AND BABYLONIA. 
285 
from its too abundant overflow. Canals were cut for this pur¬ 
pose also ; one of these led to the immense basin already de¬ 
scribed, which, when required, disembogued the river into its 
capacious bosom ; and always continued to receive its superflux > 
returning the water, when necessary, by various sluices to fruc¬ 
tify the ground. During the three great empires of the East, no 
tract of the whole appears to have been so reputed for fertility 
and riches as the district of Babylonia ; and all arising from the 
due management of this mighty stream. Herodotus mentions, 
that even when reduced to the rank of a province, it yielded a 
revenue to the kings of Persia that comprised half their income. 
And the terms in which the Scriptures describe its natural, as well 
as acquired supremacy when it was the imperial city, evidence 
the same facts. They call it, “ Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, 
the beauty of the Chaldee’s excellency. The Lady of Kingdoms, 
given to pleasure ; that dwellest carelessly, and sayest in her 
heart, I am , and there is none else beside me !” But now, in 
the same expressive language, we may say, “ She sits as a widow 
on the ground. There is no more a throne for thee, O daughter 
of the Chaldeans !” And for the abundance of the country, it 
has vanished as clean away, as if “ the besom of desolation” had 
indeed swept it from north to south; the whole land, from the 
outskirts of Bagdad to the farthest stretch of sight, lying a me¬ 
lancholy waste. 
As we rode forward, nothing broke the monotonous line of 
horizon, excepting the uneven embankments of some old canal, 
or the more elevated accumulations of earth that once marked 
the dwellings of the Chaldean shepherds or husbandmen. In 
about half an hour we approached a bend of the Tigris, which 
here takes a sweep to the westward, embracing a small sandy 
