The town of Hillah lies in latitude 32 deg. 31 min. 18 sec.; in longitude
12 min. 36 sec. west of Bagdad, and according to Turkish authorities, was
built in the fifth century of the Hegira, in the district of the
Euphrates, which the Arabs call El-Ared-Babel. Lying on a part of the
site of Babylon, nothing was more likely than that it should be built out
of a few of the fragments of that great city. The town is pleasantly
situated amidst gardens and groves of date trees; and spreads itself on
both sides of the river, where it is connected by a miserable wooden
bridge, the timbers of which are so rotten, that they tremble under the
foot of the passenger. The portion of the town, or as it is usually
called, the suburb, on the eastern bank, consists of one principal street
or bazaar, reaching from the small defenceless gate by which it is
entered from Bagdad, down to the edge of the water; this is deemed the
least considerable part of Hillah. On the other side, the inhabitants,
Jews, Turks, and Arabs, are much thicker, and the streets and bazaars
more numerous.
From the great central bazaar, well filled with merchandize, branch off
in various directions minor ranges, amongst which are found the fish and
flesh markets. In the former are several varieties, and some of enormous
size, resembling the barbel. The fish in question is from 4 to 5 feet
long, and is covered with very large, thick scales. The head is about
one-third part of the length of the fish. They are said to eat coarse and
dry, but are, nevertheless, a favourite food with the inhabitants; and
are caught in great quantities near the town, and to a considerable
distance above it. The flesh market is sparingly served with meat, for
when Sir Robert Ker Porter visited the town, he states that the whole
contents of the market appeared to be no more than the dismembered
carcasses of two sheep, two goats, and the red, rough filaments of a
buffalo. This display was but scant provision for a population of 7,000.
The streets are narrow like those of Bagdad; a necessary evil in Eastern
climates, to exclude the power of the sun; but they are even more noisome
and filthy. In like manner also, they are crowded, but not with so many
persons in gay attire. Here are to be seen groups of dark, grim-looking,
half-naked Arabs, sitting idly on the sides of the streets, and so
numerously, as scarcely to leave room for a single horse to pass; and
even a cavalcade in line will not alarm them, so indifferent are they,
even when travellers are compelled, at some abrupt turn, almost to ride
over them. A few sombre garbed Israelites, and occasionally the Turks,
attendant on official duties of the Pashalic in this part of the
government, also mingle in the passing or seated crowd; when the solemn,
saturnine air of the latter, with their flowing, gaudy apparel, forms a
striking contrast to the daring, dirty, independent air of the almost
ungarmented, swarthy Arab.
A few paces above the bridge, stands the palace of the governor, and the
citadel, which was built by order of Ali Pasha. This imposing fortress,
externally, is a handsome, smooth-faced, demi-fortified specimen of
modern Turkish architecture, erected with ancient materials. Within is a
spacious court, partly shaded with date trees. The whole of the town
towards the desert is defended by a pretty deep ditch, overlooked by a
proportionate number of brick-built towers (all the spoil of Babylon)
flanking the intermediate compartments of wall. In this rampart are three
gates.
As far as the eye can reach, both up and down the river, the banks are
thickly shaded with groves of dates, displacing, it should seem, the
other species of trees, from which Isaiah names this scene "the Brook or
Valley of Willows," although the humble races of that graceful tribe, in
the osier, &c. are yet the prolific offspring of its shores.