river was at the lowest. The amount of decrease, from June 14 to September 30, was thirty-one feet ten inches, which, added to fourteen feet six inches, its depth at the latter date when at its lowest, makes the total depth of the Tigris, at the maximum of its height, forty-six feet four inches. The depth was taken by Parsons in the centre of the stream, opposite the middle of the bridge of boats. The breadth of the river he states to be, at this point, 871 feet, from bank to bank. The hydrographic basin of the Tigris may be considered as enclosing an area of 36,000 geographical miles. There is an allusion to the overflowing of the Tigris in the book of Nahum. That prophet, denouncing the destruction of Nineveh, says: "The gates of the rivers shall be opened, And again : "But with an overrunning flood He will make an utter end of the place thereof, Both these passages mark distinctly the agency of an inundation in opening the way to the besiegers (the Medes) of Nineveh. Diodorus says, that the king of Assyria was greatly encouraged by an ancient prophecy, That Nineveh should never be taken until the river became its enemy; and that when the Tigris overflowed its banks, and swept away about twenty furlongs of its wall, he was filled with such consternation and despair, that, recalling to memory the words of the prophecy, he gave all up for lost. This historian does not specify the time of year in which this inundation of the Tigris occurred; hence it is not certain by which of the causes (which still periodically operate in swelling its streams, and which sometimes occasion it to overflow its banks to an alarming extent) it was produced. In autumn it is swollen by rains, and in the spring by the melting of the snows in the mountains of Armenia. The latter cause replenishes the river more than the former, and more frequently causes inundations; hence, it is supposed, it was by this the proud walls of Nineveh were cast down. A circumstance, remarkably illustrative of this event, occurred A.D. 1831, to the great city Bagdad, that now exists on the same river. While the inhabitants were anticipating a siege, the river overflowed its banks, producing one of the most extensive and destructive river inundations recorded in history. In one night, a great part of the city wall, with a great number of the houses, were overthrown by the irruption of the waters, and thousands of the sleeping inhabitants perished. BABYLONIA, OR CHALDEA. This portion of the Assyrian empire was a part of that territory called in Scripture, "the land of Shinar," Gen. xi. 2; a name it retained till the days of the prophet Daniel, Dan. i. 2. The name of Babylonia is generally supposed to have been borrowed from the town of Babel, and the name of Chaldea from the Chaldeans, or Chasdim. Sometimes, these two names extend to the whole country, being taken indifferently for each other, and sometimes they are limited to certain districts; by Babylonia, being meant the country in the immediate neighbourhood of Babylon; and by Chaldea, that which extends southward to the Persian Gulf. Chaldea is used by sacred writers for the whole country, and Babylonia by profane writers. The limits of Babylonia have been already defined; hence it need only be observed here, that it nearly corresponds to the present Irak Arabi. The plain of Babylon, properly so called, extends from Pylae on the Euphrates, to the district of Accad, or Sittacene. It is bounded on the south by the marshes of Lemlun, and on the north by the Median wall, which, according to Xenophon, was fifty-eight miles in length. This plain, (so celebrated as the spot to which the descendants of Noah attached themselves, and as involving the fall of empires, and the destruction of cities,) in ancient times, and even as late as the days of Xenophon, was a highly cultivated and fertile country. This did not arise from the fertilizing influences of the atmosphere, nor from the inundations of the river Euphrates, but from artificial means. Herodotus says, that the inhabitants either watered the country by the hand, or dug trenches, or canals, for its refreshment and fecundation. Hence it was, combined with the richness of its soil and an excellent climate, that it was aptly compared by this author to Egypt. ANCIENT CANALS. The antiquity of the canals of Babylonia dates from the remotest period of the Chaldæo-Babylonian monarchy. The great empire of Babylonia arose upon this alluvial plain, amid a system of irrigation and draining, which spread like net-work over the land. It was crossed by innumerable canals in all directions, the largest of them being navigable, and feeding others; diminishing in importance as they receded from the trunk. These, as well as the parent river, were bordered with vast numbers of hydraulic machines, by which the water was