Travel Journal – April

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
Alexander Svoboda

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AND SO, we decided to travel to Europe. Our departure will be
on Wednesday morning, the 13th of this month "Thirteenth of the month" Alexander is mistaken about the date, Wednesday was the 14th of the month. . We have already hired the riding animals
and a mule litter Mule 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 until now, many visitors have come and are still coming to bid us goodbye,
especially our family who are coming often to visit. We are traveling in the company of
the Balioz The 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 Mockler Colonel 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. We shall take
the land road to al-Dayr al-Dayr: An abbreviation commonly used by the diarist for the town Dayr al-Zawr. , Damascus, and Beirut, and thence to Cairo,
God willing.
As today is the last Sunday for us in Baghdad we started
to go around and bid our friends goodbye after hearing mass. We
visited nearly 20 houses and a good number of people
came to say goodbye and wish us a happy journey. At sunset we spent time
with my paternal Aunt Eliza Aunt Eliza: Sophie-Elizabeth Svoboda (12/03/1830-04/26/1910). She was married to Fathallah Kasperkhan some time before the first JMS diaries (ca.1862). They had two sons, Johnny [Jany] and Artin [Arteen], and four daughters: Guiseppina, Theresa [Taroosa], Regina, and Jenny (who became a nun).[See Appendix] at the house of Kasperkhan Kasperkhan: Fathallah [Fettohi] Kasperkhan was born around 1819 and married some time before 1862 to Sophie-Elizabeth Svoboda (Alexander's Aunt Eliza). He was an Armenian who seems to have worked both for the Ottoman government and in the construction business. He was the relative of Tanton Kasperkhan whose daughter was married to Selman b. Berbin, who worked for Seyyid Turki, the Sultan of Muscat. Fathallah died at nearly 76 on 07/19/1895. [JMS-MM27:117; JMS-MM41:11] and we returned at
3:00 Turkish time Turkish 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" or "Western" 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 from Basrah to the House of Lynch The 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 Basrah 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 Basrah due to tuberculosis.
Yesterday at 10:00 Western time Western time: [al-frangiyyeh] Also known as European time. See above note on Turkish time. [8] Major Fagan Fagan: Major Charles George Forbes Fagan (1856-1943) was born to a military family. He served in the second Afghan War of 1878-1880. He was Assistant Political Agent in Basrah when he met Alexander Svoboda. See http://courses.washington.edu/otap/svobodapedia/index.php?title=Major_Charles_George_Forbes_Fagan , the Consul in Basrah, came from Basrah to Baghdad
with the new English Consul-General, Colonel Loch Colonel Loch: Col. William Loch replaced Col. Edward Mockler in 1897 as the British Consul General in Baghdad. ,
and his wife and. Since we decided to travel

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with Colonel Mockler, who has for quite some time been awaiting Colonel Loch's arrival
to leave Baghdad for his retirement in London,
it is more certain now that our journey will be on Wednesday.
A cloudy and rainy morning today with an East wind In Iraq, the East wind is actually a southerly 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 Consulate: [al-ḳonṣolḫāne] 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. . He gave me his word to have it ready for me tomorrow. At sunset we went
for one last visit to the home of my maternal Uncle Antone Uncle Antone: Antone Jebra Marine was the brother of Alexander's mother Eliza Jebra Marine [Sayegh/Svoboda]. Antone worked for the British Residencies in Baghdad and Basrah and was part owner of the Marine family date groves at Sufyah. After his proposal of marriage within the Svoboda family was rejected, he married Theresa [Taroosa] Hannosh Asfar on 04/11/1880. Their children: Rosa Guiseppina (b. 03/10/1881), Ellen Iranohy Semiramis (b. 02/08/1883), Gabriel Yousif Abdulmessih [Joury, Jeboory] (b. 04/11/1884), Mary Goseppine, Yousif, John and Philip who died in infancy. [JMS-MM23:143-32:8; JMS-MM15:146; JMS-MM22:2] and they announced their intention
to send their son Joury with us. He will attend school in Beirut. One hour before sunset
I brought my harmonium Harmonium: The portable harmonium used in India and the Middle East is a type of reed organ that rests on the ground. The musician usually kneels and plays with one hand while the other pumps a bellows located at the back of the instrument. The sound is similar to that of an accordion. from 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 unceasing thunder.
A very heavy rain fell at midnight. It soaked all the streets and turned them into rivers. It broke and cleared
in the morning it became a nice spring day with an exceedingly lovely sun.
Today again many people came to bid us goodbye, but when I went to the office I heard
that Colonel Mockler decided to leave on Thursday afternoon instead of Wednesday.
Truthfully I was saddened by these changes, with something new every day.
Thus we decided that we would hopefully travel on Thursday afternoon. The family of
Uncle Henry Uncle Henry: Henri Charles Pierre Svoboda (06/28/1847-10/17/1901), the son of Antoine Svoboda and Euphemie Joseph Muradjian. Henry worked on the Lynch Bros. steamships. He married Marie Chanteduc (b.12/1851 - d.05/26/1922) who was the daughter of a neighbors of the Svobodas, with whom Antoine had a long standing quarrel. They had seven daughters and five sons, of whom Louisa Madeline (d.1954), Hariette [Henriette Adeline] (d.1971), Marie Josephine [Soeur Marie-Louise] (d.1966), and Louis Pierre Augustin (d. 1956) survived to adulthood.[See Appendix] came to visit us at sunset with Aunt Medula Aunt Medula: [Medoola, Medooli, Madalena] (05/07/1843-08/31/1913) Madeleine Fransisca Svoboda, the daughter of Antoine Svoboda and Euphemie Joseph Muradjian. She was married to Stephan Andrea (d.01/31/1884) sometime before 1862, and they had only one duaghter, Guiseppina (d.09/18/1886). Medula's second marriage was to the Polish apothecary Vincent Grzesiky (d.01/29/1900) and the third, one year later to Rezooki Andrea. [JMS-MM32:12; JMS-NA50:98; Appendix; JMS-MM26:186 and 29:26] , Johnny Johnny: [Jany](nd) The son of Fathallah Kasperkhan and Sophie-Elizabeth Svoboda. Johnny was born sometime before 1862 and employed at Lynch Brothers in Baghdad ca.1874 by his aunt Carolina's husband Mr. Thomas Blockey. In 1886, he married Guiseppina (d. 09/29/1893), the youngest daughter of Antony Hanna Andrea (d. 09/04/1877) and Takooyi. They had two children: Antoine Marie Albert (b.10/20/1887) and Rosa (b.03/14/1889). [JMS-MM30:141 and 33:66; JMS-MM13:85; JMS-MM18:104 and 26:186] , and Artin Artine: (b.05/28/1859) The son of Fathallah Kasperkhan and Sophie-Elizabeth Svoboda. Like his brother Johnny, Artine was employed by Lynch Bros. He married Sirpohy, daugher of Dr. Cazassian on 11/26/1889 and they had two daughters: Henriette Elizabeth Marie (b.09/12/1900) and Marie (b.10/03/1901). [JMS-NA51:82 and Appendix] .
They stayed with us until half past one but they did not bid us a final goodbye. I went in the afternoon
to bid some friends farewell 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 mostly dried in the streets.

