The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1911-12-01
~ WILLIAM 7. ELLIS.

reclamation OF Mesopotamia, Is
now In course Of actual realization.
During the time OF my aoJourn in
Mcsopotamia the papers providing for
tho construction OF these vast irrl-
cation works were signed by the Turk
Ssh government and Sir John Jackson,
the distinguished British engineer, to
whom the carrying on to completion OF
che imperial project Of Sir William
Wiilcocks has been entrusted. Sir
John has left one OF his consulting en-
gineers In charge at Bagdad. and the
other men OF his stan are either al
ready here or on the way. The mag
nlflcent conception OF Sir william
WiIlcocks. TO give back to civilization
che fertile land between the Tigris
and the Euphrates, which was the
birthplace Of history. and the home
OF teeming millions Of people. is no
longer dream.
So dramatic an event as the rehab.
ilitation OF this once-fertile land, now
become desert, Is found to be full OF
startling aspects Not the least OF
these I discovered when | came TO
Babylon and saw that what the arch
eeologists are agreed upon az the re-
fnainB Of the Tower OF Babel Ii now
practically hole In the ground; and
when ! went out to the Hindia Bar
rage, whore the Willcocks engineers
are at work, ! saw the bricks from the
Tower Of Babel being ground up into
powder 10 make cement for the foun-
datlons OF tho new barrage There Is
a measure Of fitness In this ancient
Eower OF deliyeraDce being used to
help save the land from its thirsty
aridity. Lest anybody accuse Sir Will
Slam Of being an ieonoclast, II may be
said that the bricks were taken from
their original site 80 years ago by the
Turkish government, which tried to
build a dam that would send the wa,
fera Of the Euphrates once more past
babylon, or, what meant more to Il,
past the modern town Of Hillah.
Making the Garden Of Eden Bloom.
Sir william Willcocks, like ali arch.
aeloglsts aud students OF the Bible,
locates the Garden OF Eden In the
Tigris-Euphrate delta. Sir William
dxes the site az point west OF Hit.
antiquity and modern times secured
vast supplies OF bitumen. These smok.
dng and forbidding regions are said by
some to have given the ancients their
ilgure OF the angels with the flaming
swords at tho gates OF the garden.
No doubt IL entertained by the arch
asologists that II was In this region
chat civilization had It's birth. Here
we're the great empires OF antiquity.
From beneath the drifted dust and
Sitting mud OF Mesopotamia the schol-
ars with spades are digging up the
wonderful stories Of Babylon, Nlffur,
Tello, Nineyah and Asshur, while
other tells" or mounds. such as mark
the site Of Ur OF tho Chaldeea. the city
Of AbrRhams ancestors. await the
coming OF archaeological expeditions
Tho Garden Made Desert.
AZ every traveller in this part OF the
world has remarked, the Moslem is
not builder. but a waster. The
statement Is commonly made concern.
ing the Arab. but II Is equally true
OF the Turk. II seems as II the fa-
talIsm and physical excessos OF Mo
hRmmedanism cut the nerve OF initla-
tive and endeayor. Certainly the fol-
lowers Of the Prophet found this re-
gion u garden: but they have made It
a desert l have travelled over a con-
siderable part OF Mesopotamia, by
kelek. horse. wagon, donkey. small
boat and afoot. Everywhere the same
story II repeated II Is all poverty
ruin and desolation. The Arabs live
in the same black tents that Solomon
sang about, or else In miserable mud
novels. They have none OF the con-
venienees OF civilization. Life Is q
hand.to-mouth existence. The appli-
anoes OF agriculture are primitive be-
shovel. little hoe about the size and
shape Of an adEe. and q sharpened
stick for a pillow.
Only small strip OF territory. lying
salenE the rivers, or the few Subsidiary
canals that remain. Is cultivated. Wa
ter ID raised by the "eherlt." n leather
bucket let down to the stream. and
hauled Mp by oxen. donkeys. camels
or cows, The process Is cumbersome.
expensive and inadequate, In few
places oil engines and pumps made in
Britain and America, have displaced
the cumbersome eherlt. and II seems
inevitable that they should become
general In the new day that is dawn
ing for MesopotRmia.
Back Of these cultivated areas lies
the Mesopotamia desert, have
traversed sections OF II where not q
plant bigger than the camel thorn
could be seen. It looks quite as DESC
late as the sandy Arabian desert to
the west OF the Euphrates. Yet 1t is
every foot good gray earth, friable
and productive. needing only water to
make It pour forth crops to enrich the
markets of civilization and to deliver
the present population from dire pow
,erty. And the wstar Is still available,
rs fully as It was when this region
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