raised and distributed into the fields and gardens. The exact number of these canals it is now impossible to determine, as the ancients are not only confused, but often contradict each other in their descriptions of them. Their number would, indeed, depend much upon the political state of the country. Doubtless, they were most numerous, and kept in the best repair, during the flourishing period of the Assyrian and Babylonian dynasties. When Nineveh was destroyed, however, and Babylon ceased to be the capital of an empire; when the seat of royalty was transferred to Susa and Persepolis; and the navigation of the Euphrates from the sea was stopped by the Persians; and the cities on the Euphrates and Tigris were mouldering away; the prosperous state of the canals would be interrupted, and some of them would probably go to ruin. But when the seat of power, during the Parthian and Sassanian dynasties, was once more transferred to the Tigris, the canals would be repaired and new ones excavated, as new cities arose in the vicinity. Hence, in the days of Julian, Ammianus Marcellinus describes the country of Babylonia, called Assyria by him, as being full of populous cities, date gardens, and canals. But a change once more took place under the baneful influence of Mohammedanism; and although during the khalifate of Bagdad, a temporary prosperity was experienced, yet that was soon overthrown by the ravages of the Turks and Tartars, and a country which was once as the garden of Eden, lovely in appearance, became remarkable for sterility, poverty, and neglect. On the map of Rennell, there are eight of these communicating canals, exclusive of smaller ones, the traces of several of which are still visible, but many more have been destroyed. In the days of the khalifate, four canals of communication are recorded by Abulfeda to have existed; but at present, and for several ages back, one only has remained open, and even that one runs only during the period of the floods of the Euphrates. This is called the Nahar Isa, or the canal of Isa. This was the first and most northerly of these ancient canals, and it was derived from the Euphrates, at a place called Dehmah, near Anbar, the Macepracta of Julian. In the time of Abulfeda, it lost itself in the Tigris, in the heart of western Bagdad. By Ammianus Marcellinus it was called Barax, or Baia Malchi; its modern name was derived from Isa Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abbas. Nahar Sarsar.-No traces of the Sarsar canal, which existed under the khalifs, are now visible. It seems to have been a very ancient canal, as it is one of those mentioned by Xenophon, which joined the Tigris immediately below Sittace, and which seems to have been the shortest of all the canals between the two rivers. It derived its sources below the Isa, and flowed into the Tigris above Madayn, which corresponds to the modern Zimberaniyah. Ammianus notices a canal between Macepracta and Perisabor, on the Nahar Malcha, which is identified with the Sarsar. He denominates it Maogamalcha, and mentions a city of that name in connexion with it. Nahar Malcha.-The bed of the Nahar Malcha, or Royal Canal, is still traceable, and must have occupied the same position in Macedonian and Roman times, as in those of the khalifate. Tradition attributes its excavation to Nimrod, and by Tabari it is described as the work of Cush, king of Babel; from which we may conclude that its origin is coeval with the earliest period of the Babylonian monarchy.* The Nahar Malcha extended from Macepracta, on the Euphrates, to Seleucia, on the Tigris, and it was the canal by which Trajan and Julian transported their respective armies to Ctesiphon. Herodotus says it was of sufficient breadth and depth to be navigable for merchant vessels; hence it is, that some theological writers have considered it as the ancient bed of the Euphrates. Kutha Canal.-According to Abulfeda, this canal was derived from the Euphrates, a little below the Nahar Malcha, and it watered the territory of Irak. It is mentioned by Ahmed Ibn Yusuf, and is the same as the Kawa of Rennell. It derived its name from Kutha, near Babel, in Abydenus attributes it to Nebuchadnezzar, who excavated it, he says, to convey the waters of the Euphrates, when it overflowed, into the Tigris, before they reached Babylon. the province of Irak, where the text of the Talmud, in Bava Vathra, says, that the patriarch Abraham was imprisoned three years. Besides these canals, which are termed the canals of Xenophon, there were many others, the names of which are unknown. Thus below Samarra, once the regal seat of several Abasside khalifs, there was a large canal drawn to a considerable distance to the west of the Tigris, and which extended from thence as far south as the canals of communication, three of which were