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After visiting some friends and family I came home and heard
that Uncle Antone, feeling very anxious about his son, changed his mind and 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 Aunt Emilia: Emilia Josephne Svoboda Rogers (12/25/1837-05/09/1921), the daughter of Antone Svoboda. Sometime before the birth of her daughter Alice in 1861, she was married to Mr. Richard Rogers, an Englishman who worked at the British Residencies in Baghdad and Basrah. Following the death of her husband in 1859, she returned to her father's house where she remained following his death (09/07/1878) until the marriage of her daughter to Captain Clements (06/20/1880), when she went to live in their house. [JMS-MM28:65, 19:193, 20:09, 22:50 and Appendix] came to our house before noon today.
She accepted our breakfast invitation.
After breakfast Breakfast: Alexander meant "lunch" but wrote "breakfast" because in the late nineteenth century, "lunch" was rarely used. In Joseph Mathia's diaries, breakfast was the main meal of the day. A light meal was taken in the early hours of the afternoon, and supper was the last meal. my friend Jamil Abdul Karim came to see me and brought a letter with him
that I put with my private papers. It is addressed to
Razouk Dinha Dinha Razouk: The friend of Joseph Mathia. When Alexander made the return trip from Europe with his wife, Marie, Joseph Mathia sent a letter to Razouk at al-Dayr. Razouk traveled with Alexander from Dayr al-Zawr to Baghdad in 1900. [Journey to Baghdad from Europe via Der-el-Zor and Musul, Oct. 1900] who lives at Dayr al-Zawr. Catherine Yaghechi Catherine Yaghechi: [Catherina Yaghchi] is Catherina Sayegh. Fathallah Sayegh, Eliza Marine's first husband, was Catherina's Uncle. She was married to Rafael Yaghchi (d.05/28/1878), and their children were Theresa [Terooza], Mikh'ail, Yousif, and their youngest son Gabriel. Gabriel pursued religious studies in Mosul with his uncle Père Augustin [Elias Sayegh] and Père Louis. Mikh'ail tutored Harry Tom Lynch in Arabic during Lynch's visit to Baghdad and accompanied him to Basrah and eventually became a clerk in Basrah. [JMS-MM19:162; JMS-NA39:120; JMS-MM36:142]
came to bid us goodbye, and she was very sad about our parting.
Today is the day of our journey. As we decided yesterday,
we will cross to the other bank in the afternoon today. This morning
was cloudy, windy, and very unpleasant. But the weather cleared
two hours after sunrise and the day became nice and lovely. After I
went to church and received Holy Communion, as today is Easter Thursday,
I returned home at 8:30 Western time.
I was there preparing my things and securing the closet doors at the kefeshkan Kefeshkan: From the Persian kefsh-ken "a place for removing shoes" (kefsh meaning shoe and ken, from kenden means to dig up or 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 at the beginning of the hot season, especially April and May.
when some friends came to see me and I bid them goodbye for the last time.
At noon we awaited the arrival of the mules to take the things
and when it turned 1:00 in the afternoon all of our family began to arrive at our house
for the last goodbye. Truthfully, I found it very difficult when I began
to talk to them about parting. They were all very grieved.
At last, when it turned 2:30 Western time, our mules arrived and they began
to load the baggage. So all of our family, and I too, cried loudly.

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I did not think that the parting would be so difficult. After they tied on
the loads, they left the house with a zaptiye whom we had taken on by means of an official decree,
and we ordered them to cross to al-Khirr Khirr bridge: 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 all of our family,
my paternal aunts Emilia, Eliza, and Medula and Aunt Emilia's daughter, Alice Alice: Alice Rogers Clements (09/29/1861-03/10/1904) is the daughter of Emilia-Josephine Svoboda Rogers and Richard Rogers. She took her first communion at the Latin Church in Baghdad on 04/27/1873. In the first week of March 1880, Captain Clements, who worked on the Lynch Bros. steamers, proposed to Alice and they were married in the British Residency on 06/20/1880. Alice was widowed on 07/31/1895, when Captain Clements died of illness. [JMS-MM28:65; Appendix; JMS-MM12:7; JMS-MM41:13; JMS-MM22:50, and 21:200] with Uncle Henry's daughter
Louise Louisa: [Louise] Louisa Madeleine (03/20/1876-01/18/1954), the daughter of Henri Charles Pierre Svoboda and Mary Chanteduc [Mariam, Mari, Menusha]. On 12/19/1895, her father bought her a piano. She married Yousif Yaghchi on 11/21/1898. Their sons and daughters are Philip (01/21/1901-08/19/1918), Mary (b. 08/19/1902), Jano, Robby, and Camille.[JMS-NA16:24; Appendix; JMS-MM42:3; JMS-NA60:171; JMS-NA51:178] and her mother, Aunt Eliza's daughters, Tarousa Taroosa: Theresa [Terousa], the daughter of Fathalla Kasperkhan and Sophie-Elizabeth Svoboda. On 02/20/1881, she was married to Razouki, the son of Antone Sayegh, Eliza Jebra Marine's first husband. Razouki's mother was named Catherina. Razouki Sayegh and Terroza Kasperkhan had only one daughter born on 02/14/1882 named Bella. Bella later married Razouki Batta, a shopkeeper in Basrah on 11/17/1907.[JMS-MM23:33; JMS-MM24:79; JMS-MM24:79] and Regina Regina: The daughter of Fathalla Kasperkhan and Sophie-Elizabeth Svoboda. She married Duncan Alexander, who worked as a clerk on board the S.S.Comet. In 1904, Duncan Alexander was appointed to Bombay with his wife and left Baghdad. They had one son who did not survive infancy, and a daughter named Daisy. [JMS-NA51:25; JMS-NA60:63; JMS-NA51:25 and 60:103] , and the wife of my maternal
Uncle Antone with her daughters, Rosie Rosie: Rosie Giuseppina (b.03/10/1881) was the daughter of Antone Jebra Marine and Taroosa Hannosh Asfar. "Rosie" is Alexander's nickname for "Rosa". [JMS-MM23:45] and Ellen Ellen: Ellen Iranohy Semiramis (b. 02/08/1883) was the daughter of Antone Jebra Marine and Taroosa Hannosh Asfar. In Basrah on 09/11/1907, Ellen was betrothed to Antone Bedroni, a native of Jaffa who was employed in the Russian Agency's Steamers at Bushire. His mother was Syrian and his father, Italian. [JMS-MM25:143; JMS-NA60:183] , 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 4:00 Western time and I went up for the last time to the kefeshkan.
I put on the 'akkal and the kaffiyah 'Akkal and Kaffiyah: The headscarf [jaffiyah, more commonly known as kaffiyah] worn by Middle Eastern males, which is fastened to the head by a corded loop ('akkāl). and came down from my dear kefeshkan for the last time
bidding it farewell, saying "Adieu, who knows
when I will see you again." As I joined our family wearing my
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 at me.
I turned for a final look and waved back to them with my kaffiyah for the last time while
copious tears ran 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 bridge Bridge: 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-Muʿadhdham formerly known as the Bab Khurasan (the Khurasan Gate), which connected the little town of Kādhimiya [Kāẓimīya] to the district of Mu'adhdham. Both bridges were approximately 200 meters long. The Baghdad bridge was wider, at about 8 meters. They were both pontoon-type bridges consisting of wooden planks laid on barges coated with bitumen and fastened to buoys with iron chains. The modern Baghdad Bridge ordered by the 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 Jamil Krekor: The son of Kirikor Hanna Koorookchi [Kurukchy]. He travelled from Basrah with his nurse, Mina, on the road to Hudayda on the Red Sea for an appointment as a clerk in the Societe du Tombac. His sister married Artin, the son of Eassayi Elias 'Aysa in 1892. [JMS-NA51:70 and 37:126]

