IN MESOPOTAMIA

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2970, 6 January 1917, Page 7

IN MESOPOTAMIA

A COUNTRY OP HISTORICAL

INTEREST

(.By a.Captain of tho Ajizac Wireless . Squadron;) There is no country in tho world with such a history as Mesopotamia. This, land l , or tho wild upland region to the north-west 'of it, was, in all probability, the cradle of the human race. Here our forefathers first awpko to.''tho consciousness of purposeful ao-. tivity,_ and they reaped the fruits of the'.rich alluvial plains. .' Nobody can fail to be interested in Mesopotamia. To the soldier it is of surpassing interest. Soino of tho greatest and most decisive battles of tho world's history were fought on this historic ground. It has seen tho quarsels of petty princes in tho early days of civilisation; it has seen tho charges of Assyrian chariots, .and the.massed formation.' of the Persian hordes. Cities, whoso only relics new are a few stones in a- desert waste, hero have been besieged and defended; pillaged and plundered, noiv by rival an adjacent States, now by wild barbarians from tho steppes of Asia.

To the student, too, it is full of significance. Hero you may see, as you creep slowly up the river Tigris, the reputed site of . the Garden of Eden; a. few miles away to tho west— a ruined city—lie the remains of Babylon; built round tho toiver of Babel; before reaching Amara the left bauk discloses the domed tomb of Ezra,-the Hebrew "prophet, set in. a clump of palm trees. By theso saiio waters the .exiled captives, from the Jewish hill country across the desert to the west, "sat down and wept," and their descendants are here to this day.

And just as this country is of interest, to the.soldier and to.tho Biblical student, so it is also of engrossing interest to the student of history. Within historical times Empiro after Empire, long since passed away, has risen, flourished, and fallen. Assyria, with its capital at Ninevah, te which the Prophet Jonah was going when, as the story has it, he was swallowed by ■the whale; Babylonia; with all tho magnificence of the city from which it took its name;' Persia, with its city of palaces, Susa (Sushan, where Esther was'queen) away to the north-east, on the the Persian mountains; Alexander tho Great, whose successors established themselves at Selencia, opposite Ctesiphon; the Parthians, who subdued Selencia, and built that great capital, Ctesiphon, the audience hall of;.which .alono is represented to-day by. a solitary arch. Later on, the Roman Empire, and in more modern times the great Mohammedan Caliphate of Bagdad. All'these vanished empires remind one of'tho words of that hymn we' ofttimes sing:—

Thy throne shall never, Like earth's proud empires, pass . away, Thy kingdom stands, and grows for ' ever,' Till all Thy creatures own Thy sway.

All these Empires, as Napoleon said, were founded on force, and so they perished. Christ's empire alone is permanent, for - it is the empire of love. • The country is now (orwwa s before the lighting here commenced) in the hands of the Turkish successors to the Caliphate at Bagdad, and they have had'possession for some 300 years. It is interesting to note, however,.that it -was a German historian in the year •1792, who wrote: "The rich plains of Mesopotamia and Assyria, which were once-cultivated by a populous nation, and watered by. surprising efforts of human industry, are now inhabited, or rather, ravaged,, by wandering Arabs. .So'long'as .those fertile provinces shall remain under ,#e government, or rather..anarchy," ,of the Turks,.. '.they' must continue desert, iri which nature dies for,want of. the.fostering, care of man." ■ '

Mesopotamia gets its name from two Greek words, which mean "between the rivers," These rivers are tho Euphrates and Tigris. They rise near one another .in. the ;high tableland, of oppressed. Armenia, and flow through tlie mountains, now through barren steppes, to the country in which' we are fighting;- -Tho country generally may'be divided into Upper and Lower Mesopotamia, The former being the land to the north of tho junction almost effected by tho rivers near Bagdad, whero the,soil'has little of the natural fertility' that it possesses to the south. The latter, Lower Mesopotamia being the exceedingly fertile alluvial country, enclosed by the.-rivers, which, flow away from, each other after -Bagdad; making up the quarrel, so to: speak, and joining, together at Qurnah, above Basrah. This land in times past Jias been the- granary for ancient Empires,' and with, modern irrigation and •railway schemes.-it may ..become one of. the-greatest grain-producing countries -in'the world.;, .That is one result.which•will follow our efforts and sacrifice•here. - - -..' ■••. ' . :.'.-"'.

• These.-deserts will blossom .as the-' .rbsts. ■ • ... - ...

' The bulk oL-the inhabitants consist of-, Nomad, . Bedouin, or Sedentary •Arabs; the descendants of the old Persian and ..Assyrian stocks; and Jews .whoso- ancestors; did not. return- to Pal.'estine. .after. ; . ;the captivities. -The Turks proper, formed 'the ruling- class, .and-.there.aro,alo:a few negroes.- -The' religion of tho .Turks, Arabs, .and .most of the-descendants of. the old-, tinio peoples is Mohammedanism. .There..are. also a number of Christians—Armenians. Chaldeans, Syrians, Greek Orthodox, and Sabians. The latter are a strange but very interesting sect,' who; claim to.be Christian fellows of .'John the Baptist, and com-' bine in their beliefs Jewish and Christian'idea's; as well as some relics of tho star-worship of -the ancient' Persians. They are mostly located around Amara. There are a number of cities ; and towns, .but Bagdad is.the largest city of Eastern Turkey in Asia, with a population estimated at about 140,000,. of whom some 55,000 are Jews. ( lt is on' the Tigris River, and. about twenty-four 'miles from the nearest point on the Euphrates. Before the war there was a large European colony, chiefly British; a fiuo hospital. French, Carmelite schools, a Jewish high school,and a branch of the Church Mission-, ary Society.