'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From December 1854 to March 1856. (New Issue.) Edited by the Secretary. Volume XII.' [‎72] (183/258)

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COMMANDER F. JONES S
rapidly, being swept away annually by encroachments of the river. The Por
tugal orange attains perfection in Baghdad, and the gardens produce apples,
figs, plumbs, almonds, grapes, appricots, nectarines, mulberries, nebecks or
jujubes and pomegranates. If we except the latter all are of very ordinary
flavor and growth. The pomegranates however is delicious. Usually there is
an abundant supply of water and musk mellons in the season. The native vega-
tables enumerated in the lists in the first part of the paper are plentiful and
cheap, but there is a great dearth of these asculents in the winter; of common
flowers such as roses and stocks there are abundance, but others are rare.
To the above a list of medicines procurable in the Baghdad markets, chiefly
from herbs found in the surrounding country, or the produce of Persia and
Asia Minor, may not be irrelevant. I am indebted to Dr. James Hyshop, the
Civil Surgeon at Baghdad, for this addition to the report, and those requiring
more detailed informa lion on the climate, diseases, and flora of Irak, will do
well to seek it of him, for he has an ample knowledge of the subject and is ever
ready to oblige enquirers.
This completes the report which has been hastily drawn up owing to the
plan of Baghdad having occupied the whole of my disposable time for some
months past, and other occupations now will not admit of systematic compi
lation. This must plead lor errors and the rambling style throughout. As
to the map, it will, I believe, be found as nearly correct as possible, for it
has been the labor of many days, and it will be readily understood that such
a work has not been completed without anxiety. To the tact and sldll of
Mr. W. Collingwood, a young officer of the Indian Navy, lately associated
with me, I am materially indebted. The main features are all trigonometri
cally determined, and the detail of narrow streets &c. worked in chiefly by
the aid of a prismatic compass A compass fitted with a sighting vane and magnifier to achieve additional accuracy. . These must necessarily be imperfect in
some respects, when circumspection is so necessary to works of this nature.
Revered too as the name of Baghdad is in the East, and delightfully associat
ed with our boyhood in the West, I may be permitted to hope that my labors
have not been thrown away, especially at a time when the public attention is
more immediately drawn to events enacting in Asia.
(Signed) Felix Jones, Commander I. N.,
and Surveyor in Mesopotamia.
On the Tribes of Irak.
As an appendix to the general sketch I have drawn of the Arab tribes
spread over Irak Babylonia, I now offer short notices of distinct families which
have come under my observation, first however remarking these are distinct
from the great Bedoin tribes which have either now settled in Irak or visit it