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and he accompanied me along with Jamil Abdul Karim, Shukrullah Sayegh Shukrullah Sayegh: Shukrullah [Shekoory] was the son of Antone Sayegh. His father passed away in 1873 and his mother's name was Catherina. Eliza Jebra Marine's first husband Fathalla Sayegh was his uncle. On 02/01/1894, the Armenian priest Phillipus officiated his marriage to Takooyi Eassayi Elias Aysa. Shukrullah's brother was Razouki, who married Theresa, the daughter of Fathallah Kasperkhan and Sophie-Elizabeth Svoboda. [JMS-NA39:30; JMS-MM23:33] , and Yaqoub
Tessy Yaqoub Tessy: The son of Hannsoh Tessy (d.02/12/1893), the uncle of Ferida Ghorgis Faraj (d.03/14/1892). Yaqoub Tessy worked for the Lynch Brothers in Baghdad. He married Medula Sayegh, daughter of Fathallah Sayegh and Eliza Jebra Marine on 05/10/1880. [JMS-NA37:27; JMS-MM36-106; JMS-MM22:23] , the husband of my sister Medula Medula: Alexander’s half-sister, the oldest of the children of his mother Eliza Jebra Marine and Fathulla Sayegh. This was not Alexander's Aunt Medula. , who were going with us. We walked across the bridge and then, because Uncle Henry
was on board the Khalifa Khalifa: The name of one of Lynch steamships (Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company). It was built with parts from England in Maghil, southern Iraq, and brought up to Baghdad in 1879 by Lynch's agent Mr. Thomas Blockey, the husband of Alexander's Aunt Carolina . steamship due to leave today, he came up onto the ship's deck
and saluted us. Likewise we waved to him until we passed him and crossed over the bridge. We came to Alawi Alawi al-Hilla: ʿAlawi al-Ḥilla 33° 20' 0" North, 44° 23' 0" East. This place is in the western part of present day Baghdad. It was known to Joseph Mathia as "al-Alwa" and appeared in a 1908 map of Baghdad as "Alawi al-Hilla". [JMS-MM21:194]
al-Hilla 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. 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 4:15 Western time and we mounted the animals and set out.
At 4:45 we came to al-Khirr bridge and crossed over. We went a little further 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 al-Zhair Issa al-Zuhair: [Zheir] In Joseph Mathia's diaries, is the son of Abdullah Zhair and the brother of Salih Abdullah Zhair. The Zhair family lived in the walled city of Zobeir and were known for their political role during the Ottoman rule of Iraq and their titles of "Sheikh", "Bey", and "Pasha". [JMS-MM13:45, 29:59, 27:96]
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 the paper and pen out of my satchel and wrote a few lines. A half an hour before sunset
I saw Colonel Mockler coming with the bicycle Bicycle: To be completed. and following him were Mrs.
Mockler Mrs. Mockler: Mrs. Mockler was the daughter of Colonel Edward Charles Ross, the chief political resident of the Persian Gulf for Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the Trucial States (1872-1891). During Colonel Mockler's service at the British Residency at Basrah, Mrs. Mockler delivered a child on board the mail steamer as she was traveling to Bushire (06/1885). [JMS-MM28:7] , Miss Tanner Tanner: 'Miss Tanner'. We have no references for her. She was most likely an employee of the British Residency. , and 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 Johnny 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. Johnny bedded down
in the mule litter and Uncle Antone slept on the carpet covered with the woolen cloaks. This is the last
day we are near Baghdad. 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 awoke because of this dreadful night.
After we drank tea we heard that the Khalifa steamship will pass by our camp
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, Artin, who came 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. At 8:00 Western time we packed 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.
Mother and I got in and sat inside. That was the first time in my life
that I sat in a mule litter. The entire caravan was ready and we were prepared to set off.
We put our trust in God. The mule litter set out with us in it, the caravan following behind and Uncle Antone, Johnny,
and Artin accompanied us. After traveling a half hour's distance Uncle Antone approached and we stopped
the mule litter. He dismounted and came to bid us goodbye as he had to return hastily to town.
So we exchanged goodbyes and shed tears at our parting. Then we drove the mules on.
Here, the entire desert is dry and much in need of rain. After we had gone some two and a half hours
Baghdad still glittered at us in the distance, and the minarets of al-Khadhum Minarets: 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 Shah 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. were still visible. Finally,
I bade the city farewell from afar until we lost sight of any sign of Baghdad. At 11:00 Western time
Johnny and Artin also bade us farewell. They were the last who had accompanied us this far.
I gave Artin three letters, one to Louise, another to my dear
friend Johnny Pahlawan Johnny Pahlawan: The son of Yaqoub Pahlawan (nd) and Farida (nd). The Pahlawan family were neighbors of Joseph Mathia. In 1906, he was the agent of the Ottoman Bank of Basrah and the following year, he transferred to the Mosul branch. [JMS-NA59:45, 183] , and the third to my friend Antoine Guilietti Antoine Guilietti: The son of the French superintendent and inspector of the Turkish Telegraph line. Mr.Guilietti was responsible for erecting and inspecting telegraph lines along the Tigris River, especially in southern Iraq from Baghdad to Basrah. His family settled in Baghdad and were friends with the Svoboda family. [JMS-MM26:186; JMS-MM42:23] . I expressed my
great sorrow at parting with them. Thus we marched on unaccompanied, cutting across

