'Papers relating to transfer of Middle Eastern Affairs to the Colonial Office and creation of a new Department there, 1920-1921, with Cabinet notes of Milner, Montague, Churchill, self, and others' [‎12v] (24/136)

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The estimate of religions is as follows:—
Mosul Province —
218,000 Sunnis,
25,000 Christians,
5.500 Jew r s,
7.500 Yezidi.
Baghdad Province —
245,000 Sunnis,
420,000 Shiahs,
6,000 Christians,
50,000 Jews.
Basra Province —
218,000 Sunnis,
553,000 Shiahs,
5.000 Christians.
3,000 Jews.
Probably one-half of the Mahommedan population, Arab and Kurd, is either
urban or agricultural, and thus does not constitute a difficult problem from an
administrative point of view. Of the remaining Moslems, one-fifth are wholly
nomadic and four-fifths semi-nomadic, i.e., combining cultivation with the keeping
of stock, necessitating more or less frequent shifts for grazing purposes. Practically
all able-bodied Bedouin possess arms, and a large proportion of settled Arabs do
too. The Kurds also possess a large number of rifles.
Communications.
6. (a.) Railways are shown in the map attached.
(h.) Roads .—The only permanent road is that from railhead (Shergat) to
Mosul, a distance of 72 miles.
All other roads are unmetalled tracks, and although during the wet season,
from November to May, the surface of the ground is soft and difficult for anything
but light vehicles such as Ford cars, mechanical transport can travel about almost
anywhere in the plains during the dry season.
(c.) Rivers— A.s a general rule vessels of 3 feet draught can ascend the
Tigris as far as Baghdad in the dry season and those up to 5 feet draught at other
times. In May and June vessels of 6 feet to 7 feet draught might be able to reach
Baghdad.
The up journey by steamer from Kurna to Baghdad takes about five days, and
the down journey about four. A steamer with towing barges can convey some 400
tons of cargo in the wet season and some 280 tons in the dry. Baghdad may be
taken as the upper limit of steam navigation on the Tigris.
With regard to the Euphrates, owing to the vast swamps in its lower course,
the rapids that occur above Fellujeh and the constant changes in the stream, but
scant facilities for steam navigation are afforded.
With regard to external communications, the desert to the west and south-w T est
constitutes, o-wing to the lack of water, an effective barrier against the advance of
strong organised forces from this direction. To the north and east the onl\ lines of
advance available to such forces are the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, and the
road from Persia through Kermanshah, Kasr-i-Shirin and Khanikin.