THE CITY OF BAGHDAD.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1686, 15 March 1917, Page 4

THE CITY OF BAGHDAD.

[Concluded from page I.] in circumference. For centuries the inhabitants of Baghdad and neighbourhood have quarried bricks from it. FEATURES OF MODERN BAGHDAD. At Baghdad the Tigris and the Euphrates approach each other within 25 miles, and are connected ■by a canal. The latter serves no other purpose, nowadays, than to increase the Hoods which periodically turn Baghdad into an island city, and sometimes threaten to overwhelm the dykes which protect it, and to submerge it entirely. Baghdad is about 500 miles from the Persian Gulf, and it lies on the natural line of communication between India and Persia and the west. It was this situation which gave the city Its great importance in early times. This importance, of course, declined with the change of methods of transportation. The trade of Persia with the west before the war passed either through the ports of the Persian Gulf, or northward over Trebizond, while India communicated with the west directly through the Suez Canal. Baghdad became, therefore, a decayed city, but still the centre of distribution for a very large, if scantily populated, country. It also possesses important shrines of its own, a fact which caused many pilgrims in pre-war days to linger there. tra.de, population, and GOVERNMENT. The staple articles of export from Baghdad were hides, avool, and dates. The export trade amounted to about £750,000 annually. The population of the city before the war was estimated at about 150,000. More than two-thirds of the population were Moslems. Baghdad was governed by a. pasha assisted by a council. The pasha and the higher officials constituted a class (piite distinct from the native Aral) population, and 'they and the Turkish Government in general were intensely unpopular among the Arabs, an unpopularity increased by their religious differences. The principal public buildings of the city, such as they are, lie in (he eastern section along the river bank. To the north, just within the wall line, stands the citadel, surrounded by a, high wall, with a lofty clock-tower. To the south of this, also on the Tigris, is tin 1 serai, or place, of the Turkish governor, distinguished rather for extent than grandeur. The mosques of Bagdad are conspicuous objects. Of these very few are old.