tly with the
Mediterranean, and with European and British ports. It is the great date
port of the world, and the dates of Basra are regarded as the finest in the
market. Besides dates the principal articles of export are wool, horses,
liquorice, gum and attar of roses. The annual value of the exports is
approximately L1,000,000 and of the imports a little more. The foreign
trade is almost exclusively in the hands of the English, but of late the
Germans have begun to enter the market, and the Hamburg-American line of
steamers has established direct communication. Since 1898 there has been a
British consul at Basra (before that time he was a representative of the
Indian government). France and Russia also maintain consular establishments
at Basra. The settled population of Basra is probably under 50,000, but how
much it is impossible to estimate. It is a heterogeneous mixture of all the
nations and religions of the East--Turks, Arabs, Persians, Indians,
Armenians, Chaldaeans and Jews. Of the latter there are about 1900, engaged
in trade and commerce. Fewest in number are the Turks, comprising only the
officials. Most numerous are the Arabs, chiefly Shi'ites. The wealthiest
and most influential personage in the capital and the vilayet is the
_nakib_, or marshal of the nobility (_i.e._ descendants of the family of
the prophet, who are entitled to wear the green turban). Basra is a station
of the Arabian mission of the Dutch Reformed Church of America.

_History._--The original city of Basra was founded by the caliph Omar in
A.D. 636 about 8 m. S.W. of its present site, on the edge of the stony and
pebbly Arabian plateau, on an ancient canal now dry. The modern town of
Zobeir, a sort of health suburb, occupied by the villas of well-to-do
inhabitants of Basra, lies near the ruin mounds which mark the situation of
the ancient city. In the days of its prosperity it rivalled Kufa and Wasit
in wealth and size, and its fame is in the tales of the _Arabian Nights_.
With the decay of the power of the Abbasid caliphate its importance
declined. The canals were neglected, communication with the Persian Gulf
was cut off and finally the place was abandoned altogether. The present
city was conquered by the Turks in 1668, and since that period has been the
scene of many revolutions. It was taken in 1777 after a siege of eight
months by the Persians under Sadik Khan. In about a year it fell again into
the hands of the Turks, who were again de