Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/60

Rh 50 MESOPOTAMIA have been formed. The banks of the rivers are there lined with a luxuriant growth of tamarisks. Occasional swamps and small lagoons occur ; and the marl shows a more or less marked efflores cence of salt. In this part of the country frost is rare even in winter ; in summer the heat is of extraordinary intensity, and during the whole season from May to the close of October it is but slightly modified by the night-dews. During the sand storms which frequently blow from the West Arabian desert, the tempera ture may rise to 50 C. (122 Fahr.), and this same excess of heat will then prevail through seven degrees of latitude in the whole valley of the Euphrates and Tigris from the Persian Gulf to the foot of the mountains. For, considering the strong radiation which takes place over what is now the uniform surface of the Mesopotamia!} soil with its almost complete absence of evaporation, there is nothing to hinder this warm zone extending in summer to the upper half of the country. In winter, on the other hand, this latter region has quite a different climate. From the mild coasts of the Mediterranean the cold increases from west to east. In the spurs of the Taurus, consequently, the winter cold extends far to the south, and the influence of the snow-covered ridges spreads far into the Mesopotamia!! plain. Snow and ice are thus not unfrequent in the higher part of the plain, and the temperature may fall as low as -10 C. (14 Fahr.), especially if the cold north winds are blowing. That inland region too is cut off from the influence of the mild air of the Mediterranean by the coast ranges. For this reason the vegetation is of a less southern character than that of the Mediter ranean countries in the same latitude. In the spring the green is soon parched out of existence. In this way the northern district of Mesopotamia combines strong contrasts, and is a connecting link between the mountain region of western Asia and the desert of Arabia. On the other hand the country to the south of Mesopotamia, or Irak, has a warm climate, and towards the Persian Gulf indeed the heat reaches the greatest extremes. In Uppter Mesopotamia, strictly so called, agriculture has suffered an extraordinary decline; in spite of excellent soil, very little of the land is turned to account. In the western district the fertile red- brown humus of the Orfa plain, derived from the lime of Nimrud Dagh, extends to about 12 miles south of Harran. &quot;With a greater rainfall, and an artificial distribution of the water such as existed in olden times, agriculture would flourish. If spring rains are only moderately abundant, wheat and barley grow to a great height, and yield from thirty to forty fold. Kice is also grown in the richly watered hill -encircled district of Seruj and on the banks of the Khabur. Next, millet and sesamum are the chief crops, the latter being grown for the sake of its oil, as the olive does not succeed in this region. The abundance of wheat may be estimated from the fact that during Layard s residence in Mosul a camel-load of 480 lb was worth four shillings. Durra (Holcus Sorghum and H, bicolor), lentils, pease, beans, and vetches are also grown, as well as cotton, safflower, hemp, and tobacco. Mcdicago sativa furnishes fodder for horses. Among the fruits the most noteworthy are the cucumbers, melons, and water-melons planted in great abundance on the banks of the smaller streams. The figs of the Sinjar mountains are celebrated for their exceptional sweetness. Timber trees are few ; plane trees and white poplars are planted along the streams, and a kind of willow and a sumach nourish on the banks of the Euphrates. The palm-trees which appear on the banks of both the rivers farther south do not come so far north. On account of the hot dry summer the orange does not succeed. Of the great forest which existed (?) near Nisibis in the time of Trajan no trace remains ; but the slopes both of the Masius mountains and of the Jebel Abd-el Aziz, as well as, more especi ally, those of the Sinjar range, are still covered with wood. The wide treeless tracts of the low country of Mesopotamia are covered with the same steppe vegetation which prevails from Central Asia to Algeria, but there is an absence of a great many of the arborescent plants that grow in the rockier and more irregular plateaus of western Asia and especially of Persia. This comparative poverty and monotony of the flora is partly due to the surface being mainly composed of detritus, and partly to the cultivation of the country in remote antiquity having ousted the original vegetation and left behind it what is really only fallow ground untouched for thousands of years. Endless masses of tall weeds, belonging to a few species, cover the face of the country, large Cruciferse, Cynarese, and Umbclliferse disputing the possession of the soil in company with extraordinary quantities of liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra and echiiiata) as well as Lagonychium and the white cars of the Imperata. In autumn the withered weeds are torn up by the wind and driven immense distances. Among the aromatic plants, which even Xenophon mentions in Mesopotamia, the first place belongs to the species of wormwood (Artemisia], which cover wide areas, and the second to Labiatx, such as species of thyme and Salvia, which, how ever, become rarer in the low country. &quot;With few exceptions there are none but cultivated trees, and these are confined to the irrigated districts on the Euphrates and the Shatt ; a few willows, a Fi/rus, tamarisks, a RJius, a Riibus, on the