On the Arabian side of the Euphrates, 50 miles south of the ruins of Babylon, and 25 or 30 miles from the river, is a fresh-water lake of very considerable dimensions--the Bahr-i-Nedjif, the "Assyrium stagnum" of Justin.

This is a natural basin, 40 miles long, and from 10 to 20 miles broad, enclosed on three sides by sandstone cliffs, varying from 20 to 200 feet in height, and shut in on the fourth side--the north-east--by a rocky ridge, which intervenes between the valley of the Euphrates and this inland sea.

The cliffs are water-worn, presenting distinct indications of more than one level at which the water has rested in former times.

At the season of the inundation this lake is liable to be confounded with the extensive floods and marshes which extend continuously from the country west of the Birs Nimrud to Samava.

But at other tines the distinction between the Bahr and the marshes is very evident, the former remaining when the latter disappear altogether, and not diminishing very greatly in size even in the driest season.