(E. B. T.)
EUNUCH FLUTE,orOnion Flute(Fr.flûte eunuque, flûte à l’onion, mirliton; Ger.Zwiebelflöte), a wind instrument in use during the 16th and 17th centuries, producing music akin to the comb-music of the nursery, and still manufactured as a toy (mirliton). The onion flute consists of a wooden tube widening out slightly to form a bell. The upper end of the tube is closed by means of a very fine membrane similar to an onion skin stretched across the aperture like the vellum of a drum. The mouthpiece, a simple round hole, is pierced a couple of inches below the membrane; into this hole the performer sings, his voice setting up vibrations in the membrane, which thus intensifies the sound and changes its timbre to a bleating quality. A movable cap fits over the membrane to protect it. Mersenne1has given a drawing of the eunuch flute together with a description; he states that the vibrations of the membrane improve the sound of the voice, and by reflecting it, give it an added charm. There were concerts of these flutes in four or five parts in France, adds Mersenne, and they had the advantage over other kinds of reproducing more nearly the sound of the voice.
1L’Harmonie universelle(Paris, 1636), livre v. prop. iv. pp. 228-229.
1L’Harmonie universelle(Paris, 1636), livre v. prop. iv. pp. 228-229.
EUONYMUS,in botany, a genus of deciduous or evergreen shrubs or small trees, widely distributed in the north temperate zone, and represented in Britain byE. europaeus, the spindle tree, so called from its hard tough wood being formerly used for spindles. It is a shrub or small tree growing in copses or hedges, with a grey smooth bark, four-angled green twigs, opposite leaves and loose clusters of small greenish-white flowers. The ripe fruit is a pale crimson colour and splits into four lobes exposing the bright orange-coloured seed.E. japonicusis a hardy evergreen shrub, often variegated and well known in gardens. The Greek nameεá½ÏŽÎ½Ï…μος, of good name, lucky, is probably a euphemism; the flowering was said to foretell plague.
EUPALINUS,of Megara, a Greek architect, who constructed for the tyrant Polycrates of Samos a remarkable tunnel to bring water to the city, passing under a hill. This aqueduct still exists, and is one of the most remarkable constructions in Greece (seeAqueduct:Greek).
EUPATORIA(Russ.Evpatoria; also known asKozlovand to the Turks asGezlev), a seaport of Russia, in the government of Taurida, on the W. coast of the Crimea, 20 m. N.W. of Simferopol, on a sandy promontory on the north of Kalamita Bay, in 45° 12′ N. and 33° 40′ E. Pop. (1871) 8294; (1897) 17,915. This number includes many Jews, the Karaite sect having here their principal synagogue. Here too resides the spiritual head (gakhan) of the sect. Of its numerous ecclesiastical buildings three are of interest—the synagogue of the Karaite Jews; one of the mosques, which has fourteen cupolas and is built (1552) after the plan of St Sophia in Constantinople; and the Greek Catholic cathedral (1898). The port or rather roadstead has a sandy bottom, and is exposed to violent storms from the N.E. The trade is principally in cereals, skins, cow-hair, felt, tallow and salt. Eupatoria has some repute as a sea-bathing resort.
According to some authorities it was near this spot that a military post,Eupatorium, was established in the 1st centuryA.D.by Diophantus, the general of Mithradates the Great, king of Pontus. Towards the end of the 15th century the Turks built the fortress of Gezleveh on the present site, and it became the capital of a khanate. It was occupied by the Russians under Marshal Münnich in 1736, and in 1771 by Prince Dolgorukov. Its annexation to Russia took place in 1783. In 1854 the Anglo-French troops were landed in the neighbourhood of Eupatoria, and in February 1855 the town was occupied by the Turkish forces.
EUPATRIDAE(Gr.εὖ, well;πατήÏ, father,i.e.“Sons of noble fathersâ€), the ancient nobility of Attica. Tradition ascribes to Theseus, whom it also regards as the author of the union (synoecism) of Attica round Athens as a political centre, the division of the Attic population into three classes, Eupatridae, Geomori and Demiurgi. The lexicographers mention as characteristics of the Eupatridae that they are the autochthonous population, the dwellers in the city, the descendants of the royal stock. It is probable that after the time of thesynoecismthe nobles who had hitherto governed the various independent communities were obliged to reside in Athens, now the seat of government; and at the beginning of Athenian history the noble clans form a class which has the monopoly of political privilege. It is possible that in very early times the Eupatridae were the only full citizens of Athens; for the evidence suggests that they alone belonged to the phratries, and the division into phratries must have covered the whole citizen body. It is indeed just possible that the term may originally have signified “true member of a clan,†since membership of a phratry was a characteristic of each clan (γÎνος). It is not probable that the Eupatrid families were all autochthonous, even in the loose sense of that term. Some had no doubt immigrated to Attica when the rest had long been settled there. Traces of this union of immigrants with older inhabitants have been detected in the combination of Zeus Herkeios with Apollo Patroös as the ancient gods of the phratry.
The exact relation of the Eupatridae to the other two classes has been a matter of dispute. It seems probable that the Eupatridae were the governing class, the only recognized nobility, the Geomori the country inhabitants of all ranks, and the Demiurgi the commercial and artisan population. The division attributed to Theseus is always spoken of by ancient authorities as a division of the entire population; but Busolt has recently maintained the view that the three classes represent three elements in the Attic nobility, namely, the city nobility, the landed nobility and the commercial nobility, and exclude altogether the mass of the population. At any rate it seems certain from the little we know of the early constitutional history of Athens, that the Eupatridae represent the only nobility that had any political recognition in early times. The political history of the Eupatridae is that of a gradual curtailment of privilege. They were at the height of their power in the period during the limitation of the monarchy. They alone held the two offices, those of polemarch and archon, which were instituted during the 8th centuryB.C.to restrict the powers of the kings. In 712B.C.the office of king (βασιλεÏÏ‚) was itself thrown open to all Eupatrids (seeArchon). They thus had the entire control of the administration, and were the sole dispensers of justice in the state. At this latter privilege, which perhaps formed the strongest bulwark of the authority of the Eupatridae, a severe blow was struck (c.621B.C.) by the publication of a criminalcode by Draco (q.v.), which was followed by the more detailed and permanent code of Solon (c.594B.C.), who further threw open the highest offices to any citizen possessed of a certain amount of landed property (seeSolon), thus putting the claims of the Eupatridae to political influence on a level with those of the wealthier citizens of all classes. The most highly coveted office at this time was not that ofΒασιλεÏÏ‚, which, like that of therex sacrorumin Rome, had been stripped of all save its religious authority, but that of the Archon; soon after the legislation of Solon repeated struggles for this office between the Eupatridae and leading members of the other two classes resulted in a temporary change. Ten archons1were appointed, five of whom were to be Eupatridae, three Agroeci (i.e.Geomori), and two Demiurgi (Arist.Ath. Pol. xiii. 2). This arrangement, though short-lived, is significant of the decay of the political influence of the Eupatridae, and it is not likely that they recovered, even in practice, any real control of the government. By the middle of the 6th century the political influence of birth was at an end.