intersected by this large branch, and the third of which reconveyed its waters at the place now called Imaum Musa, three miles above the bridge of Bagdad, and at the termination of the Median wall. The space included by this large canal between Samarra and Imaum Musa was denominated by both Greek and Roman geographers, Mesene, or "the island," and Apamia Mesene, from the city of Apamia, below Samarra. This was a beautiful, fertile, and populous tract, being also intersected with other canals, drawn from the large canal to the Tigris. It was navigable, and from its size was called Didjel, or "Little Tigris." From the Euphrates, two other canals were drawn to the Didjel. The first of these commenced about thirty geographical miles from the Pass of Pylæ; the second, seen by Balbi, commenced four geographical miles below this. Two other canals are mentioned by Xenophon, as occurring in the space of three parasangs, or about eight miles from this. Canals of Babylon.-In the time of Abulfeda, when the Nahar Malcha ceased to carry off a main part of the waters of the Euphrates, this river is described as dividing, after passing the Nahar Kulbah by six parasangs, or about fifteen miles, into two streams, previous to which, it parted with more canals, which belonged to the city of Babylon Proper. The quarter of Babylon called Bosippa, or Bursif, had its canal; and Abulfeda describes the main stream of the Euphrates as flowing to the city of Nil, that quarter in which Babylon was situated, and giving off the canal of Nil, after which it is called Nahar Sirat. The mounds of Babel, and the Mujelibe, or "overturned," are nearly surrounded by two canals which bear that name at the present date. The Euphrates, moreover, in all probability, flowed between the Kasr, or palace, and the Amram, which is identified with the western palace of Diodorus. On the authority of Abulfeda, the Euphrates, after passing the Nahar Kulba by the distance before mentioned, and giving off the Nil, was divided into two streams, the southernmost of which passed into Kufah, and going beyond it, was lost in the marshes of the Rumiyah. Anterior to the days of this geographer, it flowed by Ur, or Orchoe, being joined in the parallel of Duvamyeh by the Pallacopas of Alexander, and ultimately emptied itself into the sea in the neighbourhood of Teredon. The same authority describes the prolongation of the larger branch of the Euphrates, beyond the Kasr Ibn Hobierah, by the name of Nahar Sares. This name means fetid river," and it appears to have been given to that portion of the Euphrates which lay below the Royal Canal, at a time when that derivative carried away a large part of the waters of the Great River. The remainder, flowing sluggishly 66 onward, by Babel and Suza, to lose itself in the marshes of Babylon, became impure from stagnation, and hence it obtained its name. MODERN CANALS. Among the canals of more recent date, according to Al Brissi, was that of the Rehoboth of Scripture, Gen. x. 11; and, upon the same authority, and that of most oriental geographers, the canal Al Kadder, or Alcator. Two other canals are mentioned, under the names of the Kerbelah, and the Nesjiff canal. The Kerbelah canal derived its name from Kerbelah, a populous town in the time of Abdul Khurrim. This canal was reopened by Hassan Pasha, of Bagdad, at an expense of 20,000l, sterling, after the Persians had retreated to the tomb of their prophet, from the oppressions of Nadir Shah. The Nesjiff canal was constructed by the Nadir Shah; and, according to Abdal Khurrim, it is sixteen parasangs, or about forty miles, from Kerbelah, and one from Kufali. Of the present appearance of Babylonia, Ainsworth says—“The great | extent of the plain of Babylonia is every where altered by artificial works: mounds rise upon the otherwise uniform level; walls, and mud ramparts, and dykes intersect each other; elevated masses of friable soil and pottery are succeeded by low plains, inundated during great part of the year; and the antique beds of canals are visible in every direction. There is still some cultivation, and some irrigation. Flocks pasture in meadows of the coarse grasses, (sedges and cyperaceæ;) the Arabs' dusky encampments are met with here and there; but, except on Euphrates' banks, there are few remains of the date groves, the vineyards, and the gardens, which adorned the same land in the days of Artaxerxes; and still less of the population and labour, which must have made a garden of such a soil, in the times of Nebuchadnezzar." This leads to a notice of THE EUPHRATES. The original Hebrew name of this river was Phrat, by which name it is locally distinguished to the present day, the elements of which still remain in that we have adopted from the Greek. In Scripture, the Euphrates is frequently mentioned as "the great