The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1885-05-07

In the current numb er of the Brit
i,h and Foreign Evangelical Review
there is fine description of ancient
Babylon, translated from the German
of +. DelitZSch, the eminent AS
syriologist, who invites his readers to
accompany him in a walk through the
city, as it was B. G. 568, or about
eighty years before ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
death. Before entering the city they
view the surrounding country: 1.-THE
Babylonia Of the present day reSem-
bles a desert, out of which arise
mounds and ruins, solitary and grave;
nearley all the canals are choked with
sand; the shepherds wandering alone,
with their fiocks nibbling the sparse
grass,are almost the only human
jewellers over the whole plateau. How
different was it in olden times! Be.
tween B. G. 1000 and 500 BabylonIa
was the garden of the ancient world.
The land. surrounded like an island
by two of the finest streams in the
world, the Euphrates and Tigris-the
rivers of Paradice-is truly the gift
of both. They flowed with swift
current from the Armenian highlands
into the sea now known as the Persian
gulf. In the course of centuries large
masses loan were rolled down and
heaped at their original mouth, and
this is what is now called Babylonia.
1t was on this soaked, fat and fertile
soil that the oldest authentic eiviIi-
ZatioE, not of Asia merely, but of the
world, developed ITSELF" The mel
ting of the Armenian SHOWS caused
foundations which had to be checked
by damming the rivers with bikes
and Walls. Canals served for navi-
cation, and also led off the superfiuous
waters to parts unaffected by the
overflow, and fertility, that wheat
and barley often gave the laborer zoe
or 300 fold. Near Bagdad the two
rivers are so near that only six hours
are required to pass from one to the
other. On this tongue of land, which
was once fourth narrower flor the
Euphrates has since removed its bee
further WESTWARD. the great cana
system commenced; and by means Of
still smaller arteries the lifd giving
waters were distributed to nearley
every tree. The district between
Bagdag and Hilla Ga three days ride,
was formerly strewed with heaps O
towns and villages. To its south, il
the very heart of the land, lay Babylon
"the gate of God" Its commercial
Importance is described, its fortifica
ton, the Emphrates (half mile wide
swarming with ships of every size; tn
large Euphrates bridge, built b,
Nebuchadnezzar; the different quar-
tiers and great buildsnigs; the Roya
bank, where important bushes:
public and private, was transacted
"The conditions and bargains are first
. perhaps put down on papyruS rolls
! then carfully written out on ella,
tablets in cuneiform writing, to whic
each party affixes his seal, or in de
fault of it, his finger nail, whereupo
the tablet is backed. In runnin
back over the history, two or thre
important periods are noticed; but tn
| mistake Is made of saying that it wa
7 only eighty years since Samassum
J ukin's rebellion against the Assyria
: rule. Eighty years must be mean
: Many may not know that forty-5w
! years before this, when Merodac
) baladan had rebelled. Sennacheail
e in 900 B. c., marched against the cit,
gave it UP to the flames, left not on