EUPHRATES (EbOinErns), termed in Deut. i. 7, the great river,' where it is mentioned as the eastern boundary of the land which (ver. 8) God gave to the descendants of Abraham. In Gen. ii. 14, the Euphrates (ITS) is stated to be the fourth of the rivers which flowed from a common stream in the garden of Eden. Divines and geo graphers have taken much trouble in order to learn the position of Eden from the geographical particu lars given in the Bible, without remembering that probably nothing more than a popular description was intended. It is true that two of the rivers mentioned in the passage, namely, the Tigris and the Euphrates, have their sources in the same high lands ; but scientific geography neither sanctions nor explains the Scriptural account, if Eden is to be sought in the mountainous range in different and distant parts of which they rise.
In consequence of its magnitude and importance, the Euphrates was designated and known as the river,' being by far the most considerable stream in Western Asia. Thus in Exod. xxiii. 31, we read, from the desert unto the river' (comp. Is, viii. 7).
ft has two sources and two arms—a western and an eastern—which rise in the mountains of Armenia. Of these streams the western is the shorter, and is called Kara Sou, or Melas ; the eastern is itself made up of several streams, the longest of which bears the name of Murad, or Plirat. The two arms unite about three days' journey from Erzeroom, near which rise two of the tributaries that concur in forming the Phrat. Thus uniting, they give rise to the Euphrates strictly so called, which, flowing to the south, divides Armenia from Cappadocia ; but, being driven westward by the Anti-Taurus and Taurus mountains, it works its circuitous way through narrow passes and over cataracts, until, breaking through a defile formed by the eastern extremity of Mons Amanus (Alma Dagh'), and the north western extremity of Mans Taurus, it reaches the plain country not far from Samosata (Schemisat), then winds south and south-east, passing the north of Syria, and the north-east of Arabia Deserta, and at length, after many windings, unites with the Tigris, and thus united finds its termination in the Persian Gulf. (Herod. i. 18o ; Stmbo, u. p. 521 ; Ptolem. v. 13 ; min. Kist. Nat. V. 20 ; Q. Curt. i. 13 ; Orbis Terrarem, C. Kaercher Auct. ; Map to Report from the Select Committee on Steam Navigation to India.) In conjunction with the Tigris, it forms the rich alluvial lands of Mesopotamia, over which it flows or is carried by canals, and thus diffuses abroad fertility and beauty. At Bagdad and Hillah (Babylon), the Euphrates and Tigris approach comparatively near to each other, but separate again, forming a kind of ample basin, till they finally become one at Koorma. Under the Cxsars the Euphrates was the eastern boundary of the Roman empire, as under David it was the natural limit of the Hebrew monarchy.
Although occasionally much more, the breadth of the Euphrates varies between 200 and 400 yards ; but for a distance of 6o miles through the Lemlun marshes the main stream narrows to about So yards. The general depth of the Upper Euphrates exceeds S feet. In point of current it is for the most part a sluggish stream ; for, except in the height of the flooded season, when it approaches 5 miles an hour, it varies from 2• to 3i, with a much larger por tion of its course under 3 than above. Its general
description for some distance below Erzingan is that of a river of the first order, struggling through high hills, or rather low mountains, making an exceedingly tortuous course, as it forces its way over a pebbly or rocky bed, from one natural barrier to another. As it winds round its numerous barriers, it carries occasionally towards each of the cardinal points a considerable body of water ; and is shallow enough in some places for loaded camels to pass in autumn, the water rising to their bellies, or about 4.4- feet. The upper portion of the river is enclosed between two parallel ranges of hills, covered for the most part with high brush wood and timber of moderate size, having a suc cession of long narrow islands, on several of which are moderate-sized towns ; the borders of this ancient stream being still well inhabited, not only by Bedouins, but by permanent residents. The following towns may be named : Samsat, Hao roum, Romkala, Bir, Giaber, Deir, Rava, Anna, Hadisa, El Oos, Jibba, Hit, Hillah, Lemlun, Korna, and Bussora. The scenery above Hit, in itself very picturesque, is greatly heightened by the frequent recurrence of ancient irrigating aque ducts, beautiful specimens of art, which are attri buted by the Arabs to the Persians when fire-wor shippers : they literally cover both banks, and prove that the borders of the Euphrates were once thickly inhabited by a highly civilized people. They are of stone. Ten miles below Hit is the last of these The country now becomes flatter, with few hills : the river winds less ; and the banks are covered with Arab villages of mats or tents, with beautiful mares, cattle, and numerous flocks of goats and sheep. From Hit to Babylon the black tent of the Bedouin is almost the only kind of habitation to be seen. This distance is cultivated only in part ; the rest is desert, with the date-tree sheaving in occasional clusters. In descending, the irrigating cuts and canals become more frequent. Babylon is encircled by two streams, one above, the other below the principal ruin ; beyond which they unite and produce abundance. For about thirty miles below Hillah both banks have numerous mud villages, imbedded in date-trees : to these succeed huts formed of bundles of reeds. The country lower down towards Lemlun is level and little elevated above the river ; irrigation is therefore easy : in consequence, both banks are covered with productive cultivation, and fringed with a double and nearly continuous belt of luxuriant date-trees, extending down to the Persian Gulf. At one mile and a half above the town of Dcwania is the first considerable deviation from this hitherto majestic river ; another takes place 22 miles lower ; and i nine miles farther—at Lemlun—it again separates into two branches, forming a delta not unlike that of Damietta, and when the river is swollen, inun dating the country for a space of about 60 miles in width with a shallow sheet of water, forming the Lemlun marshes, nearly the whole of which is covered with rice and other grain the moment the river recedes (in June). Here mud villages are swept away by the water every year.