Page:Herodotus and the Empires of the East.djvu/19

 era— Babylonia was an extremely fruitful land. Subsequent Turkish mismanagement has changed the flourishing fields into desolate and unhealthy regions. The numerous canals, which once lessened the force of the yearly floods and distributed the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates in all directions, are to-day all but filled with sand. In the poor villages dwells a still poorer population, whose flocks graze on the sparsely growing grass. At the present time, since there are no canals to distribute the water during the overflow season, the land becomes, especially at the south, an immense swamp. Only the ruins rising out of the broad plains remind us of the brilliant past of that region. When we read the description which Loftus gives of the present aspect of the district of Warka (the Erech of antiquity), we recall the prophetic utterance of the Old Testament seer respecting Babylon: "A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; &hellip; a sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed. A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: &hellip; and it shall be no more inhabited forever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the Lord; so shall no man dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein." (Jer. 1. 37–40.)

The former exceptional fertility of Babylonia was caused by climatic conditions, and especially by artificial irrigation. The climate in the Euphrates and