[1] See Dr Schafhaeutl's article on "Musical Instruments" in sect. iv.
of _Bericht 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 are _E. fulgens_ and _E.
jacquiniaeflora_, for the warm greenhouse; _E. Cyparissias_ (the Cypress
spurge), _E. Wulfeni_, _E. Lathyris_ and _E. Myrsinites_, for the open
air.
EUPHORBIACEAE, in botany, a large natural order of flowering plants,
containing more than 220 genera with about 4000 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 genus _Euphorbia_ shows 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 in _Ricinus_ (castor-oil) (fig. 3), and _Manihot_ or
sometimes palmately compound (_Hevea_). The majority contain a milky
juice or latex in their tissues which exudes on cutting or bruising. In
_Hevea_, _Manihot_ and 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_) of _Euphorbia_ (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.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.
1. Shoot of _Euphorbia hypericifolia_, about 1/2 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 of _Euphorbia_, 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.
In the central cyathium I. are shown the details of the arrangement of
the male flowers in monochasial cymes, m, and the central female
flower, f.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Dog's Mercury (_Mercurialis perennis_).
1. Male plant.
2. Female plant; 1/3 nat. size.
3. Female flower.
4. Male flower.
5. Fruit beginning to split open.
6. Seed cut lengthwise showing the embryo.]
The form of the flower shows great variety. The most complete type
occurs in _Wielandia_, 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 in _Euphorbia_; _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 genus _Croton_ a pentamerous calyx and corolla are
generally present, the stamens are often very numerous, and the female
flower has three carpels. In _Manihot_, 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 in EUPHORBIA, 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 generally bear
a cap-like outgrowth or _caruncle_, which persists in the seed (well
shown in castor oil, fig. 3).
As the stamens and pistil are borne by different flowers,
cross-fertilization is necessary. In _Mercurialis_ and 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 many _Euphorbias_ and _Dalechampia_, or by the coloured calyx as
in _Manihot_; the presence of honey is also frequently an attraction, as
in the honey-glands on the bracts of the cyathium of _Euphorbia_. 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.
[Illustration: From Bentley and Trimen's _Medicinal Plants_, by
permission of J. & A. Churchill.
FIG. 3.--Castor Oil (_Ricinus communis_). End of shoot with
flower-spike; about 1/3 nat. size.
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 of _Hevea_, _Mabea_, _Manihot_ and _Sapium_.
Castor oil (q.v.) is obtained from the seeds of _Ricinus communis_. The
seeds of _Aleurites moluccana_ and _Sapium sebiferum_ also yield oil.
Resin is obtained from species of _Croton_ and _Euphorbia_. Many of the
species are poisonous; e.g. the South African _Toxicodendron_ is one of
the most poisonous plants known. Many, such as _Euphorbia_,
_Mercurialis_, _Croton_, _Jatropha_, _Tragia_, have been, or still are,
used as medicines. Species of _Codiaeum_ (q.v.), _Croton_, _Euphorbia_,
_Phyllanthus_, _Jatropha_ and 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 of _Euphorbia_, 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 Panthoues, 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. Laert.
viii. 1).
EUPHORION, Greek poet and grammarian, born at Chalcis in Euboea about
275 B.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
([Greek: Arai], "curses") after the manner of the _Ibis_ of 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 his _Analecta Alexandrina_ (1843); for a recently discovered
fragment of about 30 lines see _Berliner Klassikertexte_, v. 1 (1907).
EUPHRANOR, of Corinth (middle of the 4th century B.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 in _Jahrbuch_, 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. _Frat_ or _Furat_,
Old Pers. _Ufratu_, Gr. [Greek: Euphrates]), 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 Frat Su
(Armenian, _Ephrat_ or _Yephrat_; Arab. _Nahr el-Furat_ or _Frat_), 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 Frat 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 canon, 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. _Lukiya_), on which stands Divrik
(Tephrike). Then, entering a deep gorge with lofty rock walls and
magnificent scenery, it runs south-east to its junction with the Murad
Su. The Frat, separated by the easy pass of Deve-boyun 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 Mush. Here it is joined by the Kara Su (_Teleboas_), which,
rising near Lake Van, runs past Mush 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 Frat Su.
