April

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Journal
of a Journey to Europe
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By Land Road
via Damascus and Beirut
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Starting on the 10th of April 1897
1897
Alexander Svoboda

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And so, we decided to travel to Europe . Our departure from here will be
on Wednesday morning, that is, on the 13th of this month"thirteenth of the month" Alexander is mistaken about the date, Wednesday is the 14th of the month.. We have already hired the riding animals
and a mule-litterMule litter, 'taḫterewān': From the Persian "taḫt-e revān" (taḫt meaning seat or throne, revān meaning moving). It was commonly used in Iraq, sometimes in the abbreviated form taḫt . In the English diary of the return journal, Alexander used the term teḫtersin, for which we have been unable to find any references. and have arranged everything, nothing is left but to put Baghdad behind us.
For the past three days till now, many visitors have come and are still coming to bid us goodbye,
especially our family who are coming often to visit us. We are traveling in the company of
the English Consul-GeneralThe word 'Balioz' was originally the Turkish form of the title of the 'Baglio', the Venetian Representative to the Ottoman court. In later years the word 'Balioz' became a vulgar term for any foreign consul. The British Consulate or Residency in Baghdad was commonly known among the inhabitants there as ‘the house of the Balioz'. Here the term refers to the British Consul-General. Colonel MocklerColonel Edward Mockler: The British Consul General in Baghdad from 1892 to 1897, when he was replaced by Colonel William Loch and journeyed overland to Cairo with Alexander Richard Svoboda and his parents. Born in 1839, he served in several positions in the British Army in India and the Middle East. He was also a scholar and linguist. For more information see (http://courses.washington.edu/otap/svobodapedia/index.php?title=Edward_Mockler) the Edward Mockler page in the Svobodapedia. who has decided to go to London . Therefore, we shall take
the land road that is to ad-Dayrad-Dayr: an abbreviation commonly used by the diarist for the town Dayr-Az-Zawr., Damascus and Beirut, and thence to Cairo,
God willing.
As today is the last Sunday for us in Baghdad , we therefore started after
hearing mass to go around and bid our friends goodbye. We made
visits to nearly as many as twenty houses and a good number of people
came to say goodbye and wish us a happy journey. At sunset, we came
together with my paternal Aunt ElizaSophie Elizabeth Svoboda at the house of her husband KasperkhanKasperkhan: The husband of Sophie Elizabeth Svoboda, who is referred to by Alexander as "Aunt Eliza." and we returned at
3 Turkish timeTurkish time: refers to the Turkish version of the traditional time-keeping called ġurūbī (sunset) time or eẕānī [edhānī] (call-to-prayer) time. According to this practice the "day" began at sunset and was divided into two 12 hour periods, the first ending at sunrise and the second at sunset. The period between sunset and sunrise was divided into twelfths as was the period between sunrise and sunset. This resulted in "hours" that varied in length throughout the year. In the "Turkish time" developed after the spread of mechanical clocks, the day was divided into two periods of 12 hours of equal length beginning at sunset. All clocks were re-set at sunset. "European time" was "mean time" which ran from high noon to high noon with regular hours and had no other connection to hours of light and dark. very pleased and happy. I also heard
at sunset today, by telegraph تيلكراف [tīlkrāf]: telegraph, also as tīl [trk. tel ="wire"]. The word tel is the common Turkish word for ‘wire' and is used to mean "a telegram" (as in English). In Iraq it was used to colloquially to mean "the telegraph". See also (http://courses.washington.edu/otap/svobodapedia/index.php?title=Telegraph&action=edit&redlink=1) Telegraph in the Svobodapedia reference. coming from Basra to the House of LynchThe House of Lynch: The Lynch Brothers Trading Company, a shipping and trade conglomerate operating mainly in the Middle East, founded the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company in 1861. It operated two 100 ton steamers between Basra and Baghdad along the River Tigris because the Euphrates River was thought to be unsuited to navigation by deep-draft vessels. These steamers transported a mix of passengers, wool, dates, rice, and other cargo. http://courses.washington.edu/otap/svobodapedia/index.php?title=Lynch_Brothers_Trading_Company, that
they had been informed of Iskander Wakil's death in Basra due to tuberculosis.
Yesterday at 10 Western timeWestern [al-la-franga] time: see (note xml:id="N002-17") "Turkish time"., the new English Consul-General whose name is Colonel LochColonel William Loch (1846-1901) received his commission in 1866 and served in several political offices in India and the Middle East. He replaced Colonel Edward Mockler as Consul-General in Baghdad in 1897. http://courses.washington.edu/otap/svobodapedia/index.php?title=William_Loch, had come
to Baghdad from Basra together with his wife and Major FaganFagan: Major Charles George Forbes Fagan, 1856-1943, was born to a military family. He served in the second Afghan War of 1878-1880. When he met Alexander Svoboda he was Assistant Political Agent in Basra. See http://courses.washington.edu/otap/svobodapedia/index.php?title=Major_Charles_George_Forbes_Fagan
who is the Consul in Basra.

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Since we have decided to travel with Colonel Mockler
who has for quite some time been awaiting Colonel Loch 's arrival to go from Baghdad to London for his retirement,
it is therefore more certain now that our journey will be on Wednesday.
A cloudy and rainy morning today with an east wind.
The clouds were thick and dark but the weather cleared after a few hours.
I went to the office in the afternoon and asked Colonel Mockler for a certificate of my two years service
at the Consulate [al-ḳonṣolḫāne] Consulate: Here the diarist refers to the British Consulate in Baghdad, which was established under Mamluk rule in 1802 and staffed by a British Consul-General who also acted as a political agent to the Government of India and ranked second to the British Ambassador in Istanbul. and he gave me his word to have it ready for me tomorrow. We went at sunset
for a last visit to the home of my maternal Uncle Antone and they said that their intention is
to send with us their son Joury who will go to school in Beirut . One hour before sunset,
I also brought the harmonium I have at home to my Uncle's house to leave it in their care
while we are away. Today too, many people, friends and relatives came to bid us goodbye.
An extremely miserable night, cloudy with thunder that never ceased.
A very heavy rain fell at midnight. It soaked all the streets and made them like rivers but it broke up and cleared
in the morning with an extremely lovely sun and it became a nice spring day.
Today again, many people came to bid us goodbye but when I went to the office, I heard
that Colonel Mockler had changed his mind from leaving on Wednesday to leaving Thursday afternoon .
Truthfully, I felt very bad because of these changes, with something new ever day.
Thus, we decided that we would hopefully travel on Thursday afternoon. The family of
Uncle HenryTODO: This note will identify Henry. on my father's side, came to visit us at sunset with Aunt Medula and their sons Jany and Artine.
They stayed with us till half past one but they did not bid us a final goodbye. I went in the afternoon
to bid some friends goodbye and afterwards I went to see the mule-litter in which we are to travel.
Today is a very happy day; the sun is shining with no clouds at all
and the mud has somewhat dried in the streets.

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After visiting some friends and family, I came home and heard
that Uncle Antone , feeling very grieved for his son, had changed his mind and his son Joury will not travel with us.
What a pity for Uncle Antone to miss an opportunity like this that may not
present itself again. My paternal Aunt Emilia came to our house before noon today.
We asked her have breakfast with us and she accepted.
After breakfast, my friend Jamil Abdelkarim came to see me and he brought with him a letter
that I took and put with my private papers. It is addressed to the son of
Dinha Razook who lives at Dayr az-Zawr . Catherine
Yaghechi came to bid us goodbye, and she was very sad about our parting.
Today is the day of our journey. As we had understood yesterday,
we will cross to the other bank in the afternoon today. This morning
was cloudy and windy, a very unpleasant morning, but the weather cleared
two hours after sunrise and the day became nice and lovely. After I had
been to church and received Holy Communion because today is Easter Thursday,
I returned home at 8- Western time .
I was there preparing my things and sealing the closet doors at the kefeshkan Kefeshkan: From the Persian kefsh-ken "a place for removing shoes" (kefsh =shoe, ken, from kenden=to dig up, peel off). As used in Iraq it referred to a small elevated chamber in old Baghdad houses used mostly for storage. It was usually reached by the stair leading to the roof or by a wooden ladder. Joseph Svoboda’s diaries also indicate that it was used for sleeping during hot weather.
when some friends came to see me and I bid them goodbye for the last time.
At noon, we were awaiting the arrival of the mules to take the things
and when it turned one o'clock in the afternoon , all our family started coming to our house
for the last goodbye. Truthfully, I found it very difficult when I began
to talk to them about parting for they were all very grieved.
At last, when it turned 2:00 Western time , our mules came and they started
loading the baggage. So all our family and I too cried loudly,

