When Unladed At Babylon, The
Air Is Let Out Of The Skins, Which Are Then Laid On The Backs Of Camels
And Carried Back To Serve For Another Voyage.
The city of Babylon is
properly speaking in the kingdom of Persia, but is now under the
dominion of the Turks.
On the other side of the river towards Arabia,
over against Babylon, there is a handsome town in which is an extensive
Bazar for the merchants, with many lodging rooms, in which the greater
part of the stranger merchants that go to Babylon expose their goods
for sale. The passage across the river between Babylon and this town is
by a long bridge of boats chained together with great chains: And when
the river is swollen by the great rains, this bridge is opened in the
middle, one half falling alongside of the walls of Babylon, and the
other half along the opposite bank of the borough. So long as the bridge
remains open, the people cross from side to side in small boats with
much danger, by reason of their smallness, and that they are usually
overladen, so that they are very liable to be overset by the swiftness
of the current, or to be carried away and wrecked on the banks. In this
manner-many people are lost and drowned, as I have often witnessed.
The tower of Nimrod, or Babel, is situated on the Arabian side of the
Tigris, in a great plain, seven or eight miles from Babylon.
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