"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٢‎١‎٤] (١٧٨٢/١٣٦٩)

1214
charge were in the personal gift of the Pasha; but he was obliged to
submit all matters of great importance to his Council or Divvan, of which
not only the Agha or commander of the Janissaries, the chief Qadhi, and
the Naqib of the shrine of 'Abdul Qadir, but also every ex-official of high
rank resident at Basrah and various ecclesiastical authorities were mem
bers. The chief Qadhiship, it may be mentioned, was held every year by
a new incumbent, appointed from Constantinople. The executive func
tionary next in rank and power to the Pasha himself was his Kehiyah or
Minister, who had charge under him of all matters, whether civil or
military ; and other officials, some of whom possessed a public character
while some belonged rather to the household of the Pasha, were numerous.
The troops under the direct orders of the Pasha of Baghdad, including his
personal guards, amounted to 6,000 or 7,000 men; and in addition to
these there were at headquarters a strong force ot artillery and variotis
corps of Janissaries, the latter variously estimated at i 0,000 to 40,000 men ;
but over the artillery in question and over the Janissaries, who were imperial
troops and received their orders from Constantinople, the Pasha had no
control. A number of the Janissaries were civilians in different ranks of
life, who enlisted merely for the sake of the protection and privileges
to which they became entitled as members of the corps j and sometimes
even the Pasha of Baghdad found it expedient to enrol himself as a
Janissary, lo meet a demand for extra troops to serve against the
Kurds or 4,he Arab tribes, it was not uncommon at Baghdad to grant
contracts to individuals, who themselves acted as officers of the untrained
rabble which they collected.
ihe defences oi the main town of Baghdad consisted at this time of
a wall with a parapet, loopholed throughout its length, and of nine
bastions, each mounting six to eight brass guns of miscellaneous calibres.
Outside the wall there was a good ditch, and beyond the ditch an
indifferent glacis; and the height from the bottom of the ditch to the
top of the wall was about 40 feet. The number of guns at Baghdad
was about 150 of all sizes, mounted and unmounted.
At Basrah, on the phenomenal filthiness of which both travellers
comment, the principal official was the Mutasallim^ who had his residence
in an open square of the native town, on the south bank of the 'Ashar
cieek, fai fiom the Shatt-al-'Arab. In the days preceding the abolition
of the Basrah Pashaliq, before 1720, net only the Deputy-Governor
but also a f ' Kapitan (Captain) Pasha" or naval commandant was appoint
ed by the Porte, and the Kapitan Pasha was a personage of high dignity
and independent powers; but, on the incorporation of Basrah in the