river," to which distinction it is fully entitled. The stream of the Euphrates rises in two widely separated sources, one in the elevated regions of Armenia, near Erzeroum, and the other near the town of Bayazid, on the Persian frontier. The junction of these streams takes place in the recesses of the Taurus, near the town of Kebban. After having pierced the mountains, the river continues its south-western course towards the Mediterranean; but being repelled by the mountains near Samosata, it inclines a little to the south-east, and afterwards takes more decidedly that direction, which it pursues, until it ultimately joins the Tigris at Korna, in Irak Arabi. The united stream then takes the name of Shut ul Arab, or River of the Arabs, and finally enters the Persian Gulf, above seventy miles below the city of Bussora. The total course of the Euphrates is estimated at 1,755 British miles. Its breadth from Bir to its junction with the Tigris, varies from 300 to 450 yards, though it is occasionally little more than half that breadth. At times, where islands occur in the middle of the stream, it widens to 800 yards, and in some instances to three-quarters of a mile in breadth. Concerning the breadth of rivers, lakes, and inlets of the sea, however, the guesses of ordinary travellers are generally vague. The comparative size of the basin of the Euphrates, including that of the Tigris, is forty-two times larger than that of the Thames, and its annual average discharge 108,000 cubical feet per second, or sixty times that of the Thames. Of itself, the basin of the Euphrates may be considered as enclosing an area of 108,000 geographical miles. The stream of the Euphrates flows at the rate of five miles an hour, in the season of the flood; but at other times it does not exceed three miles an hour in the greater part of its course. Rich however, says, that at Hillah, the maximum velocity of the Euphrates is seven miles an hour; and Ainsworth reports, that the rapidity of the stream varies in different places. He says, in the depressions of the alluvial plain, it is often not a mile an hour, but over the high ground, as at Kalat Gerah, it runs nearly three miles an hour; that at Hillah, where the stream is confined, it flows four knots through the bridge, and that the Upper Euphrates averages from three to four miles. The Euphrates flowing, in the lower portion of its course, through a vast plain between low banks, the periodical increase of its waters causes it to overflow, like the Nile, sometimes inundating the country to a great extent, and leaving extensive lakes and marshes in its neighbourhood, after the river has retired to its channel. The rise of the Euphrates begins in March, and continues till the commencement of June, at which time, there is nowhere less than from twelve to sixteen feet depth of water. In the low season, it is generally from six to ten feet; but in some places, even at this season, it is eighteen feet. In describing the average depth, the natives are accustomed to say, that it is equal to the height of two men. The water is lowest in November and the three succeeding months; but sometimes there is a slight increase in January. Ainsworth, in describing the alluvial soil, which the Euphrates, like the Nile, brings down in its course, says: "The period at which the waters of Euphrates are most loaded with mud, are in the first floods of January; the gradual melting of the snows in early summer, which preserve the high level of the waters, do not, at the same time, contribute much sedimentary matter. From numerous experiments made at Bir, in December and January, 1836, I found the maximum of sediment mechanically suspended in the waters, to be equal to 1-80th part of the bulk of fluid, or every cubic inch of water contained 1-80th part of its bulk of suspended matters; and from similar experiments, instituted in the month of October of the same year, at the issue of the waters from the Lemlun Marshes, I only obtained a maximum of 1-200th part of a cubic inch of water (mean temp. 74°.) The sediments of the river Euphrates, which are not deposited in the upper part of the river's course, are finally deposited in the Lemlun Marshes. In navigating the river in May, 1836, the water flowing into the marshes was coloured deeply by mud, but left the marshes in a state of comparative purity, and this is equally the case in the Chaldean Marshes, below Orun el Bak, the "Mother of Musquitoes." According to Pliny, the ancient method of navigating the Euphrates was very remarkable. The vessels used were round, without distinction of head or stern, and little better than wicker baskets coated over with hides, which were guided along with oars or paddles. These vessels were of different sizes, and some of them capable of carrying burdens of palm wine or other