river. This has been at all times the country of the wandering Arabs. It
is traversed in places by rocky ridges of a low elevation, and
intercepted by occasional _wadys_, but otherwise it is a continuous
gravelly or sandy plain, incapable of sustaining a settled population.
Between the desert and the river intervenes commonly a narrow strip of
fertile territory, which in Assyrian times was held by the Tsukhi or
Shuhites, and the Aramaeans or Syrians. North of the 36th parallel, the
general elevation of the country west of the Euphrates rises. There is
an alternation of bare undulating hills and dry plains, producing
wormwood and other aromatic plants. Permanent rivers are found, which
either terminate in salt lakes or run into the Euphrates. In places the
land is tolerably fertile, and produces good crops of grain, besides
mulberries, pears, figs, pomegranates, olives, vines, and
pistachio-nuts. Here dwelt, in the time of the Assyrian Empire, the
Khatti, or Hittites, whose chief city, Carchemish, appears to have
occupied the site of Hierapolis, now Bambuk. In a military point of
view, the tract is very much less strong than either Armenia or
Kurdistan, and presents but slight difficulties to invading armies.

The tract south of Assyria was Chaldaea, of which a description has been
given in an earlier portion of this volume. Naturally it was at once the
weakest of the border countries, and the one possessing the greatest
attractions to a conqueror. Nature had indeed left it wholly without
defence; and though art was probably soon called in to remedy this
defect, yet it could not but continue the most open to attack of the
various regions by which Assyria was surrounded. Syria was defended by
the Euphrates--at all times a strong barrier; Arabia, not only by this
great stream, but by her arid sands and burning climate; Armenia and
Kurdistan had the protection of their lofty mountain ranges. Chaldaea
was naturally without either land or water barrier; and the mounds and