'Reconnaissances in Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, North-West Persia, and Luristan from April to October 1888. By Lt F R Maunsell, Intelligence Branch. In Two Volumes. Volume I: narrative report, description of larger towns and routes leading from them. Simla: Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General's Dept, 1890' [‎17v] (39/312)

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is from 400 to 600 yards; it rises then 8 feet above its July level. The current
is from 4 to 5 miles an hour.
Below Jazirah to its junction with the Euphrates, the Tigris receives no
tributaries of any size from the desert country on the right bank.
Khabur River .—About 23 miles by river south-east of Jazirah, the Tigris
receives the Khabur, a large tributary rising in the southern slope of the Aka-
rak Dagh, a snowy range 20 miles west of Julamerk. It Hows through a
very wild mountainous country in the Berwari district, and emerges from
the mountains 25 miles east of Zakho.
Below Zakho the Khabur ceases to be a mountain torrent, and is navigable
in high water for rafts from there to the Tigris. Eight miles west of Zakho it
receives on the right bank the Hazil, a large mountain stream coming from
the Judi Dagh.
Below its junction with the Khabur the Tigris is 150 to 200 yards wide
flowing in a deep channel over a gravelly bed. The current about 3 miles an
hour. There was a ferry at Eeishkhabur, but it has been removed by the
Government.
From Feishkhabur to Mosul the course is nearly south-east, the river
making a wide bend round the Batma Dagh, a low desert ridge about 20 miles
above Mosul.
At Mosul a bridge-of-boats spans the deep channel, and a masonry bridge
that portion of the bed which is covered in the flood season. In June the
channel at Mosul at the bridge is 170 yards wide. The total width covered
in flood was 650 yards.
There is 10 to 15 feet of water at the bridge at Mosul, with a current from
4 to 5 miles an hour.
Zih'-ul-Awaz Bund .—Below Mosul the river runs in a deep channel over
a wide gravelly bed, with a current not more than 3 miles an hour in floods;
and in summer scarcely 1 mile an hour. At about 28 miles by river, and 20
miles in a direct line S.S.E. of Mosul, is the celebrated masonry bund called
the Zikr-ul-Awaz Bund.
It is drawn across from bank to bank, and is about 18 inches high. The
banks are the usual fl it sandy plains, and not more than 5 or 6 feet high at
the lowest season, so that there would be no difficulty in making a canal to
turn the obstacle or blowing up a passage in it with dynamite.
Zikr-Imail Bund .—Seven miles lower down is the remains of another
similar dam, now almost obliterated by the force of the current, called the Zikr
Ismail. Numerous sulphurous and naptha springs at various points along the
banks. I he sulphur baths of Hammam Ali are a few miles inland on the
right bank near the bund.
Great Zab River.
About 12| miles below the Zikr-ul-Awaz bund, the Great Zab joins the
Tigris on the left bank. This is one of the largest tributaries, and rises in
the low hill} ranges of the frontier district of Albak, and flows south-south
west through the Bash Kala plain.
At Karmi iUs joined by a large branch, the Nihaila Gavvari, which rises
in Nutcha, flows through the plain of Gavvar, and north-west along the foot
of the lofty snow-covered ranges of Tura Bemarghil andTura Daouil.
Below Karmi the Zab enters the group of snow-covered mountains inhabited
by the Nestoiian Cluistians, flowing in a deep narrow valley, along a tortuous
rocky course. The river here is a wild mountain torrent, rushing between