In This Case The Boats Often Strike On
The Stones In The River, When It Becomes Necessary To Unlade And
Repair
them, which is attended with much trouble and delay; and on this account
the merchants have always one or
Two spare boats, that if one happen to
split or be lost by striking on the shoals, they may have another ready
to take in their goods till they have repaired the broken boat If they
were to draw the broken boat on the land for repair, it would be
difficult to defend it in the night from the great numbers of Arabs that
would come to rob and plunder them. Every night, when it is necessary to
make fast the boat to the bank, good watch must be kept against the
Arabs, who are great thieves and as numerous as ants; yet are they not
given to murder on these occasions, but steal what they can and run
away. Arquebuses are excellent weapons for keeping off these Arabs, as
they are in great fear of the shot. In passing down the river from Bir
to Feluchia, there are certain towns and villages on the Euphrates
belonging to _the son of Aborise_, king of the Arabs and of the desert,
at some of which the merchants have to pay so many _medins_ of custom on
each bale.
[Footnote 121: It is obvious that Bagdat is here meant. - E.]
SECTION II.
_Of Feluchia and Babylon._
Feluchia is a village on the Euphrates, where they who come from Bir for
Babylon disembark with their goods, and go thence by land to Babylon, a
journey of a day and a half. Babylon is no great city, but is very
populous and is greatly resorted to by strangers, being the great
thoroughfare for Persia, Turkey and Arabia, and from this place there
are frequent caravans to different countries. Babylon is abundantly
supplied with provisions, which are brought down the river Tigris on
certain rafts or _zattores_ called Vtrij, the river Tigris running past
the walls of Babylon. The blown-up hides of which these rafts are
composed, are bound fast together, on which boards are laid, and on
these boards the commodities are loaded. 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. Being
ruined on every side, it has formed a great mountain, yet a considerable
part of the tower is still standing, compassed and almost covered up by
these ruins. It has been built of square bricks dried in the sun, and
constructed in the following manner. In the first place a course of
bricks was laid, then a mat made of canes squared like the bricks, and
daubed with earth instead of lime mortar; and these mats still remain so
strong that it is wonderful considering their great antiquity. I have
gone all round it without being able to discover any place where there
had been a door or entrance, and in my opinion it may be about a mile in
circumference or rather less. Contrary to all other things, which appear
small at a distance and become larger the nearer they are approached,
this tower appears largest when seen from afar, and seems less as you
come nearer. This may be accounted for, as the tower stands in a very
large plain, and with its surrounding ruins forms the only perceptible
object; so that from a distance the tower and the mountains formed of
its ruins make a greater shew than it is found to be on coming near.
SECTION III.
_Of Basora._
From Babylon I embarked in one of those small vessels which ply upon the
Tigris between Babylon and Basora, which are built after the manner of
foists or galliots, having a _speron_[122] and a covered poop. They use
no pumps, being so well daubed with pitch as effectually to exclude the
water. This pitch they have from a great plain near the city of _Heit_
on the Euphrates, two days journey from Babylon. This plain full of
pitch is marvellous to behold, and a thing almost incredible, as from a
hole in the earth the pitch is continually thrown into the air with a
constant great smoke; and being hot it falls as it were sprinkled all
over the plain, in such abundance that the plain is always full of
pitch[123]. The Moors and Arabs of the neighbourhood allege that this
hole is the mouth of Hell; and in truth it is a very memorable object
From this native pitch or bitumen the whole people of that country
derive great benefit, as with it they pay or serve their barks, which
they call _Daneck_ and _Saffin_.
[Footnote 122:
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