CHAPTER X
Al-Baṭâʾiḥ
Al-ʿAurâʾ. I was informed by certain learned men that the Persians often discussed the future fall of their kingdom and thought that earthquakes and floods would be the sign thereof. Now, the Tigris emptied its water into Dijlat al-Baṣrah, also called al-ʿAurâʾ,[1] by means of branching streams which drew their water from the main stream which carried the rest of the water and looked like one of those streams.
The formation of al-Baṭâʾiḥ. In the days of Ḳubâdh ibn-Fairûz,[2] the water at the lower part of Kaskar broke through a great breach which was neglected until its waters drowned large, flourishing tracts of land. Ḳubâdh was a feeble man and cared little for the breach. But when his son Anûshirwân came to rule, he ordered that dams be made and thus the water was stopped and some of the lands flourished again.
When the year came in which the Prophet sent ʿAbdallâh ibn-Ḥudhâfah as-Sahmi to Kisra Abarwîz, which was the year 7 A. H. (others say 6), the waters of the Tigris and the Euphrates rose to a height never reached before or since, causing many great breaches. Abarwîz made special effort to stop the breaches; but the water had the better of him,
453