merchandize, to the weight of 5,000 talents, (equal, according to Bishop Cumberland's calculation, to about sixty-two tons English,) having, according to their size, beasts of burden on board. When the vessels had thus fallen down the river to Babylon, the crew unloaded their cargo, and sold their vessel, but kept the hides, and, loading their beasts with them, returned home by land, the force of the stream preventing their backward course by water: steam navigation alone can overcome this disadvantage. THE PRODUCTIONS OF BABYLONIA. Herodotus declares that, of all the countries he had visited, none was so suitable as Babylonia for cultivation; and he says that the return was generally two, and sometimes three hundred fold, in which testimony Strabo, the first of ancient geographers, agrees. This fertility arose from the system of irrigation before described, as well as from the richness of the alluvial soil of the plain, and the salubrity of the climate. It does not appear, however, that the plains of Babylonia abounded in the various luxuries of life. The contrary, indeed, appears from the song of the captive Hebrews, while sitting on the margin of its waters. This song shows how acutely they regretted their exile from their own pleasant land, the land of the olive and the vine, (which Babylonia is not, in the strict sense of the word,) and their own possessions and high enjoyments there. See Psa. cxxxvii. The productions for which Babylonia was chiefly celebrated were the date palm, which flourished naturally through the breadth of the plain, and which afforded the Babylonians meat, wine, and honey; sesame, which afforded them oil instead of the olive; barley, millet, and wheat. For grain, it exceeded every other land. The millet and the sesame, says Herodotus, grew up as trees, and the leaves of the barley and wheat were four fingers broad. Babylonia, indeed, for vegetable productions, in ancient times, might be justly compared with Egypt. But it is not so now. According to the prediction of the prophet, the sower is cut off from Babylon, and a drought is upon her waters, and they are dried up, Jer. 1. 16. 38. All is now an arid desert, offering only some few patches of cultivation near the few settlements which it contains. The grove trees, so numerous, beautiful, and flourish | ing, in the days of Xenophon and Ammianus Marcellinus, have disappeared with the villages, and are only to be found in and about the principal towns, a few instances excepted, where they mark the site of a place not long deserted. In the city of Babylon itself, which, according to ancient historians, contained within the walls much spare ground that was cultivated and ploughed for corn, there are now no pastures; thus literally fulfilling prophecy, which saith: "Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; Neither shall the shepherds make their fold there." The soil of Irak Arabi, which, as the reader has seen in a former page, nearly corresponds to ancient Babylonia, may in general be characterized as a sandy clay, covered with the rubbish of ruined towns and canals. The banks of the Euphrates and Shat-al-Hie are not so perfectly desolate as those of the Tigris; but it is only near rivers and canals that we may expect any redeeming features in the landscape. On the Euphrates, the territory of the Khezail Arabs contains rich pastures and good cultivation, and many villages. But this territory is very limited, and all the remaining portion of the plain bears its testimony to the truth of Holy Writ, which says: "Behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be the A wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.-Jer. 1. 12." The banks of the rivers, and particularly the Tigris, are skirted to a great extent with the tamarisk shrub, which in some places attains the height of twenty or twenty-five feet. The common tamarisk of the country, the Athleh, or Alte, of Sonini, is the Tamarisk Orientalis of Forskal. The solitary tree of a species which, Heeren says, is altogether strange to this country, and which Rich calls Lignum Vitæ, found growing upon ruins of the Kasr at Babylon, and which has been supposed to be a last remnant or offspring of the sloping or hanging gardens, that appeared to Quintus Curtius like a forest, is also a tamerisk, but it differs from the Athleh in size. This tree possesses scaly branches and long slender petioles, with few leaves; the appearance, ever, is supposed by some to have been produced by a scanty supply of water and great age, from whence they argue that it may belong to the common species. Curtius says this tree was eight cubits, near fifteen feet in girth. The tree bears every mark of antiquity in appearance, situation, and tradition. By the Arabs it is regarded as sacred, from a tradition that it was preserved by the