THE EFFECTS OF GEOGRAPHIC ENVIRONMEXT 171 



palms, apples, and many kinds of shelled fruit grew wild, as 

 wheat still does in the neighborhood of Anah." Pliny, too, says 

 that wheat was cut twice and afterward was jjood for sheep. 

 The valley between the rivers varies in width from ten to one 

 hundred miles. These rivers in different sprinj; months brin<,' 

 down the rich detritus from the mountains, inundating tlie val- 

 ley, and as the water subsides the valley is covered with rich 

 and abundant vegetation. 



Here, many believe, was the Garden of Eden, and the reputed 

 site of the Tower of Babel is daily visited. The region was 

 early inhabited, and its fertility made it in all ages one of the 

 richest portions of the world. Its aborigines on the Persian 

 gulf lived by fishing, but as the i)opulation increased, they 

 w-ere forced to follow up the Tigris and Euphrates into the desert. 

 For awhile food was abundant, but with the increase of popula- 

 tion the supply failed. The conditions of environment taught 

 man to depend on the inundation and to increase the amount of 

 habitable land by digging irrigating canals. Eventually, thou- 

 sands of large and small streams connected the two rivers and 

 flowed southward into the desert. The valley and the desert 

 thus became a garden, and the population rapidly increased. 

 The irrigating canals were continually being enlarged, and for 

 many generations the country sustained a po})ulatioii so vast 

 that an ancient writer says that " for hundreds of miles a night- 

 ingale could fly from branch to branch of the fruit trees and a 

 cat walk from wall to wall and housetop to housetop." 



As there is little rainfall, the countr}'^ was almost destitute of 

 w'ood, and the river mud was used instead of wood and made 

 into bricks. These, with or without straw', were hardened by the 

 sun or fire and used for building adobe houses. Tal)lets were 

 also made of mud or bitumen, which is found here in large 

 quantities, and while soft, cuneiform inscriptions were written 

 upon them and hardened in the sun. These have remained even 

 to the present day. Large quantities of mud and clay from the 

 canals were thrown out, sometimes banked up, forming small 

 hills or mounds, upon which temples and ))alacos were built. 

 Canes and reeds, growing along the banks of the canals, were out 

 and used for the roofs of buildings. They were inclined toward 

 each other, joined at the top, coated with clay, and formed the 

 roofs of the houses. In the temples and great palaces the canes 

 were bent into an arch, supported underneath by otiier canes, 

 makinor ^ wicker arch-work, on which layer after layer of mud 



