plundering nomads of the desert.

This historic country is bounded on the east by Persia and on the west
by the Arabian desert. In shape somewhat resembling a fish, it lies
between the two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, 100 miles
wide at its broadest part, and narrowing to 35 miles towards the
"tail" in the latitude of Baghdad; the "head" converges to a point
above Basra, where the rivers meet and form the Shatt-el-Arab, which
pours into the Persian Gulf after meeting the Karun and drawing away
the main volume of that double-mouthed river. The distance from
Baghdad to Basra is about 300 miles, and the area traversed by the
Shatt-el-Arab is slowly extending at the rate of a mile every thirty
years or so, as a result of the steady accumulation of silt and mud
carried down by the Tigris and Euphrates. When Sumeria was beginning
to flourish, these two rivers had separate outlets, and Eridu, the
seat of the cult of the sea god Ea, which now lies 125 miles inland,
was a seaport at the head of the Persian Gulf. A day's journey
separated the river mouths when Alexander the Great broke the power of
the Persian Empire.

In the days of Babylonia's prosperity the Euphrates was hailed as "the
soul of the land" and the Tigris as "the bestower of blessings".
Skilful engineers had solved the problem of water distribution by
irrigating sun-parched areas and preventing the excessive flooding of
those districts which are now rendered impassable swamps when the
rivers overflow. A network of canals was constructed throughout the
country, which restricted the destructive tendencies of the Tigris and
Euphrates and developed to a high degree their potentialities as
fertilizing agencies. The greatest of these canals appear to have been
anciently river beds. One, which is called Shatt en Nil to the north,