e monuments; from the Persian epoch
onwards, the name was applied to the whole course of the
Tigris as far as the mountain district. The ancient
orthography of the name is Aushar.

It was bounded on the east by the hills and mountain ranges running
parallel to the Zagros Chain--Gebel Guar, Gebel Gara, Zerguizavan-dagh,
and Baravan-dagh, with their rounded monotonous limestone ridges, scored
by watercourses and destitute of any kind of trees. On the north it
was hemmed in by the spurs of the Masios, and bounded on the east by an
undefined line running from Mount Masios to the slopes of Singar,
and from these again to the Chaldaean plain; to the south the frontier
followed the configuration of the table-land and the curve of the low
cliffs, which in prehistoric times had marked the limits of the Persian
Gulf; from here the boundary was formed on the left side of the Tigris
by one of its tributaries, either the Lower Zab or the Badanu. The
territory thus enclosed formed a compact and healthy district: it was
free from extremes of temperature arising from height or latitude, and
the relative character and fertility of its soil depended on the absence
or presence of rivers. The eastern part of Assyria was well watered by
the streams and torrents which drained the Iranian plateau and the lower
mountain chains which ran parallel to it. The beds of these rivers are
channelled so deeply in the alluvial soil, that it is necessary to stand
on the very edge of their banks to catch a sight of their silent and
rapid waters; and it is only in the spring or early summer, when they
are swollen by the rains and melting snow, that they spread over the
adjacent country. As soon as the inundation is over, a vegetation of the
intensest green springs up, and in a few days the fields and meadows are
covered with a luxuriant and fragrant carpet of verdure. This brilliant
growth is, however, short-lived, for the heat of the sun dries it up as
quickly as it appears, and even the corn itself is in danger of being
burnt up before reaching maturity. To obviate such a disaster, the
Assyrians had constructed a network of canals and ditches, traces of
which are in many places still visible, while a host of _shadufs_
placed along their banks facilitated irrigation in the dry seasons. The
provinces supplied with water in this manner enjoyed a fertility which
passed into a proverb, and was well known among the ancients; they
yielded crops o