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I did not think that the parting would be so difficult. After they had tied on
the loads, they left the house with an officer whom we had taken on by means of an official decree
and we ordered them to cross to al-Khirr In 1897, the Khirr Bridge was inaugurated in the presence of provincial governor Ata Pasha, as well as Field Marshal Rajab Pasha and high state officials, both military and civilian. The bridge was called the Hamidi Bridge, but people continued to call it the Khirr Bridge. and wait for us there where we would
spend the night. When it was time to part and the hour neared, our family-
my paternal Aunts Emilia, Eliza, and MedulaMedula: Alexander’s half-sister, the oldest of the children of his mother Eliza Jebra Marine and Fathulla Sayegh. and Aunt Emilia's daughter, Alice with Uncle Henry's daughter
Louise and her mother, Aunt Eliza 's daughters Tarousa and Régina , and the wife of my maternal
Uncle Antone with her daughters Rosie and Hélène - all began to cry
loudly in sorrow at our parting. For the first time in my life, I found myself so unhappy
to be saying goodbye that the tears did not cease for a moment. The affection
that they showed on their part for me was very strong and I had not thought that
they loved me so much. At last, it turned 4 Western time and I went up for the last time to the kefeshkan .
I put on the iqaliqal and kaffiyeh: the headscarf (kaffiyeh) worn by Middle Eastern males, which is fastened to the head by a corded loop (iqal, iḳāl). and the kaffiyehiqal and kaffiyeh: the headscarf (kaffiyeh) worn by Middle Eastern males, which is fastened to the head by a corded loop (iqal, iḳāl). and came down from my dear kefeshkan for the last time
bidding it farewell and saying 'Adieu, who knows
when I will see you again'. As I joined our family wearing
full riding outfit, they all burst into tears, at which my father arose
and said: "We must leave you all." Thus, together with my mother and father, we kissed
all our family, each in turn, with tears pouring down like rain. We came down to the inner court and they
stood on the balcony waving to us, so I turned my eyes and said:
"I commend you to God's protection. O, all my family, pray for me and wish me luck!".
When I went out by the door, they were all at the window waving to me.
I turned for a final look and waved back to them with my kufiya for the last time but
copious tears were running down my cheeks.
Thus, I bade our family and our house goodbye and turned my head toward the market. While
walking down the road to the bridgebridge: The Baghdad Bridge. In the last decade of the nineteenth century there were two bridges crossing the Tigris, which connected the two parts of Baghdad: Karkh to the west and Ressafa to the east. The Baghdad Bridge, a very old bridge, was at the center of the town. Upstream was the Aʿzamiya Bridge near to the Bab-Al-Muʿazzam formerly known as the Bab Khurasan (the Khurasan Gate), which connected the little town of Kādhimiya [Kāẓimīya] to the district of Mu'azzam. Both bridges were approximately 200 m long. The Baghdad bridge was wider, at about 8 m. They were both pontoon-type bridges consisting of wooden planks laid on barges coated with bitumen and fastened to buoys by means of iron chains. A modern Baghdad Bridge ordered by the then Ottoman governor of Baghdad province, Namık Pasha, was completed in 1902. It was later burnt (1916) by retreating Turkish troops. , I met my friend Jamil Krekor

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and he accompanied me together with Jamil Abdulkarim , Shukrullah Sayegh and Yacoob
Tessy , the husband of my sister Medula , who were going with us. We walked across the bridge and then, since Uncle Henry
was on board the KhalifaKhalifa: The name of one of Lynch (Euphrates and Tigris Shipping Company) steamships. steamship that is due to leave today, he came up on the ship's deck
and saluted us. Likewise, we waved to him until we passed him and crossed over the bridge. We came to AllawiAlawi-el-Hilla: ʿAlawi al-Ḥilla 33° 20' 0" North, 44° 23' 0" East [to be completed]
al-Hilla Alawi-el-Hilla: ʿAlawi al-Ḥilla 33° 20' 0" North, 44° 23' 0" East [to be completed] and there we found the riding animals ready to take us to al-Khirr .
Thus, the time to bid farewell to the rest neared too, so we kissed each other and then turned towards al-Khirr , and so dear Baghdad
was left behind us. I turned back towards my homeland and said 'Farewell to thee, land of the beloved,
land of the dear ones, when will we meet again?' The hour was 4- Western time and we mounted the animals and set out.
At 4= , we came to al-Khirr bridge and crossed over. We went a little farther and we found the entire caravan
ready, our tent pitched with the baggage around it. Colonel
Mockler 's tents and baggage had also arrived and the tents of Issa az-Zhair
who will travel with us to Damascus with his little son Abdullah in order to take him to school there. We entered our tent and rested,
but I was feeling very pained by the parting that for the first time struck me with grief.
Then, I summoned up patience and put my trust in God for sorrow is of no avail.
After we arrived I was pleased to write to my dear Louise and tell her how grieved I was
at parting with her. So I took paper and pen out of my satchel and wrote a few lines. A half an hour before sunset,
I saw Colonel Mockler coming bringing the bicycle and following him were Mrs.
Mockler and Ms. TannerTanner: 'Miss Tanner'. We have no references for her. She was most likely an employee of the British Residency. with Uncle Antone . After they dismounted, Uncle Antone
came to see us and we bade him stay for dinner and to spend the night. A few minutes after sunset,
Aunt Eliza 's son Jany came from town and I was truly quite happy to see him come from our family.
He stayed with us overnight and we all dined together and went to bed but we absolutely could not sleep
because we were still confused and unsettled. Jany bedded down
in the mule-litter and Uncle Antone on the carpet covered with the woolen cloaks. This is the last
day we are near Baghdad , as the arrangement with
Colonel Mockler was to wake up at 8:00 Western time tomorrow and go on to the first station.

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We were up at dawn today, all of us awake from this cursed night.
After we drank tea , we heard that the Khalifa steamship will pass by our place
and we saw its smoke from a distance. We hurried off at once and went towards the river. We saw the steamship
coming and just then we also caught sight of Aunt Eliza 's son Artine who had come from Baghdad
to see us. When the steamship passed, Uncle Henry was standing on deck waving to us
and so did we until he was out of sight. When it turned 8:00 Western time we struck the tents
and they tied on the loads and prepared the caravan. They lifted our mule-litter as we
must sit in it now and they put up the wooden ladder at its door.
My mother got in and so did I and we sat inside. That was the first time in my life
that I sat in a mule-litter. Thus, the entire caravan was ready and we were prepared to march.
We put our trust in God, the mule-litter set out with us in it, the caravan following behind and Uncle Antone together with Jany
and Artine , who were accompanying us. After traveling a half hour's distance, Uncle Antone approached us and we stopped
the mule-litter. He dismounted and came to bid us goodbye as he had to return hastily to town.
So we bade each other goodbye and our eyes shed tears afterwards because of the parting. Then we drove the mules on.
Here, the entire desert is dry and much in need of rain. After we had gone for some 2 hours,
in the distance, Baghdad still glittered at us and the minaretsminarets: These are the minarets of al-Kadhim/al-Kadhimiya [al-Kāẓim/al-Kāẓimīya] (also Persian: Mashhad-e Kāzimiya), a Shi’ite religious shrine in Baghdad with two gilded domes. Originally the burial place of the Imam Mūsā ibn Jaʿafar al-Kāẓim, the seventh imam of the Twelver Shi’a, who died in 799. Since then the shrine became a pilgrimage site for the Shi'ite community and a town grew round the graveyard, known as the Kādhimiya. In 835, the ninth imam, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī at-Tāḳī al-Jawād was also buried by the side of his grandfather. Hence the name Kāẓimayn (Kadhimayn), referring to the two Kāẓims (the enduring ones). A noted school of theology was founded in this town and it is still a source of learning. The present shrine dates back to the 16th century. The gold tiles for the two cupolas were provided by the Iranian Sha Agha Muhammad Khan in 1796. It is said that al-Manṣūr, the second Abbasid Caliph (754-775) ordered the construction of a graveyard here, on the west side of the Tigris, adjacent to his famous round city of Baghdad. His eldest son Jaʿfar al-Akbār was the first to be buried here in 767. The graveyard was also known as the Quraysh (Ḳurayş) cemetery and the western part of the mosque was known as the Sahn Quraysh (Ṣaḥn Ḳurayş—the Court of the Quraysh). Up until the early 20th century, the main language of the Kāẓimayn was Persian. too were visible. Finally,
I bade the town goodbye from afar until we lost sight of any sign of Baghdad . When it turned 11:00 Western time ,
Jany and Artine too bade us goodbe. They were the last who had accompanied us this far and so
I gave Artine 3 letters, one to Louise , another to my dear
friend Jany Pahlawan and the third to my friend Antoine Julietti, and I expressed to them my
great sorrow at parting with them. Thus, we marched on unaccompanied, cutting across lands,

