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Diary entry by Gertrude Bell

Reference code
GB/2/11/3/30
Creator
Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian
Creation Date
Extent and medium
1 entry, paper
Language
English
Location
Coordinates

32.6027147, 44.0196987

Tues March 30 [30 March 1909] Finished a few details and off at 7.
The whole country desert - it is usually covered with grass at this time
of year but there have been 2 years' drought. After about 2 hours we
crossed the Khethar valley again, higher up I fancy. It goes down to
the Malka[?]. We then rode across a long stretch of sandy valley and
sand. The valley leading down to the lake, the Khor, is called Abu
Dibs. To the S low rocky hills. Very hot wind and a haze everywhere.
At 11.45 till 12 lunched and caught up the baggage by the lake at
12.15. The water is very slightly brackish. I cd not judge of its size as
the haze hid its boundaries. Soon after we left Abu Dibs and got up
again onto the desolate plain. A few tents of Arabs who bring khatab
into Al Hussein - no milk or leben because of the lack of grass. The
sheep and goats appeared to be eating stones and sand. At 2.15 we
saw the gleam of the golden dome of the mosque, white through the
haze, above the dark belt of palms and by 3.15 I was at Agha
Hassan's house. We stopped by a tiled mosque at the entrance of
the town and drank tea. Everywhere Persians in bright green and
yellow clothes drinking tea in the tea shops. Hassan put me up and
was most kind. He had sent a report of Khethar [Ukhaydir] to the
Indian govt who had asked for photographs. Clearly no one has
worked there. He says there ought to be another castle called
Khawarnek [Arabic characters] 3 or 4 hours W of Nejef [Najaf, An].
The govt has been much excersized [sic] about me. The Vali sent a
telegram to the Muteserrif to say an Englishwoman was
prospecting[?] the country and he was to keep his eye on her. After
much tea went out. Climbed onto roofs to see the mosques of
Hussein and Abbas his brother. They are all tiled with blue and pink
patterned tiles - not good I shd say. Storks building on the top of the
minarets. We bought roses in the bazaars. Charming Persian
houses with courts, liwans or rather columned raised divans. So back
to a bath. Dined with Hussan on excellent Persian foor and sherbet.
He told me many interesting tales. The military are on the whole
better than the civil authorities who are all hopelessly corrupt. A Turk
said to him "out of 10 men 11 take bribes." Most of the rich people
and officials are at heart reactionary - Constitutional methods cannot
suit them. But they daren't say anything since the Sultan gave the
Constitution. The 2 great families of Baghdad, Jemil and Nekib have
got together their property by force and oppression. Now their
methods are being criticised in the local papers and they hate it. The
system of appointment of kadis is as follows: the kadi is appointed for
21/2 years. He has to buy[?] the post. His salary is £T15 a month
and he therefore has to make enough to keep himself and his family
and to lay by capital to pay for his journey to C'ple [Istanbul
(Constantinople)] to solicit a new post and the sum he must expend on
getting it. Nothing has come out of the Constitution yet but black fezes
(anti Austrian) free speech and 2 towers one at Kerbela [Karbala] and
one at Nejef. To increase the salaries of the officials in a town like
Kerbela wd be impossible since it is too poor. The Govt revenues
owing to extortion decrease year by year; the people are growing
rapidly poorer. The Kwairish district used to yield £T40000 annually; it
now yields £T4000. This is partly due to the horrible condition of the
Hindiyyeh [Shatt al Hindiyah]. Soon after the proclamation of the
Constitution there were rows in Baghdad. The people declared they
did not want the Const. and it was contrary to the laws of Islam. They
were mainly united by people like the Jemils and Nekibs. They
urged that the Vali Maktubji (secretary) who was known to be Ahram
(one of the new men) had been seen smoking a cigarette in the
bazaars in Ramazan. His name is Ibrahim Fehim[?]. He was
accordingly dismissed. But when the new Vali arrived (who was also
Ahram) he interceded for Ibrahim and he was appointed Muteserrif of
Kerbela. He has no experience and has already done many foolish
things. First the incident of the Muhasabetji. An order came from
C'ple saying that as they were estimating the budget no arrears of last
year were to be paid out of this year's revenue. All the soldiers' pay
was in arrears and they complained that the Musahabetji wd not pay.
He said he cd not on account of the C'ple order. The Mutesarrif had
