MESOPOTAMIA 53 



fig-tree, but is now laid under fields of maize, wheat, 

 tobacco, and rice, fruit orchards, olive- and vineyards. 

 It is continued on the south-east by the foot-hills and 

 foot-terraces of the Zagros chain. 



The part of the Garmsir which forms the shelf of 

 Zagros to the Persian Gulf is arid and scorching. The 

 vicinity of the mountains, however, determines the 

 formation of numerous water points, which are so many 

 date-palm oases, each a nucleus for a village. 



The past fertility of Mesopotamia, with its ' garden of 

 Eden', was due to the utilization of the waters of the 

 twin rivers Tigris and Euphrates by means of irrigation 

 canals and ditches, and to careful drainage, which formed 

 one of the most admirable engineering works the world 

 has ever seen. On these were founded the powerful civi- 

 lizations which succeeded each other in the course of 

 centuries, with their countless cities and their all-impor- 

 tant influence upon the history of mankind. It is now 

 proposed to restore the irrigation systems and thus to 

 open a new future to Mesopotamia. 



Asia Minor is a vast and irregular plateau, with an 

 average height of over 3,000 feet, and encircled by moun- 

 tains. In the west, it opens by broad valleys to the 

 Mediterranean ; on the east, it is bounded by the com- 

 plicated mountainous region of Armenia. The mountain - 

 chains which cross the plateau, like the other features of 

 the relief and the bounding walls on the north and south, 

 are directed mainly east and west. The mountain-rims 

 on the north, west, and south deprive the centre of Ana- 

 tolia of most of the climatic advantages which would 

 accrue from its position in the midst of the great inland 

 seas. Bereft of rains and of the regulating influence 

 of large sheets of water, the high plateau is arid and 

 extreme in its climate. Its irregular rainfall is limited 



