several ages back, one only has remained open, and even that one runs only during the period of the floods of the Euphrates. This is called the

Nahar Isa, or the canal of Isa. This was the first and most northerly of these ancient canals, and it was derived from the Euphrates, at a place called Dehmah, near Anbar, the Macepracta of Julian. In the time of Abulfeda, it lost itself in the Tigris, in the heart of western Bagdad. By Ammianus Marcellinus it was called Barax, or Baia Malchi; its modern name was derived from Isa Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abbas.

Nahar Sarsar-No traces of the Sarsar canal, which existed under the khalifs, are now visible. It seems to have been a very ancient canal, as it is one of those mentioned by Xenophon, which joined the Tigris immediately below Sittace, and which seems to have been the shortest of all the canals between the two rivers. It derived its sources below the Isa, and flowed into the Tigris above Madayn, which corresponds to the modern Zimberaniyah. Ammianus notices a canal between Macepracta and Perisabor, on the Nahar Malcha, which is identified with the Sarsar. He denominates it Maogamalcha, and mentions a city of that name in connexion with it.

Nahar Malcha.-The bed of the Nahar Malcha, or Royal Canal, is still traceable, and must have occupied the same position in Macedonian and Roman times, as in those of the khalifate. Tradition attributes its excavation to Nimrod, and by Tabari it is described as the work of Cush, king of Babel; from which we may conclude that its origin is coeval with the earliest period of the Babylonian monarchy. The Nahar Malcha extended from Macepracta, on the Euphrates, to Seleucia, on the Tigris, and it was the canal by which Trajan and Julian transported their respective armies to Ctesiphon. Herodotus says it was of sufficient breadth and depth to be navigable for merchant vessels; hence it is, that some theological writers have considered it as the ancient bed of the Euphrates.

Kutha Canal-According to Abulfeda, this canal was derived from the Euphrates, a little below the Nahar Malcha, and it watered the territory of Irak. It is mentioned by Ahmed Ibn Yusuf, and is the same as the Kawa of Rennell. It

* Abydenus attributes it to Nebuchadnezzar, who excavated it, he says, to convey the waters of the Euphrates, when it overflowed, into the Tigris, before they reached Babylon.

VOL. II,

3

derived its name from Kutha, near Babel, in the province of Irak, where the text of the Talmud, in Bava Vathra, says, that the patriarch Abraham was imprisoned three years.

Besides these canals, which are termed the canals of Xenophon, there were many others, the names of which are unknown. Thus below Samarra, once the regal seat of several Abasside khalifs, there was a large canal drawn to a considerable distance to the west of the Tigris, and which extended from thence as far south as the canals of communication, three of which were intersected by this large branch, and the third of which reconveyed its waters at the place now called Imaum Musa, three miles above the bridge of Bagdad, and at the termination of the Median wall. The space included by this large canal between Samarra and Imaum Musa was denominated by both Greek and Roman geographers, Mesene, or "the island," and Apamia Mesene, from the city of Apamia, below Samarra. This was a beautiful, fertile, and populous tract, being also intersected with other canals, drawn from the large canal to the Tigris. It was navigable, and from its size was called Didjel, or "Little Tigris." From the Euphrates, two other canals were drawn to the Didjel. The first of these commenced about thirty geographical miles from the Pass of Pyle; the second, seen by Balbi, commenced four geographical miles below this. Two other canals are mentioned by Xenophon, as occurring in the space of three parasangs, or about eight miles from this.

Canals of Babylon. In the time of Abulfeda, when the Nahar Malcha ceased to carry off a main part of the waters of the Euphrates, this river is described as dividing, after passing the Nahar Kulbah by six parasangs, or about fifteen miles, into two streams, previous to which, it parted with more canals, which belonged to the city of Babylon Proper. The quarter of Babylon called Bosippa, or Bursif, had its canal; and Abulfeda describes the main stream of the Euphrates as flowing to the city of Nil, that quarter in which Babylon was situated, and giving off the canal of Nil, after which it is called Nahar Sirat. The mounds of Babel, and the Mujelibe, or "overturned," are nearly surrounded by two canals which bear that name at the present date. The Euphrates, moreover, in all probability, flowed between the Kasr, or palace, and the Amram, which is identified with the western palace of Diodorus. Ón the authority of Abulfeda, the Euphrates, after passing the Nahar Kulba by the distance before mentioned, and giving off the Nil, was divided into two streams,

the southernmost of which passed into Kufah, and going beyond it, was lost in the marshes of the Rumiyah. Anterior to the days of this geographer, it flowed by Ur, or Orchoe, being joined in the parallel of Duvamyeh by the Pallacopas of Alexander, and ultimately emptied itself into the sea in the neighbourhood of Teredon. The same authority describes the prolongation of the larger branch of the Euphrates, beyond the Kasr Ibn Hobierah, by the name of Nahar Sares. This name means "fetid river," and it appears to have been given to that portion of the Euphrates which lay below the Royal Canal, at a time when that derivative carried away a large part of the waters of the Great River. The remainder, flowing sluggishly onward, by Babel and Suza, to lose itself in the marshes of Babylon, became impure from stagnation, and hence it obtained its name.

MODERN CANALS.

