NEAR GARDEN OF EDEN

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 265, 3 August 1921, Page 6

NEAR GARDEN OF EDEN

MARSH-FOLK OF MESOPOTAMIA. Some brief “Tales of tho Ma’adan' in "Blackwood” doa! With tho dwellers in tho great marshes ot Southern Mesopotamia, which stretch for more than . 50 miles east and west, and for nearly a hundred north, of the reputed site of the Garden of Eden. The more civilised members of tho Ma’adan live on the edge of the marsh, cultivato rice, and give little trouble. But those in the heart ot the 'marsh are wilder. “Here ono finds great open spaces 'of water like inland seas, subject to sudden storms, in which many a craft -and many a life aro lost; and hugo tracts eo thickly covered witn reeds that only a true marsh Arab can find his way through tho narrow, tortuous water-channels. No land is to be seen, except where hero and there strange mounds stand out high, or seeming high in that vast expanse of water and reeds. On these, tho remains of ancient cities, the marsh Arab builds his rough hut of mats woven by. liimsolf from the reeds. Where once rich men feasted, and merchants bartered their goods .beneath tho sway of mighty Babylon, the marsh. Arab now lives his wild, free life, secure from his enemies, secure even hitherto from his chief enemy, tho Government.” The origin of these people is not known. Ju tho early days of tho war they were found to be during rascals and clever thieves, and by their robberies and their raids on rail and river transports they made themselves a grout nuisance to the BrittslT Troops.