244 HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE vn 



The wide and gently inclined plain, thus in- 

 closed between the gulf and the highlands, on each 

 side and at its upper extremity, is distinguishable 

 into two regions of very different character, one of 

 which lies north, and the other south of the parallel 

 of Hit, on the Euphrates. Except in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the river, the northern division is 

 stony and scantily covered with vegetation, except 

 in spring. Over the southern division, on the con- 

 trary, spreads a deep alluvial soil, in which even a 

 pebble is rare ; and which, though, under the exist- 

 ing misrule, mainly a waste of marsh and wilderness, 

 needs only intelligent attention to become, as it 

 was of old, the granary of western Asia. Except 

 in the extreme south, the rainfall is small and the 

 air dry. The heat in summer is intense, while 

 bitterly cold northern blasts sweep the plain in 

 winter. Whirlwinds are not uncommon ; and, in 

 the intervals of the periodical inundations, the fine, 

 dry, powdery soil is swept, even by moderate breezes, 

 into stifling clouds, or rather fogs, of dust. Low 

 inequalities, elevations here and depressions there, 

 diversify the surface of the alluvial region. The 

 latter are occupied by enormous marshes, while the 

 former support the permanent dwellings of the 

 present scanty and miserable population. 



In antiquity, so long as the canalisation of the 

 country was properly carried out, the fertility of 

 the alluvial plain enabled great and prosperous 

 nations to have their home in the Euphrates 