Among the canals of more recent date, according to Al Brissi, was that of the Rehoboth of Scripture, Gen. x. 11; and, upon the same authority, and that of most oriental geographers, the canal Al Kadder, or Alcator. Two other canals are mentioned, under the names of the Kerbelah, and the Nesjiff canal. The Kerbelah canal derived its name from Kerbelah, a populous town in the time of Abdul Khurrim. This canal was reopened by Hassan Pasha, of Bagdad, at an expense of 20,000l. sterling, after the Persians had retreated to the tomb of their prophet, from the oppressions of Nadir Shah. The Nesjiff canal was constructed by the Nadir Shah; and, according to Abdal Khurrim, it is sixteen parasangs, or about forty miles, from Kerbelah, and one from Kufali. Of the present appearance of Babylonia, Ainsworth says "The great extent of the plain of Babylonia is every where altered by artificial works: mounds rise upon the otherwise uniform level; walls, and mud ramparts, and dykes intersect each other; elevated masses of friable soil and pottery are succeeded by low plains, inundated during great part of the year; and the antique beds of canals are visible in every direction. There is still some cultivation, and some irrigation. Flocks pasture in meadows of the coarse grasses, (sedges and cyperace) the Arabs' dusky encampaments are met with here and there; but, except on Euphrates' banks, there are few remains of the date groves, the vineyards, and the gardens, which adorned the same land in the days of Artaxerxes; and

still less of the population and labour, which must hav made a garden of such a soil, in the times of Nebuchad nezzar."

This leads to a notice of

THE EUPHRATES.

The original Hebrew name of this river was Phrat, by which name it is locally distinguished to the present day, the elements of which still remain in what we have adopted from the Greek.

In Scripture, the Euphrates is frequently mentioned as "the great river," to which distinction it is fully entitled The stream of the Euphrates rises in two widely separated sources, one in the elevated regions of Armenia, near Erze roum, and the other near town of Bayazid, on the Persian frontier. The junction of these streams takes place in the recesses of the Taurus, near the town of the Kebban. After having pierced the mountains, the river continues its southwestern course towards the Mediterranean; but being repelled by the mountains near Samosata, it inclines a little to the south-east, and afterwards takes more decidedly that direc tion, which it pursues, until it ultimately joins the Tigris at Korna, in Irak Arabi. The united stream then takes the name of Shut ul Arab, or river of the Arabs, and finally enters the Persian Gulf, above seventy miles below the city of Bussora.

Con

The total course of the Euphrates is estimated at 1755 British miles. Its breadth from Bir to its junction with the Tigris, varies from 300 to 450 yards, though it is occasionally little more than half that breadth. At times, where islands occur in the middle of the stream, it widens to 800 yards, and in some instances to three-quarters of a mile in breadth. cerning the breadth of rivers, lakes, and inlets of the sea, however, the guesses of ordinary travellers are generally vague. The comparative size of the basin of the Euphrates, including that of the Tigris, is forty-two times larger than that of the Thames, and its annual average discharge 108,000 cubical feet per second, or sixty times that of the Thames. Of itself, the basin of the Euphrates may be considered as enclosing an area of 180,000 geographical miles.

The stream of the Euphrates flows at the rate of five miles an hour, in the season of the flood; but at other times it does not exceed three miles an hour in the greater part of t

ourse.

Rich however, says, that at Hillah, the maximum elocity of the Euphrates is seven miles an hour; and Ainsorth reports that the rapidity of the stream varies in different laces. He says, in the depressions of the alluvial plain, it is ten not a mile an hour, but over the high ground, as at alat Gerah, it runs nearly three miles an hour; that at lillah, where the stream is confined, it flows four knots rough the bridge, and that the Upper Euphrates averages om three to four miles.

The Euphrates flowing, in the lower portion of its course, rough a vast plain between low banks, the periodical inease of its waters causes it to overflow, like the Nile, somemes inundating the country to a great extent, and leaving xtensive lakes and marshes in its neighbourhood, after the ver has retired to its channel. The rise of the Euphrates egins in March, and continues till the commencement of ine, at which time, there is nowhere less than from twelve to xteen feet depth of water. In the low season, it is generally om six to ten feet; but in some places, even at this season, is eighteen feet. In describing the average depth, the naves are accustomed to say, that is equal to the height of two en. The water is lowest in November and the three suceding months; but sometimes there is a slight increase in inuary.

Ainsworth, in describing the alluvial soil, which the uphrates, like the Nile, brings down in its course, says: The period at which the waters of Euphrates are most aded with mud, are in the first floods of January; the graual melting of the snows in early summer, which preserve e high level of the waters, do not, at the same time, contriute much sedimentary matter. From numerous experiments ade at Bir, in December and January, 1836, I found the aximum of sediment mechanically suspended in the waters, be equal to 1-80th part of the bulk of the fluid, or every abic inch of water contained 1-80th part of its bulk of susended matters; and from similar experiments, instituted in e month of October of the same year, at the issue of the aters from the Lemlun Marshes, I only obtained a maximum f 1-200th part of a cubic inch of water (mean temp. 74°.) 'he sediments of the river Euphrates, which are not deposited the upper part of the river's course, are finally deposited the Lemlun Marshes. In navigating the river in May, 836, the water flowing into the marshes was coloured deeply y mud, but left the marshes in a state of comparative purity,