The Raymer enterprise., 1921-11-03

II up until II was raised to the Level
of the land over which il VAS then
distributed by canals. In Babylon!a
the surplus water was drawn off di'
rectly by 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 astonlshIngly fertile. Even
today II can be seen that only we'll
directed work Is needed to bring back
the ancient fertility. After the spring
rains, the llesopotamlan slopes are
clothed with rich yerdure aud are
gay with flowers. But of old, these
lands were the wonder of the world
for their richness,
OF Babylonla the Greek historian
iierodotus, wrote 1850 years ago;
This territory Is Of all that we know
the best by far for producing grain;
as to trees, II 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 us
two hundred fold for the average,
and when II bears ut lis 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 II was d land which, left to IT
self. Went back quickly to wilderness.
The parching heat of summer with.
cred everything on the Mesopotamiun
uplands; the low levels of Babylonla
very speedily became marsh If 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, aud 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
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 1t, Of course, from our
Bibles. The name Of Nineveh, that
great city" and the story of Nebu-
chadnezzar's pride, as he looked round
upon palace and temple and tower,
and said. "Is not this great Babylon,
which | have bulltf" 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 80 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 400
years before Christ, when Xenophon
and the Ten Thousand marched
through the land after the battle of
Cunaxn, they passed the ruins Of
Nineyeh and never knew Of them, and
encamped beside the ruins Of Kaiah,
another of the mighty cities Of AS
syria, and spoke OF them as IAN an.
Client city named Larissa.'
The Young Turks, who came into
power In the political upheayal of
1908. made IN effort to reclaim the
lost garden spot. but did not make
any great headway. All activities
stopped, of course, with the outbreak
Of the World war. But since the
British occupied Bagdad in 1917, the
work begun by the Young Turks has
been pushed much farther. Many
acres have been drained and dams
and canals have been constructed.
l,agdad bns been connected by rail
with Basra, the port near the Per-
sian Gulf; and a line has been extend
ed In the opposite direction from Bag
dad, up the Tlgrls halfway to Mosul.
1t is planned under the new Arab
state Of Irak and the British man
date to continue the great engineering
work that Will he needed to rejuyen-
ate Mesopotnmia's ancient irrigation
system. Ett there IL much to be done
before the Garden Of Eden viii
bloom again.