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wastelands and rough terrain. At 12:00 we approached AgargoafAgargoaf/Aqar Quf/‘Akarkūf: A prominent landmark located in the desert of Southern Mesopotamia, situated about nine miles to the north west beyond the town of Baghdad near the confluence of the Tigris and Diyala rivers. It is known to be the remains of a ziggurat that marks the site of the 14th century (BCE) Kassite city of Dur Kurigalzu. Originally a huge tower of more than fifty meters in height on a 70 X 68 meters base, only the base remains today with the inner mud-brick core rising above it on our right and passed it.
It remained in view until 2:00 o'clock when finally, it appeared as a dotdot: The word translated as "dot" here is a problem word. The Arabic is clearly written as "nun, ghayn, ṭa, alif, hamza [nuġṭāʾ?]" but no such word appears to exist in either literary Arabic or the dialects. The closest match is the form "nun, ghayn, ṭa (nuġuṭ)" found in several standard dictionaries of classical Arabic including the Lisānu’l-ʿArab and al-Ḳāmūsu’l-Muḥīṭ [http://www.baheth.info] with the meaning "a tall person". We know that Alexander would have had an excellent education in classical Arabic at the Carmelite School in Baghdad, which boasted such outstanding teachers as the noted philologist Pere Anastas and it is somewhat remotely possible that he might have retained a vague memory of a classical term that he for some unknown reason wrote with the added alif and hamza. Indeed the receding sight of Agargoaf might have resembled a "tall person". However, given the context we have leaned toward the very tentative conclusion that Alexander was rendering his pronunciation of the word "nuḳṭa" in the meaning of "dot". When "nuḳṭa" is used in the sense of a "police post" he spells it correctly but it is possible that when it means "dot" he thinks of it as a different word which he renders phonetically [nuġṭā’]. to us until we could see it no more.
And so, we urged the riding animals on. Sometimes I get out of the mule-litter to ride in place of my father.
At other times I walk and then get in the mule-litter again. Now and then
we pass tents of the Arabs who are all az-Zoba Arabsaz-Zobaʿ: One of the three main branches—with the Abda and Aslam—of the Shammar tribal confederation which migrated to Iraq from the northern Najd in the 17th century and became a major power in the Jazīra up to Mosul. Alois Musil says of them, "The Zōbaʿ are descendents of the Ṭajj [Ṭayy] tribe. Their main camping ground lies between al-Mahmūdijje, Abu Ḥunta (Ḥabba), and the highroad from al-Felluǧe to Baghdad." (ME, p. 127.)' in these lands. The countryside is very much in need of rain. Some
of it is cultivated with rain-fed plantations and every two hours we pass low hills
and some desert areas with greenery. At 2:00 , we passed, at a distance on our left, the small shrine of an imam
with a nearby well. At 2:00, we crossed a small arched bridge
beneath which runs a narrow stream flowing from the Euphrates River . We stopped and drank a little from the stream
and some people washed in it. Half an hour later, we came to another shrine,
it is larger than the first and called 'Imam Abu Dhaher Al-H'mud' 'Imam Abū Dhāher al-H'mud' [İmām Abū Ẓāhir al-Ḥ’mūd]. Here, as is common in Iraq, "imam" (prayer leader) means "shrine" and does not necessarily refer to the title or occupation of the person named. This is probably the tomb of Ḥ’mūd ibn Ṯāmer (Ḳabr Ḥ’mūd), who was chief of the Muntefiḳ tribe early in the 19th century (see ME, p. 127). . Thus we were near to the first
station, that is to say Abu GhraibAbu Gh'rayb, to be completed.. At the end, we came to a land covered with stones. We were across from a station called the
SannīyaThe "sannīya" lands, refers to lands held personally by the sultan, "crown lands" Here Alexander may be referring to a building that preceded what Musil (ME, p. 126) calls the "Ḫān as-Seniyye" (the Crown Lands Inn) depot. It has a few officers to watch over the depot, where the provisions of the Sannīya are kept.
This place seemed good to us and so we stopped the caravan. They took down the loads and pitched
the tents. It was then 3= Western time . This land is also called Abu Ghraib .
Our caravan has fifty riding animals and 3 mule-litters.
After we had dismounted and settled down here, I took up the pen to write the above.
Then having finished writing, I lay down and rested a little. When sunset came,
we heard on all sides the cry of the francolin whose voice is very pleasant.
It appears that this bird is abundant here. I took the opportunity to write a letter of few lines
to our family telling them, among other things, about our health and my grief at parting with them.
I decided to send it with the sons of the Nawab who traveled
with us to go hawking at Falluja . We had an early dinner at sunset
and slept the night through, because we were tired from the caravan's march.

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We were up in the morning today and found the day extremely pleasant with a cold west wind.
The night had been very cold, and almost like winter nights.
It had rained a little at midnight but the morning was nice with clear weather. While we were
in our tent, Tommy Dexter Tommy Dexter: Tom Dexter has a long history in Iraq. Captain R. E. Cheeseman [of the Secretariat of the High Commissioner for ʿIraq] in his 1923 article "A History of Steamboat Navigation on the Upper Tigris" (The Geographical Journal Vol. 61, No. 1, Jan. 1923, 27-34) relates a story that he received "first hand" from Tom Dexter, who at the time of his writing the article (1922) was a dragoman at the British Residency in Baghdad. According to Cheeseman’s account, a steamer named the Comet was built in Bombay to replace a steamer by the same name which had sailed out of Basra since 1852. Tom Dexter was, at the time, a 17 year-old apprentice at the Bombay dockyard. He was assigned to the post of engine-driver on the Comet’s trial voyage. Because he was a member of the foreign community in Baghdad of English and Armenian parentage, he was sent with the ship when it traveled to Baghdad in 1885. Shortly thereafter he served on it during an adventuresome exploratory journey up the Tigris to Mosul. Of the many amusing stories he related to Captain Cheeseman, we will cite just one, which has especial relevance to Alexander Svoboda’s journey in the company of the colorful Dexter. Cheeseman writes On one occasion, seeing a band of mounted Arabs in the distance, Dexter thought a visit on a bicycle might impress them. Mounting his 54 inch bicycle he went out to meet them dressed in his white uniform. The effect was not exactly that desired. The whole cavalcade turned and put their horses into a gallop, and nothing could be seen of the column but flying dust and gravel. Doubtless the unfamiliar outline had been sufficient and the mirage had done the rest. Subsequently a rumor reached the ship that a long thin white Jinn haunted the lands of Waush-haush, that was three times as high as a man and could travel faster than a horse. The bicycle afterwards became famous, and visitors from distant tribes came in from afar to see for themselves this wonder of machinery. (Navigation, 32.) At the time he accompanied the Svobodas and Colonel Mockler on their journey, Tom Dexter would have been 29 years old and may have been working for the Lynch Brothers as was Alexander’s father. It is also possible that the bicycle that accompanied the caravan and amused Alexander, was similar to or the same as Dexter’s famous machine. who is with Colonel Mockler came to tell us that Colonel Mockler
said that he cannot travel today because Mrs. Mockler is in poor health, and so he must
break the journey here. Truthfully, we regretted very much to hear this because today we had planned
to travel to Falluja . However, we had in the end to consent to this.
Then I asked Colonel Mockler to ride the bicycle for a while. I took it and tried to learn how to ride
it. Sometimes I fell off and at other times I went on riding. This was the first time in my life that I tried
myself on a bicycle and I kept on trying for almost one hour. I found that I was very
swift and I rode by myself with no help about 10 times, but
when I got off afterwards, I felt tired to the utmost degree and as if all my bones were broken. However
I think that I will learn to ride it in time. We were obliged to spend the day here. So, at
9:00 Western time , we all went to the Sanniya depot across from our campsite and we toured around in it.
It has a big roof and some stores containing the provisions of the Sanniya. After breakfast,
Sheikh Dhaher al-H'mud came to visit us and sat in our tent. He is the son of the imam whose shrine we passed
yesterday afternoon at 3:00 Western time . The Sheikh,
almost 80 years of age, as he informed us, seems to be a wise and sensible man. We offered him Basra dates of which he ate some and he asked
us for eye medicine for his son who has sore eyes and we gave him a remedy"remedy": The Arabic here gives the letters "t-r-k-h" for which the various possibilities include "something left behind, abandoned, the property of a deceased person". None of these make much sense in context. Our tentative suggestion is that Alexander intends the word "tiryak/tiryaki" which is a "theriaca" (antidote, cure-all, medicinal compound, remedy). He may also be representing the European term "theriaca" in Arabic characters as he has done in other cases. . Half an hour later,
he mounted and rode back to his people. The Sheikh had wanted to see Colonel Mockler but he had gone hunting and so the Sheikh
left without seeing him. At 1:00 in the afternoon, Colonel
Mockler who had been hawking for some 5 hours returned from the hunt with 12 francolins. His servant came
with two for us but they are very small and have thin meat because it is their nesting season now
and they do not hunt this bird at this time.

