ot like that of the Nile, a canal hollowed out between two clearly marked
banks. From the northern boundary of the alluvial plain to the southern,
the slope is very slight, while from east to west, from the plains of
Mesopotamia to the foot of the Arabian plateau, there is also an
inclination. When the river is in flood the right bank no longer exists.
Where it is not raised and defended by dykes, the waters flow over it at
more than one point. They spread through large breaches into a sort of
hollow where they form wide marshes, such as those which stretch in these
days from the country west of the ruins of Babylon almost to the Persian
Gulf. In the parching heat of the summer months the mud blackens, cracks,
and exhales miasmic vapours, so that a long acclimatization, like that of
the Arabs, is necessary before one can live in the region. Some of these
Arabs live in forests of reeds like those represented in the Assyrian
bas-reliefs.[22]

Their huts of mud and rushes rise upon a low island in the marshes; and all
communication with neighbouring tribes and with the town in which they sell
the product of their rice-fields, is carried on by boats. The brakes are
more impenetrable than the thickest underwood, but the natives have cut
alleys through them, along which they impel their large flat-bottomed
_teradas_ with poles.[23] Sometimes a sudden rise of the river will raise
the level of these generally stagnant waters by a yard or two, and during
the night the huts and their inhabitants, men and animals together, will be
sent adrift. Two or three villages have been destroyed in this fashion amid
the complete indifference of the authorities. The tithe-farmer may be
trusted to see that the survivors pay the taxes due from their less
fortunate neighbours.

The masters of the country could, if they chose, do much to render the
country more healthy, more fertile, more capable of supporting a numerous
population. They might direct the course of the annual floods, and save
their excess. When the land was managed by a proprietory possessing
intelligence, energy, and foresight, it had, especially in minor details, a
grace and picturesque beauty of its own. When every foot of land was
carefully cultivated, when the two great streams were thoroughly kept in
hand, their banks and those of the numerous canals intersecting the plains
were overhung with palms. The eye fell with pleasure upon the tall trunks
with their waving plumes, up