The Tigris and Euphrates. — Very, very far away from the United States are two large rivers called the Tigris and Euphrates. They join before they reach the sea and flow for many miles as one great stream. Thousands of years before white men found the land in which we live, men had traveled on these rivers, and had built many towns along their banks.

Your companions on a journey up the Tigris. — Suppose the big ocean steamer shown in Figure 1 has brought you to the place where you can take a smaller steamer for a journey up the Tigris River. The people you can see in Figure 2 are on the deck of a river steamer starting on this journey. Suppose you join them. On the deck with you would be a few who speak your language and who dress as you do. Most of them, though, you could not understand, for they use a language very different from yours. From the picture you can find some ways in which their clothes are not like yours. Their clothing may remind you of the clothing of some people you have seen or read about before.

The starting place. — The pictures shown in Figures 1 and 2 were not taken on the Tigris, but on the river formed by the joining of the Tigris and Euphrates. This river is called the Shat-el-Arab. So the water you see in the picture is the water of the Shat-el-Arab.

The boat shown in Figure 2 is headed north. Face north, the way the boat is headed, and pretend that you are on the deck. Then point with your left hand to the west bank of the river. You are pointing to the town of Basra. The wharves of Basra are shown in Figure 3. The houses of the city are among the palm trees in the background.

If you have ever made a trip of seventy miles, you may know about how long it takes to go that far. Basra is some seventy miles from the place where the waters of the Shat-el-Arab reach the sea. So if the boat in Figure 2 were going south instead of north, a trip of about seventy miles would bring it to the sea. Ocean steamers can come up as far as Basra, and can land their cargoes there. There the river steamers come to meet the ocean steamers. Can you tell which of the boats in Figure 3 is an ocean steamer?

Perhaps you have read the stories of Sinbad the Sailor. In those stories this town of Basra is called Balsora. Most of Sinbad’s ocean voyages started from this place. Each time when he returned he stopped at Balsora before he went on to Bagdad. From Basra, a boat must go five hundred twenty miles before it comes to the famous city of Bagdad, far to the northwest. It would not be solong a trip if there were not so many bends, and curves, and windings in the river.

Headed upstream. — If, as you stood on the deck of this boat, you were to throw into the river a piece of wood that would float, you could watch the water carry it along. It would go, not north in the directionin which the boat is headed, but in the opposite direction. The water in the stream flows to the sea, and floating things free to move with the current are carried in that direction. If the engines of this boat were broken, and the boat were left to drift, it, too, would float downstream toward the sea. As it goes upstream on this journey, it must go against the current of the river all the way. This makes it go a little slower than it would if it were steaming in the opposite direction.

The meeting of the Tigris and Euphrates. — After your boat leaves Basra, a ride of some three hours brings you to the place where the Tigris and Euphrates meet. On the point of land between them stands a little town. Keeping to the right of this little village, you sail into the Tigris. As you go on upstream the strip of land between the rivers widens, and you soon lose sight of the Euphrates to the west.

Something for you to do. Sight-seeing. — Now, instead of being told what you could see as you go along the Tigris, you may find out for yourselves, just as a real traveler does. The pictures in Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 were taken on or near the Tigris.

Some people travel without seeing very much. Others see a great deal as they travel. If you are the second kind of traveler, you can find in these pictures at least six things that you cannot see near your home. Notice the trees, the houses, and the people in the pictures.

Keen travelers ask many questions about the things they see but do not understand. So you, no doubt, will want to ask many questions as you look carefully at these scenes along the river. For instance, you may want to ask: What are the houses in the village in Figure 7 made of? Why are the roofs of the houses flat? What keeps the raft in Figure 7 from sinking? Keep a list of questions you want to ask. You will find many of your questions answered farther on.

Two things to do after looking at the pictures. — The following stories have been told by other travelers who journeyed on the Tigris.

1. As you read these stories, you will find answers to some of the questions in your list. As soon as you find an answer to one of your questions, put a check after that question.

2. After you have read these stories, decide upon a good name or title for each of these pictures.

Keleks. — This story was told by a traveler who was going downstream on the Tigris, instead of upstream as your boat is going.

