'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from September 1850 to June 1852. Edited by the Secretary. Volume X.' [‎76] (209/458)

SEOBsnmH
.
Hi
76
COMMANDER F. JONES.
admirable thieves, and covet, in no ordinate degree, the property of
their neighbours. Its population is composed of several tribes ; among
others, fixed residents from the pastoral and agricultural families of the
Khasrej, the Wazim, the Babilin, * and the S&fiyeh—who here, as
schismatics, enjoy unmolested the opinions they have imbibed. Like
all other lands in this part of Turkey the district is annually farmed
to the highest bidder, who, without reference to his abilities and charac
ter, becomes at once in his own person proprietor and farmer, tax-
gatherer and assessor, as well as magistrate, jury, and sometimes execu
tioner, in all cases but those of life and death. The present functio
nary, or Zabit f as he is termed, is T&hir Aga, a descendant of one of the
old Baghdad families, and has held the district for two successive years,
contracting to pay to the State in this period the amount of forty lacs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees of
riege Piastres, a nominal coin, equivalent to a sum of £877 sterling. Here
then is a district that encloses perhaps an area of 200 square miles, of the
finest alluvial land,—than which, I believe, there is none more productive
and surrounded on all sides by water—paying about £4 10$ per square
mile, which, instead of an iron plough, so soft is the soil, requires only
a pointed piece of wood to turn up its surface for the purpose of the
cultivator. The water too, flowing from a higher level, needs only an
excavated path to traverse it in its whole extent, with no other
trouble than that of keeping the aqueducts clear to render the irri
gation complete at all times, and yet no heed is taken to the re-open-
ing of the Dijeil Canal, whose wire-drawn streams can now be stepped
across by a boy at Sumeyeheh, while in by-gone times they swept
onwards through the lateral ducts, even in brooks some yards in
extent.
On leaving Baghdad the Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. had kindly furnished a letter to the
Zabit of the district, “ who now invited us to take up our abode in
the “ Serai,” the best accommodation the miserable village afforded.
Declining the intended courtesy, however, we selected a flat sward
* The late Dr. Ross mentions these people in his journey to A1 Hadhr, noticed
R. O. Soc.y as the descendants probably of the original Babylonians, dne o y
information I could obtain regarding them was their having originally come from
neighbourhood of Kerkuk. The name is recognised by the Arabs as an ancient one mm*
possessors are no doubt in some way connected with the original stock that peopled
Fourth Climate, as the ancient Persian geographers denominated the Land of Babel.
^ Zabit signifies a “ master” or “ superior,” and is used in Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. to
denote the w chief” of the district; he is generally also the proprietor or farmer of the sou*