410 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1909. 
vation along the river banks in places and along a number of small 
canals; but in the lower part of the delta there are magnificent 
reaches of date groves and gardens interspersed with clover and 
cereals, and large areas under rice in flood. 
We have seen that the earliest settlers in the delta clustered round 
the reaches of the rivers where the water was free of silt. It is the 
same to-day. This water, though free of sand, is opaque in color, 
and retains the rich chemical ingredients so necessary for agriculture. 
It is totally different from the dark-looking, transparent water which 
has stagnated in the marshes. 
The rainfall is on the average about 8 inches per annum. The 
whole of the rain falls in winter, and there have been years in suc- 
cession when the total fall has not exceeded 4 inches. Of such tracts 
President Roosevelt, in his first message to Congress, has well said, 
“ In the arid region it is water, not land, which measures production.” 
We therefore turn to the amount of water in the two rivers. The 
Euphrates has a high flood of 120,000 cubic feet per second and a 
low supply of 10,000 cubic feet. The corresponding figures for the 
Tigris are 180,000 and 10,000. 
The rivers are in flood in March, April, and May, while August 
and September are the months of low supply. We may, without 
the aid of reservoirs, count on 6,000,000 acres of winter crops and 
3,000,000 acres of summer crops. We shall have wheat, barley, and 
beans in winter, and cotton, Indian corn, and rice in summer. To- 
day, if the winter rains are above the average, large areas of land 
are put under barley, for the deserts of Mesopotamia are not deserts 
like those of Egypt, but in great part steppes capable of supporting 
millions of sheep. The date palm is at home everywhere in the delta, 
while the Basra groves are credited with 10,000,000 trees. Dates and 
wheat are considered as growing wild at Anah. 
The winter is severe and the summer is very hot and prolonged. 
Live stock of every kind is abundant and of superb quality. Old 
Mahomed Pasha i1 Daghistani has 200 Arab mares in his studs at 
Azazia, on the Tigris. Live stock will always be one of the principal 
exports of the country. 
The delta is strangely flat. Baghdad, removed some 500 miles 
from the sea, is only 115 feet above sea level. Opposite Baghdad the 
Kuphrates is 25 feet higher than the Tigris. Between the two rivers 
runs a regular valley, across which are carried the giant banks of the 
ancient canals ike miniature hills. 
The waters of the two rivers and the soil of the country are yellow 
in color and very different from the black soil of Egypt. The per- 
centage of lime in water and soil is as high as 15, and consequently 
the soil is far more friable than the stiff clay of the Nile Valley. 
The chemical analysis of soil and water testify to their richness. 