"To carry my baggage downstream, it was necessary to build a kelek. This is a raft which can go only downstream. It is guided by raftsmen with wooden poles. The framework of the raft is made by tying poles together to form a sort of platform. Other poles then are laid crosswise on this platform, and are tied to it to strengthen it. Beneath the frame are tied inflated goat skins. To inflate a skin, a raftsman blows into it through a reed tube till it is full of air, and then round the neck of the skin he ties a stout cord very tightly. These skins then look like oddly shaped balloons. Just as a balloon floats in the air, these goat skins filled with air float in the water and keep the raft from sinking. The number of goat skins used depends upon the size of the raft. Some rafts, not more than ten feet square, do not need more than fifty skins. The large ones, some fifty feet long, must use about a thousand skins. The raft I made required three hundred fifty.

"When passengers as well as baggage are to be carried, the raft is covered with planks, and carpets and beds are spread on them. In winter a little wooden room sometimes is built on the raft. In it the passengers cook their meals, and sleep.

"I bought a large bagful of bread-cakes, and had some chickens and mutton roasted. Several kindly natives brought me gifts of melons, eggs, and preserved dates. Upon this food, and coffee, the raftsmen and I made our meals during the entire journey.

"We started in the afternoon. As soon as we had pushed the raft out into the river, it began to move downstream. Twice during the journey, rocks in the bed of the river gave us trouble. At one place we could hear the raft scraping against the stones. The raftsmen had to push very hard with their long poles to get the raft across this barrier of stones. When it righted itself again, we saw that one corner was very low in the water, and we knew that the rocks had broken several skins. We tied the raft up to the bank and took off the baggage, so that the raftsmen could repair the damage.

"At the end of the journey we took the raft to pieces, for it could not go back upstream. We sold the poles and planks. The air was let out of the skins and they were dried carefully. Our raftsmen tied them up in bundles and loaded them on donkeys. With these they journeyed back by land to the town from which we started. There the skins could be used again for other rafts."

Koofahs. — This story was told by an American who made a journey to the Tigris.

"When I was ready to leave this little village on the Tigris, they put me and my boxes into a koofah and we started toward the ship.

"A koofah is a boat which is somewhat like a very large round basket. It is made of willow reeds and is coated, both inside and out, with asphalt to make it water tight. The willows come from the land along the upper river. The asphalt comes from springs near the Tigris and Euphrates. It is a black, sticky, tar-like substance. Sometimes the asphalt coming from a spring forms a small lake or pond of asphalt at the spring’s mouth. Sometimes the asphalt may be seen as black iumps on the surface of the water in the springs. When heated, it is poured over the framework of the boat. Koofahs are round, and look like large black bowls. Some of them are so large that they can hold three horses besides several men."

Gardens. — This story and the next three were told by the same American who told about the koofah.

"Along this part of the journey our ride was very pleasant. On each side of the river were green fields and gardens. The palms were beautiful. They formed a wall of green along the banks. Among their leaves were birds of many kinds, whose songs were very sweet. We could hear the creaking sound of machines, lifting water from the river for the gardens and the groves of palms. As the sun set, its light colored the tips of the palm trees red and gold. The frogs began to croak, and it grew dark. Their croaking then became almost a roar. Hundreds of them must have joined their voices in that evening song."

Watering the gardens and palm groves. —" The date-palm trees stood in large groups in the gardens along the banks. In many places, even the natives now use modern engines to pump water from the river for their gardens, but here, oxen were drawing up the water. They were hitched to long ropes, at the other ends of which skin bags were fastened. These ropes passed over the pulleys on a tall framework so that the bags were lifted as the oxen walked away from the river. When the skin bags were high enough, the drivers stopped the oxen, and the water was tilted into a ditch. From the ditch, it flowed out on the gardens. The oxen then walked back toward the river, the drivers let the skins down again into the water, and so their work went on without a stop as long as we could see them."

A Tigris village. — " While our boat was being repaired, we stayed for several hours at a little village on the eastern bank, and saw a caravan of camels start on its way to distant cities. There is a wall around the town, through which there are four gates. The houses are of sun-burned brick. They have few windows, and flat roofs. Each has a small, square, inside court. Beneath each house is a cellar, called a ‘sardab.’ In these cellars, the people find relief from the fierce heat of summer days. On summer nights, they often sleep on the flat roofs.