The name Eupatridae survived in historical times, but the Eupatridae were then excluded from the cult of the “Semnae†at Athens, and also held the hereditary office of “expounder of the law†(á¼Î¾Î·Î³Î·Ï„ής) in connexion with purification from the guilt of murder. The combination of these two characteristics suggests some connexion with the legend of Orestes. Again, Isocrates (xvi. 25) says of Alcibiades that his grandfather was a Eupatrid and his grandmother an Alcmaeonid, which suggests that in the 5th century the Eupatrids were a single clan, like the Alcmaeonids, and that the name had acquired a new signification. A pursuit of these two suggestions has established the probability that this “Eupatrid†clan traced its origin to Orestes, and derived its name from the hero, who was above all a benefactor of his father. The word will well bear this sense in the two passages in which Sophocles (Electra, 162, 859) applies it to Orestes; and it is likely enough that after the disappearance of the old Eupatridae as a political corporation, the name was adopted in a different sense, but not without a claim to the distinction inherent in the older sense, by one of the oldest of the clans.
Bibliography.—G. Busolt,Die griechischen Staats- und Rechts-altertümer(Müller,Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, iv. I), pp. 127 et seq., 155 et seq., 248 (Munich, 1892); G. Gilbert,Greek Constitutional Antiquities, p. 101 et seq. (Eng. trans., London, 1895); for Eupatridae in historical times, J. Töpffer,Attische Genealogie, p. 175 et seq. (Berlin, 1889). See also the articlesAreopagus,Archon.
Bibliography.—G. Busolt,Die griechischen Staats- und Rechts-altertümer(Müller,Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, iv. I), pp. 127 et seq., 155 et seq., 248 (Munich, 1892); G. Gilbert,Greek Constitutional Antiquities, p. 101 et seq. (Eng. trans., London, 1895); for Eupatridae in historical times, J. Töpffer,Attische Genealogie, p. 175 et seq. (Berlin, 1889). See also the articlesAreopagus,Archon.
(A. M. Cl.)
1For a discussion of this seeArchon.
1For a discussion of this seeArchon.
EUPEN(Fr.Néau), a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, in a beautiful valley at the confluence of the Helle and Vesdre, 9 m. S. of Aix-la-Chapelle by rail. Pop. (1905) 14,297. It is a flourishing commercial place, and besides cloth and buckskin mills it has net and glove manufactories, soapworks, dyeworks, tanneries and breweries, and also carries on a considerable trade in cattle and dairy produce. It has a Protestant and four Roman Catholic churches, a Franciscan monastery, a progymnasium, an orphanage, a hospital, and a chamber of commerce. As part of the duchy of Limburg, Eupen was under the government of Austria until the peace of Lunéville in 1801, when it passed to France. In 1814 it came into the possession of Prussia.
EUPHEMISM(from Gr.εὔφημος, having a sound of good omen;εὖ, well, andφήμη, sound or voice), a figure of speech in which an unpleasant or coarse phrase is replaced by a softer or less offensive expression. A euphemism has sometimes a metaphorical sense, as in the substitution of the word “sleep†for “death.â€
EUPHONIUM(Fr.baryton; Ger.Tenor Tube), a modern brass wind instrument, known in military bands as euphonium and in the orchestra as tuba. The euphonium consists of a brass tube with a conical bore of wide calibre ending in a wide-mouthed bell; it is played by means of a cup-shaped mouthpiece. The sound is produced as in the bombardon, which is the bass of the euphonium, by the varied tension of the lips across the mouthpiece, whereby the natural open notes or harmonics, consisting of the series here shown, are obtained.
The intervening notes of the chromatic scale are obtained by means of valves or pistons usually four in number, which by opening a passage into additional lengths of tubing lower the pitch one, half, one-and-a-half, two-and-a-half tones (seeBombardon;Tuba;Valves). The euphonium gives out the fundamental, or first note of the harmonic series, readily, but no harmonic above the eighth. Euphoniums are made in C and in Bâ™, the latter being more generally used. By means of all the valves used at once, the Bâ™, an octave below the fundamental, can be reached, giving a compass of four octaves, with chromatic intervals. The bass clef is used in notation. The euphonium is treated by French and German composers as a transposing instrument; in England the real notes are usually written, except when the treble clef is used. The quality of tone is rich and full, harmonizing well with that of the trombone. The euphonium speaks readily in the lower register, but slowly, of course, owing to the long dip of the pistons. Messrs Rudall Carte have removed this difficulty by their patentshort actionpistons, which have but half the dip of the old pistons. On these instruments it is easy to execute rapid passages.
The euphonium is frequently said to be a saxhorn, corresponding to the baryton member of that family, but the statement is misleading. The bombardon and euphonium, like the saxhorns, are the outcome of the application of valves to the bugle family, but there is a radical difference in construction; the tubas (bombardon and euphonium) have a conical bore of sufficiently wide calibre to allow of the production of the fundamental harmonic, which is absent in the saxhorns. The Germans classify brass wind instruments aswholeandhalf1according to whether, having the wide bore of the bugle, thewholelength of the tube is available and gives the fundamental proper to an organ pipe of the same length or whether by reason of the narrow bore in proportion to the length, onlyhalfthe length of the instrument is of practical utility, the harmonic series beginning with the second harmonic. (SeeBombardon.)
(K. S.)
1See Dr Schafhäutl’s article on “Musical Instruments†in sect. iv. ofBericht der Beurtheilungs- Commission bei der Allg. deutschen Industrie Ausstellung(Munich, 1854), pp. 169-170; also Fried. Zamminer,Die Musik und die Musikinstrumente in ihrer Beziehung zu den Gesetzen der Akustik(Giessen, 1855).
1See Dr Schafhäutl’s article on “Musical Instruments†in sect. iv. ofBericht der Beurtheilungs- Commission bei der Allg. deutschen Industrie Ausstellung(Munich, 1854), pp. 169-170; also Fried. Zamminer,Die Musik und die Musikinstrumente in ihrer Beziehung zu den Gesetzen der Akustik(Giessen, 1855).
