108 Mr. Beke on the Former Extent of the Persian Gulf, and 



silence of the Scriptures as to their identity; but, from other 

 circumstances, I am fully persuaded, — and the silence of the 

 Scriptures unquestionably aids the conviction, — that these 

 three places, although bearing the same name, were totally 

 distinct from each other. 



I proceed to detail my reasons for this conclusion : — The 

 City of Babylon, of which Nebuchadnezzar was king, is ge- 

 nerally supposed to have been situate at Hillah, on the Eu- 

 phrates, about 200 miles, in a direct line, from its junction 

 with the Tigris, and rather more than 300 miles from the point 

 at which the united rivers empty themselves into the Persian 

 Gulf. What the nature of this country is at the present day, 

 will be best shown by the following extract from the late Mr. 

 Rich's "Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon," 2nd edit. p. 13. 

 The Euphrates, he informs us, when at its height, " over- 

 flows the surrounding country, fills the canals dug for its 

 reception without the slightest exertion of labour, and facili- 

 tates agriculture in a surprising degree. The ruins of Baby- 

 lon are then inundated so as to render many parts of them 

 inaccessible, by converting the valleys among them into mo- 

 rasses. But the most remarkable inundation of the Euphrates 

 is at Felugiah, twelve leagues to the westward of Bagdad, 

 where, on breaking down the dyke which confines its waters 

 within their proper channel, they flow over the country, and 

 extend nearly to the banks of the Tigris, with a depth sufficient 

 to render them navigable for rafts and flat-bottomed boats. At 

 the moment I am now writing, (May 24th, 1812,) rafts, laden 

 with lime, are brought on this inundation almost every day 

 from Felugiah, to within a few hundred yards of the northern 

 gate of Bagdad, called the Imam Mousa Gate." Felugiah, 

 it may be observed, lies in a direct line across from Bagdad, 

 that is, about sixtv miles higher up the Euphrates than 

 Hillah. 



If such be the present state of the country in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Babylon, what may we not consider to have been 

 its state during the first ages after the Flood ? 



We behold continually, in all parts of the world, the for- 

 mation of countries through which great rivers take their 

 course; and we know that the whole of the alluvial soil about 

 the lower parts of those countries has, at some time or other, 

 been brought down and deposited by the rivers. There can 

 be no difficulty, therefore, in asserting, that the low lands of 

 the Euphrates and Tigris, for a considerable distance from 

 their mouths, could not have existed in early ages, but must 

 have been gradually formed by the encroachment, on the Per- 

 sian Gulf, of the alluvial soil brought down and deposited by 



