triangle, has, with much propriety, been compared to a boat,1
and it closely resembles those of the country, the heavy stern
being supposed to represent the northern extremity of this
territory, whilst the two great rivers form the sides, which
terminate in a long tapering bow beyond Kurnah.
Moreover, Strabo says the Tigris washes the eastern side
of Mesopotamia, and the river Euphrates its southern and
western; whilst the Taurus separates it from Armenia on
the north.2 Pliny, who is still more distinct, says that Mesopotamia
has the Tigris to the east, the Euphrates west, the
Persian Gulf south, and the Taurus north, with a length of
800 miles and a breadth of 360 miles, the city of Charax
being at the extremity of the gulf.3
Mesopotamia extends above 10° in longitude from Balis, in
38° 7' 10" east longitude, to the estuary of the old Karun, in
48° 45' 16"; and 7° 31' 5" in latitude from the shores of the
Persian Gulf, in 30°, to Sumeisat, in 37° 31' 5" north latitude;
its greatest width being about 170 miles from Jaber
Castle to Hisn Keifa, on the Tigris; and its extreme length
nearly 735 miles. The irregular triangle thus formed has a
superficies of nearly 76,117 square miles, including the shores
of the Gulf from the Pallacopas to the old Karun.
As we have seen, the Taurus occupies the northern extremity,
and forms the limits of Mesopotamia on the side of
Armenia. From the banks of the Euphrates, a little northward
of Munshar,4 it sweeps round the plain of Siverik, displaying
rocky conical summits; and, under the name of the
Karajah Tagh, it then takes an easterly direction, passing
some little distance northward of Nisibis, and onward to the
Tigris, which separates this chain from the bold and lofty
precipices of Jebel Judi;6 the principal groups being the
Jebel Tur and the Baarem or Mardin mountains, with the
1 Strabo, lib. II., p. 19; and lib. XVI., p. 746.
2 Lib. XVI., p. 746.
3 Lib. VI., c. xxvii.
1 D’Anville’s Pass of Nushar; Ainsworth’s Journey from Kai'sariyah to
Btr, Vol. X. Part III., p. 331 of the Royal Geographical Journal.
s Ibid., p. 522.
offset of Dara. Seventy miles southward are the Sinjar hills,
which have a width of from seven to nine miles, and extend
for about fifty miles towards the Tigris.1 The isolated hill
of Kaka seems to unite this range geologically with that of
Abd-el-Aziz; a low chalk formation in the district of the
Millis Kurds, towards the north-west,2 which is the last to
be noticed.
The rest of Mesopotamia is a plain country, abounding
with wormwood; but, between Baghdad and the Euphrates,
a part of the surface is occupied by salt lakes and marshes;
and near the two rivers there are several khors, or fresh
lakes, the most remarkable being those which inundate the
neighbourhood of Akar Kuf, of the Birs Nimrud, (the Hin-
deah,) and Lamlum. Some extensive sheets of water are
also met with, at the season of floods, both above and below
Kurnah.
The soil of Mesopotamia is generally a sandy clay, the
surface of which, in the absence of water, is a positive desert;
but wherever it is watered by the numerous inlets and irrigating
canals branching from the different rivers already
described, it is rich and productive in the extreme.
The change from a level to a mountainous country in a
higher latitude causes a marked difference in the temperatures
at the opposite extremities of the province; whilst the central
portion enjoys a climate which may be considered as a medium
between the others. The southern or warmest region is
Babylonia, which, under the Persians, was separated from
the rest of Mesopotamia, and extended northward of the
Median Wall, as far as the latitude of Sammara and A'nah.
But even here the cold winds of the desert are felt during
the winter, and especially in the beginning of the year, at
which time rain is frequent, and even snow falls occasionally.
This, however, is the season in which the operations of husbandry
and commerce are performed; for in summer an
average of 104° (in the house) drives the inhabitants into
1 Mr. Forbes, Vol. IX. Part IIL , p. 422, of the Royal Geographical Journal.
2 Ainsworth’s Assyria and Babylonia, p. 268.