'Field notes: Mesopotamia. General Staff, India. February, 1917.' [‎81v] (169/350)

154
Route No. T— contd .
on, and miles S. of Abad Ali, just beyond a shallow triple
canal cut 15 yards wide. Water good and plentiful from
Tigris. No grazing nor fuel. As the floods rise, the track
from mile 8 ^ to mile 13^, where the river is again met with,
becomes impassable, and a line should be taken close alongside
the river bank.
For the first two miles after leaving Shaikh Shabib’s fort,
at mile 8 |, the going is heavy and difficult for carts. It then
improves and remains fairly good until the direct track is joined
at mile 131-. South of this point, in a loop of the Tigris, there
is about 1,000 yards of scrub jungle. This river track crosses
numerous canal cuts, and adds about 1 mile to the length of
the march.
The following are the principal canal cuts met with in this
stage :—
Distance from Camp in
miles.
Breadth
in feet.
Denth
in feet.
State at the beginning of
February.
3i
10
5 \-
35
3
16
4
•6' of water.
5
16 -
5
Dry.
51
15
5
7f
16
3
6" of water.
(River track) 01
36
u-
31' „
„ 10f
13
3
1' „
„ HI
30
6
1'
2 SHAIKH JUWI . . 131.—General direction of
stage N.W., following
27 1 * the left bank of the
Tigris. In dry weather, the road is passable throughout by all
arms, but is very heavy in parts, and is generally worse than
the first stage. Up to mile 1 the ground is low lying, and is
liable to be flooded by spillage from an inundation which
forms on the right of the track, and about 500 yards from it