THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION 



129 



and follows a course gradually converg- 

 ing upon that of its sister stream, fi- 

 nally, near the sea, the two unite and 

 issue as one river into the Persian Gulf. 

 The land traversed by these two rivers 

 has, like the sister river-land of Egypt, 

 been from time immemorial one of the 

 great historic centers of human develop- 

 ment. It divides into two portions of 

 fairly equal length. For the first 400 

 miles the country gradually descends in a 

 gentle slope from the mountains, forming 

 an irregular triangle between the two 

 rivers, within which the land becomes 

 less and less hilly, as it sinks southward, 

 till, as it nears the Euphrates, it becomes 

 a broad steppe, which, beyond the river, 

 rolls off into the desert. This portion is 

 strictly the land called by the Greeks 

 "Mesopotamia." 



THE GREAT ALLUVIAL PLAIN 



The second division is totally different 

 in character. It is simply a great delta, 

 like that of the Nile — a flat, alluvial plain, 

 which has been entirely formed of the 

 silt brought down from the mountains by 

 the two great rivers. 



The process of land-making is still 

 going- on, and the waters of the Persian 

 Gulf are being pushed back at the rate of 

 about 72 feet per annum. What this 

 slow process may achieve in many cen- 

 turies is evidenced by the fact that we 

 know that the ancient town of Eridu was 

 still, at about 3000 B. C, an important 

 seaport on the Persian Gulf. It is now 

 125; miles from the sea. 



Both lands were entirely dependent for 

 their habitability and fertility on the 

 rivers which traversed them. In Meso- 

 potamia the Tigris and the Euphrates 

 have for long stretches channeled deep 

 into the soil and flow below the level of 

 the land. In the lower district — Baby- 

 lonia — the ordinary level of the rivers is 

 frequently above that of the surrounding 

 plain ; so that inundations are of frequent 

 occurrence, and large tracts of the coun- 

 try are now unhealthy marshland. 



In both cases, therefore, though for 

 opposite reasons, the hand of man was 

 needed to make the rivers helpful. In 

 Mesoootamia the water was controlled 

 by dikes and dams, which held it up until 

 it was raised to the level of the land, over 



which it was then distributed by canals. 

 In Babylonia the surplus water was 

 drawn off directly by a great canal sys- 

 tem, the banks of whose ancient arteries 

 still stretch in formidable ridges across 

 the plain. 



FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY 



Under the system of irrigation both 

 lands were astonishingly fertile. Even 

 today it can be seen that only well-di- 

 rected work is needed to bring back the 

 ancient fertility. After the spring rains 

 the Mesopotamian slopes are clothed with 

 rich verdure and are gay with flowers. 

 But of old these lands were the wonder 

 of the world for their richness. 



Of Babylonia the Greek historian 

 Herodotus wrote 2,350 years ago : "This 

 territory is of all that we know the best 

 by far for producing grain ; as to trees, 

 it does not even attempt to bear them, 

 either fig or vine or olive ; but for pro- 

 ducing grain it is so good that it returns 

 as much as two hundred fold for the 

 average, and when it bears at its best, it 

 produces three hundred fold." 



You had, then, a land which, in con- 

 stant human occupation and with con- 

 stant and organized attention to the de- 

 tails of irrigation, was capable of almost 

 anything; but at the same time it was a 

 land which, left to itself, went back 

 quickly to wilderness. The parching 

 heat of summer withered everything on 

 the Mesopotamian uplands ; the low levels 

 of Babylonia very speedily became marsh 

 if the waters were not regulated. 



So, the hand of man being withdrawn 

 or checked, both Mesopotamia and Baby- 

 lonia went back to the state in which they 

 were originally and in which we see them 

 now. They became great barren wastes, 

 the Mesopotamian slopes clad in spring 

 with a brief beauty, then parched and 

 desolate for the rest of the season ; the 

 Babylonian plains covered with swamp 

 and jungle, where fever and malaria 

 breed continually. 



DESOLATION SUCCEEDS LUXURIANCE 



The desolation is only accentuated by 

 the melancholy remains of human activ- 

 ity — canals choked and silted up till they 

 have become fever beds instead of arter- 

 ies ; hugfe mounds of rubbish which once 