EUPHORBIA,in botany, a large genus of plants from which the order Euphorbiaceae takes its name. It includes more than 600 species and is of almost world-wide distribution. It is represented in Britain by the spurges—small, generally smooth, herbaceous plants with simple leaves and inconspicuous flowers arranged in small cup-like heads (cyathia). The cyathium is a characteristic feature of the genus, and consists of a number of male flowers, each reduced to a single stamen, surrounding a central female flower which consists only of a stalked pistil; the group of flowers is enveloped in a cup formed by the union of four or five bracts, the upper part of which bears thick, conspicuous, gland-like structures, which in exotic species are often brilliantly coloured, giving the cyathium the appearance of a single flower. Another characteristic is the presence of a milky juice, or latex, in the tissues of the plant. In one section of the genus the plants resemble cacti, having a thick succulent stem and branches with the leaves either very small or completely reduced to a small wart-like excrescence, with which is generally associated a tuft of spines (a reduced shoot). These occur in the warmer parts of the world as a type of dry country or desert vegetation. The only species of note areE. fulgensandE. jacquiniaeflora, for the warm greenhouse;E. Cyparissias(the Cypress spurge),E. Wulfeni,E. LathyrisandE. Myrsinites, for the open air.
EUPHORBIACEAE,in botany, a large natural order of flowering plants, containing more than 220 genera with about4000 species, chiefly tropical, but spreading over the whole earth with the exception of the arctic and cold alpine zones. They are represented in Britain by the spurges (Euphorbia,q.v.) (fig. 1) and dog’s mercury (Mercurialis) (fig. 2), which are herbaceous plants, but the greater number are woody plants and often trees. The large genusEuphorbiashows great variety in habit; many species, like the English spurges, are annual herbs, others form bushes, while in the desert regions of tropical Africa and the Canary Islands species occur resembling cacti, having thick fleshy stems and leaves reduced to spines. Another large genus,Phyllanthus, contains small annual herbs as well as trees, while in some species the leaves are reduced to scales, and the branches are flattened, forming phylloclades. The leaves also show great variety in form and arrangement, being simple and entire as in the English spurges, or deeply cut as inRicinus(castor-oil) (fig. 3), andManihotor sometimes palmately compound (Hevea). The majority contain a milky juice or latex in their tissues which exudes on cutting or bruising. InHevea,Manihotand others the latex yields caoutchouc. The flowers are unisexual; male and female flowers are borne on the same, as in the spurges (fig. 1), or on different plants, as in dog’s mercury (fig. 2). Their arrangement shows considerable variation, but the flowers are generally grouped in crowded definite partial inflorescences, which are themselves arranged in spikes or stand in the axils of the upper leaves. These partial inflorescences are generally unisexual, the male often containing numerous flowers while the female flowers are solitary. The partial inflorescence (cyathium) ofEuphorbia(fig. 1) resembles superficially a hermaphrodite flower. It contains a central terminal flower, consisting of a naked pistil; below this are borne four or five bracts which unite to form a cup-shaped involucre resembling a calyx; each of these bracts subtends a small cyme of male flowers each consisting only of one stamen. Between the segments of the cup are large oval or crescent-shaped glands which are often brightly coloured, forming petal-like structures.
1. Shoot ofEuphorbia hypericifolia, about ½ nat. size.
2. A partial inflorescence,cyathium, bearing the petaloid glands.
3. A similar one at a later stage, cut open to show the single-stamened (monandrous) male flowers and the central long-stalked female flower.
4. A cyathium without petaloid glandular appendages.
5. A similar one at a later stage with nearly ripe fruit.
6. An anther dehiscing.
7. Fruit dehiscing and exposing one of the three seeds.
8. Seed.
9. Seed cut lengthwise exposing the embryo.
10. Diagram of the inflorescence ofEuphorbia, illustrating the dichasial cymose arrangement of the ultimate branches.
b, Bract subtending the central terminal cyathium I.
a′b′, Bracteoles of the first order subtending the secondary cyathia II.
a″b″, Bracteoles of the second order subtending the tertiary cyathia III.
The form of the flower shows great variety. The most complete type occurs inWielandia, a shrub from the Seychelles Islands, in which the flowers have their parts in fives, a calyx and corolla being succeeded in the male flower by 5 stamens, in the female by 5 carpels. Generally, however, only 3 carpels are present, as inEuphorbia;Mercurialis(fig. 2) has minute apetalous flowers with 3 sepals, followed in the male by 8 to 20 stamens, in the female by a bicarpellary pistil. In the large tropical genusCrotona pentamerous calyx and corolla are generally present, the stamens are often very numerous, and the female flower has three carpels. InManihot, a large tropical American genus to which belongs the manioc or cassava (M. utilissima), the calyx is often large and petaloid. In a great many genera the corolla is absent. The most reduced type of flower is that described inEuphorbia, where the male consists of one stamen separated from its pedicel by a joint, and the female of a naked tricarpellary pistil. The stamens are sometimes more or less united (monadelphous), and in castor-oil (Ricinus) (fig. 3) are much branched. The ovary generally contains three chambers, and bears three simple or more often bipartite styles; each chamber contains one or two pendulous ovules, which generallybear a cap-like outgrowth orcaruncle, which persists in the seed (well shown in castor oil, fig. 3).
1. Male plant.
2. Female plant;1â„3nat. size.
3. Female flower.
4. Male flower.
5. Fruit beginning to split open.
6. Seed cut lengthwise showing the embryo.
As the stamens and pistil are borne by different flowers, cross-fertilization is necessary. InMercurialisand others with inconspicuous flowers pollination is effected by the wind, but in many cases insects are attracted to the flower by the highly-coloured bracts, as in manyEuphorbiasandDalechampia, or by the coloured calyx as inManihot; the presence of honey is also frequently an attraction, as in the honey-glands on the bracts of the cyathium ofEuphorbia. The fruit is generally a capsule which splits into three divisions (cocci), separating from the central column, and splitting lengthwise into two valves. In the mancinil (Hippomane mancinella) of Central America the fruit is a drupe like a plum, and in some genera berries occur. In the sandbox tree (Hura crepitans) of tropical America the ovary consists of numerous carpels, and forms when mature a capsule which splits with great violence and a loud report into a number of woody cocci. The seeds contain abundant endosperm and a large straight or bent embryo.
1. Section of male flower, about nat. size.
2. Group of stamens.
3. Fruit.
4. Seed.
5 and 6. Vertical and transverse sections of seed showing embryo in position.