Almighty from the earliest times, to be a refuge in after ages for the khalif Ali, who, fainting from fatigue at the battle of Killah, reposed in security beneath its shade. It must have been more than 1,000 years old at the reputed time of the engagement, so that it may be supposed a germ from the royal gardens at Babylon. how The willow and the poplar appear in Babylonia, but they rather resemble shrubs than trees, and are more rare than the former plants. The willow was doubtless more abundant on the banks of the Euphrates, in ancient times; for the Hebrews, in their captivity, "High on the willows, all untuned, unstrung, Isaiah speaks of Babylonia as "The brook of the willows," or, as Prideaux and Bochart would render it, "The valley of the willows," Isa. xv. 7. Ainsworth says, however, that the weeping willow, Salix Babylonica, is not met with in Babylonia, and that a poplar, Gharab, with lanceolate and cordate leaves on separate parts of the same branch, has been mistaken for a willow. Tradition states that the castor oil plant once grew luxuriantly in the plains of Babylonia, but there is only one specimen existing, and that grows as a tree on the site of ancient Ctesiphon. The Asclepias Syriaca is tall and abundant in some places, and when young, though deemed by us poison, it is eaten by the Arabs. The Carob plant sometimes attains the height of six or seven feet. Camel-thorn is very common, and the Arabs express a sweet juice from it, and eat the leaves as we do spinach. Among other plants which grow in this desolate region, are a rare species of rue, colacynth, chenopodium, macronatum; a beautiful species of mesembrianthemum, carex, alopecarus, centaurea, lithospermum, heliotrope, lycium, and a beautiful twining species of solanum. The marshes near the Tigris are thickly covered with the blossoms of the white floating crowfoot. Of the cultivated fruit trees, near the towns, the date palm is the most important, as it contributes largely to the subsistence of the population. Grapes, figs, pomegranates, quinces, etc., are good; but apples, pears, oranges, etc., are of inferior size and quality. Melons, cucumbers, onions, and other plants of this family are abundant and excellent. But these only grow, as stated before, in certain parts of the district. The plains of Babylonia, for the most part, are characterized, according to the sure word of prophecy, by desolation, as the reader will discover more at large in the ensuing pages. CLIMATE. Babylonia, generally speaking, enjoys a salubrious and wholesome air, though at certain seasons, no air can be more dangerous. Plutarch relates, that the heats were so extraordinary, that the rich were accustomed to sleep in cisterns of water. The country is exposed to a pestilential wind, called the Samiel. This wind is popularly considered to prevail during forty days, but its actual duration is often twice as long. During this period, it commonly rises about noon, or somewhat earlier, and continues until three or four o'clock in the afternoon. It is felt like a fiery breeze which has passed over the mouth of a lime-kiln. It seldom or never rains in Babylonia, during the space of eight months; and it has been known not to rain for two years and a half. Rauwolf says, the inhabitants reckon, that if it rains two or three times in the year, it is sufficient for their purpose. An idea may be gathered of the temperature of the air of the plains of Babylonia from the following table, which was taken at Bagdad, situated in its vicinity, in the years 1830 and 1831. "Go After the deluge, it appears from the sacred writings, that the children of Noah congregated, in their first emigration, upon the banks of the Euphrates, in “ the land of Shinar," and in that part of the land which has been defined under the term Babylonia. While there, they consulted together, to build a very lofty tower. to," said they, "let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth,” Gen. xi. 4. The plan was put into execution, the tower was reaching towards heaven, when the work was stopped by the Almighty. He confounded the language of the builders, and, by this new dispensation, scattered them abroad upon the face of the earth, ver. 5-9. We should take a narrow view of the works of the Almighty, if we supposed that he looked with jealousy on this impotent attempt. Although the works of man may appear fair and magnificent in his own eyes, yet to Him they are nothing; for in his sight "The nations are as a drop of a bucket, And are counted as the small dust of the balance: Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing." Isa. xl. 15. It was not the building, but the object, which was displeasing in the sight of the Almighty; and hence the result of his displeasure, their dispersion. "When Babel was confounded, and the great |