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It was 3:00 o'clock when I awoke and had tea. Afterwards I went out
and toured the desert a little and at sunset, Colonel Mockler came to see us and returned
to his tents half an hour later.
A nice and joyful morning with clear and cold weather. The night was
colder than yesterday's. As we had planned yesterday,
the caravan was prepared to travel to the second station, after tea, that is at 7:..Western time .
Then, everything was ready and we set out. The queasiness
that I felt yesterday when I was in the mule-litter became somewhat less today. And so we traveled through
lands that were pleasant and flowery and nearly all had yellow flowers. Starting from Abu Ghraib ,
all the lands are full of large and small stones and the plains are even and flat.
From there on, the deserts became a little higher and then lower and at
9:25, we passed on our left a small hill on which a tomb finished with white plaster is built.
Then at 12:25, we reached Falluja village which came into view at a half-hour's distance.
Built on the Euphrates River , the village with some 400
to 500 souls, has 3 cafes, two inns and a small house belonging to Kathim PashaKathim Pasha: TBA
who together with Kerop AghaKerop Agha: Originally Persian but is used by the Ottomans both as a title of respect and as the title for certain military ranks, as well as for high ranking eunuchs, and for high ranking servants in noble households. had purchased most of the lands here. We came to
the village bridge and crossed over. It is narrow and made of 25 tarred boats.
This was the first time in my life that I saw the Euphrates River from such places.
When the caravan arrived, Colonel Mockler said that it would be better if we rested for about one hour
here and have tiffintiffin: Transcribed as "t,f,n" in the Arabic text. A usage popularized in British India with the meaning "lunch" or "a light meal/snack". . Then we will march on for a few hours more because, with the mule-litters, the third station is
about 10 or 12 hours away. So, we agreed to that and, after taking a light meal,
we also departed from Falluja intending to go halfway to
the third station. It was then 1:20 in the afternoon. Unlike the dry deserts in the morning,
the lands here are very wet and most of them are swamps. At 2:00

Page 011

Western time, we passed near some greenery with 24 date trees, 4 fig trees
and 1 white berry tree. This place is called the 'Orchard of the Lady of Sparrows'. Starting from
here, every five minutes we crossed arched bridges, some of which are high and others low.
Here, the deserts have turned green, the grass is plentiful, and the lands
resemble those of the Mi'danMiʿdan/ Maʿdan: the so-called "Marsh-Arabs", who dwelt in the swamps around Basra and in the vicinity of Amara. Led by powerful local sheikhs, they generally remained independent of the Ottoman Government and the Bedouin tribes of Iraq. They raised large herds of water buffalo and sheep and, on occasion, raided shipping traveling up the Euphrates. 's next to Basra . At 3:05 , we passed,
on our right, the date trees of SaqlawiyaSaqlawiya: [aṣ-Ṣaḳlawiya] In spelling this name, Alexander, as he often does, replaces the "qaf" (q) with "kef" (k), which represents "gaf" (g) which is the way that "qaf" was often pronounced in his dialect. He would have said "Saglawiya". It is the name of a canal connecting the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, the Ṣaḳlawiya canal branched from the Euphrates few miles above the village of Falluja upstream carrying its river water to the Tigris, entering the town of Baghdad to the South through the Masʿūdī canal that encircles the Western parts of Baghdad. The canal was closed in 1883 and by the early 19th century its bed was used as farmland. In his account of a 1912 journey along the Euphrates, Alois Musil twice refers to "the settlement of as-Saḳlāwiyye" [ME, pp. 151 and 152]. This is likely the site referred to by Alexander in his journal. and small hills on our left, where one can observe
the shining of the rocks far-off like diamonds. 10 minutes later we, at last,
reached our stopping place and encamped on the Euphrates River opposite the hills.
This place is called 'the Fly's tooth' (Sin al-Thiban) because the first hill is located here, ( Tel al-Awwal)
so far the very first beyond Baghdad. It was
5:00 in the afternoon and almost sunset when we put up the tents. Here the plainsplains [as-saḥāb]: We were unable to find a direct reference for the word as-saḥāb with any meaning that makes sense. The usual meaning (Arabic, Persian and Ottoman) of "clouds, cloud" is not tenable here. Our conjecture is that Alexander has confused and conflated s-ḥ-b with s-h-b which in the form sahb, suhūb means "level country, plains", which fits the sense of the passages in which it is used. are pleasant.
Today my health has much changed since morning and I have a severe cold.
I got worse at sunset and we will see how I will feel by tomorrow.
I therefore went to bed immediately after dinner. The decision was made that tomorrow we will go directly to
RamadiAr-Ramādī: (Also Al-Ramadi and ar-Rumādī), name of a town to the North-West of Baghdad on the Euphrates River. It was founded and built in 1869 by the Ottoman Wali of Baghdad Midḥat Pasha (1869-1872) especially to control the nomadic Dulaim (Dulaym/D'laim) tribes of the region, but it also proved to be an important stopping point along the caravan route between Baghdad and the Levant. Ar-Ramadi is the capital of al-Anbar province in Iraq and most its inhabitants are Sunni Moslems from the Dulaim tribe. Alois Musil’s account of his 1912 journey describes ar-Ramādī as a "wealthy settlement of about fifteen hundred inhabitants" with extensive land holdings. It also had a population of some 150 Jews who had their own synagogue. [ME, 33] , the third station.
An extremely cold morning with a strong east wind.
The night I spent was the most miserable because I had a fever from sunset till morning
and the night was as cold as can be. I was in agony until daylight dawned.
7:00 , the caravan was prepared to march but since the hill of the 'Fly's
Tooth' is nearby, I wanted very much to go and climb it. So I, at once, took the horse
and together with the officer, went riding towards the hill. I reached it in a half an hour and wanted
to climb it on horseback but the horse would not go. I therefore dismounted,
left the horse with the officer and went on foot up the hill which is almost 30 meters high.
Then I preferred to stay on top and await the caravan.

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It came into view half an hour later with Colonel Mockler and the riflemen at its head. After coming down, I learned from Colonel Mockler
that I had had a narrow escape from a grave fate. While I sat motionless on the hilltop wearing
clothes the same color as the hill and only my head black, Colonol Mockler, waiting for me
from a distance, mistook my head for a bird and took out guns
and shells to shoot it, but, by the will of God, I moved to come downhill at the very moment
he was about to shoot. Later, when I reached the bottom, I thanked the Creator for this
result. At 7:00 , the caravan left yesterday's stopping place. I rode the mount
for two hours but afterwards I preferred to go up in the mule-litter. At 9:00,
I met 4 persons on their way to Baghdad and I immediately recognized one of them,
who is a realtor in Baghdad. I asked him to stop so that I might write a few lines
to our family in Baghdad and I drew out my portfolio at once and wrote as follows : 'Our dear Family. We are very well. Our pace
is slow and we are between Falluja and Ramadi . Pray for us and wish us well. Your dutiful Alexander .' I then dispatched the letter
with him and got in again. The land hereabouts is all dry and not nice at all
and, on our left, the chain of hills near to which we have been continually traveling, never broke off.
At 10:00 , we passed, on our right, some 12 widely-scattered tombs.
Having come this far from Baghdad , here we passed under the telegraph wire for the first time and continued
to travel in its vicinity for about 3 hours. At 11:00 , we passed a large shrine set into the hill to our left
It has one room and some Arabs were inside. It is called Imam
'Sheikh Mas'oudSheikh Mas'oud: Alois Musil mentions "the little sanctuary" of Sheikh Masʿūd located on the bluffs above the ruins of al-Bārūd on the outskirts of ar-Ramādī [ME, 34] '. At last, after making an extensive march, we arrived at 2:00 in the afternoon at
Ramadi village. We entered it by the North Gate and, a half an hour later, exited
by the South Gate . We marched between the houses all built
with mud except for a few built with stone. This village is far more extensive