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wastelands and rough terrain. At 12:30 we approached Akarkuf Akarkuf: A prominent landmark located in the desert of Southern Mesopotamia, situated about nine miles to the northwest beyond the town of Baghdad near the confluence of the Tigris and Diyala rivers. It is thought to be the remains of a ziggurat (Babylonian pyramid) 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. and passed it on our right.
It remained in view until 2:30 when finally it seemed like a dot Dot: The word translated as "dot" here is problematic. The Arabic is clearly written as n-gh-ṭ-a-' [nuġṭāʾ] but no such word appears to exist in either literary Arabic or the dialects. The closest match is the form n-gh-ṭ [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 "tall persons". 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 Père 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 Akarkuf 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’]. until it entirely disappeared.
And so we urged on the riding animals. Sometimes I got out of the mule litter to ride in place of my father.
Other times I walked and then returned to the mule litter again. Now and then
we pass tents of Arabs, who are all al-Zoba al-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, 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, at a distance on our left, we passed the small shrine of an imam
with a nearby well. At 2:30 we crossed a small arched bridge.
A narrow stream runs beneath it flowing from the Euphrates River. We stopped and drank a little from the stream
and some people washed. Half an hour later we came to another shrine.
It is larger than the first and called Imam Abu Dhaher al-H'mud Imam Abu Zahir al-Hamud [İmām Abū Ẓāhir al-Ḥ’mūd] It is common in Iraq that 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 Muntafiq tribe early in the 19th century. The reference to the Mutafiq tribe conflicts with information from Joseph Svoboda's diaries. [ME, 127] . We were near the first
station, that is to say Abu Ghrayb Abu Ghrayb: The name of one part of Baghdad, located to the west of the city center. The old road to Jordan passed through Abu Ghrayb. The city of Abu Ghrayb was established by the Government of Iraq in 1934. . At the end we came to a land covered with stones. We were across from a station called the
Sanniya Sanniya: The sannīya lands refers to land held personally by the sultan, "crown lands." Here Alexander may be referring to a building that preceded what Musil calls the "Ḫān as-Seniyye". [ME, 126] depot. It has a few zaptiye to watch over the depot where the provisions of the Sanniya 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 3:45. This land is also called Abu Ghrayb.
Our caravan has fifty riding animals and three 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 to rest a little. At sunset
we heard on all sides the pleasant voice of the francolin.
It appears that this bird is abundant here. I took the opportunity to write a short letter
to our family telling them, among other things, about our health and my grief at our parting.
I decided to send it with the sons of the Nawwab Nawwab: Literally means "representative". Joseph Mathia's diaries repeatedly refer to the "nawwab and his sons" for Nawwab Ahmad Agha. The Nawwab bought the Gerara garden and socialized with Joseph Mathia's family and other foreign diplomats, traders, etc. [JMS-NA51:10, 59:168 and 60:82] who traveled
with us to go hawking at Falluja Falluja: A town of ancient origin near to the Euphrates on the main west road about 69 km from present day Baghdad. At the time of Alexander’s journey much of the land around Fallujah was owned by the Kouyoumdjian brothers, Kerop and Hagop, who seem to have been acquaintances of the Svobodas. For an unpublished history of the Kouyoumdjians, see http://courses.washington.edu/otap/svoboda/public/kouyoumdjian/index.html . . We had an early dinner at sunset
and slept through the night. We were tired from the caravan's march.

Page 009

We were up in the morning today. It was extremely pleasant with a cold westerly wind.
The night had been very cold and almost like winter nights.
It 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" related a story that he received "first hand" from Tom Dexter, who was a dragoman at the British Residecy in Baghdad at the time of writing (1922). 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 Basrah 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 (Ar. spirit) 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. 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. [Cheeseman, The Geographical Journal Vol. 61, No. 1, Jan. 1923, 27-34; Navigation, 32] , who is with Colonel Mockler, came to tell us that the Colonel
said he cannot travel today because Mrs. Mockler is in poor health, and so he must
halt the journey here. Truthfully, we regretted very much to hear this because today we had planned
to travel to Falluja. In the end we had to consent.
I asked Colonel Mockler to ride the bicycle for a while. I took it and tried to learn how to ride.
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 persisted for almost one hour. I found that I was very
fast and I rode by myself without assistance about ten times.
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 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 walked around.
It has a big roof and some stores containing the provisions of the Sanniya. After breakfast
Sheikh Dhaher al-H'mud came to visit 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 old, as he informed us, seems to be a wise and sensible man. We offered him Basrah dates and he ate some. Then he asked
us for eye medicine for his son's sore eyes. 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 1:30 in the afternoon, Colonel
Mockler who had been hawking for some five hours, returned from the hunt with twelve 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.

Page 010

It was 3:00 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. As we planned yesterday,
the caravan was prepared to travel to the second station after tea, at 7:45 Western time.
Everything was ready and we set out. The queasiness
I felt when I was in the mule litter became somewhat less today. We traveled through
lands that were pleasant and flowery and nearly all had yellow flowers. Starting from Abu Ghrayb,
all the land is full of large and small stones and the plains Plains: [al-saḥāb] We were unable to find a direct reference for the word al-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 even and flat.
From there on the desert became a little higher and then lower. At
9:25 we passed a small hill on our left on which a tomb finished with white plaster is built.
Then at 12:15 we reached the village of Falluja, which came into view at a half-hour's distance.
Built on the Euphrates River the village has some 400
to 500 souls, has three cafes, two inns, and a small house belonging to Kadhim Pasha Kadhim Pasha: (nd) The Turkish commander of the troops. Toward the end of 1892, Joseph Mathia mentioned Kadhim Pasha and the troops went in pursuit of Sayhood of the Elbu Muhammad in the marshes south of Iraq. Seyhood's Arabs attacked the Lynch Brothers' Khalifa steamship in 07/08/1880. Kadhim Pasha possessed a palace on the western side of the Baghdad. Built around 1875, the palace was known as Khadim Pasha's palace after the brother in-law of the last Ottoman Sultan who resided there as a political detainee. It was purchased by Sir Arnold Wilson to provide offices for the High Commissioner, Sir Percy Cox and remained in British hands until 1932, when the League of Nations took it as their headquarters in Baghdad. [JMS-MM25:126, 36:151, 22:64; The British Embassy - Baghdad]
who together with Kerop Agha Kerop Agha: (1846-1902) The son of Mardiros Narutiun Kouyoumidkian by his first wife. Kerop's grandfather was an Armenian from Izmir. Both his father and grandfather were goldsmiths. His wife was Maritza, and they had three daughters (Vergin, Shoushan, and Eva) and three sons (Kaloust, Misag, and Harutiun). In 1890, Kerop worked for Messrs. Gulbenkian who had substantial businesses in Istanbul. In 1892, he represented their holdings in Baghdad.[The Kouyoumdjians - A History and reminiscences compiled and written by J. Kouyoumdjian] had purchased most of the land here. We approached
and crossed the village bridge. 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 to rest for about one hour
here and have tiffin Tiffin: 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 more hours because, with the mule litters, the third station is
about 10 or 12 hours away. So we agreed, and after taking a light meal,
we left 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 land here is very wet and mostly swamp. At 2:00 Western time

