A Dweller in Mesopotamia | Page 2

EUPHRATES, EARLY MORNING 52
BABYLON, THE EXCAVATIONS AT EL-KASR 56
AN OLD WORLD CRAFT: A TYPE OF BOAT UNCHANGED
SINCE THE DAYS OF SINBAD 60
BELLAMS UNDER SAIL 62
BABYLON THE GREAT IS FALLEN, IS FALLEN 64
A STREET IN KHADAMAIN 70
MOONLIGHT, BAGHDAD 72
A NOCTURNE OF BAGHDAD 74
MAHAILA AND MARSH ARAB'S BELLAM 80
A MOONLIGHT FANTASY: KUT, FROM THE RUINS OF THE
LICQUORICE FACTORY 94
DAWN AT AMARA 100

A BACKWATER IN EDEN 102
PUFFING BILLY ON THE TIGRIS 106
SUNSET ON THE TIGRIS 112
SHEIK SAAD AND THE PERSIAN MOUNTAINS 114
HIT, KNOWN TO THE ARABS AS THE MOUTH OF HELL 116
A BRITISH CRUISER IN THE PERSIAN GULF 122

LIST OF LINE SKETCHES
ABADAN 2
"SERRIED RANKS OF TALL IRON FUNNELS" 6
SHIP LOADING WITH OIL 7
"A MYSTERIOUS-LOOKING FURNACE TOWER" 9
"CRUDE STEAM ENGINES EVOLVED BY TITANS WHEN THE
WORLD WAS YOUNG" 11
IN ASHAR CREEK 16
SUNSET, OLD BASRA 21
DHOWS, BASRA 26
MONITOR "MOTH" AT BASRA 28
THE SIRENS OF THE NARROWS 33
NOAH'S ARK, 1919 36
UPWARD BOUND ON THE TIGRIS 38

HILLAH 47
CTESIPHON 50
ANCIENT IRRIGATION CHANNEL NEAR HILLAH 55
TOWER OF BABEL. FIG. 1 57
THE TOWER OF BABEL 59
TOWER OF BABEL. FIG. 2 60
TOWER OF BABEL. FIG. 3 61
GOUFAS ON THE TIGRIS 68
"A MAGIC VIGNETTE OF PALMS, EASTERN BUILDINGS, AND
A LARGE SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY ENGINE" 77
"SUDDENLY WE CAME UPON A SCENE OF STRANGE BEAUTY
AND DRAMATIC EFFECT" 79
"BY GARDEN PORCHES ON THE BRIM, THE COSTLY DOORS
FLUNG OPEN WIDE" 82
"ALL ROUND THE FRAGRANT MARGE, FROM FLUTED VASE
AND BRAZEN URN, IN ORDER, EASTERN FLOWERS LARGE."
83
"BY BAGHDAD'S SHRINES OF FRETTED GOLD,
HIGH-WALLED GARDENS, GREEN AND OLD." 85
SHOWING THE SIMPLICITY OF MESOPOTAMIAN DOMESTIC
ARCHITECTURE. TIGRIS 88
BAGHDAD 90
"PUFFING BILLY" IN BAGHDAD 91

A BIT OF OLD BAGHDAD 93
"BLOSSOMS AND FRUIT AT ONCE OF GOLDEN HUE
APPEARED, WITH GAY ENAMELLED COLOURS MIXED." 98
"HIGH, EMINENT, BLOOMING AMBROSIAL FRUIT OF
VEGETABLE GOLD." 105
THE WALLS OF HIT 110
HIT 120
SAMARA 121

I
THE FIERY FURNACE
[Illustration: Abadan.]
[Illustration]

THE FIERY FURNACE
There is an unenviable competition between places situated in the
region of Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf as to which can be the
hottest. Abadan, the ever-growing oil port, which is in Persia and on
the starboard hand as you go up the Shatt-el-Arab, if not actually the
winner according to statistics, comes out top in popular estimation. Its
proximity to the scorching desert, its choking dustiness and its
depressing isolation, are characteristics which it shares with countless
other places among these mud plains. But it can outdo them all with its
bleached and slime-stained ground in which nothing can grow, its
roaring furnaces and its all-pervading smell of hot oil.
Across the broad waters of the Shatt-el-Arab there stretches a lonely

strip of country bounded by a wall of palm-tops. Like all the land here
it is cultivated as long as it borders the river and thickly planted with
date groves. Then lies a nondescript belt that just divides the desert
from the sown, and then, a mile or so inland, scorched and unprofitable
wilderness.
Into this monotonous spiked sky-line the sun was wont to cut his fiery
way without much variety of effect every evening, and night rushed
down, bringing respite from this heat; for it is happily one of the
compensations of life in these parts that the nights are cool, however
hot the day.
About 150 miles from this busy spot lie the oilfields of the
Anglo-Persian Oil Company. Two adventurous iron pipes start
courageously with crude oil and conduct it by or through or over every
obstacle from these wells to Abadan. In the early days of the war great
and successful efforts were made to protect this line of supply, which
was of vital importance to the British Navy. The Turks lost Fao, the
fort that commanded the entrance to the Shatt-el-Arab, within a few
days of the opening of hostilities. They had imagined it such a
formidable obstacle to our approach that they were thrown suddenly on
their beam ends when we took it. Consequently they could not keep us
out of Abadan, but fell back on Beit Naama vainly attempting to block
the river by sinking ships. One of the hulks, however, swung round and
left a channel through which a passage was simple. I once sketched
some of these old ships as they lay throughout the period of hostilities.
Since then they have been partially blown up. A divers' boat was at
work when I made my drawing and the first charge was fired about
three minutes after I had finished, removing the funnel and one mast of
the principal derelict.
[Illustration: ABADAN, PERSIA, THE OIL QUAYS]
Well, to