Several members of the order are of economic importance.Manihot utilissima, manioc or cassava (q.v.), is one of the most important tropical food-plants, its thick tuberous root being rich in starch; it is the source of Brazilian arrowroot. Caoutchouc or india-rubber is obtained from species ofHevea,Mabea,ManihotandSapium. Castor oil (q.v.) is obtained from the seeds ofRicinus communis. The seeds ofAleurites moluccanaandSapium sebiferumalso yield oil. Resin is obtained from species ofCrotonandEuphorbia. Many of the species are poisonous;e.g.the South AfricanToxicodendronis one of the most poisonous plants known. Many, such asEuphorbia,Mercurialis,Croton,Jatropha,Tragia, have been, or still are, used as medicines. Species ofCodiaeum(q.v.),Croton,Euphorbia,Phyllanthus,Jatrophaand others are used as ornamental plants in gardens.
The box (Buxus) and a few allied genera which were formerly included in Euphorbiaceae are now generally regarded as forming a distinct order—Buxaceae, differing from Euphorbiaceae in the position of the ovule in the ovary-chamber and in the manner of splitting of the fruit.
EUPHORBIUM,an acrid dull-yellow or brown resin, consisting of the concreted milky juice of several species ofEuphorbia, cactus-like perennial plants indigenous to Morocco. It dissolves in alcohol, ether and turpentine; in water it is only slightly soluble. It consists of two or more resins and a substance euphorbone, C20H36O or C15H24O. Pliny states that the name of the drug was given to it in honour of Euphorbus, the physician of Juba II., king of Mauretania. In former times euphorbium was valued in medicine for its drastic, purgative and emetic properties.
EUPHORBUS,son of Panthoüs, one of the bravest of the Trojan heroes, slain by Menelaus (Iliad, xvii. 1-60). Pythagoras, in support of his doctrine of the transmigration of souls, declared that he had once been this Euphorbus, whose shield, hung up in the temple of Argos by Menelaus, he claimed as his own (Horace,Odes, i. 28. 11; Diog. Laërt. viii. 1).
EUPHORION, Greek poet and grammarian, born at Chalcis in Euboea about 275B.C.He spent much of his life in Athens, where he amassed great wealth. About 221 he was invited by Antiochus the Great to the court of Syria. He assisted in the formation of the royal library at Antioch, of which he held the post of librarian till his death. He wrote mythological epics, amatory elegies, epigrams and a satirical poem (ἈÏαί, “cursesâ€) after the manner of theIbisof Callimachus. Prose works on antiquities and history are also attributed to him. Like Lycophron, he was fond of using archaic and obsolete expressions, and the erudite character of his allusions rendered his language very obscure. His elegies were highly esteemed by the Romans; they were imitated or translated by Cornelius Gallus and also by the emperor Tiberius.
Fragments in Meineke, “De Euphorionis Chalcidensis vita et scriptis,†in hisAnalecta Alexandrina(1843); for a recently discovered fragment of about 30 lines seeBerliner Klassikertexte, v. 1 (1907).
Fragments in Meineke, “De Euphorionis Chalcidensis vita et scriptis,†in hisAnalecta Alexandrina(1843); for a recently discovered fragment of about 30 lines seeBerliner Klassikertexte, v. 1 (1907).
EUPHRANOR,of Corinth (middle of the 4th centuryB.C.), the only Greek artist who excelled both as a sculptor and as a painter. In Pliny we have lists of his works; among the paintings, a cavalry battle, a Theseus, and the feigned madness of Odysseus; among the statues, Paris, Leto with her children Apollo and Artemis, Philip and Alexander in chariots. Unfortunately we are unable among existing statues to identify any which are copies from works of Euphranor (but see a series of attributions by Six inJahrbuch, 1909, 7 foll.). He appears to have resembled his contemporary Lysippus, notably in the attention he paid to symmetry, in his preference for bodily forms slighter than those usual in earlier art, and in his love of heroic subjects. He wrote a treatise on proportions.
EUPHRATES(Babylon.Purattu, Heb.Perath, Arab.FrÄtorFurÄt, Old Pers.Ufratu, Gr.Εá½Ï†Ïάτης), the largest river of western Asia. It may be divided into three divisions, upper, lower and middle, each of which is distinguished by special physical features, and has played a conspicuous part in the world’s history, retaining to the present day monumental evidence of the races who have lined its banks.
Upper Division.—The upper Euphrates consists of two arms, which, rising on the Armenian plateau, and flowing west in long shallow valleys parallel to Mount Taurus, eventually unite and force their way southward through that range to the level of Mesopotamia. The northern or western and shorter arm, called by the Turks Kara Su, “black water,†or FrÄt Su (Armenian,EphrÄtorYephrÄt; Arab.Nahr el-FurÄtorFrÄt), well known to occidentalists as the Euphrates, from its having been the boundary of the Roman empire, is regarded also by Orientals as the main stream. It rises in the Dumlu Dagh, N.N.W. of Erzerum, in a large circular pool (altitude, 8625 ft.), which is venerated by Armenians and Moslems, and flows south-east to the plain of Erzerum (5750 ft.). Thence it continues through a narrow valley W.S.W. to Erzingan (3900 ft.), receiving on its way the Ovajik Su (right), the Tuzla Su (left), and the Merjan and Chanduklu (right). Below Erzingan the FrÄt flows south-west through a rocky gorge to Kemakh (Kamacha; Armenian,Gamukh), where it is crossed by a bridge and receives the Kumur Su (right). At Avshin it enters a cañon, with walls over 1000 ft. high, which extends to the bridge at Pingan, and lower down it is joined from the west by the Chalta Irmak (Lycus; Arab.LÅ«kÄ«ya), on which stands Divrik (Tephrike). Then, entering a deep gorge with lofty rock walls and magnificent scenery, it runssouth-east to its junction with the Murad Su. The FrÄt, separated by the easy pass of Deve-boyÅ«n from the valley of the Araxes (Aras), marks the natural line of communication between northern Persia and the West—a route followed by the nomad Turks, Mongols and Tatars on their way to the rich lands of Asia Minor. It is a rapid river of considerable volume, and below Erzingan is navigable, down stream, for rafts. The southern or eastern and longer arm, called by the Turks Murad Su (Arsanias Fl.; Armenian,Aradzani; Arab.Nahr Arsanas), rises south-west of Diadin, in the northern flank of the Ala Dagh (11,500 ft.), and flows west to the Alashgerd plain. Here it is joined by the Sharian Su from the west, and the two valleys form a great trough through which the caravan road from Erzerum to Persia runs. The united stream breaks through the mountains to the south, and, receiving on its way the Patnotz Su (left) and the Khinis Su (right), flows south-west, west and south, through the rich plain of Bulanik to the plain of MÅ«sh. Here it is joined by the Kara Su (Teleboas), which, rising near Lake Van, runs past MÅ«sh and waters the plain. The river now runs W.S.W. through a deep rocky gorge, in which it receives the Gunig Su (right), to Palu (where there are cuneiform inscriptions); and continues through more open country to its junction with the FrÄt Su. About 10 m. E.N.E. of KharpÅ«t the Murad is joined by its principal tributary, the Peri Su, which drains the wild mountain district, Dersim, that lies in the loop between the two arms. The Murad Su is of greater volume than the FrÄt, but its valley below MÅ«sh is contracted and followed by no great road. Below the junction of the two arms the Euphrates flows south-west past the lead mines of Keban Maden, where it is 120 yds. wide, and is crossed by a ferry (altitude, 2425 ft.), on the Sivas-KharpÅ«t road. It then runs west, south and east round the rock-mass of Musher Dagh, and receives (right) the Kuru Chai, down which the Sivas-Malatia road runs, and the Tokhma Su, from Gorun (Gauraina) and Darende. At the ferry on the Malatia-KharpÅ«t road (cuneiform inscription) it flows eastwards in a valley about a quarter of a mile wide, but soon afterwards enters a remarkable gorge, and forces its way through Mount Taurus in a succession of rapids and cataracts. After running south-east through the grandest scenery, and closely approaching the source of the western Tigris, it turns south-west and leaves the mountains a few miles above SamsÄt (Samosata; altitude, 1500 ft.). The general direction of the great gorges of the Euphrates, Pyramus (Jihun) and Sarus (Sihun) seems to indicate that their formation was primarily due to the same terrestrial movements that produced the Jordan-’Araba depression to the south. The length of the FrÄt is about 275 m.; of the Murad, 415 m.; and of the Euphrates from the junction to SamsÄt, 115 m.