Page 013

than Falluja , perhaps five-times larger, with some 600 souls. Coming
beyond the village, afterwards, we crossed a small river that is 8 cubitscubit: The cubit (dirāʿ) is a measurement of length. In Baghdad, the cubit is equivalent to 75 centimeters. There is a cubit of Aleppo at 68 cm and a cubit of Persia. wide, called al-Aziziyaal-Aziziya: Alexander calls this a river but Musil [ME, 33] calls it a canal. and we set up camp
the desert side of the riverbank. Today, upon entering Ramadi , all the village people
came out of their houses to look at us and we became a spectacle to everyone.
I was in low spirits to such a degree that even my head felt like it would burst from
pain and no sooner had they pitched our tent than I took tea and slept for some time.
The weather was cloudy and dusty at sunset with a very high wind blowing. It was an utterly unpleasant evening.
I did not like our stopping place at all and I went to sleep
at once after dinner. After sunset, the Qa'imaqam Ḳāʾim-maḳām (qaʾim-maqam, qā’imaḳam): Established during the Ottoman "Tanzimat" (reform, reorgininzation) period in the late 19th century, the ḳāʾim-maḳām was the highest administrative official of a sub-district appointed by the district governor and confirmed by the provincial governor. He handled all administrative and financial affairs of the sub-district, including taxation and policing. here sent us a few officers to guard us
overnight because this place is dangerous. We decided to travel from
here tomorrow and go half way to Hīt Hīt: First mentioned in accounts of a visit by the Assyrian king Tukulti Enurta II in 885 BC. At that time it was known as Īd and later as Īs, Iskara, and Ispolis, all of which names are thought to be related to words for "bitumen". The town is mentioned by writers from Herotodus to Talmudic and Arab sources. Musil, in his account of a 1912 visit, describes Hīt as follows: The dark brown buildings of the town of Hīt cover from top to bottom a yellowish cone about thirty meters high. The largest and tallest houses are on the east side, where also stands the old mosque with the leaning minaret. A broad street divides the town on the cone from the khans and warehouses at its southwestern foot. Between the suburb and the gardens of ad-Dawwāra are ovens for melting and refining bitumen. Hīt has about five thousand inhabitants, two-thirds of whom come from the Dlejm [Dulaym] tribe and only about a fifth from the ʿAḳejl [ʿAḳeyl]. The houses are usually two stories high, the streets narrow, crooked and dirty, as they are washed only during the copious winter rains. Above the houses rises the tall minaret. Among the inhabitants are numerous Jewish families who have lived there from time immemorial… The principal occupations of the inhabitants are gathering bitumen and naphtha, quarrying stone, gardening, and building boats (şaḫātīr)… The ground in the vicinity of Hīt consists of yellow limestone, covered with a thick layer of roughly crystallized gypsum, from which issue many springs with salt or somewhat bitter water, the latter smelling of sulfur. From these springs various gasses escape, which form large bubbles. The bitumen flowing to the surface resembles dirty scum. The salt surrounded by rosy-tinged slime settles on the edges of the springs. [ME, 27-28]. , which is a station at some 4 or 5 hours distance.
An extremely unpleasant morning with high winds from the west,
blowing as hard as possible. The sand and dust blinds us and the weather is overcast and troubled. After
I drank tea, I felt that I had gotten much better
than yesterday because I took a bowl of nousha flower nousha flower tea: (A. ward an-nūsha): we have been unable to find references to this flower. "Nousha/nūşa" is typhoid fever in Arabic and this is likely a local name or version of a local name for a flower used in an infusion to reduce a fever. tea when I went to bed yesterday evening.
At 7- , we saw a big caravan that had come from Aleppo bound for
Baghdad . At the rear of it was one mule-litter with 3 people inside, two boys and a woman with dark skin.
So, I wished to send a letter of few lines to our family
via this caravan. I therefore asked our guide to go and find
out if there was someone that he knew to whom he could give the letter. Returning later, he asked me to prepare the note, and so I sat down
immediately and wrote the following on a visiting card: Ramadi , Tuesday morning
the 20th of April. Our dear family. We are all in good health, so be you, God permitting.

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We will move on in one hour from here and go to Hīt . Pray for us and wish us well. We kiss you all. Missing
you. Alexander I put the letter in an envelope and sent it right away addressed to Uncle Antone,
to be sent on to the Svoboda (Sboyde) house, in Baghdad. When it turned 8:00, we prepared to march
but Colonel Mockler had gone to the village to take some photographs . It had turned 8- when he returned
and we therefore left Ramadi at once intending to go halfway to Hīt . So we got the caravan moving
at 8:.. and then at 9:.. . , we came to a place on our right with some 30 date trees.
It is called the Orchard of Abu JhayshJhaysh: a tribe of the al-BuÇamel/BuKamil confederation.. From there, we began
to march among hills and rugged lands and ground that is all covered with stones. The Arabs of these
places are called ad-D'laimad-Dulaym [Dlaym] is a Sunnī tribe of Iraq made up of both nomadic and sedentary populations inhabiting a large area in the Jazīra along the Euphrates from Fallūja to al-Ḳāʾim. Arabs. We then passed hills on our left, which are called Tash
At 11:45 we journeyed down the middle of a very narrow valley. It is the first
we have passed and it takes about 15 minutes travel time to cross. It is owned by Wais al-Qarrani and called OqobaAlexander writes the name of this "valley" as اعكبه [alif, ayin, kef, he] which we believe refers to the rocky ridge called al-ʿOḳoba that forms one side of this valley [wādī]. In his dialect this name would be pronounced ʿOgoba and he often represents the "g" pronunciation of "qaf" by using a Iraq colloquial "kef" which has the [Persian and Ottoman] variant "gef". [See, Musil, ME, 32 and 158.].
When we emerged from the valley, we passed the shrine of Imam Wais al-QarraniMusil [ME, 33] mentions "the little shrine of al-Imâm al-Uwîs" who is likely Alexander’s Wais al-Qarrani. on our right. Here an elderly Arab
followed us around and we gave him some alms that he asked of us for the imam of the shrine. Then we began to march
amid dry sands but, thanks be to God, the wind died down. It had killed us this morning as we made our way this far.
At 1x- in the afternoon , we came to the banks of the Euphrates
River and the place where we will encamp until tomorrow. It is called
Shariat Abu RayyatShariat Abu Rayyat: [Şarīʿat Abū Rayyāt] Musil [ME, 32] describes this place as "…the farm and khan of Abu Rajjāt, where there are several small ponds filled with water from the Euphrates". A "şarīʿa" is a pond or watering hole or the flat land surrounding a pond.. When we took down the loads and pitched the tents on the riverside, we found the place
to be extremely nice and pleasant. It resembles the riversides at GeraraGerara: the name of a place in SE Baghdad mostly used by the Christian and foreign residents of Baghdad for camping during springtime in the last decades of the nineteenth century and early decades of the twentieth century. [To be completed], but is much better and more pleasant
with the greenery around us and the kroud waterlifts [kard, pl. kurūd/kroud, also "cherd/çerd"]: a kind of waterlift that employs a draft animal going down an inclined path pulling a rope over a pulley. The pulley is on top of an upright pole and the rope is attached to a cow skin or goatskin sack or bucket that draws water from the river and empties it on land. The kard of Mesopotamia resembles the sakya of Egypt in front of us on other bank. The wind became
very cold too with a stiff breeze blowing. This is the first time that we have made a halt in such a good place.
But at sunset, many bugs bit us and the gnats too were worse.
It appears that this night will be
as cursed as can ever be.

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A cold morning with a nice west wind but last night was miserable
because of the insects and gnats that killed me all night long so that
I was unable to sleep at all. Thus, I awoke in the morning without any sleep. After we had tea, we prepared ourselves to march.
And so, when the caravan was ready, I rode the horse
with the officer and went half an hour ahead of all the others because the pace of the mule-litter is very
slow. Thus, at 7=,, we left our stopping place at Abu ar-Rayat , heading towards Hīt .
At 10 , we reached a big valley situated amid mountains that are all of marble and
we entered it, traveling up and down. This was the first time that I had seen such a place,
all the ground appeared to be like one piece of clean and shiny marble, which seems polished and slippery.
At the end, in one full half an hour, we came out of this frightening valley, where it is dangerous for the animals to walk
and feared by all the muleteers. It is called OqobatOqobat Hit: We believe that Alexander is referring to the same rocky ridge [al-ʿOḳoba] mentioned in the note on 014:11. This would be a section of the ridge near the town of Hīt.
HitOqobat Hit: We believe that Alexander is referring to the same rocky ridge [al-ʿOḳoba] mentioned in the note on 014:11. This would be a section of the ridge near the town of Hīt.. Starting from here, the hills increased and became higher and we pass between them every five minutes.
At 11:05 , we crossed a small and shallow river depression with no bridge to cross on. It is
3 cubits in net width and called al-Mhammedi Riveral-Mhammadi [Mḥammadī]river: In Musil’s map of Northern Arabia [e-f17 in ME], the al-Mhammadi river is shown between Abu Rayyat and Hit entering the Euphrates near the village of al-Mhammadi.. At 11x-, we reached the banks
of the Euphrates River and we kept following along it for almost a half an hour but always
amid hills of hard rock and on the stones that we were never rid of starting from Abu Ghraib .
At 11=, I saw an Arab mounted on a camel accompanied by one officer, hastily passing by
us. It was the Damascus or the Turkish Post camelTurkish Post camel: TBD that takes eight days to come
from Damascus to Baghdad, traveling day and night. After a short march, that is at
12:20, the minaret of Hīt came into view at a distance and we rode towards it. Starting from here,
the color of some hills changed to black, that is to say, the black of flowing bitumen.
We also passed some places with stagnant water and they said that it is from the salt spring
that we will see at Hīt. At last, after we had tired of marching, we came to Hīt

