BAGDAD.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 March 1917, Page 3

BAGDAD.

Ancient and Storied CityPlace of a Hundred Mosques. • Bagdad, formally the capita' of tba ompire of the Khalif, is situated about 500 m'les from ihe-P-rsim Gulf, on aa extensive and desert plain, with scarcely a tree or vi 1 ;ge thiough its whole extant ; and, though it is intersected by the Tigriw, it stands mostly on its eastern bank, close to {be water’s edge. Oid Bagdad on the west is now considered only as a suburb to the larger and more modern city on tho eastern shore. It hap, however, nua'.erous aud extensive streets, well furnished with shops, and is protsoted ] by sUoog walls, with gat?s opening towards Hi.liah on the Euphrates and Bay on d these recent bnlwarks, vestiges of ancient buildings, spreading in various directions, are visible in the plain, which is strewed with fragments of brick, tiles and rubbish. A burying-ground has extended itself over a large tract of land for* merly occupied by the streets of the city; and here is the tomb of Zobcida, the favourite wife of Haroun el Raachid, built of brick, of a high octago- , nal shape, aud surmounted by a lofty superstructure in the form of a cone. £ Th 6 two towns of Old and New t Bagdad are connected by a bridge of thirty pontoons. The form of the now v city is that of an irregular oblong, r about 1500 pace 3 in length by 800 in breadth ; and a brick wail, 1500 paces t in length and about five miles in cir- t onit, encloses tba town on both aides d of the river, This wall, which is built bi brick, has been constructed and re- a paired at different periods ; aud, as in { most other works of the same nature in Mahometan connfcrioa, the oldest portion is the beat, and tho more modern the worst part of Ihj fabric. At the principal angles are large round I towers, with smaller towers intervening at short distances ; aod on theue large towers batteries are planted. In two of thecs angular,lowers Mr Buckingham remarked that the workman- ( ship is equal (o eny ancient masonry that he bad ever seen. The wall has a three gates, one on the S.E , one on il the N.E., and a third on the N. W. of the city ; and it is surrounded by a a dry ditch of considerab'e depth, t The town has bean built without the slightest regard to regularity. The * streets are oV3n more intricate and a winding than those in moat other East- ■ ern towns; and, with the exception of g the bazsar3 and some open square?, the interior is litTe tlee than a laby- d rinth of alleys and passages. The streets arc unpavtd, and in many t places so narrow that two horsemen can scaicely pesa each other; and, a 3 it is seldom that tba houses have win. dows facing the great public thoroughfares, and the doors are email and mean, they present on both sides the gloomy appearance of dead walls. All the buildiugs, both public and private, B are constructed of fnrnp-ce-burr.t c bricks, of a a yellowish-red colour, taken chufly from the ruins of other ? edifice?, as their rounded angles evi- a dently show. A house is general-y t laid out in ranges of apartments; open- t iDg into a square interior court, and furnished with subterranean rooms s called serdaubs, into which the inhab- e itants retreat during the day for shel- C ter from the intense heat of summer ; £ with terraced root's, on which they take their oveoiug meal, and eleep in the j open air. In the months of June, July a and August the thermometer at break a of day generally stands at 112 deg. t Fahr, at noon it risen to 119 dog. aud 8 a little before two o’clock to 122 deg. at sunset it is about 117 deg; and at f midnight 114 deg. In some seasons c it rises even higher ; and at these times the inhabitants daring the day t take ref age in th 9 subterranean apart- j meuta, where they endeavour by every, possible device, to mitigate the intolerable heat. The interiors of the bouses of the rich are splendidly furnished and ornamented in tho ceilings with a sort of chequered work, which baa a handsome appearance. A great i portion of the ground within the i walla of tho town is unoccupied by buildings especially in the north-east ern quarter; and even in the more populous parts of the city, near the river, a considerable space between the houses is occupied by gardens, which produce pomegranates, grapes, figs, olives and dates in great abundance, so that the oity when ssen from a distance; has the appearance of rising out of thß midst of trees, The public buildings iu England are chiefly the mosques, the khans or caravanserais, nnd the serai or palace of the Pasha. Thio latter building, which is situated in the north-western quarter of the town, not far from the Tigris, is disiinguiehed rather for extent than grandeur. Ti is a comparatively modern structure, built at dif- " ferent periods, and forming a large and confused pile, without proportion beauty or strength. There ar9 no remains of thß ancient palace of the khalifa. Iu all Mahometan cities the mosques are conspicuous objects. The numbers in Bagdad is above 100 ; but of these not more than thirty are distinguished by their particular mimarets, or steeples, the rest being merely chapels and venerated places of prayer.