Middle Division.—The middle division, which extends from SamsÄt to Hit, is about 720 m. long. In this part of its course the Euphrates runs through an open, treeless and sparsely peopled country, in a valley a few miles wide, which it has eroded in the rocky surface. The valley bed is more or less covered with alluvial soil, and cultivated in places by artificial irrigation. The method of this irrigation is peculiar. Three or four piers or sometimes bridges of masonry are run out into the bed of the river, frequently from both sides at once, raising the level of the stream and thus giving a water power sufficient to turn the gigantic wheel or wheels, sometimes almost 40 ft. in diameter, which lift the water to a trough at the top of the dam, whence it is distributed among the gardens and melon patches, rice, cotton, tobacco, liquorice and durra fields, between the immediate bed of the river and the rocky banks which shut it out from the desert. The wheels, callednaoura, are of the most primitive construction, made of rough branches of trees, with palm leaf paddles, rude clay vessels being slung on the outer edge to catch the water, of which they raise a prodigious amount, only a comparatively small part of which, however, is poured into the aqueducts on top of the dams. These latter are exceedingly picturesque, often consisting of a series of well-built Gothic arches, and give a peculiar character to the scenery; but they are also great impediments to navigation. In some parts of the river 300naourashave been counted within a space of 130 m., but of late years many have fallen into decay. By far the larger part of the valley is quite uncultivated, and much of it is occupied by tamarisk jungles, the home of countless wild pigs. Where the valley is still cultivated, thejerd, a skin raised by oxen, is gradually being substituted for thenaoura, no more of the latter being constructed to take the place of those which fall into decay.
In this part of its course the rocky sides of the valley, which sometimes closely approach the river, are composed of marls and gypsum, with occasional selenite, overlaid with sandstone, with a topping of breccia or conglomerate, and rise at places to a height of 200 ft. or more. At one point, however, 26 m. above Deir, where lie the ruins of Halebiya, the river breaks through a basaltic dike, el-Ḥamme, some 300 to 500 ft. high. On either side of the river valley a steppe-like desert, covered in the spring with verdure, the rest of the year barren and brown, stretches away as far as the eye can see. Anciently the country on both sides of the Euphrates was habitable as far as the river Khabur; at the present time it is all desert from Birejik downward, the camping ground of Bedouin Arabs, the great tribe of Anazeh occupyingesh-ShÄm, the right bank, and the Shammar the left bank, Mesopotamia of the Romans, now called el-JezÄ«reh or the island. To these the semi-sedentary Arabs who sparsely cultivate the river valley, dwelling sometimes in huts, sometimes in caves, pay a tribute, calledkubbe, or brotherhood, as do also the riverain towns and villages, except perhaps the very largest. The Turkish government also levies taxes on the inhabitants of the river valley, and for this purpose, and to maintain a caravan route from the Mediterranean coast to Bagdad, maintains stations of a fewzaptiehsorgens d’armes, at intervals of about 8 hours (caravan time), occupying in general the stations of the old Persian post road. The only riverain towns of any importance on this stretch of the river to-day are SamsÄt, Birejik, Deir, ‘Ana and Hit.