Page 016

at 1x- in the afternoon. But what a bad smell hangs over the outskirts of the village and
there is a lot of dirt too! Built on a high mountain, from a distance the village has a nice appearance
that resembles European scenes, but let it be known that this is from a distance of a half an hour's march.
However, coming nearer, the village has a dirty look that distresses the heart and its houses cling to the heights
like forts. While here, we wished to go and see the springs of bitumen and salt. So
after we had walked among the hills that are dirty and full of bitumen, we came to the spring and I found
it to be lovely, leaving one to wonder at the creations of God Almighty. One sees the gushing bitumen
spouting from the earth and pouring out. Likewise, a bluish water flows
at the salt spring. It is a sulfur water that hardens when diffused in the air and becomes natural salt.
This is the primary thing that amazed me. It is such a wonder! We returned immediately afterwards, because we have
to leave the village to spend the night. So, we mounted again and after three quarters of an hour came to our stopping place.
An extremely bad smell hangs over and around the village and bitumen here is as abundantabundant as sand: A local expression repetitively used by the writer throughout the text, meaning "in great quantity".
as sandabundant as sand: A local expression repetitively used by the writer throughout the text, meaning "in great quantity".. They even use it to build the orchard fences
instead of mud and plaster. Our stopping place for today is nice, facing hills
and greenery and the village of Hīt with its minaret have come into view at a distance and they make an extremely fine sight.
But the wind is blowing hard and the dust has blinded us since noon.
And of all things that happened to us the worst is the Persian (Farsi) antsPersian [Farsi] ants: to be completed that, as abundant as sand, invaded
our place at sunset and started to bite us like bugs if not worse! We are fearful that they will
will disturb us at night.
A nice and humid morning, and the night was fine and serene .
I slept very well too and the ants did not get up into our beds , thanks be to God.
At 7= , we left our stopping place heading towards the next station. After we had

Page 017

set out, that is at 9= , we passed before a small, extremely nice island on our right,
with a ruined house and an orchard planted with date trees. The view of it from the bank is quite lovely and they call it
al-Flaywial-Flaywi: [al-Flaywī, al-Flīwī, al-Eflīwī] Musil describes this as an "islet…which has been converted into a garden" [ME, 26]. here. Today our whole march stretched between hills and rugged places
with climbs and descents. It is not an easy road and is tiring for the riding animals.
At last, at 2- in the afternoon , we came to our stopping place for the day. It is also situated on the Euphrates River
and called al-Baghdadial-Baghdadi: [al-Baġdādī] Musil describes crossing the small wadi of al-Ḳaṣr, "…near which a gendarmerie station and the khan of [al-Baġdādī] stand on the banks of the Euphrates." [ME, 25].. We are always surrounded by hills and mountains but,
in the past, the hills have not been as high as they were today and, perhaps,
the higher we go the higher the hills will be. Here I saw the waterwheel waterwheel: [ an-nāʿūr, an-nāʿūra] Musil describes one of these waterwheels as follows, …a large wooden wheel with longish earthen jugs tied to its rim. The wheel rests very deep in the river on an axis supported by two pillars of stone. It is connected with the bank by a row of set pillars carrying arches, on which a trough is placed. The stream sets the wheel in motion, the water fills the jugs and is poured by them into the trough, from which it flows into the fields. The hoarse squeaking of these wheels is heard day and night. [ME, 17]. . It is used instead of the kroud and is like
some sort of huge round pot lid with pots made of clay around it. The wheel is turned by the river current
and empties out onto the land. It is truly a fine device, more useful than the kerd , and
also quicker in pouring the water. There are many waterwheels along these banks
and the sound of their turning comes with the wind from afar. Today,
we passed more flowery lands than before.
Nice, clear weather today with a cold and windy morning
and a cold night too, colder than yesterday. After tea, it turned 7=
and we loaded our things and rode to the next stopping place. We traveled
close to the hills and, after a half an hour, entered among big valleys and rugged places
that are extremely dangerous, especially for the progress of the mule-litter. At 8= , we passed,
on the other bank to our right, a small orchard with about 100
or 200 date trees, it is called Ju'anaal-Ju'ana: [al-Jūʿāna = "The Hungry Woman"]. A half an hour later, we passed
a place called JubbaJubba: Jubba is a settlement located on the island of Ālūs in the Euphrates. Musil notes its palm trees, seen from a distance. and then entered among valleys and after this there were rocky mountains
on which the animals legs slipped quite easily. Thus, starting from

Page 018

al-Baghdadi until we came to Haditha Haditha: [al-Ḥadīṯa] Musil describes al-Haditha as follows: Al-Ḥadīṯa lies on an island. The houses of its northern half stand close together; in the southern half grow fine palm trees. A bridge leads to the right bank and close to it stand the gendarmerie station and a khan. On the surrounding hillocks are seen many white graves. [ME, 23]. , we continually marched up and down between
high mountains and valleys and this stage was the most difficult
to accomplish so far. At last, at 4- in the afternoon , we came to Haditha.
It is a small village built long ago in the middle of the river, on an island surrounded by water.
One hour before coming to our halting place, we came in sight of a chain of islands in the river
all planted with date and mulberry trees. It makes a lovely view from the bank. This stage was the
farthest we had traveled in a day so far.
As I went up and down the mountains today, I caught sight of several kinds of birds among
which were partridges, storks, and the magpie bird which flies like a small crow
and has wings and tail colored black and white. There were all kinds of
flowers such as anemones, another resembling a kind of nousha and stock flowers as well. In some of these areas
are plantings of varieties such as barley and, in their abundance, the plainsplains [as-saḥāb]: We were unable to find a direct reference for the word as-saḥāb with any meaning that makes sense. The usual meaning (Arabic, Persian and Ottoman) of "clouds, cloud" is not tenable here. Our conjecture is that Alexander has confused and conflated s-ḥ-b with s-h-b which in the form sahb, suhūb means "level country, plains", which fits the sense of the passages in which it is used. appear to be a knotted carpet.
There are a number of other varieties that look and smell nice too . And one variety, with with only leaves
and no flowers, has a very strong smell similar to that of fragrant mint. Around here they call this kind 'wormwood.'
Like the camel thorn it is plentiful and the animals enjoy eating it.
We were very sick of today's march because the terrain and the climbs were extremely wearing and
at some place we had to get out of the mule-litter. Haditha village is extremely poor
whereas Ramadi and Hīt are far better off. A large wooden bargelarge wooded barge: the shakhtoor [şaḫtūr, pl. şaḫātīr], a large, flat-bottomed, shallow draft barge that is made of wood and covered with bitumen. It can carry a load of approximately 3 or 4 tons. The shakhtoor is used to transport loads on the Euphrates River, especially between Hit and Mussayeb since deep-draft boats cannot ply the river in this area. Once it reaches its destination, it is then dismantled and sold as it cannot travel up river. Alois Musil [ME, 27] describes building boats as one of the chief occupations of the inhabitants of Hīt and goes on to say, "The material used in making these boats is wood and palm pulp, with pitch for coating both the outsides and insides. A boat sells for six or seven Turkish pounds ($27 or $31.50)". reserved
for people to cross is available and departs every other hour. The current is very strong here and the waterwheels
are still growing more numerous, so that one waterwheel has been set up every fifty cubits. We encamped in
an unpleasant area because all the lands in this area are cultivated and the crops are ripening.
Truthfully , I am very tired of this exhausting travel because it lacks comfort and
settling down and we can rest only two or three hours a day.

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This morning is nice and cold with a west wind blowing and the night
was serene. After we prepared to march, I mounted the horse and, with the officer
Abbas , rode on ahead of the caravan at 7- . Our march for the first two hours was along
the banks of the Euphrates River and afterwards we started to climb up and down
the mountains. Our march in the mountains lasted for about two hours on a kind of white sand resembling plaster.
At 11 , I dismounted and sat down at the foot of a mountain near to some water.
I awaited the caravan here and it came a half an hour later.
I then got into the mule-litter and we traveled on. At 1:10 in the afternoon , we came
to our next stopping place, which is called al-Fhaymi , a nice riverbank along
the Euphrates . Beyond it is an outpost where 4 officers are posted just to keep watch on the road.
But, in the middle of the river and opposite to our tents is a long and narrow island
with low greenery and a fairly nice view. It lies some 25 cubits away from the riverbank.
Here, the current of the Euphrates River is slower than at previous places.
When we arrived at al-Fhaymial-Fhaymi: [al-Fḥaymī] Musil describes the wide wadi of al-Fhaymi and the gendarmerie station by the same name “with two high piles of stone in front of it, which point the way.” These “piles” are surely what Alexander describes as looking like minarets., we caught sight of what looked like 2 low minarets on the high river bluffs;
these were made by order of Midhat Pasha Midhat Pasha: Aḥmed Şefik Midhat, a noted Ottoman administrator, statesman, and reformer. He served in several high administrative positions including stints as grand-vizier and was active in promoting the broad administrative, educational, and social reforms of the Ottoman Tanzimat (Reforms) Period. Appointed as Governor of Baghdad (the highest position in the province of Iraq) in 1869, Midhat moved energetically to implement a program of reform which included consolidating the trend towards a centralized administration in an area that had been neglected for some time by the Ottomans. As part of this effort, he began to bring local, provincial administration into line with the organization of urban centers, to strengthen local government units, to settle the nomadic tribes, and to establish a regularized system of land tenure. In addition, he reformed the educational system, introduced modern communications systems (telegraph), and initiated building projects intended to modernize Iraq’s infrastructure. His tenure as governor was brief (1869 to 1872) but its influence on the modernization of Iraq was profound. as a landmark to guide travelers.
A cold morning today, much colder than yesterday. Yesterday, we decided
to set out early today and so at 7 sharp,
the caravan was ready and I mounted the horse and rode into the desert.
An hour later, I rode in the mule-litter, because, as soon as we reach Ana Ana: [ʿĀna] Musil says the following about Ana: …(W)e reached the gardens of the settlement of ʿÂna. Of the vegetables cultivated here, onions and garlic were the most plentiful. As to trees, besides the palms there were pomegranates, figs, mulberries, and, but rarely, olives. We rode at first among the gardens and along the rocky slope, in which are many natural and artificial caverns. Later we followed a narrow lane among the gardens and huts, which look as if they were pasted to the rocks, for the settlement is nothing but a single street almost five kilometers long between a steep cliff on the south and the Euphrates on the north.” He goes on to say that at the time of his visit (1912) the town had “about seven hundred Muslim inhabitants and five hundred Jewish inhabitants” who had a synagogue in the town. The houses in the Jewish quarter are described as being “built in the antique style, forming either a square or an oblong, narrower towards the top and covred by a flat roof enclosed by a low, machicolated wall. Many of them are three stories high but without windows on the ground floor. [ME, 19-20 + fig. 12]. ,
I will ride out to see the village. Today our march went better than those of yesterday and the day
before and we climbed mountains 3 or 4 times. At 10
a small orchard called Haniya
on the other bank to our right. Afterwards, 10- while traveling on the mountain, we saw riders

