prevailed only in a very small portion of the country, and so would have
affected the general climate but little. Historically, too, we find,
among the earliest notices which have any climatic bearing, indications
that the temperature and the consequent condition of the country were
anciently very nearly what they now are. Xenophon speaks of the
barrenness of the tract between the Khabour and Babylonia, and the
entire absence of forage, in as strong terms as could be used at the
present day. Arrian, following his excellent authorities, notes that
Alexander, after crossing the Euphrates, kept close to the hills,
"because the heat there was not so scorching as it was lower down," and
because he could then procure green food for his horses. The animals too
which Xenophon found in the country are either such as now inhabit it,
or where not such, they are the denizens of hotter rather than colder
climates and countries.

The fertility of Assyria is a favorite theme with the ancient writers.
Owing to the indefiniteness of their geographical terminology, it is
however uncertain, in many cases, whether the praise which they bestow
upon Assyria is really intended for the country here called by that
name, or whether it does not rather apply to the alluvial tract, already
described, which is more properly termed Chaldaea or Babylonia.
Naturally Babylonia is very much more fertile than the greater part of
Assyria, which being elevated above the courses of the rivers, and
possessing a saline and gypsiferous soil, tends, in the absence of a
sufficient water supply, to become a bare and arid desert. Trees are
scanty in both regions except along the river courses; but in Assyria,
even grass fails after the first burst of spring; and the plains, which
for a few weeks have been carpeted with the tenderest verdure and
thickly strewn with the brightest and loveliest flowers, become, as the
summer advances, yellow, parched, and almost herbless. Few things are