In early times the Euphrates was important as a boundary. It was the theoretical eastern limit of the Jewish kingdom; for a long time it separated Assyria from the Khita or Hittites; it divided the eastern from the western satrapies of Persia (Ezra iv. 17; Neh. ii. 7); and it was at several periods the boundary of the Roman empire. Until the advent of the nomads from central Asia, and the devastation of Mesopotamia and the opposite Syrian shore of the river, there were many flourishing cities along its course, the ruins of which, representing all periods, still dot its banks. SamsÄt itself represents the ancient Samosata, the capital of the Seleucid kings of Commagene (Kumukhof the Assyrian inscriptions), and here the Persian Royal Road from Sardis to Susa is supposed to have crossed the river. Below SamsÄt the river runs S.W. to Rum-Kaleh, or “castle of the Romans†(Armenian,Hrhomgla). At this point was another passage of the river, defended by the castle which gives its name to the spot, and which stands on a high hill overhanging the right bank, its base washed by an abundant stream, the Sanjeh (Gr.Σίγγας), which enters the Euphrates on the west. From this point the river runs rather east of south for about 25 m. past Khalfat (ferry) to Birejik or Bir, the ancient Birtha, where it is only 110 m. from the Mediterranean, the bed of the river being 628½ ft. above that sea. This was the Apamea-Zeugma, where the high road from east to west crossed the river, and it is still one of the most frequented of all the passages into Mesopotamia, being the regular caravan route from Iskanderun and Aleppo to Urfa, Diarbekr and Mosul. From Birejik the river runs sluggishly, first a little to the east, then a little to the west of south, over a sandy or pebbly bed, past Jerablus (?Europus, Carchemish, the ancient Hittite capital), near which the Sajur (Sagura;Sangarof the Assyrian inscriptions) enters from the west, to Meskene, 2 m. southward of which are the ruins of Barbalissus (Arab.Balis), the former port of Aleppo, now, owing to changes in the bed, some distance from the water. Six miles below this the ruins of Kal’at Dibse mark the site of the ancient Thapsacus (Tiphsahof 1 Kings iv. 24), the most important passage of the middle Euphrates, where both Cyrus, on his expedition against his brother, and Alexander the Great crossedthat river, and the ancient port of Syria. Here the river turns quite sharply eastward. A day’s journey beyond Meskene are the remains of Siffin (RomanSephe), where Moawiya defeated the caliph Ali in 657 (seeCaliphate), and opposite this, on the west bank, a picturesque ruin called Kal‘at Ja‘ber (Dausara). A day’s journey beyond this, on the Syrian side, stand the remains of ancient Sura, a frontier fortress of the Romans against the Parthians; 20 m. S. of which, inland, lie the well-preserved ruins of Reseph (Assyrian,ResafaorRosafa). Half a day’s journey beyond Sura, on the Mesopotamian side of the river, are the extensive ruins of Haragla (Heraclea) and Rakka, once the capital of Harun al-Rashid (Nicephoriumof Alexander;Callinicusof the Seleucids and Romans). Here the Belikh (Bilechas) joins the Euphrates, flowing southward through the biblical Aram Naharaim from Urfa (Edessa) and Harran (Carrhae); and from this point to el-Ḳaim four days’ below Deir, the course of the river is south-easterly. Two days’ journey beyond Rakka, where the Euphrates breaks through the basalt dike of el-Ḥamme, are two admirably preserved ruins, built of gypsum and basalt, that on the Mesopotamian side called Zelebiya (Chanuga), and that on the Syrian, much the finer of the two, Halebiya or Zenobiya, the ancient Zenobia. Twenty-six miles farther down lies the town of Deir (q.v.), where the river divides into two channels and the river valley opens out into quite extensive plains. Here the roads from Damascus, by way of Palmyra, and from Mosul, by way of the Khabur, reach the Euphrates, and here there must always have been a town of considerable commercial and strategic importance. The region is to-day covered with ruins and ruin mounds. A little below Deir the river is joined by the Khabur (Khaboras, BiblicalKhabor), the frontier of the Roman empire from Diocletian’s time, which rises in the Karaja Dagh, and, with its tributary, the Jaghijagh (Mygdonius; Arab.Hirmas) flows south through the land of Gozan in which Sargon settled the deported Israelites in 721B.C.At the mouth of the Khabur stood the Roman frontier fortress ofCircesium(Assyrian,Sirki; Arab.Kirkessie) now el-Buseira. The corresponding border town on the Syrian side is represented by the picturesque and finely preserved ruins called Salahiya, the Ad-dalie or Dalie (Adalia) of Arabic times, two days below Deir, whose more ancient name is as yet unknown. Between Salahiya and Deir, on an old canal, known in Arabic times as Said, leaving the Euphrates a little below Deir and rejoining it above Salahiya, stand the almost more picturesque ruins of the once important Arabic fortress of Raḥba.
As far as the Khabur Mesopotamia seems to have been a well-inhabited country from at least the 15th centuryB.C., when it constituted the Hittite kingdom of Mitanni, down to about the 12th centuryA.D., and the same is true of the country on the Syrian side of the Euphrates as far as the eastern limit of the Palmyrene. Below this point the back country on the Syrian side has always been a complete desert. On the Mesopotamian side there would seem, from the accounts of Xenophon and Ptolemy, to have been an affluent which joined the Euphrates between Deir and ‘Ana, called Araxes by the former, Saocoras by the latter; but no trace of such a stream has been found by modern explorers and the country in general has always been uninhabited. Below Salahiya the river-bed narrows and becomes more rocky. A day’s journey beyond Salahiya, on a bluff on the Mesopotamian side of the river, are the conspicuous ruins Of el-‘Irsi (Corsote?). Half a day’s journey beyond, at a point where two great wadis enter the Euphrates, on the Syrian side, stands Jabriya, an unidentified ruined town of Babylonian type, with walls of unbaked brick, instead of the stone heretofore encountered. At this point the river turns sharply a little north of east, continuing on that course somewhat over 40 m. to ‘Ana, where it bends again to the south-east. Just above ‘Ana are rapids, and from this point to Hit the river is full of islands, while the bed is for the most part narrow, leaving little cultivable land between it and the bluffs. ‘Ana itself, a very ancient town, of Babylonian origin, once sacred probably to the goddess of the same name, lay originally on several islands in the stream, where ruins, principally of the Arabic and late Persian period, are visible. Here palm trees, which had begun to appear singly at Deir, grow in large groves, the olive disappears entirely, and we have definitely passed over from the Syrian to the Babylonian flora and climate. Between ‘Ana and Hit there were anciently at least four island cities or fortresses, and at the present time three such towns, insignificant relics of former greatness, Haditha, Alus or el-‘Uzz and Jibba still occupy the old sites. Of these Alus is evidently the ancient Auzara or Uzzanesopolis, the city of the old Arabic goddess ‘Uzza; Haditha, an important town under the Abbasids, was earlier known as Baia Malcha; while Jibba has not been identified. The fourth city, Thilutha or Olabus, once occupied the present deserted island of Telbeis, half a day’s journey below ‘Ana. About half-way between ‘Ana and Hit, in the neighbourhood of Haditha, the river has a breadth of 300 yds., with a depth of 18 ft., and a flood speed of 4 knots. At this point we begin to encounter sulphur springs and bitter streams redolent with bitumen, a formation which reaches its climax at Hit (q.v.), where a small stream (the “river of Ahava†of Ezra viii. 21) enters the Euphrates from the Syrian side, on which, about 8 m. from its mouth, stands the small town of Kubeitha.
The middle Euphrates, from SamsÄt to Hit, is to-day an avenue of ruins, of which only the more conspicuous or important have been indicated here. It was from a remote period, antedating certainly 3000B.C., the highway of empire and of commerce between east and west, more specifically between Babylonia or Irak and Syria, and numerous empires, peoples and civilizations have left their records on its shores. Its time of greatest prosperity and importance was the period of the Abbasid caliphate, and Arabic geographers as late asA.D.1200 mention an astonishingly large number of important cities situated on its shores or islands. The Mongol invasion, in the latter part of that century, wrought their ruin, however, and from that time to the present there has been a steady decline in the commercial importance of the Euphrates route, and consequently also of the towns along its course, until at the present time it is only an avenue of ruins.
