Coll 17/4 'Iraq-Syria & Syria-Transjordan frontier: delimitation' [‎23r] (50/788)

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or toMsX W% a ST S Att be The ging t0 f*™ ° f M ° Sul - ^ ncnad tribes
to the Yezidis. As between cultivators the fi^Ms aTeTraw T f{ t,V u te them> but lease th em
cultivators thus desginated undertake cultivation for a whZ v Y ’ m ? ns ° f stones - The
a percentage of the crop obtained. 1 h 1 year and hand °ver to the owner
To the north-west of the Tebel Teriba
two small villages with a settled Arab population which ’’am,' 1 '' 1 "!! Jebd Sin ! ar ' there ar ‘-
must be mentioned here. These are Khatouniya and El Hoi §h " ° f Very great im P ortan «.
tion T ho e w“ a n n ot alfysIXintfortehnee^ andfheTth^, ° f ‘T name - Their P roduc -
On the other hand, the/procure sug^^tih^^^^
Both have sheep which they entrust to the care of the Yezidis of the Tebel in exchange for
half the produce. They are peoples living in great poverty, who are condemned by their isolation
and their small numbers to lead an extremely precarious existence. Their cultivations are however
capable of greater development. ’ iuwevei >
C. Salt deposit Sector. — Apart from its value on account of its pastures, this region is also
of considerable importance as a great reservoir of salt. As we have already seen, it is only the
Buara depression that offers the advantages of a good salt deposit. While certain other depressions,
such as those of Seba and Snesseleh, although having a much thinner and less pure layer of salt!
seem to have been or to be still exploited to a certain extent, their importance is negligible compared
with that of the Buara deposit. We therefore feel justified in confining ourselves to the examination
of the latter.
The Buara salt deposit, like that of Seba indeed, was subject at a certain period of the Ottoman
Empire to a State monopoly established for the benefit of the Ottoman Public Debt. The purpose
of this enterprise was no doubt less to make profits than to prevent the free exploitation of these
salt deposits by the nomads, and thus eliminate competition with another salt deposit situated
in the neighbourhood of Aleppo, and belonging to the State, which was being run at a loss. Ruined
buildings on the borders of the Buara still bear witness to this official exploitation, which, as
might be expected, showed considerable losses.
When the Turkish regime came to an end, both Iraq and Syria claimed the right to use the
Buara deposit. Syria, which at present exercises no control, permits the population to supply
itself freely. Iraq, on the other hand, which has instituted a salt monopoly, has for several years
leased to private persons its share of this salt deposit, while exempting the nomads from the
legal tax. In the last two years, however, no lessee seems to have come forward. The use of the
salt deposit has consequently been entirely left to the nomads on the Iraqi side.
The annual exploitation of this salt deposit begins at the end of spring i.e., when the
waters which covered it have evaporated — and terminates with the first rains of winter. e
methods used are very simple. They consist in breaking the layer of salt and drying the pieces
in the sun for a few hours: they are then placed in sacks, which are loaded on camels The quantities
thus extracted seem to amount on the Syrian side to about 400 tons a year, which is sufficient
for the needs of the Jezira and even part of Anatolia Peninsula that forms most of modern-day Turkey. — i.e., about 200,000 persons.
The annual production on the Iraqi side was estimated during the years of lea f ed ° ld a ^
200 to 500 tons, a quantity sufficient for the needs of about a third o e popu a
of Mosul. ,
It may therefore be said without exaggeration that the Buara salt deposit plays a part of
considerable importance in the economic life of the two coun ries.
D. Euphrates Sector. - In the fertile and popdous vailey of t^
active commercial life is in process of developmen . ^om e ^ ^ eS p ec i a py on the
righ^bank^^IIer^severaWfopoit^t^ractions 01 ^ Bedouin tribes have settled more or less
The most important iSgsT^Kataakam^ussdn^afat'-- detracted
within its waUs'chiefly 1 traderslrom Anah, an - situated further east and renowned
for the industrious and commercial charac « r ° p P an increasing tendency to grow.
Albu Kemal, which to-day has 2,000 mbabl * a " ts ’ f th b vall g According to the information
It is the market of all the P r J d ^ ce . rfe and CC L flop volume of business done by the town amounts
given to us by the President Mumcip y, 0 ooto 1,100,000 French francs. Moreover
to from £4,000 to £10,000 (gold) per annum ^ 45 > sessors 0 f the Commission, Albu Kemal
according to a statement made by the populations to the east of the de facto frontier
during the first six months of the year sole „ P iritS) perfumery, firewood and fruit.
£T2,5oo (gold) of goods, chiefly cereals, s ugar, ’ s y ]q an Customs Service collected, during
According to other particulars from the ® a ^ e ^^ no l$y r i a n piastres, or 370,000 French francs,
the year 1931, a sum of about 1,850,000 imoano y