THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY ' 



nomads have never made further progress ; they live the same Ufe today 

 in Arabia and central Asia that they have lived for thousands and per- 

 haps tens of thousands of years. 



The next step in civilization, and the first progressive step, was in coun- 

 tries like Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China, where rivers overflow their 

 banks and irrigate the desert, and where the people were taught of neces- 

 sity to dig irrigating ditches. The land yielded luxuriantly and with little 

 labor, so a large population was soon gathered, and men were thus brought 

 in close contact — for there can be no progressive civilization without the 

 intimate contact of man with man. This contact is impossible where men 

 live by hunting, or by pasturing cattle, for then one man requires for his 

 support the same territory that will sustain many civilized men. 



The civilization of Egypt and Mesopotamia was of a low order, for there 

 could be neither liberty of thought nor of action where there were only 

 two classes, master and servant. 



Under the Patriarchal system the father was the head of the family, 

 the children were subject to him and the property belonged to him. As 

 the families increased, the successor of the father, the oldest or most 

 powerful son, became in like manner the patriarch. We see these feat- 

 ures exemplified in the life of Abraham, who had absolute control over 

 the life of Isaac. 



The continuance of this despotism and slavery in Babylon led to luxury, 

 decay, and the extinction of civilized life. 



It was not until civilization reached Greece that personal freedom, with 

 liberty of mind and body, was obtained, and only then was the com- 

 mencement of arts, science, and true civilization. 



March 8. Babylonia, by William Hayes Wahd, D. D., LL. D., of 

 The Independent. 



It is still uncertain whether civilization began in the Nile or the 

 Euphrates valley. Babylonian history must now be i^ushed back a 

 thousand years or more beyond Sargon of Agane, who lived 3800 B. C. 

 It is generally asserted that civilization must begin in a river bottom 

 which affords abundant food for a dense population and compels division 

 of labor. Kecord of civilization begins with writing : all progress before 

 it is prehistoric. Writing was independently invented in these two val- 

 leys. The Nile and Euphrates valleys had important differences, though 

 alike in climate and fertility. The Nile valley is accessible only at its 

 lower end, protected on the sides by desert and at the upper end by 

 cataracts. The Euphrates valley is easily attacked from the north to- 

 wards Syria and Armenia, and from the east towards Elam, and was 

 liable to be overrun by barbarous hordes. The composite Euphrates and 

 Tigris valley differs from the Nile valley in the nature of its floods. The 

 Tigris flood comes first, and the flood is not so much welcomed as guarded 

 against. Irrigation by canals is of first importance. Babylonia is a land 

 of natural swamps, where the mounds of old cities and the banks of great 

 canals are the chief feature of the landscape. As soon as irrigation ceases 

 all returns to desolation. The valley has advanced more than a hundred 

 miles into the Persian gulf since its first cities were built. 



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