Page 011

we passed near some greenery with 24 date palms, four fig trees
and one white berry tree. This place is called the Orchard of the Lady of Sparrows, Bustan Umm al-Asafir. From
here on we crossed arched bridges every five minutes, some of which are high and others low.
The deserts have turned green, the grass is plentiful, and the lands
resemble those of the al-Mi'dan Miʿdan/ Maʿdan: The so-called "Marsh-Arabs", who dwelt in the swamps around Basrah 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 Basrah. At 3:50 we passed
the date palms of al-Saklawiya al-Saklawiya: [al-Ṣaklawiya] In Joseph Mathia's diaries (ca. 1872-1876), the Saklawiya was the name of a canal connecting the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, the Saklawiya canal branched from the Euphrates a few miles above the village of Falluja upstream carrying 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". This is likely the site referred to by Alexander in his journal.[JMS-MM15:9; JMS-MM12:33; ME, pp. 151-152] on our right with small hills on our left, where one can see
the rocks shimmering like far-off diamonds. At last 10 minutes later, we
reached our stopping place and camped on the Euphrates River opposite the hills.
This place is called the Fly's Tooth, Sin al-Thiban, because the first hill, Tel al-Awwal is located here,
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 plains are pleasant.
My health declined since morning and I have a severe cold.
I got worse at sunset and we will see how I will feel by tomorrow.
I went to bed immediately after dinner. The decision was made that tomorrow we will go directly to
Ramadi al-Ramādī: [ar-Ramadi, ar-Rumādī] The name of a town to the northwest of Baghdad on the Euphrates River. It was founded and built in 1869 by the Ottoman Wali of Baghdad Midḥat Pasha (1869-1872) 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. al-Ramadi is the capital of al-Anbar province in Iraq and most its inhabitants are Sunni Muslims 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 easterly wind.
I spent the most miserable night with a fever from sunset until morning
and it was extremely cold. I was in agony until daylight.
At 7:30 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 at once I took the horse
and went riding towards the hill with the zaptiye. I reached it in a half an hour and wanted
to climb it on horseback but the horse refused. I dismounted,
left the horse with the zaptiye, and went on foot up the hill which is almost 30 meters high.
Then I stayed on top to wait for the caravan.

Page 012

It came into view half an hour later with Colonel Mockler and the riflemen at the front. After coming down Colonel Mockler
told me I had just narrowly escaped a grave fate. While I sat motionless on the hilltop wearing
clothes the same color as the hill and only my head black, Colonel Mockler, waiting for me
at a distance, mistook my head for a bird and took out guns
and shells to shoot. 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 averting this
disaster. At 7:45 the caravan left yesterday's stopping place. I rode the mount
for two hours but afterwards I preferred to ride in the mule litter. At 9:30
I met four people on their way to Baghdad. I immediately recognized one of them
who is a realtor Realtor: The Arabic word "sagha", "سغاء" is unclear in the diary. Alexander used it to refer to a leasing agent. In the handwritten diary, the غ and the ق are easily confused. Joseph Mathia used "سقاء" with a "qaf" to mean water carrier. [JMS-MM61:4] in Baghdad. I asked him to stop while I wrote a few lines
to our family in Baghdad. I took 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 gave him the letter
and got in again. The land around here is all dry and not at all pleasant.
On our left the chain of hills, near to which we have been continually traveling, never broke off.
At 10:00, on our right, we passed some twelve widely-scattered tombs.
Having come this far from Baghdad, here we passed under the telegraph Telegraph: To be completed. wire for the first time and continued
to travel in its vicinity for about three 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'oud Sheikh Mas'oud: Musil mentions "the little sanctuary" of Sheikh Masʿūd located on the bluffs above the ruins of al-Bārūd on the outskirts of al-Ramādī. [ME, 34] . At last, after an exhausting march, we reached
the village of Ramadi at 2:00 in the afternoon. We entered through the north gate and exited
by the south gate a half an hour later. We marched between the houses all built
with mud wattle except for a few built with stone. This village is far more extensive

Page 013

than Falluja, perhaps five times larger and with some 600 souls.
Beyond the village we crossed a small river that is eight cubits Cubit: 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-Aziziya, and we set up camp
on the desert side of its riverbank. Today upon entering Ramadi all the village people
came out of their houses to look at us and we became a quite a spectacle.
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. I went to sleep
immediately after dinner. After sunset the Qa'imaqam Qaʾim maqam: [Ḳāʾim-maḳām, qā’imaḳam] Established during the Ottoman "Tanzimat" (reform, reorganization) period in the late 19th century, the qaʾim maqam 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 zaptiye to guard us
overnight because this place is dangerous. We decided that tomorrow we will travel
halfway to al-Hit al-Hit: First mentioned in accounts of a visit by the Assyrian king Tukulti Enurta II in 885 BCE. At that time it was known as Īd and later as Īs, Iskara, and Ispolis, all of which 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 al-Hit as follows: "The dark brown buildings of the town of al-Hit 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. al-Hit 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 al-Hit 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] , a station some four or five hours away.
An extremely unpleasant morning with high winds from the west,
blowing as hard as possible. The sand and dust blind us and the weather is overcast and troubled. After
I drank tea I felt my health had improved since
yesterday evening when I drank a bowl of nousha flower Nousha flower: [(Ar.) ward an-nūsha] It is unclear what Alexander means by 'nousha flower', as we have not been able to find a native speaker who recognises it. Nousha is typhoid fever in Arabic and this may refer to a flower used in an infusion to reduce fever. It is also possible that he is (also) reflecting or recreating the common word for violet in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, banafsha which in Kurdish speaking areas is pronounced wanawsha. tea.
At 7:15 we saw a big caravan coming from Aleppo bound for
Baghdad, one mule litter with three people inside, two boys, and a woman with dark skin was at the rear.
I wanted to send a brief message to our family
with this caravan. I asked our guide to find
someone 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, God permitting, you are as well.

