The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1924-12-17
Ruins of Library Building 1000 Years Old, a. nIppur

'J~S> ~ete wv - fNfPHi-
| here they seem a natural attribute g.
the land Of the callphs.
To see MesopOtamia clearly Is to
tear aside the curtain Of romance
which exaggerates her charms Viewed
In dispassiOnate light and by west
ern standards, she cannot be thought
beautiful; but when one lets the an
cient spirit Of the land unfold It's
spell, the past is eloquent and in the
moonlight Of Imagination rude mud
huts become towering, dimly Lighted
palaces Of the shadowy past
Mesopotamia can be cold The salu-
brious winters Of the Me never be-
come so chill But summer beats
down with a violence that makes one
realize that only by the sweat Of
many brows was civilization nurtured
here, amid natural forces against
which modern man must needs renew
the fight II the land is once more TO
blossom as the rose, with crops three
hundred-fold, such as Herodotus de-
scribed-
Great Northern Plateau.
Far to the north lies the plateau
which stretches from the Taurus TO
Mount Ararat, bitter cold In winter,
though with q clear sky which makes
the noon delightful, even beside the
ruined homes Of Van In spring warm
rains descend. tie summer rushes
north. and heavy SHOWS which block
the mountain roads melt quickly on
the slopes, from many Of which the
forests have long since disappeared
Through the rounding country Of
Assyria and the Hittite lands the II
girls and Euphrates flow, confined by
cliffs and hills TO comparatively mar
row valleys; but at the falI-Iine which
marked the boundary as well as the
difference in geographic character be
tween Assyria and Babylonia, the
piled-up waters tend to spread across
a wide alluvial plain
Once the floods were laboriously
tanned aud turned aside 10 reservoirs
and there impOunded against q later
need; but even then the lower plain
was so submerged that dikes were
built to save the towns and fields from
devastating waters Now the old
canals are clogged with silt and use
less marshes occupy the field where
a hungry world might win back a
spreading granary.
Slowly the rivers are carrying down
h1r laf- TO hn Nd -7--Shfro
back its tides; but man has not kept
pace with this slow growth nor
claimed the land thus made Opt
mists see the day when the twin riv-
ers, once more tanned. will bring pros
perity through irrigation and drain
age directed by western engineers
Wrestling with the raging waters
and tried by the heat and cold Of
savage climate, the Babylonians not
only became strong. but came TO IN
derstand the irrigation problems
higher up the rivers, and thus sought
% extend their sway over the region
where the water supply could be
stored up
Pushing Out the Shore Line.
The rivers offered life and peace in
'eturn for toll. and man gradually /
conquered natural forces until great 4
titles rose above the wide clay plain 4
md muddy floods. Sumer, Akkad-
sabylonia. ASSyria grew through toll
nd held their position through con-
tant vigilance on the part OF their
'eople; but the day came when man,
/ war with other men, withdrew his
supervision Silt and flood came
own to drown the city states and
ide their corpses under shapeiesS
hounds
When one enters the Shat-ei-Arab
nd passes through the swamps that
e below Abadan. he realizes that
ere the combined Tigris and Eu-
hrates have spewed forth their lead
{ silt throughout the centuries until
ne shore line OF the Persian gulf has
etreated for hundred miles
Ocean liners run up to Basra. 8
lodern. bustling port on the Shat-el-
rab. Here one Is shown the house
I Sinbad the Sailor. for traditions
We longer than human beings in such
feyerish land. and the visitor can
cture 3 scene which has not changed
nee the caliphs ruled; but as one !
stems to s camel roaring a useless |
-otest in the bazaarS. the deep |
histIe CT modern steamship boOms
nth to remind one that the TWEEN
eth century cannot wait for dreams
Bagdad. with its melons and kufas
,sert Arabs and yelled women. whose
ills are becoming dtstressingly thin
serves a story Of Its own