Arabia and Some of the Bedouins 21 



Indeed, until the discovery of the way 

 around the Cape of Good Hope, and later 

 the construction of the Suez Canal, it was 

 the only route and its cities were the 

 great centres of commerce for the world. 

 When we speak of Arabia we are apt 

 to forget what the country once stood 

 for. Between the Tigris and Euphrates 

 is the land of Mesopotamia. Here was 

 believed to have been the Garden of 

 Eden — whatever that may mean — the 

 place whence the human race spread 

 abroad to populate the earth. Mosul, 

 already mentioned, is the site of Nineveh, 

 capital of the great Assyrian Empire. 

 Fifty miles south of Bagdad are the ruins 

 of Babylon, where the children of Israel 

 were in captivity, and within ten miles 

 of Babylon are still to be seen the remains 

 of the Tower of Babel. El Uz, below 

 Bagdad, on the Euphrates, was the home 

 of Job; and from Chaldea, east of the 

 Euphrates, came Abraham, father of the 

 Hebrew race. 

 Through this land Alexander the Great 