"The largest building in the village is the mosque, or church. From its tall tower, called a minaret, the people of the town are called to prayer."

A Tigris flood. —" When it grew dark, we anchored. The river was growing higher, and the sky was clouded. There were no palms or gardens anywhere along the river here. The land on both sides was bare. Back from the river stood the ruins of an ancient town.

"When morning came, the scene was very different. The barren country on both sides of the river was now covered with water and looked like a great lake. In the distance we could see Arabs with their wives, and children, and sheep, standing on slight rises in the ground. The water seemed almost to lap their feet. There was no sunshine and the wind was cold. The current in the river was so swift that we could hardly steam against it."

The list of pictures. — On page 144, there is a list of all the pictures in this book. After the number of each picture is its title, which tells what the picture shows. Look at Figure 8 on. What title did you give to this picture? Then find the number "8"in the first column on page 144. After it you can find the title "Drawing water from the river to use on the fields." Was this what you had thought this picture showed? By doing this with all the pictures you have looked at, you can find out whether or not your title for each picture is a good one.

Comparing answers to your questions. — Are there any questions in your list which you could not check after you read these stories? If you tell the others in the class the ones you cannot answer, perhaps some one can tell you where to find the answers. You may find them instead for yourself as you read more about the land of the Tigris and Euphrates.

"Playing "Password." — You now know the name of the river upon which you have been traveling. To play "Password" one of you who can spell its name correctly is chosen "door-keeper." At the beginning of the next geography class, as each of you passes the door-keeper, you must whisper the password —" Capital T-i-g-r-i-s Capital R-i-v-e-r." If you give it correctly, the door-keeper lets you go to your seat. If you make a mistake, the doorkeeper gives you a little slip of paper on which "Tigris River" is spelled correctly, and you must stand aside till you can give the right password. Whoever is named door-keeper should make ready ahead of time the slips on which the password for the day is written correctly. Some time when you play this game you may use a sentence instead of a name for your password, such as "Downstream is toward the sea."

The city of Bagdad. — After traveling a day and a night upstream from Basra, you should be nearing Bagdad. In this city, more than a thousand years ago, Haroun-alRaschid ruled, and many stories have since been written about it. As your boat comes near the city, you see gardens and palms along each bank. The river here is almost an eighth of a mile in width. On both sides may be seen business buildings, as well as towers, or minarets, like those which you saw in other towns along the Tigris. Ahead, you can see the view in Figure 1 2. This shows you how people cross the river between the two parts of the city. What would you call a bridge like this?

The landing place. — The wharf at which your steamer stops is a noisy, crowded place. You have to make your way among many natives, camels, pack mules, dogs, and piles of goods. Near-by, men are unloading keleks, on which they have brought from the country farther upstream bags of wheat, bundles of skins, and bales of wool. As the men shout and call to one another and to the animals, the din is deafening. Strange odors also greet you.

In Bagdad streets. — Figure 13 shows one of the wider streets in Bagdad. Some are mere alleys, so narrow that two loaded donkeys cannot pass in them. If you look closely at this picture, you can see of what material the first building to the right is made. You can also find some overhanging windows and a balcony. They help to shade the street. Over some streets that are lined with shops arched roofs of brick are built, to keep out some of the sun’s heat. These roofs have been built high enough to let a man mounted on his camel ride under them. Such streets are somewhat like tunnels.

The people in the street. — In Figure 13, you can find at least two kinds of people. You can tell them from each other by their clothes and by their hats. Find which are most like the ones you saw upon the boat in Figure 2. Bagdad is a meeting place for many kinds of people. There may be among those whom you see in Figure 13, people who have come from many different kinds of homes. Some may live in Bagdad, others may have come in from the near-by country. and perhaps a few have traveled several hundred miles with caravans or by boat. Some of them may have come, instead, on trains, for railroads enter Bagdad now. If you follow some of them to their work, you might see what is shown in the pictures in Figures 14—23.

