vailing trees are tlie sycamore, the silver poplar, with the
tamarisk and liquorice plants, both of which are everywhere
very abundant. Below the Khabur, wormwood covers the
plain. Bustards abound; and even the wild asses are still
occasionally seen traversing the country with their well-known
swiftness.1
Jackalls are found in large troops; lions and hyaenas are
not so numerous; but hares, black and stone-coloured partridges,
francolins, bramin and common wild geese, ducks, teal,
pelicans, cranes, &c., are abundant. The rivers are full
of fish, chiefly barbel and carp, which latter grows to
an enormous size in the Euphrates. Truffles and wild
capers, peas,8 spinach, and the carob,3 are also found in
Mesopotamia.
The country produces great quantities of barley and wheat,
in their wild as well as cultivated state, but oats do not seem
to be sown anywhere by the sedentary Arabs. Onions,
spinach, and beans, are the usual vegetables, and these are
largely cultivated along the sides of the rivers, where, just after
the water recedes, the progress of vegetation is surprising.
Some idea may be formed of the productive qualities of the
soil, from the fact of eight crops of clover having been cut in
the neighbourhood of Basrah during the year.4
The domestic animals of Mesopotamia are camels, horses,
buffaloes, sheep, and goats, all of a superior kind ; but the
cows and oxen are of an inferior breed. The more northern
and hilly portion of this territory produces, in addition to
copper, lead, and other minerals, grain, honey, wax, gall-nuts,
&c„; whilst the southern contains salt, lime, bitumen, naph-
* We did not obtain a living specimen, although the Arabs engaged to bring
one: they brought a skin, however, of a light brown colour, without stripes,
and having a mane all along its back. This i3 more properly the wild horse;
but whether it was the animal mentioned hy Xenophon, or that there is still
another creature of this kind in the desert, remains to be determined, as the
skin was lost on its way to England.
2 A pea called Arab addis is particularly good.
3 Ceratonia siliqua.
4 See Mr. Colquhoun’s Evidence before the Steam Committee of the House
of Commons in 1834, p. 144.
tha, and a superabundance of dates ; but the principal wealth
of the people is derived from their vast flocks.
The chief manufactures are slippers, shoes, boots, some
silks, coarse cottons, the abbas, or cloak, universally worn by
the Arabs, the gaily striped kerchief of silk and cotton mixed,
which is invariably used to cover their heads, and the coarse
black tent, which forms the dwelling-place of a large portion
of the people throughout the year. To these manufactures
may be added some elegant embroidery on cloth and leather,
with other ornamental work o f' a like nature. A great number
of sawyers and carpenters are occupied in preparing timber,
and in the construction of edifices and furniture of that
material; and a still greater number of artizans are employed
in making or repairing the ordinary culinary utensils of copper
and tin. To these may be added a limited number of individuals
who find occupation as gold and silversmiths in the
bazaars of the principal towns, making seals, rings, and the
more ordinary ornaments for women.
During the last twenty-five years, the pashas have succeeded
in drawing to the capital almost the entire commerce of the
country. Fleets of large well-built boats descend and ascend
the Tigris with cargoes to and from the Persian Gulf; but
the mass of the trade is carried on by caravans, which branch
in different directions from this great emporium.
From Persia and Kurdistan are brought silk, coarse woollens,
shawls and carpets of Cashmere, Kirman, Yezd, &c.;
stuffs, gum-rahabat, fur-skins, tobacco, rose-water, galls,
dyes, &c.
From Turkey, soap, cotton, linen, silks, embroidered muslins,
opium, copper, and stuffs.
From Arabia, incense, .myrrh, galbanum, raisins, gums,
drugs, and coffee.
From Europe, Egypt, &c., grey cloths, prints, calicoes,
long cloths, sheetings, twists, hardware, and cutlery, all English.
Also fine French and German cloths, cutlery, lead, tin,
West India coffee, indigo, cochineal, velvet and satin stuffs,
drugs and spices.
The exports are wheat, barley, rice, and other grains;