Page 014

We will move on from here in one hour and go to al-Hit. Pray for us and wish us well. We kiss you all. Missing
you all, Alexander." I put the letter in an envelope and sent it right away addressed to Uncle Antone,
and to be sent on to the Svoboda (Z'boyde) house in Baghdad. At 8:00 we prepared to march
but Colonel Mockler had gone to the village to take some photographs. It was 8:15 when we returned
and we left Ramadi at once intending to go halfway to al-Hit. So we got the caravan moving
at 8:30, and then at 9:30 we came to a place on our right with some 30 date palms.
It is called the Orchard of Abu Ajhaysh Ajhaysh: A tribe of the Al BuJamel/BuKamil confederation. . From there we began
to march among hills, rugged lands, and ground completely covered with stones. The Arabs of these
places are called al-Dulaym al-Dulaym: [D'laym] A Sunnī tribe of Iraq made up of both nomadic and sedentary populations inhabiting a large area in the Jazīra along the Euphrates from Fallūjah to al-Ḳāʾim. Arabs. We then passed hills on our left which are called al-Tash.
At 11:45 we journeyed down the middle of a very narrow valley. It is the first valley
we have passed and it takes about 15 minutes to cross. It is the Valley of Ways al-Qarrani and called Akbah Akbah: Alexander writes the name of this "valley" as اعكبه [a-'-k-b-h] which we believe refers to the rocky ridge called al-ʿOḳoba that forms one side of this valley [wādī]. [Musil, ME, 32 and 158] .
When we emerged from the valley we passed the shrine of Imam Wais al-Qarrani Imam Wais al-Qarrani: Musil mentions "the little shrine of al-Imâm al-Uwîs" who is likely Alexander’s Wais al-Qarrani. [ME, 33] on our right. Here an elderly Arab
followed us around. We gave him some alms he begged of us to support the imam of the shrine. Then we began to march
amid dry sands but, thanks be to God, the wind quieted. It had killed us as we made our way so far this morning.
At 1:30 in the afternoon, we came to the banks of the Euphrates
River and the place where we will camp until tomorrow. It is called
Shariat Abu Rayat Shariat Abu Rayat: [Şarīʿat Abū Rayāt] Musil 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. [ME, 32] . 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 Gherara Gerara: [Gherara, Gherrarah, Gherareh] In the late nineteenth century, Gerara was the name of a garden on the Tigris river bank to the southeast of Baghdad. The garden was private property, walled, and frequented by local and foreign dignitaries such as Nawwab Ahmad Agha, who owned the gardens during Joseph Mathia's lifetime. [JMS-MM30:131,132] , but much better and more pleasant
with the greenery and the k'roud Jerd: 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. on the opposite bank. The wind became
very cold with a stiff breeze blowing. This is the first time we have made a halt in such a good place.
But at sunset many bugs bit us and the gnats were worse.
It appears that this night will be
as cursed as one could be.

Page 015

A cold morning with a pleasant westerly wind. Last night was miserable
because the insects and gnats tortured me all night long so that
I was unable to sleep at all. I awoke in the morning after a sleepless night. After we had tea we prepared ourselves to march.
When the caravan was ready, I rode the horse
with the zaptiye and went half an hour ahead of all the others because the pace of the mule litter is very
slow. At 7:45 we left our stopping place at Abu al-Rayat heading towards al-Hit.
At 10:00 we reached a big valley situated between mountains that are all made of marble.
We entered, going up and down. This was the first time that I had seen such a place.
All the ground seemed like one piece of clean and shiny marble, polished and slippery.
After half an hour we reached the end of this frightening valley, where it is dangerous for the animals to walk
and feared by all the muleteers. It is called Akbah Akbah Hit: We believe that Alexander is referring to the same rocky ridge [al-ʿAḳoba] mentioned in the note on 014:11. This would be a section of the ridge near the town of al-Hit.
al-Hit. From here on there were more hills and they became higher. We passed between them every five minutes.
At 11:05 we crossed a small shallow river wading because there was no bridge. It is
three cubits wide and called al-Muhammadi River al-Muhammadi River: [Mḥammadī] In Musil’s map of Northern Arabia, the al-Muhammadi River is shown between Abu Rayyat and al-Hit entering the Euphrates near the village of al-Muhammadi. [e-f17 in ME] . At 11:30 we reached the banks
of the Euphrates River and kept following it for almost a half an hour, always
amid rocky hills and over endless stones, from Abu Ghrayb on.
At 11:45 I saw an Arab quickly passing us by mounted on a camel accompanied by one zaptiye.
It was the Damascus or the Turkish Post camel The Damascus Post: The Turkish Post for Damascus and Beirut. From the information given in the diaries about the letters' dates and the dates Joseph Mathia received from them by the Damascus Post, a letter would normally take nearly three weeks to arrive from Europe. [JMS-MM25:6] that takes eight days to come
from Damascus to Baghdad, traveling day and night. After a short march, at
12:20, the minaret of al-Hit came into view at a distance and we rode toward it. Starting from here
the color of some hills changed to black, the black of flowing bitumen.
We also passed some places with stagnant water. They said it is from the salt spring
we will see at al-Hit. At last, after we had tired of marching, we came to al-Hit

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at 1:30 in the afternoon. What a stench hangs over the outskirts of the village and
such a lot of dirt too! Built on a high mountain, from a distance, the village has a pleasant appearance
that resembles European scenes. But let it be known that this is from a distance of a half an hour's march.
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.
After we had walked among the dirty hills filled with 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 exposed to the air and becomes natural salt.
This is the main thing that amazed me. It is such a wonder! We returned immediately afterwards, because we have
to spend the night outside the village. 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 abundant "abundant as sand": A local expression repetitively used by the writer throughout the text, meaning "in great quantity".
as sand. 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. The village of al-Hit with its minaret came into view at a distance and they make an extremely fine sight.
But the wind is blowing hard and the dust has been blinding us since noon.
And of all things that happened to us the worst was the Persian ants Persian [Farsi] ants: The Persian ant that is called "Farsi ant" in the Arabic diary is the Sahara Desert ant, Cataglyphiss bicolor. that, as abundant as sand, invaded
our place at sunset and began to bite us like bugs, if not worse! We are afraid they will
disturb us at night.
A nice humid morning, and the night was fine and cool.
I slept very well. The ants did not climb into our beds, thanks be to God.
At 7:45 we left our stopping place and headed toward the next station. After we

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set out at 9:45 we passed a small, extremely nice island on our right,
with a ruined house and a date palm orchard. The sight of it from the bank is quite lovely and here they call it
al-Flaywi al-Flaywi: [al-Flaywī, al-Flīwī, al-Eflīwī] Musil describes this as an "islet…which has been converted into a garden" [ME, 26] . Today our entire march stretched between hills and rugged places
with climbs and descents. It is not an easy road and tires the riding animals.
At last, at 2:30 in the afternoon, we reached our stopping place for the day. It is also situated on the Euphrates River
and called al-Baghdadi al-Baghdadi: [al-Baġdādī] Musil describes crossing the small wadi of al-Ḳaṣr, "…near which a zaptiye station and the khan of [al-Baġdādī] stand on the banks of the Euphrates." [ME, 25] . We are continuously surrounded by hills and mountains, but
in the past the hills have not been as high as they were today. Perhaps
the higher we climb the higher the hills will become. Here I saw the water wheel Water wheel: [al-nāʿūr, an-nāʿūra] Musil describes one of these water wheels 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 lid with pots made of clay around it. The river current turns the wheel
and empties out onto the land. It is a truly fine device, more useful than the jerd, and
also quicker in pouring the water. There are several water wheels 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 7:45
and we loaded our things and rode to the next stopping place. We traveled
close to the hills and, after half an hour, entered big valleys and rugged places
that are extremely dangerous, especially for the mule litter. At 8:45 we passed,
on the other bank to our right, a small orchard with about 100
or 200 date palms, called al-Ju'ana al-Ju'ana: (Ar.) meaning 'the hungry woman'. . Half an hour later we passed
a place called Jubba Jubba: 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. Next there were rocky mountains
on which the animals' legs slip quite easily. Thus, from

