Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/249

Rh caliphs. The mosque of the vizier, near the Tigris, has a fine dome and lofty minaret; and the great mosque in the square of El Meidan is also a noble building. The others do not merit any particular notice. The domes of Baghdad are mostly high, and disproportionately narrow. They are richly ornamented with glazed tiles and painting, the colours chiefly green and white, which, being reflected from a polished surface, impart more liveliness than magni ficence to the aspect of these buildings. In the opinion of Mr Buckingham, they are not to be compared to the rich and stately domes of Egypt, as the minarets, although they have the same bright assemblage of colours, are far from being equal "to the plain and grave dignity of some of the Turkish towers at Diarbekir, Aleppo, and Damascus, or to the lighter elegance of many of those in the larger towns on the banks of the Nile." There are about thirty khans or caravanserais in Baghdad, all of inferior construction to those in the other large towns of Turkey. The only remarkable building of this class is called Khan-el- Aourtmeh, and adjoins the Merjaneeah mosque, to which it formerly belonged. The vaulted roof of this building is a fine specimen of Saracenic brick work, and like the adjoining mosque, bears the date of It is said, however, to occupy the site of an ancient Christian church. The bazaars, which are numer ous, are mostly formed of long, straight, and tolerably wide avenues. The one most recently built is the largest and the best ; still it has an air of meanness about it that is not common in the bazaars of large Turkish cities. It is long, wide, and lofty, and well filled with dealers and wares of all sorts. Several of these bazaars are vaulted over with brick- work ; but the greater number are merely covered with flat beams which support a roof of straw, dried leaves, or branches of trees and grass. There are about fifty baths in Baghdad, which are also very inferior in their accommodations to those in the other large towns of Mesopotamia. The only other Mahometan remains which it is necessary to mention are 1. The Tekiyeh, or shrine of the Bektash dervishes, on the western bank of the river. The shrine is in ruins, but it contains a fine Cufic inscription now mutilated, which bears the date of 333 (or ) 2. The tomb of the famous Maaruf-el-Kerkhi, in the immediate vicinity, dating from 3. In Eastern or New Baghdad the college of Mustansir, near the bridge, now in ruins, but bearing a fine inscription dated 630 (or ) 4. The shrine of the famous Saint Abdul Kadir, which is visited by pilgrims from all parts of the Mahometan world. The original tomb was erected about, but the noble dome which now canopies the grave dates from about two centuries later. An aqueduct, the only one in the city, conveys water from the river to this shrine. None of the other mosques or tombs require particular notice. Baghdad is about 500 miles from the mouth of the Tigris (following its course), and about 400 from Bussorah; and with the latter place it carries on a constant communication by means of boats of from twenty to fifty tons burden, though the river is navigable for larger vessels. With a northerly wind these boats will make the passage to Bussorah in seven or eight days ; in calms, when they have merely the aid of the current, the passage occupies from ten to fifteen days. Sir R. K. Porter mentions that the stream of the Tigris runs at the rate of seven knots an hour. This, however, is pro bably during floods, since, with such, a powerful current, a boat could not occupy ten or fifteen days on its passage from Baghdad to Bussorah. Incoming up the stream, thirty or forty days are required to reach Baghdad. Of late years, however, steam communication has almost en tirely superseded the use of the native craft between Bagh dad and Bussorah. British steamers were first placed upon the Tigris and Euphrates by Colonel Chesney in 1836, and, with the sanction of the Turkish Government, they have ever since been maintained there, one small vessel of the Indian naval service being attached to the British Residency, and two commercial steamers belonging to an English com pany being employed in navigating the Tigris for trade pur poses. The Turks have also endeavoured to establish a line of mercantile steamers of their own between Baghdad and Bussorah, but they have not hitherto been very successful. The smaller craft, used for bringing supplies of provisions and fruit to the city, are circular boats of basket-work, covered with skins, the same that have been employed from the remotest antiquity. The Euphrates and the Tigris are liable to spring floods ; and the streams of both rivers being sometimes joined, inundate the desert plain on which Bagh dad stands, when the city appears like an island in the midst of the sea. The inhabitants are supplied with water from the Tigris, which is brought to their houses in goats skins, the convenience of water-works, cisterns, and pipes being entirely unknown. Baghdad has much declined from its ancient importance. It was formerly a great emporium of Eastern commerce ; and it still receives, by way of Bussorah, from Bengal the manufactures and produce of India, which are distributed over Arabia, Syria, Kurdistan, Armenia, and Asia Minor. At the same time the inland trade from Persia and the East has fallen off. The productions and manufactures of Persia, which were intended for the Syrian, Armenian, and Turkish markets, and were sent to Baghdad as a central depot, now reach Constantinople by the more direct route of Erzeroum and Tocat. Wealth, indeed, appears to be deficient among all classes, and Baghdad has many symptoms of a decayed city. It must, however, be noted that a very considerable trade has sprung up of late years between the European markets and Baghdad, several English houses being established in the city, who import goods direct from London and Liverpool, via the Suez Canal and Bussorah, and French, German, Swiss, and Greek merchants being also engaged in the traffic. The staple articles of export are dates, wool, and grain, to which may be added cloth of various kinds, drugs, dye-stuffs, and miscellaneous produc tions. A very considerable trade in horses is also carried on. The total value of the exports in 1870-71 reached about 46,900, while the imports for the same year were stated at upwards of 285,000. There is a considerable manufacture of red and yellow leather, which is made into shoes, and finds a ready sale. The population is a mixture of nations from various quarters of the East. The chief officers of Government, whether civil or military, are of the families of Constantinopolitan Turks, though they are mostly natives of the city; the merchants and traders are almost all of Persian or Arabian descent; while the lower classes consist of Turks, Arabs, Persians, and Indians. There are some Jews and Christians, who still remain distinct from the other classes; while the strangers in the town are Kurds, Persians, and desert Arabs in considerable numbers. The dress of the Baghdad Turks is not nearly so gay or splendid as that of their northern countrymen; and the costume of the residents is, upon the whole, unusually plain in com parison with that of other Asiatics. As every nation retains its own peculiar dress, it may be easily conceived what an amusing variety of costume must be seen in the streets of Baghdad. The dress of the females is as mean as that used in the poorest villages of Mesopotamia; women of all classes being enveloped in a blue checked cloth, suck as is worn by the lowest orders in Egypt, and having their faces covered by hideous veils of black horse-hair. Baghdad is governed by a pasha, assisted by a council, He was formerly chosen from the ranks of the Georgian 