bians set a high value on it, and name it Morad-Su ; that is. Water of desire, or longing.
The annual inundation of the Euphrates occurs in the month of j\Ia_y. The river begins to rise in March, and continues rising till the latter end of May. The consequent increase of its volume and rapidity is at« tributable to the earl}- rains, which, falling in the Ar- menian mountains, swell its mountain tributaries ; and also, in the main, to the melting of the winter snows in these lofty regions. About the middle of November the Euphrates has reached its lowest ebb, and, ceas- ing to decrease, becomes tranquil and sluggish. The greatest rise of the Tigris is earlier, since it drains the southern flank of the great Armenian chain. The Tigris scarcely ever overflows [see Hiddekel], but the Euphrates inundates large tracts on both sides of its course from Hit downwards. The great hydraulic works ascribed to Nebuchadnezzar (Abyden. Fr. 8) had for their great ol)ject to control the inundation by turning the waters through sluices into canals pre- pared for them, and distributing them in channels over a wide extent of country. "When the Euphrates," says Rich, "reaches its greatest elevation, it overflows the surrounding country, fills up, without the neces- sity of any human labor, the canals which are dug for the reception of its waters, and thus amazingly facili- tates the operations of husbandry. The ruins of Baby- lon are then inundated, so as to render many parts in- accessible, the intermediate hollows being converted into marshes" (Babi/lon and Persepolis, p. 54). Rau- wolf observes, "The water of the Euphrates, l)eing al- ways troubled, and consequently unfit for drinking, is placed in earthen jars or pitchers for an hour or two, until the sand and other impurities sink to the bottom, where they are soon found lying to the thickness of a man's finger" (comp. Jer. ii, 18 ; xiii, 4-7). Mr. Ains- worth says, " The period at which the waters of the Euphrates are most loaded with mud, are in the first floods of January ; the gradual melting of the snows in early summer, which preserves the high level of the waters, does not at the same time contribute much sedimentary matter. From numerous experiments made at Bir in December and January, 1836, I found the maximum of sediment mechanically suspended in the waters to be equal to one eightieth part of the bulk of fluid, or every cubic inch of water contained one eightieth part of its bulk of suspended matters ; and from similar experiments, instituted in the month of October of the same year, at the issue of the waters from the Lemlum marshes, I only obtained a maximum of one two hundredth part of a cubic inch of water (mean temp. 74°). The sediments of the river Eu- phrates, which are not deposited in the upper part of the river's course, are finally deposited in the Lemlum marshes. In navigating the river in May, 1836, the water flowing into the marshes was colored deeply by mud, but left the marshes in a state of comparative purity" (Researches, p. 110, 111).
The Euphrates has at all times been of some impor- tance as furnishing a line of traffic between the East and the West. Herodotus speaks of persons, probably merchants, using it regularly on their passage from the IMediterranean to Babylon (Her. i, 185). He also describes the boats which were in use upon the stream (i, 194\ and mentions that their principal freight was wine, which he seems to have thought was furnished by Armenia. It was, however, more probably Syrian, as Armenia is too cold for the vine. Boats such as he describes, of wicker-work, and coated with liitumen, or sometimes covered with skins, still abound on the river (Chesney, Euphrates, ii, 639-651). Men wishing to swim across or along the stream simply throw them- selves upon an inflated skin and thus float, precisely in the manner described by ancient writers, and de- picted on the Ass}Tian sculptures (Botta, Xinevrk, p. 238 sq.). Alexander appears to have brought to Baby- lon by the Euphrates route vessels of some considera-
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ble size, ■which he had had made in Cyprus and Phoeni- cia. They were so constructed that they could be taken to pieces, and were thus carried piecemeal to Thapsa- cus, where thej^ were put together and launched (Aris- tobul. ap. Strab. xvi, 1, 11). The disadvantage of the route was the difficulty of conveying return cargoes against the current. According to Herodotus, the boats which descended the river were broken to pieces and sold at Babylon, and the owners returned on foot to Armenia, taking with them only the skins (i, 194). Aristohulus, however, related (ap. Strab. xvi, 3, 3) that the Gerrha;ans ascended the river in their rafts not only to Babj'lon, but to Thapsacus, whence they car- ried their wares on foot in all directions. The spices and other products of Arabia formed their principal merchandise. On the whole, there are sufficient grounds for believing that throughout the Babjdonian ftnd Persian periods this route was made use of by the merchants of various nations, and that by it the east and west continually interchanged their most impor- tant products (see Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, p. ioG, 457). Caravans were employed above Thapsa- cus (Heeren, Asiatic Nations, i, 429, 480). The empe- ror Trajan constructed a fleet in the mountains of Nisi- bis, and floated it down the Euphrates. The emperor Julian also came down the river from the same moun- tains with a fleet of not fewer than 1100 vessels. A great deal of navigation is still carried on from Bag- dad to Ilillah, the ancient Babylon, but the disturbed state of the countrj^ prevents any above the latter place. In the time of queen Elizabeth merchants from England went by this river, which was then the high road to India. There were ancientlj- many canals which connected the Tigris with the Euphrates ; man}' of them are still in being. The Euphrates steamer passed from the Euphrates to the Tigris by the Iva canal, which leaves the former a few miles above Fe- lugo, and enters the latter a short way below Bagdad. The steam navigation of the Euphrates must be a ques- tion of considerable importance, and colonel Chesne}' has proved that it may be navigated as high as Bir by steamers drawing four feet of water ; yet it can hardh' be expected that it can ever be made available as an ordinary channel between Europe and India. Its nav- igation would undoubtedlj' confer the greatest advan- tages on the inhabitants of the vast and fertile coun- tries through which it flows, should they once more be emancipated from the barbarism under which they have so long been oppressed.