[The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 4. (of 7): Babylon by George Rawlinson]@TWC D-Link bookThe Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 4. (of 7): Babylon CHAPTER II 10/81
The neighboring mountains could furnish good timber of various kinds; but it appears that the palm was the tree chiefly used for building.
If we may judge the past by the present, we may further suppose that Susiana produced fruits in abundance; for modern travellers tell us that there is not a fruit known in Persia which does not thrive in the province of Khuzistan. Along the Euphrates valley to a considerable distance--at least as far as Anah (or Hena)--the character of the country resembles that of Babylonia and Susiana, and the products cannot have been very different. About Anah the date-palm begins to fail, and the olive first makes its appearance.
Further up a chief fruit is the mulberry.
Still higher, in northern Mesopotamia, the mulberry is comparatively rare, but its place is supplied by the walnut, the vine, and the pistachio-nut. This district produces also good crops of grain, and grows oranges, pomegranates, and the commoner kinds of fruit abundantly. Across the Euphrates, in Northern Syria, the country is less suited for grain crops; but trees and shrubs of all kinds grow luxuriantly, the pasture is excellent, and much of the land is well adapted for the growth of cotton.
The Assyrian kings cut timber frequently in this tract; and here are found at the present day enormous planes, thick forests of oak, pine, and ilex, walnuts, willows, poplars, ash-trees, birches, larches, and the carob or locust tree.
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