AND EUPHRATES. 
259 
at this season flourish only partially, become enriched to an 
amazing luxuriance. Herodotus, speaking of the fertility of 
Babylonia, ascribes it to the influence of the river; but remarks, 
that it does not, like the Nile, enrich the soil by overflowing its 
banks ; the dispersion of the waters, he adds, being produced by 
manual labour. Bather, we might say, held in check by that 
means 5 for, doubtless, the perfect state of the numerous canals, 
now in ruins, or totally lost, would regulate the diffusion more 
within the limits of what might be called voluntary irrigation ; 
and when the water is very low, it has always been raised to 
use by machines on its banks. The Euphrates, or Phrat, is a 
much more magnificent stream than the Tigris, flowing in a 
more abundant, circuitous, and majestic course, from its sources 
in Armenia, through a length of channel estimated at 1,4 00 
miles. 
The Tigris is not navigable, beyond sixty miles above Bagdad, 
for vessels of more than twenty tons burthen ; but even consider¬ 
ably higher up, it does not cease to be serviceable to the purposes 
of communication and commerce; a kind of float called a Kelek, 
having been in very ancient use, which carries both passengers 
and merchandise, (the latter chiefly corn and copper,) from Mo- 
soul to Bagdad. Its construction is singularly well contrived for 
its purpose, consisting of a raft in the form of a parallelogram ; 
the trunks of two large trees, crossing each other, are the foun¬ 
dations of its platform, which is composed of bunches of osier 
twigs, fastened with admirable ingenuity to the stems below. 
To this light bottom, is attached sheep-skins filled with air, and 
so arranged, that in case of necessity they can be replenished 
at will. On these, the floor of the float is laid. The whole is 
then wattled, and bound together with well-twined wickerwork, 
L L 2 
