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. was providentially transferred. .
26. Beshid Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , his successor, had been vali of Bitlis, whence he arrived here
on the 1st March, but left again within thirty-six hours for^ Kerkuk and Suleimame ,
with the purpose of restoring order amongst the Kurds. His promises to punish those
responsible for the Sheikh Said affair had a calming effect for the time, but, as these
have so far been only very partially fulfilled, discontent has continued to smoulder,
breaking out from time to time, as in the Hamawand affair of last June. Reshid Pas la
returned precipitately to Mosul on the 11th April, in consequence of the very thieatenmg,
and, indeed, critical state of affairs which then prevailed here, and it is not improbable
his arrival, and the prompt arrest of some of the promoters of the Mohamedie Associa
tion, were only just in time to avert grave trouble. brom that time on, however,
Beshid Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. was harassed by intrigues, carried on largely through the medium of the
press, and in August—somewhat unnecessarily, as it seemed—he was recalled. ^
27. The Ferik Mohamed Fazil Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Daghistani is thus the fourth vali in Mosu
in less than a year and a-half. It is impossible not to like him, but he has yet to show
his capacity to govern. Though apparently a man of action rather than affairs, it is
not unlikely—in a place where the personal element counts before everything he may
succeed if given a chance. To a fine presence, extraordinary physical strength and a
proved reputation for courage and endurance, he adds the advantages of good birth,
keenness on sport of all kinds, and complete indifference to money—qualities enormously
respected here, and which have already won for him a better position than that of his
recent predecessors. His fine horses and crowd of Daghistani servants are approved as
fitting the state of the Governor-General, and in satisfactory contrast to the poor figures
cut by the others, who were flouted accordingly".
28. Sheikh Said. —The late Sheikh Said w T as chief of the clan which for many
years has been predominant in Suleimanieh and surrounding country. He was a
personal favourite of Sultan Abdul Hamid, who was in the habit of telegraphing for
the sheikh’s prayers. Expelled from Suleimanieh for their intolerable tyranny m
November 1908, he and his sons came to Mosul, where with a crowd of Kurdish
retainers they lived in great state for a couple of months. In the course of one of the