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al-Baghdadi until 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 zaptiye 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. This stage was the most difficult
to accomplish so far. At last, at 4:30 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 a chain of islands in the river appeared
all planted with date palms and mulberry trees. It makes a lovely view from the bank. So far this stage was the
farthest we had traveled in a day.
Today as I went up and down the mountains I caught sight of several kinds of birds including
partridges, storks, and the magpie which resembles a small crow when it flies
and has black and white wings and tail. There were several kinds of
flowers such as anemones, another resembling a kind of nousha and stock flowers as well. In some of these areas
are crops such as barley and the plains appear to be a carpet in their abundance.
There are a number of other varieties that look and smell nice too. One variety, with only leaves
and no flowers, has a very strong smell similar to that of fragrant mint. Around here they call this wormwood.
Like the camel thorn it is plentiful and the animals enjoy eating it.
We were exhausted by today's march because the terrain and the climbs were extremely tiring and
at some places we had to get out of the mule litter. The village of Haditha is extremely poor
whereas Ramadi and al-Hit are far better off. A wooden barge Large wooden barge: The shakhtoor [şaḫtūr, pl. şaḫātīr] was a large, flat-bottomed, shallow draft barge that is made of wood and covered with bitumen. It can carry a load of approximately three or four tons. The shakhtoor is used to transport loads on the Euphrates River, especially between al-Hit and Mussayeb because deep-draft boats could not ply the river in this area. Once it reached its destination, it is then dismantled and sold as it cannot travel up river. Alois Musil describes building boats as one of the chief occupations of the inhabitants of al-Hit 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)." [ME, 27] reserved
for people to cross is available and departs every other hour. The current is very strong and the water wheels
become more numerous so that one water wheel appears every fifty cubits. We encamped in
an unpleasant area because all the lands here are cultivated and the crops are ripening.
Truthfully I am very tired of this exhausting travel because it lacks comfort and
settling down. We can rest only two or three hours a day.

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This morning is nice and cold with a westerly wind blowing and the night
was cool. After we prepared to march I mounted the horse and, with the zaptiye
called Abbas, rode ahead of the caravan at 7:30. For the first two hours we marched along
the banks of the Euphrates River and afterwards we started to traverse
the mountains. Our march in the mountains lasted for about two hours on a kind of white sand resembling lime.
At 11:00, I dismounted and sat down at the foot of a mountain near some water.
I waited for the caravan here and it arrived half an hour later.
I 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-Fahaymi, a nice riverbank along
the Euphrates. Beyond it is an outpost where four zaptiye are posted to keep watch on the road.
But, in the middle of the river and opposite 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-Fahaymi al-Fahaymi: [al-Fḥaymī] Musil describes the wide valley of al-Fahaymi and the zaptiye 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 seemed to be two 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 7:00 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 yesterday's and the march the day
before. We climbed mountains only three or four times. At 10:00 we passed
a small orchard called Haniya
on the other bank to our right. At 10:30 while traveling on the mountain we saw riders

Page 020

on their way to Baghdad. We approached and suddenly noticed Mudhaffar Bey, the son of Nasret Pasha Nasrat Pasha and Mudhaffer Bey: [In Ottoman Turkish, Nuṣret Paşa and Muẓaffer Bey] To be completed. ,
with his retinue. He had come from Aleppo for the inheritance of his father who
had passed away five months ago in Baghdad. At 11:30 the date palms of 'Ana
came into view. We arrived at noon. The village is a pleasant sight and its houses look strange
because their doors are no taller than one and a half cubits and 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 nearing
the 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 water wheel on the Euphrates. The caravan arrived at 1:30 in the afternoon
and we set up camp here. Our halting place is truly very nice and pleasant.
After our arrival I wrote a few letters to Baghdad and dispatched them with the zaptiye to
the Qa'imaqam to be sent by post. The zaptiye returned and said the letters would be sent the day after
tomorrow. When we entered 'Ana today all the village people were standing at their
doors and on the street looking at us. I found their children
very dutiful, with smiling faces. One hour before our arrival here,
a major with 12 zaptiye came to meet us. They made a formal salute to Colonel
Mockler because the Wali of Baghdad The Wali of Baghdad: The Wali of Baghdad in 1897 was Ata'ullah Pasha. had instructed the local Qa'imaqam to observe the necessary courtesies.
Afterwards when we set up the tents at sunset the Qa'imaqam Derwish Effendi Qa'imaqam Dervish Effendi: To be completed. came to visit Colonel
Mockler himself.
A cold morning with the easterly wind now still. The night was very cold
and damp. After tea we prepared ourselves to ride to the next station. So at
7:15 Western time, I mounted the horse and rode ahead. I kept riding for almost an hour

Page 021

and a quarter always on the only road along 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 and came to a road that follows the base of the mountains.
It was frightening because the mountain here is steep and split in two parts, one of them
looming over the road. 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 at 11:00 I got into
the mule litter. Thus we continued to march, sometimes among mountains and at other times on even and flat terrain.
Truthfully, traversing the mountains is very difficult and tiring. At 2:00
in the afternoon we came to a place on the riverbank that is green with tamarisk and thickets. From here
the military post of al-Nahiyya al-Nahiyya: [an-Nehīya] Musil remarks that al-Nahiyya is the name of a "zaptiye station ...lying south of the road near a pile of old building material". [ME, 18] came into view. The stifling heat worsened here with the burning sun. The wind
from the East that had been still since morning tormented us so much that it became impossible to remain in the mule litter
so we rode the animals. At 3:15 we came
to al-Nahiyya, but before we arrived 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 camp and we dismounted to await the caravan.
It arrived two hours later and we pitched the tents. Today's journey stage was thoroughly exhausting
because the heat bothered everyone and our campsite here is not nice like previous sites.
Our tents are twenty cubits away from the river because the ground is wet, salty, and soft.
There is only a military post here, like the one at al-Fahaymi with a few zaptiye. For
two days we observed that the riverbanks along the Euphrates are all cultivated with barley
and wheat, and the grasses have grown very well this year. However the owners
of the crops in this region are always frightened. They told us that

