'Field notes: Mesopotamia. General Staff, India. February, 1917.' [‎18v] (43/350)

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Zubair is a market town for the surrounding Bedouin tribes.
The ruins of old Basrah extend from the walls of Zubair for 3*
miles along the road to the modern Basrah; they consist of
mounds of earth intermingled with fragments of yellow burnt
brick, and they cover an area of several square miles. Two miles
from Zubair, on the southern edge of the high road, are the
remains of one of the principal mosques of the ancient town; part
of its northern minaret, faced with excellent yellow brick, is still
erect. About a mile to the east of this old mosque is the tomb of
Talhah, who was slain along with Zubair in the Battle of the
Camel, fought near this place in 656 A. D. These two monuments
alone remain to testify to the greatness of the former city.
The Tigris Valley (from Baghdad to Basrah).
The river Tigris forms the principal means of approach
from Basrah and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. to Baghdad, and, as noted
by Sir W. Wilcocks, is the only means of communication worth
the name between the capital of Mesopotamia and the outer
world.
Approaching one another to within a distance of 24 miles
at Baghdad, the Tigris and the Euphrates then trend apart r
finally uniting at Gurmat ’Ali and thence flowing as one stream
to Basrah. The country between the rivers is the ancient
Babylonian plain, once of great fertility, but now largely lying
waste owing to the want of irrigation canals and the proper
artificial control of the water which existed in former days.
The lower part between the two rivers, prior to their junc
tion, is mostly marsh, with brakes of canes and reeds, while
along the lower course of the Kharkeh, a Persian stream which
joins near Qurnah, there are also extensive marshes, so that
south of ’Amarah traffic is restricted to the river, and any
military movement from Basrah to Baghdad would necessarily
have to be by steamer or boat, unless a wide detour were made
to the west by the Euphrates valley as will be described later..
Between the river and the hills on the Persian frontier on
the east, the country is flat and termed “desert” shortly
after the vicinity of the river is left. As a matter of fact, how
ever, although there is no cultivation, this tract is fairly well
watered and is to a great extent grass or cultivate land.