Lower Division.—Hit stands almost at the head of the alluvial deposit, about 550 m. from the Persian Gulf, separated from it by a couple of small spurs of the Syrian plateau, and may be said to mark the beginning of the lower Euphrates. Thence the river flows S.E. and S.S.E. to its junction with the Tigris below Korna, through an unbroken plain, with no natural hills, except a few sand (or sandstone?) hills in the neighbourhood of Warka, and no trace of rock, except at el-Haswa, above Hillah. At Hit the river is from 30 to 35 ft. in depth, with a breadth of 250 yds., and a current of 4 m. an hour, but from this point it diminishes in volume, receiving no new affluents but dissipating itself in canals and lagoons. At Feluja, in the latitude of Bagdad, the Euphrates and Tigris closely approach each other, and then, widening out, enclose the plain of Babylonia (Arab.SawÄd). Through this part of its course the current of the river, except where restricted by floating bridges—at Feluja, Mussaib, Hillah, Diwanieh and Samawa—does not normally exceed a mile an hour, and both on the main stream and on its canals thejerdor ox-bucket takes the place of thenaouraor water-wheel for purposes of irrigation.
In early times irrigating canals distributed the waters over the plain, and made it one of the richest countries of the East, so that historians report three crops of wheat to have been raised in Babylonia annually. As main arteries for this circulation of water through its system great canals, constituting in reality so many branches of the river, connected all parts of Babylonia, and formed a natural means both of defence and also of transportation from one part of the country to another. The first of these canals, taken off on the right bank of the river a little below Hit, followed the extreme skirt of the alluvium the whole way to the Persian Gulf near Basra, and thus formed an outer barrier, strengthened at intervals with watch-towers and fortified posts, to protect the cultivated land of theSawÄdagainst the incursions of the desert Arabs. This gigantic work, the line of which may still be traced throughout its course, was formerlycalled theKhandak SabÅ«ror “Sapor’s trench,†being ascribed to the Sassanian king, Shapur I. Dholahtaf, but is now known as the Cherra-Saadeh, and is in the popular tradition said to have been excavated by a man from Basra at the behest of a woman of Hit whom he desired to make his wife. How early this work was begun is not clear, but it would appear to have been at least largely reconstructed in the time of the great Nebuchadrezzar. The next important canal, the Dujayl (Dojail), left the Euphrates on the left, about a league above Ramadiya (Ar-Rabb), and flowed into the Tigris between Ukbara and Bagdad. The ‘Isa, which is largely identical with the modern Sakhlawiya, left the Euphrates a little below Anbar (Perisabora) and joined the Tigris at Bagdad. This canal still carries water and was navigable for steamboats until about 1875. Sarsar, the modern Abu-Ghurayb, leaves the Euphrates three leagues lower down and enters the Tigris between Bagdad and Ctesiphon. The Nahr Malk or royal river, modern Radhwaniya, leaves the Euphrates five leagues below this and joins the Tigris three leagues below Ctesiphon; while the Kutha, modern Habl-Ibrahim, leaving the Euphrates three leagues below the Malk joins the Tigris ten leagues below Ctesiphon. In the time of the Arabs these were the chief canals, and the cuts from the main channels of the Nahr ‘Isa, Nahr Sarsar, Nahr Malk (or Nahr Malcha), and Nahr Kutha, reticulating the entire country between the rivers, converted it into a continuous and luxuriant garden.
Just below Mussaib there has been for all ages a great bifurcation of the river. The right arm was the original bed, and the left arm, on which Babylon was built, the artificial deviation, as is clear from the cuneiform inscriptions. In the time of Alexander the nomenclature was reversed, the right arm being known as Pallacopas. Under the Arabs the old designation again prevailed and the Euphrates is always described by the Arabian geographers as the river which flows direct to Kufa, while the present stream, passing along the ruins of Babylon to Hillah and Diwanieh, has been universally known as the Nahr Sura. Occidental geographers, however, have followed the Greek use, and so to-day we call the river of Babylon or Nahr Sura the Euphrates and the older westerly channel the Hindieh canal. At the present time the preservation of the embankments about the point of bifurcation demands the constant care of the Bagdad government. The object is to allow sufficient water to drain off to the westward for the due irrigation of the land, while the Hillah bed still retains the main volume of the stream, and is navigable to the sea. But it frequently happens that the dam at the head of the Hindieh is carried away, and, a free channel being thus opened for the waters of the river to the westward, the Hillah bed shoals to 2 or 3 ft., or even dries up altogether, while the country to the west of the river is turned into lakes and swamps. Below the bifurcation the river of Babylon was again divided into several streams, and indeed the most famous of all the ancient canals was the Arakhat (Archousof the Greeks andSerrÄtandNilof the Arabs), which left that river just above Babylon and ran due east to the Tigris, irrigating all the central part of the JezÄ«reh, and sending down a branch through Nippur and Erech to rejoin the Euphrates a little above the modern Nasrieh. The Narss, also, the modern Daghara, which is still navigable to Nippur and beyond, left the Sura a little below Hillah; and at the present day another large canal, the Kehr, branches off near Diwanieh. It is easy to distinguish the great primitive watercourses from the lateral ducts which they fed, the latter being almost without banks and merely traceable by the winding curves of the layers of alluvium in the bed, while the former are hedged in by high banks of mud, heaped up during centuries of dredging.
