BAGDAD, ONCE QUEEN OF THE EAST.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 49, 26 February 1916, Page 11

BAGDAD, ONCE QUEEN OF THE EAST.

STOKY OS" PAST GLORIES. Bagdad, once the Queen City of the . East, has fallen from her hign estate, being now but a pawn in the game ot ■war for the nations of Europe. What it means to be fighting in the vicinity of Bagdad may be gathered from the fact that for six or seven months of the year the thermometer rises to' 115 deg. Fah,, and in every house there are underground rooms called "serdabs," where the people spend their time during the hottest part of the day, at a comparatively moderate temperature of 92 deg. to 99 deg. Strange, indeed, is the story of Bagdad. Founded in 763 A.D. I>y the second Allasside Caliph, Abu Jaffar-el-Mansur, the city took three yeare to build. Bagdad was built on both sides of the Tigris, being connected by a pontoon bridge 700 feet in length. Bagdad proper is, however, on the left bank of the river. There are located the administrative Ibuildings, the ancient citadel, mosquee, caravanserais, and all the foreign consulates but the Persian. The city on the<■ right has dwindled to a mere suburb =inhabrted by Shiite Arabs/ -There; too , , is the Persian consulate. Tfi- 1911 ( thc population of Bagdad was estimated at about 145,000, of whom 50,000 were Sunnito Mohammedans, and 35,000 Shiite Mahommediuia, the rest being Greeks, Armenians and Jews. Of the latter some 52,000 live.in Bagdad. Yet there was a time, in the palmy days of Bagdad, when the population numbered 2,000,000. The city built by Abu Jaffar-el-Mansur, according to his own plans, was surrounded by a well thirty feet high, and eight feet wide. There is now no trace left of the Palace of the Caliphs, once a structure of fabulous beauty. Some idea of the magnificence of the city in its beet times may be gathered from tho fact that 24,000 streets were laid out, each with its own mosque and bath. No less than 150 canals ran through the crty, carrying the "water of tho Tigris, and each canal was spanned by a bridge. Under the orders of Caliph Jaffar-el-Mansur a gigantic canal was dug, from which six hundred smaller canals carried water to irrigate what was then the suburbs of Bagdad, but which now is once more desert.

Arab historians devot.c many, pages t(J,| the description of t"|ib,,palaces, m.osques»! and public buildings in Bagdad-at time , I when Europe was still -sunk- in TSarb'aT-1 ism. The geographical position' .of, Bagdad caused it to flourish rapidly. | During the reign of Haroun-al-Raschid of ■ glorious memory the city became the I centre of the Eastern trade, and the seat ■ of culture. Haroun-al-Raschid was the | contemporary and ally of the great Charlemagne, and the first clock in Europe was one sent by that Caliph as a present to the Emperor. Shortly after i Earoun-al-Raschid's glorious reign, Bagdad began to decline. For some reason, the capital was transferred to Samara, 93 miles away. Then the slaves captured in Turkestan were turned, into soldiers, with the result that there woe J civil war. In 1258 Bagdad was taken by.' - Hulka, th'p fM^^M,:^0 t W, Khan,, who massacred 3i>b!o66'' of the population, including all "wise men." The great Tamerlane next conquered Bagdad in 1401, and finally, in 1638, it was conquered by Sultan Murad IV., and incorporated in the Turkish Empire. Now, in 1916, a British-Indian army js marching to wrest' the old city from the Turks. In 1831 half the population of Bagdad was wiped out by the great plague, and there is little left mw ti recall the once famous Queen City of the East. Still, Bagdad serves as the commercial centre joining the commerce of Europe and Asia, hence its value.

What British soldiers have to face in fighting their way to Bagdad may be estimated from the fact that during the hot seven months of the year the residents start work at 5 a.m., and cease from noon until 5 p.m., when it is cool enough to again resume business. During the middle hours of the day all adults cease work. , .For. sue. qr'".B.'efvejr months of the year the nights arc >o hot that the flat roofs 6f the btailiHiißS , are frequently sprinkled with water ill order to render the atmosphere some? what cooler.