The position of Bassora is said to be particularly unhealthy: the
plain surrounding it is intersected at one extremity with numerous
ditches filled with mud and filth, which give off noxious
exhalations, at the other it is covered with forests of date trees,
which hinders the current of air. The heat is so great here, that
nearly every house is furnished with an apartment, which lies
several feet below the level of the street, and has windows only in
the high arches. People live in these rooms during the day.
The inhabitants consist for the most part of Arabs; the rest are
Persians, Turks, and Armenians. There are no Europeans. I was
advised to wrap myself in a large cloth and wear a veil when I went
out; the former I did, but I could not endure the veil in the
excessive heat, and went with my face uncovered. The cloth (isar) I
carried so clumsily that my European clothes were always visible;
nevertheless I was not annoyed by any one.
On the 16th of May, the steamer Nitocris arrived. It was small
(forty horse power), but very handsome and clean; the captain, Mr.
Johns, declared himself ready to take me, and the first officer, Mr.
Holland, gave up his cabin to me. They would not take any
compensation either for passage or board.
The journey from Bassora to Baghdad would have been very fatiguing
and inconvenient if I had not met with this opportunity. With a
boat it would have required forty or fifty days, as the distance is
500 English miles, and the boat must have been for greater part of
the distance drawn by men. The distance by land amounts to 390
miles; but the road is through deserts, which are inhabited by
nomadic tribes of Bedouins, and over-run with hordes of robbers,
whose protection must be purchased at a high price.
17th May. We weighed anchor in the morning at 11 o'clock, and
availed ourselves of the current which extends 120 miles up the
stream.
In the afternoon we reached the point Korne, also called the Delta
(fifty miles from Bassora). The Tigris and Euphrates join here.
Both rivers are equally large, and as it could not, probably, be
decided which name should be retained, both were given up, and that
of Schatel-Arab adopted.
Many learned writers attempt to give increased importance to this
place, by endeavouring to prove by indubitable evidence that the
garden of Eden was situated here. If this was the case, our worthy
progenitor made a long journey after he was driven out of Paradise,
to reach Adam's Peak in Ceylon.
