Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-04-23
kUT-EL-AMARA TAKES
POSITION ON WAR MAP
Town on the Tigris, Formerly In
significant, Has Attained
Importance.

"The remarkable achievement of the
English Gen. Townshend in withstanding
the siege of the Turkish army at kut-el-
Amara since early in December will in
sure this insignificant town. which is
situated on the east bank of the Tigris
river, a conspicuous place in the geog-
raphy of the world war when the history
Of the great struggle is written" says a
bulletin of the National Geographic So
ciety of Washington.
Before the English army was hemmed
in at this unhealthy coaling station for
steamers plying between the great date
port of Basra and the important city of
Bagdad. Kut-el-Amara, 100 miles south
east of the latter city, was nothing more
or less than one of the myriad out-of-the-
way places to fortune and to fame I'M
known
Floods Not at Height.
THE town, which at the beginning of
the war was a Turkish post controlling
the lower reaches of the Tigris is stu
ated at the juncture of the old river chan
mel and the new, the former forming the
still navigabIe Shatt-el-Hai canal flowing
into the Euphrates. The Tigris and the
Euphrates, which approach within thirty
five miles of each other at Bagdad, are
nearly 100 miles apart at this point. At
Basra they converge and form the Shaft
el-Arab, sixty miles from the Persian
gulf.
IAN of the meager accounts which have
come from this zone of the war in recent
months have emphasized the suffering
which the high waters have caused the
ferings have not yet reached their limit.
for the Tigris, which begins TO rise in
November. is not at the maximum stage
until the latter part of May. Then the
plains become vast marshlands and the
inland sea is dotted with islands of date
palm groves.
when the Tigris is in flood in the vi
cinity Of Kut-el-Amara it flows at the
rate of four miles an hour and brings
down from the headwaters quantities of
mud, which is deposited in banks and
shoals in the river bed. resulting in fire.
Quent changes in the cnanneI.
Numerous abandoned canals weave
their way through this section of
Mesopotamia and through the country
lying to the northwest of the Tigris,
between the river and the foothills
of Persia.
Garden Spot of Ancients.
In a former age an extensive irri-
cation system made this land a won
derful garden of fruits and flowers.
Centuries of disuse have caused the
canals to become choked with silt and
refuse. converting much of the once
productive district into miasmatic
marshes, which are menace to health
and an offense to sight and smell
Wherever there is an effort at cultiya-
tion. however. the husbandman is re-
Narded like the farmer of the Nile
delta The finest dates in the world
are raised a short distance to the
southeast of Kut-el-Amara and ex4
ported from Basra- Rice, wheat, bar
ley, roses and licorice root are grown.
Herds of horses, sheep and goats con-
stitute the chief wealth Of the nomadic
tribes
When the veterans of the Kut-el-
Amara- campaign return to England
large percentage will bear as scars of
the siege the deep, disfguring .Bagdad
date mark or 'Aleppo button a pain
full but not dangerous disease prevalent
IN Mesopotamia- The mark is a boil
winch attacks the face, neck, hands
and soles of the feet. Natives are said
10 escape with one sore, as a rule. but
Europeans often are afflicted with sew
erai. which do not heal for a wear
Inc marks are of two varieties the
male and the female. the first a dry
scaly sore, the other a running hoil
III the survivors should be called mon
TO make a second campaign thronpb
Asiatic Turkey in years to come thew
VIII be immune, as the button seldom,
appears second time on the same ner
son." pei