Not a hundredth part of the old irrigation system is now in working order. A few of the mouths of the smaller canals are kept open so as to receive a limited supply of water at the rise of the river in May, which then distributes itself over the lower lying lands in the interior, almost without labour on the part of the cultivators, giving birth in such localities to the most abundant crops, but by far the larger portion of the region between the rivers is at present an arid howling wilderness dotted withtelsor ruin-heaps, strewn in the most part with broken pottery, the evidence of former habitation, and bearing nothing but the camel-thorn, the wild caper, the colocynth-apple, wormwood and other weeds of the desert. The swamps are full of huge reeds, bordered with tamarisk jungles, and in its lower reaches, where the water stretches out into great marshes, the river is clogged with a growth of agrostis. To obtain a correct idea of this region it must be borne in mind also that the course of the river and the features of the country on both banks are subject to constant fluctuation. The Hindieh canal and the main stream, the ancient Sura, rejoin one another at Samawa. Down to this point, the bed of the Euphrates being higher than that of the Tigris, the canals run from the former to the latter, but below this the situation is reversed. At Nasrieh the Shatt-el-Haï, at one time the bed of the Tigris, and still navigable during the greater part of the year, joins the Euphrates. From this point downward, and to some extent above this as far as Samawa, the river forms a succession of reedy lagoons of the most hopeless character, the Paludes Chaldaici of antiquity, el BatihÄt of the Arabs. Along this part of its course the river is apt to be choked with reeds and, except where bordered by lines of palm trees, the channel loses itself in lakes and swamps. The inhabitants of this region are wild and inhospitable and utterly beyond the control of the Turkish authorities, and navigation of the river between Korna and Suk-esh-Sheiukh is unsafe owing to the attacks of armed pirates. From Garmat Ali, where the Tigris and Euphrates at present unite,1under the title of Shatt-el-Arab, the river sweeps on to Basra, 1000 yds. in width and from 3 to 5 fathoms deep, navigable for steamers of good size. From Korna to Basra the banks of the river are well cultivated and the date groves almost continuous; indeed this is the greatest date-producing region of the world. Twenty-five miles below Basra the river Karun from Shushter and Dizful throws off an arm, which seems to be artificial, into the Euphrates. This arm is named the HaffÄr, and at the confluence is situated the Persian town of Muhamrah, a place most conveniently located for trade. In this vicinity was situated, at the time of the Christian era, the Parthian city of Spasini-Charax, which was succeeded by Bahman Ardashir (Bamishir) under the Sassanians, and by Moharzi under the Arabs. The left bank of the river from this point belongs to Persia. It consists of an island named Abbadan, about 45 m. long, formed by alluvial deposits during the last fifteen centuries. (For the character of this alluvium and its rate of deposit seeIrak.)
Even more than the upper and middle Euphrates the lower Euphrates, from Hit downward, abounds in ruins of ancient towns and cities, from the earliest prehistoric period onward to the close of the Caliphate (seeIrak). The fact also that many of the most ancient of these ruins, like Ur, Lagash (Sirpurla), Larsa, Erech, Nippur, Sippara and Babylon, were situated on the banks of the great canals would indicate that the control of the waters of the rivers by a system of canalization and irrigation was one of the first achievements of civilization. This ancient system of canalization was inherited from the Persians (who, in turn, inherited it from their predecessors), by the Arabs, who long maintained it in working order, and the astonishing fertility and consequent prosperity of the country watered by the Euphrates, its tributaries and its canals, is noticed by all ancient writers. The land itself, an alluvial deposit, is very fruitful. Wheat and the date palm seem to have been indigenous, and the latter is still one of the chiefproductionsof the country, but in later years rice has taken the place of wheat as the staff of life. The decline of the country dates from the appearance of Turkish nomads in the 11th century; its ruin was completed by the Shammar Arabs in the 17th century; but, if the ancient system of irrigation were restored, sufficient grain could be grown to alter the conditions of the wheat supply of the world. At the present time, instead of the innumerablecities of former days, there is a succession of small towns along the course of the river—Ramadiya, Feluja, Mussaïb, Hillah, Diwanieh, Samawa, el-Khudr (an ancient daphne or sacred grove, 31° 11′ 58″ N., 76° 6′ 9″ E., the only one anywhere which preserves to this day its ancient charter of the inviolability of all life within its precincts), Nasrieh and Suk-esh-Sheiukh—by means of which the Turkish government controls the river and levies taxes on a small part of the adjacent territory. At such settlements the river is lined with gardens and plantations of palms. The greater part of the region, however, even along the river shores, is inhabited only by roaming Bedouin or half-savage Ma‘dan Arabs (seeIrak).
Navigation.—The length of the Euphrates from its source at Diadin to the sea is about 1800 m., and its fall during the last 1200 m. about 10 ins. per mile. The river begins to rise in the end of March and attains its greatest height between the 21st and the 28th of May. It is lowest in November, and rocks, shallows, and the remains of old dams then render it almost unnavigable. In antiquity, however, it was evidently in use for the transportation of merchandise and even of armies. Boats built in Syrian ports were placed on the Euphrates by Sennacherib and Alexander, and Herodotus states (i. 185) that in his day the river was a frequented route followed by merchants on their way from the Mediterranean to Babylon. As the most direct line of transit between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, offering an alternative means of communication with India not greatly inferior to the Egyptian route, the Euphrates route early attracted the attention of the British government. During the Napoleonic wars, indeed, and up to the time when the introduction of steam navigation rendered the Red Sea accessible at all seasons of the year, the political correspondence of the home and Indian governments usually passed by the Euphrates route. Various plans were suggested for the development of this route as a means of goods as well as postal conveyance, and in 1835 Colonel F.R. Chesney was sent out at the head of an expedition with instructions to transport two steamers from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, and, after putting them together at Birejik, to attempt the descent of the river to the sea. One of these steamers was lost in a squall during the passage down the river near el-’Irsi, but the other performed the voyage in safety and thus demonstrated the practicability of the downward navigation. Following on this first experiment, the East India Company, in 1841, proposed to maintain a permanent flotilla on the Tigris and Euphrates, and set two vessels, the “Nitocris†and the “Nimrod,†under the command of Captain Campbell of the Indian navy, to attempt the ascent of the latter river. The experiment was so far successful that, with incredible difficulty, the two vessels did actually reach Meskene, but the result of the expedition was to show that practically the river could not be used as a high-road of commerce, the continuous rapids and falls during the low season, caused mainly by the artificial obstructions of the irrigating dams, being insurmountable by ordinary steam power, and the aid of hundreds of hands being thus required to drag the vessels up the stream at those points by main force. Under Midhat Pasha, governor-general of Bagdad from 1866 to 1871, an attempt was made by the Turkish authorities to establish regular steam navigation on the Euphrates. Midhat caused many of the dams to be destroyed and for some years occasional steamers were run between Meskene and Hillah in flood time, from April to August. But with the transfer of Midhat this feeble attempt at navigation was abandoned. At the present time the river is navigated by sailing craft of some size from Hit downward. Above that point there is no navigation except by the native rafts (kellek), which descend the river and are broken up on arrival at their point of destination. There is, however, little travel of this sort on the Euphrates in comparison with the amount on the Tigris.
When it became evident that, under present conditions at least, the navigation of the middle Euphrates was impracticable, attention was turned, owing to the peculiarly advantageous geographical position of its valley, to schemes for connecting the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf by railway as an alternative means of communication with India, and various surveys were made for this purpose and various routes laid out. All these schemes, however, fell through either on the financial question, or on the unwillingness of the Turkish government to sanction any line not connected directly with Constantinople. With the acquisition of the Suez Canal, moreover, the value of this route from the British standpoint was so greatly diminished that the scheme, so far as England was concerned, was quite abandoned. (For further notice of the railway question seeBagdad.)