Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1921-11-04

of the land, over which 1t was then
distributed by canals. In Babylonia
| the surplus water was drawn off d.
rectly by a great canal system, the
banks of whose ancient arteries still
stretch In formidable ridges across
the plain.
Under the system of irrigation both
lands were astonishingly fertile. Even
today 1t can be seen that only we'll
directed work is needed to bring back
the ancient fertility. After the spring
rains, the Mesopotamian slopes are
clothed with rich verdure and are
gay with flowers. But of old, these
lands were the wonder Of the world
for their richness.
OF BabyIonia the Greek historian
Herodotus, wrote 1850 years ago;
''This territory is of all that we know
the best by far for producing grain;
as to trees, 1t does not even attempt
to bear them, either fig or vine or
olive; but for producing grain 1t Is
SO good that 1t returns as much as
two hundred fold for the average,
and when 1t bears at Its best, 1t pro-
duces three hundred fold"
You had, then, land which, In
constant human occupation and with
constant and organized attention to
the details of irrigation. was capable
Of almost anything; but at the same
time 1t was a land which, left to it.
| oh 70 WILD
The parching heat of summer with
cred everything on the Mesopotamian
upIands the low levels of Babylonia
very speedily became marsh II the
waters were not regulated.
SO, the hand of man being with
drawn or checked, both Mesopotamia
and Babylonia went back to the state
| In which they were originally, and In
which we see them now. They be-
came great barren wastes.
There are few things more remark
able than the way In which this land
which had once been supreme in the
history of the world, and which for
I, centuries was one of the great mold
ing forces of human history, passed al
most entirely out Of the thought and
memory of civilized man.
We know it, Of course, from our
Bibles. The name of Nineveh, that
great city" and the story of Nebu-
chadnezzar's pride, as be looked round
upon palace and temple and tower,
and said: SIS not this great Babylon,
which / have builtT' These things
are part of our earliest and unforget-
table impressions of history.
Vanished From Memory
The men who wrote the history and
the prophecy Of the Old Testament
did so when these lands were living
and at the height Of their glory.
Then came down midnight. So ut
terly had the local habitation and the
name of these great cities vanished
| from the memory of man that 4OC
i years before Christ, when Xenophor
/ and the Ten Thousand marched
, through the land after the battle o.
Cunaxa, they passed the ruins o.
N;neyeh and never knew of them. ant
: CncampeQ DeSlue TIE iuihS VI AN"eAN,
> another Of the mighty cities OF AS
/. syria. and spoke of them as IAN an
9 Gent city named LarIssa."
3 The Young Turks, who came Int
t power in the political upheaval Q
!, 1908, made an effort to reclaim thu
n lost garden spot, but did not max
Q INV great Roadway. All actyiue
stopped. Of course. with the outbreal
of the World war. But since tn
. British occupied Bagdad in 1917, tn
! work begun by the Young Turks ha
: been rushed much farther Man
acres have been drained and dam
erd canals have been constructs,
Bagdad has been connected by ra
!, with Basra, the port near the Pei
y sian Gulf; and line has been extent
. cd in the opposite direction from Bal
y dad, up the Tigris halfway to Mosu
r 1t is planned under the new Ara
y stare OF Irak and the British mai
date to continue the great engineerin
Or work that will be needed to rejuvel
d ate Mssopotamia's ancient irrisaao
3 system. But there y much to b dos
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