A search for you to make. — As you look at these ten pictures (14—23), you can find men or women doing at least six different kinds of work to make a living. Try to find all six kinds. Give to each picture a title that shows what you think the people in that picture are doing. If you cannot tell what they are doing in some of these pictures, do not make titles for those pictures till after you have read the stories that follow. Then give them titles. Petroleum and asphalt. — For many hundreds of years, men have been taking asphalt from springs in the land near the Tigris and the Euphrates, and have used it in many ways. They cement the bricks of their houses with it, and use it in making the roofs. As you have already read, they also coat their boats with it to keep them from leaking. From it are made some drugs and medicines.

Recently, men have drilled wells in the ground not far from these asphalt springs and have found petroleum there. This is an oil that has in it many of the substances that are in asphalt. Like asphalt, it is very useful. It is used to burn in the engines of factories, ships, and trains. From it are made many useful things, such as gasoline for our automobiles and airplanes. Petroleum is so useful that now men have gone from our own country, and also from other lands, to drill oil wells near the Tigris and Euphrates, and to hunt for petroleum there.

A bazaar. — Along both sides of some Bagdad streets are little booths or stalls. Cross-legged in his booth, the trader sits, with his wares piled high around him. In many bazaars the booths of traders who sell goods of one kind are near together. At one place there are carpet merchants, at another those who sell jewelry. Farther on, the shoemakers and the coppersmiths sell things they have made themselves. Some merchants, however, sell several kinds of wares. In an open, unroofed square wheat and other grains are sold.

Many merchants keep their best goods hidden where you cannot see them. If you win the good will of a jewelry merchant, perhaps he will take for you from holes in the, walls, or little trap doors in the floor, or from the sardab underground, wonderful enameled necklaces and precious stones that are very beautiful. A carpet merchant may bring out of some hidden place a rug that, in his words, should make your "eyes to weep tears of joy, that men can make such wonders."

Journeying with a caravan. — This story was told by Americans who journeyed across the desert to Bagdad.

"Although the people of the desert whom we had met thus far had been very kind to us, we were glad to find camped here a company of merchants who were willing to have us go with them to Bagdad, for there was danger of being robbed by the desert men who lived along the remainder of our route. Most of the camels of the caravan which we joined were loaded with bales of wool. Some of them carried grain for the animals to eat during the journey, and sugar, coffee, rice, dates, and figs for the men. We joined the merchants about seven o’clock in the morning, just as they were ready to start on the day’s march. It was a clear, bright day in January. By noon the sun was in the southern sky, not quite half way up between the horizon and the zenith.’ Although the sun was not very high in the sky, its rays were warm. For hours we traveled over a very dreary country, where there grew only a few scattered, graygreen plants. About two o’clock, we came to a place where a good deal of grass was growing and saw near-by several low, black, camel-hair tents. The dwellers in these tents were very friendly and warned us of dangers farther on. The zenith is the point in the heavens directly overhead.

"As darkness fell, it grew unpleasantly cold, and we pushed on as fast as we could to get to a ‘khan’ in which to spend the night. The keeper of the khan had closed and bolted the gates before we reached it, but, after we had knocked, pounded, and called for several minutes, they at last were opened. Tied to stakes in the great, uncovered courtyard were camels, horses, donkeys, and mules. Moving about among the animals and seated in groups around fires in the little booths or stalls that opened upon the courtyard, were many men, laughing loudly and talking at the tops of their voices. We got water and wood, and in a short time had a good fire going in our little stall. Soon our coffee was boiling.

"After we had fed the animals, and had eaten our own suppers, we visited with other groups of travelers. Next to us were some men who had traded part of their wheat for salt. The salt, they said, had been taken from wells by people of a little village they had passed in the desert. After the villagers had dried the salt in shallow mud pans, they had stored it in a big, open, mud bin. By trading this salt to the caravans passing by, they made their living. In the next group, a man was telling thrilling stories. "We were up early the next morning, and by seven o’clock were on the march. Somewhat before noon, the leaders of the caravan saw in the distance a number of horsemen who they feared were desert robbers. An hour later

Continue

Return to Table of Contents