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on their way to Baghdad . We therefore approached them and suddenly there was Mothafer Bey, the son of Nasrat PashaNasrat Pasha and Mothafer Bey: [In Ottoman Turkish Nuṣret Paşa and Muẓaffer Bey] TBA,
with his retinue. He had come from Aleppo for the inheritance of his father who
had passed away 5 months ago in Baghdad . At 11- , the date trees of Ana
came into view. Our arrival there was at noon. The village is a pleasant sight and its houses look strange
because of their doors that are no higher than one cubit and a half and because all the houses
are in a single row. Also, the village has just one street but the view of the village from the river
is quite lovely because it lies among orchards, trees and date palms that cheer the heart. This is the
best of all the villages I have seen until now. One hour after reaching
the near end of it, we came to the center of the village and here we found ourselves a beautiful stopping place situated on the river among trees
and date palms and facing a waterwheel on the Euphrates . The caravan arrived at 1- in the afternoon
and we set up camp here. Our halting place is truly very nice and pleasant.
After our arrival here, I wrote a few letters to Baghdad and dispatched them with the officer to
the Qa'imaqam to be sent by post. Then, the officer returned and said that the letters would be sent the day after
tomorrow. When we entered Ana today, all the village people were standing at their
house doors and out on the street looking at us. Here, I found their childrenTheir children: The Arabic translated as "their children" is another problem. Alexander writes "alif, waw, dal, alif, ha, mim" [awdāhum]. Given that the "hum" is the third person plural possessive [their], we could not find the remaining "awdā" in any sources for either classical or colloquial Arabic. The closest match in this case was one reference in al-Ḳāmūsu’l-Muḥīṭ for "awd" with the meaning of "man [rajul]" [http://www.baheth.info]. It seems unlikely that this sense of a rather rare word would have been in Alexander's vocabulary, although he might have been well schooled in classical Arabic [see the note for "dot" on page 8, line 2]. Our best and still very tentative guess in this case was that Alexander misspelled "awlād" the word for "children".
very dutiful, with smiling and droll faces. At a distance one hour's march prior to our arrival,
a major with 12 officers came to meet us. They made a formal salute to Colonel
Mockler because the Wali of BaghdadThe Wali of Baghdad: Information about the Wali Hoossayn Nadhoom is obtained from the book "Damascus during the rule of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II, [1876 – 1908] AD, [1293 - 1325] Hejire" by Marie Dikran Serko, Dr. – published by the Syrian public organization for books [al-Haya' al-Amma al-Sooriya lil-Kitab] - Ministry of Culture, Damascus. had instructed the Qa'imaqam in this place to observe the necessary courtesies.
Afterwards, when we set up the tents at sunset, the Qa'imaqam Derwish EffendiQa'imaqam Dervish Effedi: TBA came to visit Colonel
Mockler himself.
A cold morning with the east wind now still and the night was very cold
and damp. After tea, we prepared ourselves to ride to the next station. So, at
7- Western time, I mounted the horse and rode ahead. I kept riding for almost an hour

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and a quarter always on the only road by on the riverside at Ana.
Truthfully, I was very tired of riding in the village, because it takes nearly two hours from beginning to end.
At last, I exited it and I came to a road that lies at the foot of the mountains.
It was a frightening thing because the mountain here is steep and split in two parts, one of them
looming over the road. Then, I rode for nearly two hours alongside the river. After this, I came
to a high mountain and rode on slippery footing among the rocks. Later, that is at 11 , I got up into
the mule-litter. Thus, we continued to march, sometimes going among mountains and at other times on even and flat terrain.
Truthfully, climbing up and down the mountains is very difficult and tiring. At 2
in the afternoon, we came to a place on the riverbank that is green with tamarisk and thickets. From here,
the military post of an-Nehiyyaan-Nehiyya: [an-Nehīya] Musil [ME, 18] remarks that an-Nehiyya is the name of a "gendarmerie station ...lying south of the road near a pile of old building material". comes into view. The stifling heat grew worse in this place with the burning sun. The wind
from the East that had been still since morning hurt us so much here that it became impossible for us to remain in the mule-litter
and so we rode the animals. At 3- , we came
to an-Nehiyya, but before we arrived in the village, we caught sight of some tents and riding animals. Upon inquiring,
we learned that a major was coming from Aleppo on his way to Baghdad with his wife
and two mule-litters, and that another one, traveling alone, was on his way to Najaf.
Upon our arrival here, we chose a site that seemed good for our encampment and we dismounted to await the caravan.
It came two hours later and we pitched the tents. Today's journey stage was thoroughly exhausting
because of the heat that hurt everyone and our campsite here is not nice like others in the past.
Our tents are twenty cubits distant from the river because the ground is wet, salty and soft
and there is nothing here but a military post, like the one at Al-Fhaymi , with a few officers. For
two days, we have found the Euphrates riverbanks all cultivated with barley
and wheat and the grass has grown very well this year. But, the owners
of the crops in this region are always frightened, because, as they tell us,

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the Bedouins come and attack them when they harvest the crops and take all they have obtained from their toil.
A sultry morning with an east wind and some clouds. The night
was stuffy and hot and since yesterday we were hoping that
rain would surely come after this stuffiness. But, at 6 in the morning , the wind turned to the west and the day became nice.
Thus, at 7- , we took off from an-Nehiyya heading to al-Qa'imal-Qa’im: [al-Ḳāʾim, al-Ḳāyim] Alexander spells the name of the town as he pronounces it, with “kef” (representing “g”) in place of “qaf” and “ya” instead of the glottal stop (hamza). Musil says that the gendarmerie station stands on the high ground on the bank of a small wadi. “West of it, down by the highway a khan has been built; to the east stands a heap of ruins, above which project the remains of a tower.” He also notes that al-Qa’im was once a frontier town of the Persians and was known for its watchtower in ancient times. The name (al-Qa'im) refers to a "standing (qa'im) tower".[ME, 14-15]. and we traveled towards the riverside amid camel thorn and tamarisk.
Afterwards, we would climb mountains and then, descend to the riverside. The riverside is very nice
because it resembles the margins of Baghdad's deserts, all green with tamarisk
and other vegetation. While walking by the river here, I flushed some francolins.
It has been 10 days that I have neither seen nor heard francolins in these regions.
The Turanian pigeons and sand grouse sand grouse: [qata, ḳaṭā] Musil runs into flocks of sand grouse in the vicinity of Abu Rayyat. He writes, - - On a pool hard by ḳaṭa sand grouse were quenching their thirst. Flying in a long row they dropped down to the surface of the water and drank one after another from the same place without stopping in their flight; then they turned, came back and drank again. Not before they had had their fill did they fly away. There were thousands of them forming a great ellipse. He goes on to say, In the fields…the peasants were beginning their harvest. The wheat was fully ripe but the grain small; moreover the peasants could not keep off the ḳaṭa birds which flew in swarms from field to field destroying the ears of grain. [ME, 32-33]. are abundant here and the farther I go the more flocks of birds I see
ahead of me and they are very tame. Truthfully, I regretted a great deal that I had not brought fowling pieces with me.
I would have been able to bag a lot of game in the course of our journey. So, this is the first stopping place
that I find so pleasant. At 3 in the afternoon , we arrived at the military post of
al-Qa'im . The military post resembles the one at an-Nehiyya and it came into view an hour's march away.
On arriving here, we found a nice campsite for us on the river and we unloaded the tents and pitched them.
Our place is truly nice and it resembles the outskirts of Ctesiphon or the land above
Gerara . In front of us, on the other bank, the kroud are running. We saw the last of the waterwheels
four hours before getting here and we saw no more of them, since no one
here makes their like. After we had settled in, the west wind blew harder and hot. Thanks be to God,
we are near to ad-Dayr and only 3 stages remain for us to make. A stifling wind at sunset
and it became hot.
A cold and serene morning with a nice West wind. But
it was an extremely accursed night with the wind still until past midnight and the gnats

