volume 2 - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian History Workshop

46 Bridge of Boats at Mdsul.
upstream and downstream. Above the boats there is a
layer of earth which rests on a layer of branches of trees,
and these in turn rest upon a layer of poles, which are
sometimes split and sometimes not ; these layers form
the roadway of the bridge. The boats were old and
rickety, and I was not surprised to hear that when the
great rise of the river took place about a month later,
most of them were smashed. The eastern end of the
bridge of boats is moored to the remains of the stone
bridge which the Arabs (?) of the Middle Ages built over
the Tigris and of which several arches capable of
carrying traf&c still exist. Round about the arches and
beyond them a sort of perpetual fair was held when the
river was low, and itinerant merchants of many nationalities
pitched their tents there, and did a good trade
in eggs, fish, bread, roUs, melons, etc. Acrobats and
mountebanks were frequently to be seen there exhibiting
their skill to crowds of admiring children, and as their
quips and jests were greatly appreciated by the grownups
for their " broadness" and " topical allusions," their
" patter" never lacked ready listeners. When the river
was very low some of the arches were used as stables by
caravans which did not cross the river, and parts of
others were screened off and openly used for immoral
purposes, even during the day.
What the population of Mosul was in 1889 I could
never find out. In all attempts to count the people the
Oriental always sees attacks of the tax collector, and
replies to all questions on the subject accordingly. The
population of Mosul consists of Arabs, Persians, Kurds,
Jews and Christians, the last named including Nestorians
and Papal Nestorians, Syrians and Papal Syrians,
Armenians and Protestants. According to the census of
1849, which is quoted by Badger (i, 82) the population
consisted of 3,350 families or houses, of which 2,050 were
Muslim, 350 Chaldean (Nestorian), 450 Jacobite, 300
Papal Syrian and 200 Jewish. Sachau {Reise, p. 349)
says that the population was estimated to be 42,000,^
^ Buckingham estimated it at less than 50,000. (Travels, ii, 34.)