'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from September 1850 to June 1852. Edited by the Secretary. Volume X.' [‎74] (207/458)

iwrjwniuMiumi'JCTi*
COMMANDER F. JONES.
connected with the waters of the Tigris, through its South Eastern irrh
gants, its waters not only supplied the towns that had been isolated by the
great change the Tigris made to the Eastward, but acted also a defen
sive barrier to the suddenly bereaved cities, and the immense tract of
land which, by the irruption, had become the property of the district.
Protected by this stream to the West, and by the new course of the Ti
gris to the East, the included space doubtless became the resort of the
peaceable landholder and cultivator, for the security it afforded, A
glance at the map will show the value of this isolated portion, yet
strange to say, the present Government pays but a slight regard to its
naturally secure position, where a judicious expenditure, coupled with an
earnest attention to the improvement of one spot, would at once show
how the resources of the country could be again adopted for the ob-
tainment of vast revenues such as it formerly enjoyed, instead of the
exchequer being kept at its miserably low state from year to year, by
hard wrung and difficultly collected drainings, in the shape of taxes and
tribute, from places separated by tracts of desert from each other, and
from people who, confiding in their distance from the seat of Govern
ment and the weakness of the authorities, contribute no more to the
State treasury than suits their taste for idleness and exemption from the
visits of the soldiery. In Turkey, more than in any other country, these
visits are as dilatory as ineffectual, though for the time they occasion in
convenience to the Arab, insomuch as the tribe has to quit its territory,
which alone embarrasses a community, for, in addition to the domestic
disturbances occasioned by the movement of flocks and herds into less
favorable pastures, it frequently embroils the tribe with neighbouring
families, at a time when harmony should prevail* Thus idleness and a
partiality for the domestic soil on the one hand, combined with the
absence of morale in the constitution of the Turk, and a want of ethi
cal knowledge in the government of states on the other, forges a politi
cal link of union which, however corrupt, maintains the chain unbroken,
though most galling from the necessity which gives rise to the mu
tual dependence. Were the present Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. but disposed, the Dijeil
would be easily opened to its former extent, and the small tribes,
now annually in a state of starvation around Baghdad, would glad
ly avail themselves of its protection to people the spot; nor for this