Page 022

the Bedouin attack when they harvest the crops and take all they have obtained from their toil.
A sultry morning with an easterly wind and some clouds. The night
was hot and stuffy. Since yesterday we have hoped for
rain to surely follow this stuffiness. At 6:00 in the morning the wind turned to the west and the day improved.
At 7:15 we left al-Nahiyya heading to al-Qa'im al-Qa’im: [al-Ḳāʾim, al-Ḳāyim] Musil says that the zaptiye 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] . We traveled toward the riverside amid camel thorn and tamarisk.
Afterwards we climbed mountains and then descended to the riverbank. Here the riverbank is very nice
because it resembles the outskirts of Baghdad's deserts, all green with tamarisk
and other vegetation. While walking by the river, I flushed some francolins.
It has been ten days since I have seen or heard francolins in these regions.
The Turanian pigeons and sand grouse Sand grouse: [qaṭā, 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. They are very tame. Truthfully I very much regretted that I had not brought fowling pieces with me.
I would have been able to take a lot of game over the course of our journey. This is the first stopping place
that I find so pleasant. At 3:00 in the afternoon we arrived at the military post of
al-Qa'im. The military post resembles the one at al-Nahiyya and it came into view an hour's march away.
On arriving here we found a nice campsite on the river and we unloaded and pitched the tents.
Our place is truly nice and it resembles the outskirts of Ctesiphon or the land above
Gherara. In front of us on the other bank the kroud are running. We saw the last of the water wheels
four hours before arriving here and we saw no more of them, since no one
here makes their equal. After we settled in the west wind blew hard and hot. Thanks be to God,
we are near al-Dayr and only three stages remain. There was a stifling wind at sunset
and it became hot.
A cold and serene morning with a nice westerly wind. But
it was an extremely accursed night with a still wind until after midnight. The gnats

Page 023

killed 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 exceedingly fresh.
So far I have not seen such a day. After tea
I took the horse and rode with the zaptiye toward the next stopping place. It was 7:00
and I decided 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 cool road. Until 8:30
I could still see the military post of al-Qa'im behind us. At 9:15 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 only come to here. Along this bank of the river and in front of us
on the other bank the hills give way to the beginning of a flat, even terrain, green with tamarisk and grass.
Thus our entire journey for today was on level terrain with only a slight incline.
At 11:00 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 the village of Abu Kemal Abu 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.” The settlement Musil describes must be what Alexander calls “the new village.” [ME, 12] , which is
our stopping place for today. At 11:45 we arrived at the military post of Abu Kemal. The village is extremely poor
with nothing but a few mud-wattle houses and some shops and 350 souls. In three or four years it will be far better than
Ramadi,
al-Hit, or 'Ana because it is constructed in the manner of modern buildings. Today
I saw lots of locusts in the thickets, as abundant as worms. They are all Najdi yellow like the kind
they eat at Basrah. From a distance one could mistake them for bits of straw that have been
strewn about! The caravan and the mule litter arrived one hour after I arrived here. We camped
on dry ground far away from the river. I discovered a caravan that had come from Damascus bound for

Page 024

Baghdad. I sent a letter with it 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 easterly wind blowing. The night was cursed with gnats until morning and the wind was still until sunrise.
Again, I did not sleep at all from night until morning and am waiting to see
how this coming night will be. We were up at 5:30, drank tea,
and at 7:00 left Abu Kemal to move on to our next stopping place. We continued to march amid greenery,
mulberry trees, and tamarisk, all high and tall until
10:30. Then I got out of the mule litter and rode the horse. I rode towards some Arab tents
at the side of the road and asked them for some shinina Shinina: [şinīna] a beverage made of yoghurt diluted with water. .
A woman brought me some in a sheepskin. I drank as much as I could and returned the rest,
thanking her. The Arabs here are very friendly and amiable with strangers
as well as generous with guests. I returned from the Arabs' tents heading for the military post of al-Salihiyya,
our stopping place, and arrived there at 1:00 in the afternoon. Half an hour later
the caravan arrived and we made camp on the bank of the Euphrates River in front
of the military post, a very old building with few zaptiye. Today's site is
nice but the ground is extremely dusty and sandy. From Abu Kemal to al-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 even and flat. This was the first time we traveled such a road
which did not tire us at all. At five before (after)noon, my father and I went to a high mountain
only half an hour from the camp. We wanted to see what seemed, from
a distance, to be an old construction on the mountaintop An 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 BCE and grew to become a major manufacturing center. When it was taken by the Romans in about 160 CE, 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. Alexander visits the site well before it was definitively identified. In a private communication,the archaeologist Prof. Simon 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.[Simon James at http://www.le.ac.uk/ar/stj/dura/index.htm#late] . 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 buildings 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 powerful people. The rocks are very carefully laid one on top of the other without plaster
or mud. Here we came across Colonel Mockler who had also come up to look at this old city.
We returned at sunset impressed by the ancient site.
An extremely cold and clear morning with a fresh wind. The night was
cold too. However, I slept under the mosquito netting for fear of the tiresome gnats. Thanks be to God, I slept
delightfully until morning. At 7:00 Colonel Mockler said that he does not intend to make
the whole journey stage today and that he will travel only for about 6 hours. He wanted to go once more to the mountaintop
with the ruins we saw yesterday in order to tell his wife
about them. And so we all mounted 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. Approaching the foot of the mountain I climbed up on horseback, and
together we toured around the ruins. I saw several more places than yesterday and I went into
a place that looks like a military fort, passing between arches built of small rocks. I noticed, written on one arch,
names of the tourists who visited these places.
Of these I recall two. One is V. Duvent 1890 and the other Frédéric
Korben 1887. I 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 10:00 we left this place going out through
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 1:30 in the afternoon. We rode to the stopping place of al-Showayt al-Showayt: [aş-Şowayṭ] To be completed. together. Upon arriving
we unloaded the baggage and pitched the tents at 2:00. A high cliff is across from us. The other bank is
very far away and the current of the river is not fast here. From here to 'Ana, we had much trouble
changing money. All the Arabs only take piasters Piaster: [ghrush, ġurūş] this is the Turkish piaster, 1/100 of a Turkish pound (lira). and do not know about
the majidi or the quarter-majidi Majidi: [or the quarter majidi] An Ottoman silver coin introduced by Sultan Abdul Mecid (Majid) in 1844. It was worth 20 gurush [kurūş]. . 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.
At 'Ana they call it metlik Metlik: Here 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 which refers to a very low value coin made of copper sometimes adulterated with other metals. , which is worth three Baghdadi piasters. Whereas between here and al-Qa'im, the metlik
is called ashari Ashari: Apparently, in Mesopotamia the only Turkish coin that was generally recognized was the mecidi/majidi. Other names like ashari and qamari represented varying amounts of local (often Persian) coins depending on the region. So these terms do not necessarily refer to an actual coin but to a combination of coins actually in use. See "To Mesopotamia and Kurdistan in Disguise" byy Ely Banister Soane. and is worth one piaster. In short, it is very 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. From here to al-Nahiyya the Arab women all 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 spoils their looks. The people of these
places are very poor and strive desperately for money. They are as dirty as could be. Yesterday
when we dismounted at al-Salhiyah, 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 eight or nine for one qamari Qamari: See the note on ashari above. The qamari is an imaginary coin representing a certain amount of local currency. but vegetables are not available at all and the bread, which is black and thick in these areas, is extremely miserable.