MESOPOTAMIA—WILLCOCKS. 403 
The Tigris enters its delta at Beled, south of Samarra, over the 
ruins of one of the most interesting works of antiquity. In ancient 
days some giant, local tradition says Nimrod, closed the channel of 
the Tigris by an earthen dam and turned the river over the hard 
conglomerate, forcing it to flow at a high level and irrigaté the whole 
country. Coursing down over rapids, the Tigris became navigable at 
Opis; and from there past the modern Baghdad and on to Kut it 
kept within the channel of to-day. From Kut on to Ur of the 
Chaldees, past Tel Lo, the ancient Tigris followed the line of the 
modern Hai or Garraf branch. The country past Amara and Gurna 
on the modern Tigris was an immense sheet of fresh water known 
as the Susiana Lake. The levels of the country prove this beyond 
the question of a doubt. 
The junction of the Tigris and Euphrates was at Ur of the 
Chaldees; and from there the joint waters of the two rivers flowed 
past the modern Zobeir and down the Bubian channel of the Khor 
Abdalla. The 3-fathom line depicted on the British admiralty charts 
clearly shows the ancient mouth of the river north of Koweit. The 
Khor Abdalla has two heads, one represents the joint waters of the 
ancient Tigris and Euphrates, and the other the mouth of the ancient 
Karun. 
The Karun River has played no small part in the formation of 
the Tigris-EKuphrates delta. While the Tigris and Euphrates have 
left all their deposit behind in the Babylonian, Chaldean, and 
Susiana marshes, the Karun has always hurried down from the 
Persian hills and carried its silt-laden waters into the Persian Gulf 
or into the joint stream of the two other rivers. It has been the 
sole factor in forming the comparatively high-lying land which 
stretches from Basra eastward. This tongue of land protects the 
Tigris-Euphrates swamps from the inroads of sea-water, and keeps 
them fresh. The Basra bar is formed almost entirely of Karun mud. 
The Tigris and Euphrates mud lies far away to the west. 
The ruins of all the more ancient cities lie near the junction of the 
Euphrates and the ancient Tigris at Ur of the Chaldees. The two 
rivers had left their deposits in the extensive marshes higher up their 
course, and the earliest settlers had to do with opaque water, rich in 
chemical matter, but free of silt, which would have necessitated the 
presence of many hands to keep their canals clear. A comparatively 
small population could begin and continue the development of the 
country, and it was not until the inhabitants became really numerous 
that the silt-laden waters higher up the rivers were taken in hand. 
The lands in the marshes so reclaimed and cultivated became 
extraordinarily productive, as we see to-day. They were valuable 
enough to be protected from floods by immense dikes running along 
