. The Catholic encyclopedia; an international work of reference on the constitution, doctrine, discipline, and history of the Catholic Church . that as late as 695 B. c, the fourrivers Kerkha, Karun, Euphrates, and Tigris enteredthe gulf by separate mouths, which proves that thesea even then extended a considerable distance northof where the Euphrates and Tigris now join to formthe Shat-el-arab. Geological observations show thata secondary formation of limestone abruptly beginsat a line drawn from Hit on the Euphrates to Sa-marra on the Tigris, i. e. some four hundred milesfrom their present m
. The Catholic encyclopedia; an international work of reference on the constitution, doctrine, discipline, and history of the Catholic Church . that as late as 695 B. c, the fourrivers Kerkha, Karun, Euphrates, and Tigris enteredthe gulf by separate mouths, which proves that thesea even then extended a considerable distance northof where the Euphrates and Tigris now join to formthe Shat-el-arab. Geological observations show thata secondary formation of limestone abruptly beginsat a line drawn from Hit on the Euphrates to Sa-marra on the Tigris, i. e. some four hundred milesfrom their present mouth; this must once have formedthe coast line, and all the country south was onlygradually gained from the sea by river deposit. Innow far man was witness of this gradual formationof the Babylonian soil we cannot determine at pres-ent; as far south as Larsa and Lagash man had builtcities 4,000 years before Christ. It has been sug-gested that the story of the Flood may be connectedwith mans recollection of the waters extending farnortli i)f Babylon, or of some great natural event re-lating to the formation of the soil; but with our pres-. ent imperfect knowledge it can only be the merestsuggestion. It may, however, well be observed thatthe astounding system of canals which existed in an-cient Babylonia even from the remotest historicaltimes, though largely due to mans careful industryand patient toil,was not entirelythe work of thespade, but of na-ture once lead-ing the waters ofEuphrates andTigris in a hun-dred rivulets tothe sea, forminga delta like thatof the Nile. The fertility ofthis rich alluvialplain was in an-cient times pro-verbial ; it pro-duced a wealthof wheat, barley,sesame, dates,and other fruitsand cornfields ofBabylonia weremostly in thesouth, whereLarsa, Lagash,Erech, and Cal-neh were thecentres of anopulent agricul-tural palm treewas cultivated with assiduous care and, besides fur-nishing all sorts of food and beverage, was usedfor a
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