him up and ordered him to pay. He said No, he was under C'ple and
if the Vali gave him an order contrary to the C'ple order he cd not
obey. The Muteserrif ordered the soldiers to drag him from the room
and {beat} manhandle him which they did. He telegraphed to C'ple
and the affair is pending but will go ill for the Mutesarrif. Secondly the
affair of the Hindiyyeh dykes. The Arabs have drawn off from the
Hindiyyeh 10 times as much water as they want. They use what they
need and let the rest go to waste on the land where it forms immense
swamps. Kerbela lies lower than the water and when the river is full it
is threatened with floods if the dykes are not kept up. It is the duty of
the owners of the land, an unwritten custom, to keep up these dykes.
As the land silts up and the water channels rise, this business
becomes more difficult and expensive every year. 4 years ago
Kerbela was flooded and the people went about the streets in boats.
One of the owners is an English subject, an Indian, Muhammad Afzul
Khan. He bought the land out of charity, intending to do a good turn by
the holy town by keeping the dykes firm. But as the expense grew
yearly he sickened of the business and now refuses to mend them.
Consequently the danger to the town is great. The Mutesarrif sent for
him and ordered him to mend them. He said No that was the duty of
the 'Ammaliyyeh Mukallifeh (forced labour, every man must give 4
days a year to the Govt); the water had come there not by natural
causes but because the Arabs had brought it and the Govt must look
to the thing. The Muteserrif then said that he understood that M. Afzul
Khan had not cultivated the land for 4 years and under regulation 68
Ardiyyeh Amiriyyeh (lands let out by the Govt) return to the Govt if they
are left uncultivated for 4 years. He shd therefore put up his property
to auction. Now he has no right to do this on the sanction merely of his
own council. The matter has to go befor the Vali and the Kadi and be
properly looked into before lands can be thus sold. M. Afzul Khan
therefore appealed to the Consul and said moreover that the lands
had been under pasture and he had regularly paid a tithe on them
therefore regulation 68 did not hold. This too is pending. The
Muteserrif has caused much surprise and ill feeling by ordering the
sentries at the gates of the Seraiyya not to salute him or anyone on
the ground that in a poor[?] country salutes are absurd. Hassan has
protested and said he won't go to the Seraiyya if the sentries don't
salute him. Kerbela is a very poor municipality. Nevertheless it has
about 20 pensioners, sheikhs, sayyids and so on who pray for the
Sultan and do nothing else. Some are deserving, some not. The
Mutesarrif cut off all the pensions without enquiry at one stroke of the
pen and caused great discontents. Hassan thinks nothing of the
Persians. All the Persian officials he has seen here are perfectly
worthless. He went to see the Firman Firma in Baghdad and thought
his behaviour that of a madman. He asked quantities of questions
from everyone and never waited for an answer. He does not believe
that the Persians will ever be able to govern themselves; they have
no governing faculty. The Turks are much better. He has known
excellent men. He told me of Hamdi Bey Governor of Basrah
[Basrah, Al (Basra)]. When he came the town was in a fearful state,
robberies and murders every night. He sat quiet for a year and
collected information as to all the chief villains of the place. There
was a harmless madman in the place whom the people called Hajji
Baida. When they saw Hamdi driving in the streets they used to point
at him and laugh and say "There goes Hajji Baida". At the end of the
year he assembled all the chief men and said "Hitherto you have
called me Hajji Baida, you shall now call me Hajji Kara." And he
there and then imprisoned most of them and produced his evidence
against them. A year later the town was so quiet that he ordered the
citizens to leave their doors open at night. There was also a
Commandant there who brought the place to order. He used when he
cd not get evidence against a prisoner which wd convict him and yet
knew him to be guilty, to put him to death in prison by driving a hot iron
into his stomach through a tube. It was given out that he had died in
prison and no one was the wiser. "In Persia they bury them alive"
added Hassan. I said how my soldiers had reported to me that in
Persia they cut off a thief's hand and they added with approval "That
is Hakm." "Yes" said he "it is the Sheri'a" and he repeated the
passage out of the Koran.

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