Page 023

killing me all night long. I did not sleep for a minute nor did I close an eye until morning and I got up
very much in need of sleep. However, it became lovely at dawn and the morning was, to the utmost, bright and fresh.
I have not so far seen such a day. After tea,
I took the horse and rode of with the officer toward the next stopping place. It was then 7:00
and I intended not to dismount until I reached the station . So on I went,
sometimes along the riverbank and at other times far away from it amid tamarisk and greenery, with the soul-cheering cry
of the francolins and an extremely fresh wind blowing. We had never seen such a morning
since the day we left Baghdad nor had we seen such a nice and serene road. Until 8- ,
I could still see the military post of al-Qa'im behind us. At 9- , we passed a fairly low-lying land
where the authority of Baghdad ends and the jurisdiction of the governor of Aleppo begins.
The borders of Baghdad come only up to here. Also, along this bank of the river and likewise in front of us
on the other bank, the hills end giving way to the start of a flat, even terrain, green with tamarisk and grass.
Thus, all our journey for today was on level terrain with nothing but a slight elevation.
At 11 , we came to new buildings by the riverbank. They are very nicely built
and we understood that a new village is under construction here to replace Abu KemalAbu Kemal: [Abū Kemāl, Abū Çemāl] Musil writes, “…we saw the new settlement of Abu Çemāl with its rather small mosque and slender minaret and a few larger buildings in the southwestern part. At Abu Çemāl the western upland merges into the cultivated flood plain.” [ME, 12]. The settlement Musil describes must be what Alexander calls “the new village”. village, which is
our stopping place for today. At 11= ., we arrived at the military post of Abu Kemal . The village is extremely poor
with nothing but a few mud houses houses, some shops and in 3 or 4 years it will be far better than
Ramadi ,
Hīt or Ana because it is constructed after the manner of modern buildings. Today,
I saw many locusts in the thickets, as abundant as worms. They are all Najdi yellow like the kind
they eat at Basra . If seen from a distance, one can take them for bits of straw that have been
strewn about! The caravan and the mule-litter came one hour after I arrived here and we encamped
on dry ground far from the river. Here, I discovered a caravan that had come from Damascus bound for

Page 024

Baghdad . So I sent with it a letter addressed to our family telling them about our health. The heat became
stronger at noon and the wind changed bringing clouds. At sunset too, the weather was unfortunate and dry.
An extremely cold morning, colder than any other day with thick clouds
and an east wind blowing. The night was cursed with gnats until morning and the wind was still until sunrise.
Again, I did not sleep all night until morning and am waiting to see
how this coming night will be. We were up at 5- , drank tea
and at 7 left Abu-Kamal to go on to our next stopping place. We still marched amid greenery,
mulberry trees and tamarisk, all high and tall and us among them until it turned
10- . Then I got out of the mule-litter and mounted the horse. I rode towards some Arab tents,
at the side of the road and asked the Arabs for some shininashinina: [şinīna] a beverage made of yoghurt diluted with water..
A woman then brought me some in a sheepskin. I drank as much as I could and gave her back the rest,
thanking her. The Arabs are very friendly here and are amiable with strangers
as well as generous with guests. I returned from the Arabs' tents heading for the military post of as-Salhiyya,
our stopping place, and arrived there at 1 in the afternoon . Half an hour later,
the caravan arrived and we encamped on the bank of the Euphrates River in front
of the military post, here a very old building with few officers. The place where we are today is
nice but the ground is extremely dusty and sandy. Starting from Abu-Kamal as far as as-Salhiyya,
we never went up a hill or a mountain nor did we travel on rocky ground. The entire road was very nice,
amid the shade of the tamarisk and the ground was good and flat. That was the first time that we traveled such a road,
which did not tire us at all. At 5 before noon, I went with my father towards a high mountain
nearby, and only half an hour from the encampment. We wanted to see what the thing was that appeared to us, from
a distance, like an old construction on the mountaintopan old construction on the mountaintop: These are the extensive ruins of Dura Europos, known locally as Dura (fortress). Dura was founded by Seleucid Greeks in about 300 BC and grew to become a major manufacturing center. When it was taken by the Romans in about 160 AD, it became an important military outpost. During the first half of the third century, the city fell to a Persian siege and remained a forgotten ruins until it was finally identified in the 1920s. [See, the website of the archaeologist Simon James at http://www.le.ac.uk/ar/stj/dura/index.htm#late.] Alexander visits the site well before it was definitively identified. In a private communication Prof. James pointed out that Alexander seems to exaggerate the height of the raised plateau on which Dura stand by a factor of ten and calls it "a mountain". The circumfrence of the ruins is also exaggerated.. We came to the foot of the mountain and

Page 025

climbed up. The mountain was high, about 200 meters in height, and when we came to its summit we saw very old ruins
and ancient constructions that, as some say, could be as old as 1500 years, if not even older. Apparently,
this place was the outer wall of a city that was built here and the buildings are buried
in the sand. Fully round in shape, the circumference of all the ruins comes to nearly 50 thousand meters and the construction
is that of some mighty people. The rocks are very carefully laid one on top of the other with no plaster
or mud. Here, we ran across Colonel Mockler who had also come up to look at this old city.
We returned at sunset impressed by this old construction.
An extremely cold and clear morning with a fresh wind and the night was
cold too. However, I slept under the mosquito netting fearing the gnats that disturb one a lot and, thanks be to God, I slept
delightfully till morning. When it turned 7, Colonel Mockler said that he does not intend to make the
the whole journey stage today and that he will travel only for about 6 hours. He wanted to go once more to the mountain,
on top of which are the ruins we saw yesterday, in order to tell his wife
about them. Therefore, they all mounted and so did I and we went directly to the mountain, but not by the usual road
that goes to the left. The caravan with the mule-litters went on
to the stopping place. Coming to the foot of the mountain, I climbed up on horseback and we went
all together around the entire ruins. I saw many more places than yesterday and I went into a
a place that looks like a military fort, going between arches that are built of small rocks. I noticed, written on one arch,
names of the tourists who had come here and visited these places.
Of these I recall two: one is ' V. Duvent 1890 ' and the other ' Frédéric
Korben 1887 '. I then wrote my name too with the date and we toured the
whole place. Even the gate of the big wall is a nice thing. At 1 , we left this place going out of
the gate to catch up with the caravan. We continued to march among rugged places, rocks, and stones
and then we came down into a big valley looking for the caravan. At last, we were able to catch sight of it

Page 026

at 1- in the afternoon and so we rode together to the stopping place that is called ash-Showayt . Arriving there,
we unloaded the baggage and pitched the tents at 2. Across from us is a high cliff. The other bank is
very far away and the current of the river is not fast here. From al-Ana to here, we have had trouble
changing dirhems. All the Arabs only take piasterspiaster: [ghrush, ġurūş] this is the Turkish piaster, 1/100 of a Turkish pound (lira). and do not know about
the majidi or the quarter-majidimajidi or the quarter majidi: TBA. Although they will accept the majidi as worth 72 piasters, it is impossible for anyone
to buy anything without piasters. The name of the piaster is also unknown to them
as at Ana they call it metlikHere Alexander writes a word that appears to be "menlik" but we cannot find reference to a coin by this name. Accordingly we are assuming that he intends "metlik/metelik", a form of the Ottoman Turkish "metālik" [after the French metallique (metalic)] referring to a very low value coin made of copper sometimes adulterated with other metals., which is worth 3 Baghdadi piasters, whereas from al-Qa'im to here, the metelikHere Alexander writes a word that appears to be "menlik" but we cannot find reference to a coin by this name. Accordingly we are assuming that he intends "metlik/metelik", a form of the Ottoman Turkish "metālik" [after the French metallique (metalic)] referring to a very low value coin made of copper sometimes adulterated with other metals.
is called ashariashari: TBA and is worth one piaster. In short, it is extremely exasperating
to buy things here. The four piaster coin is not known as money here but as jewelry for their women to
hang on the forehead. Starting from an-Nehiyya to here, all the Arab women spoil
their looks by tattooing their lower lips and they consider it shameful
if a woman has not done so, but it is truly very ugly and harmful to their looks. The people of these
places are very poor and strive desperately for money and they are as dirty as could be. Yesterday,
when we dismounted at as-Salhiyya, several Arab women came to us carrying sheepskins of
shinina that they sell very cheap, that is to say, for one piaster each or, at most,
two. From Baghdad to here, eggs are also cheap and we never bought less
than 8 or 9 for one qamariqamari: [ḳamarī]TBA but vegetables are not available at all and the bread, which is black and thick in these areas, is extremely miserable.

May

June

July