The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1921-11-03

of the land, over which 1t was then
distributed by canals. In Babylonia
the surplus water was drawn off d.
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 ast0nishingly fertile. Even
today it 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 Babylonia 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 II Is
so good that Ii returns as much IA
two hundred fold for the average,
and when 1t bears at its best, it 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 land which, left to It
self, went back quickly to wilderness.
The parching heat of summer with
cred everything on the Mesopotamian
uplands; the low levels of Babylonia
very speedily became marsh IL 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
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 Nlneveh, 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 i have builtr 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 habitatlon 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
Cunaxa, they passed the ruins OF
Nineveh and never knew Of them, and
encamped beside the ruins of Kalah,
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 I'm the political upheaval OF
1908. made an effort to reclaim the
lost garden spot, but did not make
any great Roadway. 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.
Bagdad has been connected by rail
with Basra, the port near the Per
sian Gulf; and line has been extend
ed in the opposite direction from Bag
dad, up the Tigris halfway to Mosul.
II is planned under the new Arab
state Of frak and the British man
date to continue the great engineering
work that will be needed 70 rejnven
ate Mesopotamias ancient irrigation
system. But there Is much 20 be done
before the Garden Of Eden" wiu
bloom again.