ltan Abd-ul-Hamid II. personally acquired large tracts of
land in various parts of the vilayet. These so-called _senniehs_ are [v.03
p.0194] well farmed and managed, in conspicuous contrast with the
surrounding territory. Canals and dikes have been constructed to control
and distribute the much-needed water, and the officials are housed in new
buildings of substantial appearance. Indeed, wherever one finds a new and
prosperous-looking village, it may be assumed to belong to the sultan.
These _senniehs_ are an advantage to the country in that they give security
to their immediate region and certain employment to some part of its
population. On the other hand, they withdrew large tracts of fertile and
productive land from taxation (one-half of the cultivated land of the
vilayet was said to be administered for the sultan's privy purse), and thus
greatly reduced the revenue of the vilayet.

The chief city of the vilayet is its capital, Bagdad. Between the Euphrates
and the Arabian plateau lie the sacred cities of Kerbela or Meshed-Hosain,
and Nejef or Meshed Ali, with a population of 20,000 to 60,000 each, while
a number of towns, varying in population from 3000 to 10,000, are found
along the Euphrates (Anah, Hit, Ramadieh, Musseyib, Hilla, Diwanieh and
Samawa) and the Tigris (Tekrit, Samarra and Kut el-Amara). The settled
population lies entirely along the banks of these streams and the canals
and lagoons westward of the Euphrates, between Kerbela and Nejef. Away from
the banks of the rivers, between the Euphrates and the Tigris and between
the latter and the Persian mountains, are tribes of wandering Arabs, some
of whom possess great herds of horses, sheep, goats, asses and camels,
while in and by the marshes other tribes, in the transition stage from the
nomadic to the settled life, own great herds of buffaloes. Of the wandering
Arab tribes, the most powerful is the great tribe of Shammar, which ranges
over all Mesopotamia. In January and February they descend as low as the
neighbourhood of Diwanieh in such numbers that even Bagdad is afraid. Here
and there are regions occupied by a semi-sedentary population, called
_Madan_, occupying reed huts huddled around mud castles, called _meftul_.
These, like the Bedouin Arabs, are practically independent, waging constant
warfare among themselves and paying an uncertain tribute to the Turkish
government. In general, Turkish rule is confined to the villages, towns and
cities along t