About 10 m. E.N.E. of Kharput 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 Frat, but its valley below Mush 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-Kharput 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-Kharput 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 Samsat (_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 Frat is about 275 m.; of the
Murad, 415 m.; and of the Euphrates from the junction to Samsat, 115 m.
_Middle Division_.--The middle division, which extends from Samsat 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, called _naoura_, 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 300 _naouras_ have 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, the _jerd_, a skin raised by oxen,
is gradually being substituted for the _naoura_, 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-Hamme, 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 occupying
_esh-Sham_, the right bank, and the Shammar the left bank, Mesopotamia
of the Romans, now called el-Jezireh 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, called _kubbe_, 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 few _zaptiehs_ or _gens 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 Samsat, 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. Samsat itself represents the ancient
Samosata, the capital of the Seleucid kings of Commagene (_Kumukh_ of
the Assyrian inscriptions), and here the Persian Royal Road from Sardis
to Susa is supposed to have crossed the river. Below Samsat 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. [Greek: Singas]), 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 6281/2
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_; _Sangar_ of 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 (_Tiphsah_ of 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 crossed that 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 (Roman _Sephe_), where Moawiya defeated the caliph Ali
in 657 (see CALIPHATE), 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,
_Resafa_ or _Rosafa_). 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
(_Nicephorium_ of Alexander; _Callinicus_ of 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-Kaim 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-Hamme, 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_, Biblical _Khabor_), 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 721 B.C. At the mouth of the Khabur stood the Roman
frontier fortress of _Circesium_ (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
Rahba.
As far as the Khabur Mesopotamia seems to have been a well-inhabited
country from at least the 15th century B.C., when it constituted the
Hittite kingdom of Mitanni, down to about the 12th century A.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 Samsat 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 3000 B.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 as A.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. _Sawad_). 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 the _jerd_ or ox-bucket takes the place of the _naoura_ or
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 the _Sawad_ against the incursions of the
desert Arabs. This gigantic work, the line of which may still be traced
throughout its course, was formerly called the _Khandak Sabur_ or
"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 (_Archous_ of the Greeks and
_Serrat_ and _Nil_ of the Arabs), which left that river just above
Babylon and ran due east to the Tigris, irrigating all the central part
of the Jezireh, 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 with _tels_ or 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-Hai, 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 Batihat 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,[1] under 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
Haffar, 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 see IRAK.)
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 (see
IRAK). 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 chief
productions of 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 innumerable cities of former days, there is a succession
of small towns along the course of the river--Ramadiya, Feluja, Mussaib,
Hillah, Diwanieh, Samawa, el-Khudr (an ancient daphne or sacred grove,
31 deg. 11' 58" N., 76 deg. 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 (see IRAK).
_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 see BAGDAD.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Gen. F.R. Chesney, _Euphrates Expedition_ (1850); W.F.
Ainsworth, _Researches in Assyria and Babylonia_ (1838), and _Personal
Narrative of the Euphrates Expedition_ (1888); A.H. Layard, _Nineveh
and Babylon_ (1853); W.K. Loftus, _Chaldaea and Susiana_ (1857); Geo.
Rawlinson, _Herodotus_, bk. 1, essay ix. (1862); A. Blunt, _Bedouin
Tribes of the Euphrates_ (1873); Josef Cernik, _Studien-Expedition_
(1873); H. Kiepert, _Ruinenfelder Babyloniens_ (1883); Ed. Sachau,
_Reise in Syrien u. Mesopotamien_ (1883), and _Am Euphrat u. Tigris_
(1900); Guy Le Strange, "Description of Mesopotamia," in _Journal of
the Royal Asiatic Society_ (1895), and _Baghdad under the Abbasid
Caliphate_ (1901); J.P. Peters, _Nippur_ (1897); M. v. Oppenheim, _Vom
Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf_ (1900); H.V. Geere, _By Nile and
Euphrates_ (1904); Baedeker, _Palestine and Syria_ (1906); Murray,
_Handbook to Asia Minor_, &c., section iii.
(H. C. R.; C. W. W.; J. P. Pe.)