52 ASIA 



potamia exhibit a marked mediterranean character : 

 live oaks and fig-trees are to be found everywhere, 

 but man has reduced most of the original woods which 

 clad their slopes to the condition of the evergreen 

 scrub known in the Mediterranean as ' maquis ' and 

 1 g ari 'gues '. 



Upper Mesopotamia deserves a special mention here. 

 On account of its hilly nature, it lies in a zone 



Fig. 15. The Jubailah Creek — Mesopotamia. 

 Date-palms on the left. 



of more abundant rainfall not exceeding 20 inches 

 yearly, and mainly limited to winter. 5 This hinterland 

 is indeed entirely mediterranean in respect of its climate 

 and vegetation. It is bounded on the north by the 

 Armenian Taurus, and sinks, on the south, to the level 

 of the lowland by an escarpment giving the impression 

 of hills. 



This piedmont terrace, the centre of which is Diar- 

 bekir, was originally the land of the live oak and the 



