134 Meynard's Ibn Khordddbeh. [No. 2, 



capitation. The latter may have amounted to 7 millions : the male 

 population of full age consisted of 500 7 000 souls, and the poorer classes 

 had to pay 12, the middling classes 24, and the rich 48 Dirhams ; 

 supposing one in a thousand paid the Jhighest, and one in a hundred 

 the middling rate of capitation, this tax yielded 7,000,000 Dirhems 

 and the land tax 113,000,000 Dirhems. 



We see that the total income which 'Omar I. derived from the land 

 of the Sawad is little more than half of that which it yielded under 

 Qobad. It is not unlikely that 'Omar assessed it somewhat lighter, 

 but the main cause of the diminution of revenue was the decay of the 

 country. Babylonia has some resemblance with Holland, and the 

 Sunderbunds, being the Delta of the Euphrates and Tigris; audit appears 

 that great efforts have been made in former times to drain it and to 

 protect it from inundation by dykes, and in measure as they were neg- 

 lected, the land was converted into swamps. We find paludes in the 

 map of Ptolemy, but they seem to have been of no great extent. 

 The Tigris carries much silt, which is partly deposited in its bed, 

 where it slackens its course, and consequently in the progress of time 

 the bed became higher and threatened to inundate the country. To 

 prevent this calamity, it was dammed in below Bacra, and the course 

 was regulated : it was made straight, so that the water might carry off 

 the deposit. During the reign of Qobad ("probably after the time at 

 which he derived so high a revenue from the Sawad) the dyke was 

 broken through below Kaskar, and the neighbouring country was 

 inundated, but the government took no notice. Anushyrwan had the 

 dykes restored and much of the land was recovered. In the year 6 

 of the Hijra (A. D. 628) both the Euphrates and the Tigris swoll 

 amazingly, and destroyed many of the dykes. King Parwyz showed 

 great energy, and it is asserted that in one day no less than 40 gaps 

 were filled up ; yet though he granted great sums from the public 

 treasury for the repairs, he was unable to remedy the evil. A few 

 years later, the Arabs waged war against the Persians. The dykes 

 were in consequence completely neglected, and the swamps gained in 

 extent. The Musulmans, after they had conquered the country, seem 

 not to have paid any attention to the matter, and the Dihqans — heads 

 of districts — were unable to repair the dykes. Mo'awiya I. sent his 

 client 'Abel Allah b. Darraj to Babylonia as collector, and he seems 



