CIVILISATION AND IRRIGATION

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8357, 18 February 1913, Page 9

CIVILISATION AND IRRIGATION

In its account of the heightening of the Assouan Dam, “Engineering” state* that it is interesting to reflect that the dawn of civilisation first broke in land* where the science and art of irrigation wore essential to the support of a teem- . ing population. Through counties* ages, says our contemporary, as a result of fluctuations of success and failure, the people of those countries have had ingrained into their inmost souls that, to humanity, water,, is a blessing—the'lack of it a ourso. Land without water is but a parched and arid wilderness, and the truth, of this Is quickly brought home to. dweller* under a glaring sun and in shimmering summer heat. With the lino of de* marcation so vividly drawn before their eyes, it is little wonder that the height of bliss should be represented in ancient Scriptures by metaphorical allusions to well-watered gardens and springs in dry ground. The greatest blessing which the mind could fancy, or words depict, was typified by green pastures and rivers of living water, nor could anything excel the bounty of-th* promise which held out tho hop© that a man’s water should bo sure, or dp like unto “a tree planted by th« : waters, and that spreadeth her roots by the river, and shall not see .when the heat cometh, but her leaf shall ba green; and shall not bo careful in / the year of drought.” In painful contrast to such felicity there could ..be nought more graphically representative of misery than “a dry and thirsty land where no water is”; or, of bitterness, than that rivers should bo made dry , and that the drink of tho thirsty should , fail. No' passage, to those who know the hot and dust-blown countries of the Middle East, is more full of pathos than that in which the preacher speak* of “the pitcher broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at tho cistern ” —a touching picture, and aptly coupled to tho solemn climax* Which must surely follow such conditions —to wit, “ man goeth to his long homo . . . then the dust shall, return to earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” The Hebrew Scriptures are not alone in such references. Tho Koran often alludes to the blessings of water—in one place as being given to “ revive a dead country and it is well known that essential characteristics of the Mohammedan paradise arc gardens well watered with “rivers of incorruptible water” and planted with shady trees. The idea is retained to this day in the name given by the Arabs to Damascus, which, with its flowing streams and luscious green-, ery, they term the *■ world’s garden ’’ or the “ earthly paradise.” It is revived, too, in the natives’ . name for the Caliouh Barrage in Egypt, which, to them, since the British occupation, has become the “Kanatir el Khairia,” tho “bridge of blessings.” The use made by the people of different countries of the water available to them has varied very considerably, according to the skill, understanding, and power of those responsible for their government. Thus in some places, irrigation at flood time on tho basin system alone was practised; in others storage was adopted and perennial' irrigation instituted. Large tracts of sandy and desert Arabia wore once tho scene of successful agricultural operations, rendered feasible by water storage. Parts which are to-day absolutely unproductive have only been so since the destruction of ancient Sabean works. One of the greatest calamities of Arabian history is connected with these undertakings. At Saba, or Marib, according to accounts, a great dam, partly of hewn stone, was bnilt to impound water to the prodigious height of nearly twenty fathoms, and extending across a valley two furlongs in width. The inhabitants,' while it remained secure, were fortunate indeed, having, it ia said, even water “laid on,” as our expression ia, to their houses, a rare thing in such parts. “But,” in the word* of the Koran, “they turned aside from what we had commanded them: wherefore we sent against them the inundation of El Arem, and we changed their two gardens for them into two gardens producing bitter fruit,’ and tamarisks, and some little fruit of tha lote tree. This wo gave them in reward, because they were ungrateful: is an-'V thus rewarded except the ungrateful?” As a result of the failure of this dam some-two centuries or so before. Christ, no less than eight entire tribes were forced to forsake the district it had served.