of the canal, which is 7 5 | miles by water, and 55f miles
S. 31° E. direct, from the floating bridge at Hillah. The
river is reduced to 160 yards in width opposite Diwaniyah,
and is again diminished to 120 yards towards Lamlum;
having an ordinary depth of about 12 feet, with a current of
two miles and three-quarters per hour in the season of floods;
and it forms but one island in all the distance from Babel to
the commencement of what was at one time the Chaldean lake.
At the north-western extremity of the plain, the Euphrates
forms two branches, from which smaller ones and numerous
irrigating cuts subsequently diverge. These reunite at some
rising ground near El Karayem, which presents itself on both
sides of the main trunk, and there is thus produced what may
truly be called a delta, although distant from the sea ; since
the obstruction thus offered during the season of floods, causes
the waters to spread for about 30 miles, that is, from the
north-western to the south-eastern extremity of the basin;
the latter extends in width from 10 to 14 miles westward of
the main channel, and to a much greater distance on the
opposite, or eastern side.1
On the right bank of the smaller branch,8 and immediately
after the separation, stands the singular town of Lamlum,
which contains about 400 houses, neatly constructed entirely
of reeds. Nearly a mile below the separation of the Lamlum
branch, another, called the canal of Sasend, takes place on
the opposite side, in the direction of Samawah. The main
channel now pursues, with a diminished volume, the general
direction of S.E., by a number of very deep, short bends in
the marshes; near the extremity of which it is rejoined by
the Serayah, or Semawah branch, on the western side. At
seven miles lower, near Karayem,3 which is 42 miles by
water, and 33J miles, S. 48° E., from the bifurcation, it again
receives the eastern branch coming from Lamlum, having
previously received, on both sides, the remains of what had
1 We found what appeared to be also a part of the Chaldean lake, along the
Tigris, in 1836.
! This goes towards the Kardyem inlet, but it was not followed during the
Expedition. 8 Better known as Grahim inlet.
been by different channels conveyed from it to the villages
and rice-grounds. Being thus reunited to its former waters,
and at the same time free from those marshes in which it
had been supposed to be lost,1 the Euphrates suddenly reappears
on its former large scale, inclosed between high
banks covered with jungle. Soon after this change, when
passing the western side of the mat village of A1 Khudhr,
which is 49^ miles by water, and 36^ miles, S. 43° E., direct
from Lamlum, it averages 200 yards in breadth, and contains
nine small islands. The greater branch had, in the marshes,
and during the season of floods, a bare average breadth of
about 60 yards, with an ordinary depth of eight feet: a
portion of the right bank is, however, still visible, and is used
by trackers. Like the country inwards on each side of the
river, the left bank is covered with a shallow inundation,
amidst which numerous villages, consisting of houses formed
of reeds, covered with mats of the same material, appear here
and there on the more elevated spots of ground, which are
all but hidden by the water.
Below A1 Khudhr the course of the river is tolerably
straight, and it flows through a fertile country, abounding
with villages, either of mats or tents, surrounded by rich
date-groves. The largest of the former class is A1 Kut,
the residence of the Sheikh of Montefik, which is situated on
the left bank, eight miles above Sheikh el Shuyukh. This
last is a considerable place on the right bank; it contains
about 1500 clay-built houses, and nearly as many of mats,
and is situated at the distance of 64^ miles by water, or 50
miles, S. 67° E., in a direct line from A1 Khudhr.
From this place to Sheikh el Shuyukh the average width
of the river is about 250 yards, and its ordinary depth is
20 feet, with a current of two miles and a half per hour in
the season of floods. There is but one island in this part of
its course.
1 Some, like Polybius, General History, book IX., chap. ix., believed that
the river exhausts itself in different channels before it reaches the sea; and the
transport of armies in those parts is extremely tedious.—Hampton’s translation,
London, 1809, Vol. III., p. 107.