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the weeks into days, on a system which lasted to the days of 

 JuHus Caesar. They created the sabbath day, peopled heaven 

 with Cherubim and Serapliim, and they first saw Orion leading 

 out the starry hosts of heaven. Perennial irrigation was their 

 creation and that in the face of floods such as the Tigris and Eu- 

 phrates bring down. By their skill they introduced wheat on the 

 Earth, but in the domain of abstract thought they were especially 

 predominant. In evolution they out-Darwined Darwin. 



Seeing the delta of the rivers which had been at the mercy of 

 the high floods, gradually reclaimed, and steady progress on every 

 side of them, they cast their thoughts back and saw as the begin- 

 ning and origin of everything, infinite chaos represented by the 

 devastating spirit of the floods of the river mingling with the 

 wasteful spirit of the sea and producing monstrous births : but 

 less monstrous than themselves. Tiamat. through her union with 

 Apsu, gave birth to Lakhmu and Lakhamu, and ages increased, 

 and Ansar and Kisar were born. Long were the days and dif- 

 ferent gods came into existence ; then long intervals of time 

 elapsed and the good gods were evolved, each better than those 

 who gave them birth, until finally Marduk appeared, the greatest 

 and most beneficent of all. 



SITE. OF THE GARDEN. 



Now, where was the original home of these interesting people, 

 to whom we all owe so much? For reasons already given, it 

 must have been in some country of oases surrounded by deserts, 

 and Arabia is such a country, and at their very doors. The 

 oases of Arabia are close at hand to both the Nile and the Eu- 

 phrates and the natural overflow of the surplus population would 

 be Egypt and Babylonia. 



Every part of the Euphrates delta, from Hit to the Persian 

 gulf, has at some time or another been called "Eden," the irri- 

 gated and cultivated plain, as distinct from "Kura," the unirri- 

 gable hill or plain. So in Egypt today the "reef" is the irrigated 

 plain and everything else is the "jebel," the desert where there is 

 no rain and hill or mountain where there is rain. Soil and cli- 

 mate are eminently suited to fruit gardening. From date palms 

 and oranges to peaches and plums every fruit tree is at home. 

 The date palm is really the indigenous tree of the country. "Put 

 its feet in water and its head in hell and it will do all the rest." is 

 the saying of the people. 



