The last part of its course, from Hit downwards, is through a low, flat, and alluvial plain, over which it has a tendency to spread and stagnate ; above Hit, and from thence to Sumeisat (Samosata^, the country along its banks is for the most part open, but hilly ; north of Sumeisat the stream runs in a narrow valley among high mountains, and is interrupted by numer- ous rapids. The entire course is calculated at 1780 miles, nearly 650 more than that of the Tigris, and onh' 200 short of that of tlie Indus ; and of this dis- tance more than two thirds (12C0 miles) is navigable for boats, and even, as the expedition of colonel Ches- ney proved, for small steamers. The ividth of the river is greatest at the distance of 700 or 800 miles from its mouth — that is to say, from its junction with the Khabour to the village of Werai. It there aver- ages 400 yards, while lower down, from Werai to Lamlun, it continually decreases, until at the hi.st- named jdace its width is not more than 120 j'ards, its depth having at the same time diminished from an av- erage of 18 to one of 12 feet. The causes of this sin- gular phenomenon are the entire lack of tributaries below the Khabour, and the employment of the water in irrigation. The river has also in this part of its course the tendency already noted, to run off and waste itself in vast marshes, which every year more and more cover the alluvial tract west and south of the stream. From this cause its lower course is con- tinually varying,- and it is doubted whether at present, excejit in the season of the inundation, any portion of the Euphrates water is poured into the Shal-el-Arab.
In point of current it is for the most part a slug-
EUPHRATES
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EUPHRATES
Ish stream ; for, except in the height of the flooded season, when it approaches 5 miles an hour, it varies from 2}- to 3|-, with a much larger portion of its course under o than above. Its general description for some distance below Erzingan is that of a river of the first order, struggling through high hills, or rather low mountains, making an exceeding!}' tortuous course as it forces its way over a pebblj' or rocky bed from one natural barrier to another. As it winds round its nu- merous barriers, it carries occasionally towards each of the cardinal points a considerable body of water, and is shallow enough in some places for loaded cam- els to pass in autumn, the water rising to then: bellies, or about ii feet. The upper portion of the river is inclosed between two parallel ranges of hills, covered for the most part with high brushwood and timber of moderate size, having a succession of long, narrow islands, on several of which are moderate-sized towns ; the borders of this ancient stream being still well in- habited, not only by Bedouins, but by permanent resi- dents. The following towns may be named: Sumeis- at, Haorum, Jiomkala, Bir, Giaber, Deir, Rava, Anna, Hadisa, El-Us, Jibba, Hit, Ilillah, Lemlun, Korna, and Bussora. The scenery al)ove Hit, in itself very pic- turesque, is greatly heightened by the frequent re- currence of ancient irrigating aqueducts, beautiful specimens of art, which are attributed by the Arabs to the Persians when fire-worshippers : they literalh' cover both banks, and prove that the borders of the Euphrates were once thickly inhabited by a highly civilized people. They are of stone. Ten miles be- low Hit is the last of these. The country now be- comes flatter, with few hills ; the river winds less ; and the banks are covered with Arab villages of mats or tents, with beautiful mares, cattle, and numerous flocks of goats and sheep. From Hit to Babylon the black tent of the Bedouin is almost the onlj^ kind of habitation to be seen. This distance is cultivated only in part ; the rest is desert, with the date-tree showing in occasional clusters. In descending, the irrigating cuts and canals become more frequent. Babylon is encircled by two streams, one above, the other below the principal ruin, beyond which they unite and pro- duce almndance. For about thirty miles below Hil- lah both banks have numerous mud villages, imbed- ded in date-trees : to these succeed huts formed of bun- dles of reeds. The country lower down towards Lem- lun is level, and little elevated above the river ; irri- gation is therefore easy : in consequence, both banks are covered with productive cultivation, and fringed with a double and nearlj'' continuous belt of luxuriant date-trees, extending down to the Persian Gulf. At one mile and a half above the town of Dewania is the first considerable deviation from this hitherto majestic river; another takes place 22 miles lower; and nine miles farther — at Lemlun — it again separates into two brandies, forming a delta not unlike tliat of Damietta, and, when the river is swollen, inundating the country for a space of about 60 miles in width v;ith a shallow sheet of water, forming the Lemlun marshes, nearly the whole of which is covered with rice and other grain the moment the river recedes (in June). Here mud villages are swept away by the water every year. Below Lemlun the Tigris sends a branch to the Eu- phrates, which is thus increased in its volume, and, turning to the east, receives the chief branch of the Tigris, thence running in one united stream, under the name of the Shat-el-Arab, as far as the sea (the Per- sian Gulf). In this last reach the river has a depth of from .3 to 5 fathoms, varies in breadth from 500 to 900 yards, and presents banks covered with villages and cultivation, having an appearance at once imposing and majestic. The length of that part of the river, reckoning from Bir to Bussora, navigable for large ves- sels at all times of the year, is 143 miles. It is verj' anundant in fish. The water is somewhat turbid, but, ■when purified, is pleasant and salubrious. The Ara- III.— Z