banks of the rivers, nnd the willow-like Popuhix cuphrntica, whii-h grows from Dzungaria to Morocco, make up the list of the indigenous kinds. In the wide belt of swamp which lines the Shaft el- Arab in the low country of Irak Arabi there are boundless reaches of gigantic sedge inhabited by a rich fauna, especially of birds such as pelicans and flamingoes. From the south, or in other words from the true desert and oasis country of Arabia, the date-palm spreads up the valley to some little distance above Baghdad ; and especially along the Shatt it yields rich crops of fruit, which are exported to India. With the exception of a few truffles, capers, liquorice, and such like, there are few wild food-plants. The cycle of vegetation begins in November. The first winter rains clothe the plain with verdure, and by the beginning of the year a number of bulbous plants are in bloom AmarylUdea, Liliaccse,, and Colchicum. The full summer develop ment is reached in June ; and by the end of August everything is burnt up. The lion is said to roam as far as the Khabur ; but in any case it is at least much less frequent than in the time of the Assyrians, when the lion-hunt was a recognized form of sport. The wild ass too is very rare ; but on the other hand wild swine, hyrenas, jackals, cheetahs, and foxes are extremely abundant. Wolves are said to exist in the plain, and among others a variety of black wolf (Canis lycaon). Particularly numerous in the steppe are the antelope species ; and herds of gazelles are frequently met with. Beavers are said to have been observed on the Euphrates. Jerboas, moles, por cupines, and especially the common European rat, abound in the desert ; bats are numerous ; and the long-haired desert hare is also found. Among the domestic animals in this steppe country the camel holds the first place ; and next come goats and sheep ; but the Bedouin sheep is not the ordinary fat-tailed variety. The common buffalo is often kept by the Arabs and Turcomans on the Euphrates and the Tigris ; and on the Euphrates we also find the Indian zebu, which is still more frequent in the districts farther to the south. Bird-life is very rare in the southern parts of the plain ; though on the Euphrates there are vultures, owls, ravens, &c., as well as falcons (? Tinnunculus alaudarius) which are trained to hunt. Among game-birds are some kinds of doves, francolins, part ridges, wild ducks and geese, and in the steppe bustards. The ostrich seems almost to have disappeared. Large tortoises are numerous. In conclusion it is necessary in supplement to the article IRAK to say something of the district of Babylonia, often (though wrongly) included under the name Mesopotamia. Here we have to do with a fundamentally different region, for it consists in the main of alluvial formations, a few scattered reaches of sand only now and then appearing in the level depression not filled up by the alluvium. The mass of solid matter which the rivers bring down and deposit is very considerable ; it has been ascertained that the maximum proportion for the Euphrates in the month of January is -fa, and at other times -j-J T ; for the Tigris the maximum is -j-J-g-. As regards the physical character of the alluvia, in the most northerly portion the soil is pebbly, the pebbles consisting almost solely of variously coloured flints and occasional small fragments of gypsum. This is succeeded by a continuous formation of clayey soil, in part argillaceous and argillo-calcareous, but covered with mould and sand, or the more tenacious clay of frequent inundations. In general, the northern plains of the interior have a slight but well-defined southerly inclination with local depressions. The territory undulates in the central districts, and then sinks away into mere marshes and lakes. The clay, of a deep blue colour, abounds with marine shells, and shows a strong efflorescence of natron and sea-salt, the latter derived from the decomposition of vegetable matter. When the soil is parched up the appearance of tho mirage (serab) is very common. As extensive inundations in spring are caused by both the rivers, especially the Tigris, great alterations must have taken place in this part of the country in the course of thousands of years. It has been asserted that in former times the alluvial area at the mouth of the river increased one mile in the space of thirty years ; and from this it has been assumed that about the 6th century B.C. the Persian Gulf must have stretched from 45 to 55 miles farther inland than at present. The actual rate of increase at the present time is about 72 feet per annum. For this reason we cannot decide much in regard to the former physical configuration of southern Babylonia; but it is at least certain that the Euphrates and the Tigris reached the sea as inde pendent rivers. Hitter estimates that in the time of Alexander the Great the embouchures were still separated by a good day s journey ; and, though they cannot now be traced, great alterations have probably taken place in the upper portions of the rivers as well as in the country near the mouths. Assyriologists tell us that more than thirty-five canals are known by name from the Babylonian period ; but it is extremely difficult, or rather it has proved hitherto impossible, to identify them either with those actually existing or with those mentioned in classical authors, in the Babylonian Talmud, or in Arabian writers. To the west of the Euphrates was to be found the Pallaeopas channel, and we still have the Hindiye channel in the same quarter. The country between the rivers more particularly was traversed by such secondary branches. Beginnhig