'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from September 1850 to June 1852. Edited by the Secretary. Volume X.' [‎121] (254/458)

MEMOIR ON THE “TIGRIS.”
121
Ct of the Plmi
that is the to#
3 stream wl)icli l lii,
eemed an ohjecti
nd thirty “fi'
ctual measure*;
•sian, army, midi
iade in sunnisesd
if artificial stre®
succession of dt
and sluices in their course, such as this has, are increased or
diminished in drought by copious falls of rain led into them fro u the
uplands, and l>y the fluctuations in the trunk from whence they derive
their supply- The passage of the Greeks was effected, too, at the
latter end of autumn, when all streams are at a minimum, and likely
enough the Phuskus at the time of the record was but a fourth of its
maximum size. The bridge, however, is not wanting in the Katul, for
it exists still in the soil of its bed at the foot of a high mound called Tel
MahassiP, not six miles from the site of Opis at Manjur. The fact, too,
of the “ ten thousand ,, Greeks at once emerging from this spot into the
desert part of Media,” is another link in the chain of evidencef, for I
have described the K&tul-al-Kesrawi, or the Phuskus, in the narrative
of its survey, as the line of demarcation between fertility and desolation,
the protected alluvium tract between the Tigris and the great canal
having been, as exemplified in its ruined towns, villages, and dry water
channels, a paradise for man in the oriental acceptation of the term ;
while, all beyond being an elevated ridge of pebbles out of r< ach of
irrigation by canals, was ever as it is now, an inhospitable waste, devoid
of either water or vegetation. I have crossed this wilderness and
not a vestige is seen or heard of, that could mark it as the former abode
of our species.
I have now clone with the geographical considerations of Opis, but
am by no means assured that my remarks will be understood, though
I have spared no pains either in the local search or in records at hand
to elucidate its position. Herodotus, vague and unsatisfactory as his
notices of the Tigris are, merely mentions it by name as a town on its
banks,| while Diodorus Siculus is mute altogether regarding it,
though eloquent on the scene that took place there.§ From Herodo
tus, however, we glean that Opis was the name of one of the Hyper
borean virgins whom the inhabitants of Delos honored with divine rites
and sacrifices. She was generally regarded as the daughter of Diana, * §
See Dr. Ross paper on Journey to Opis, Roy. Geo. Soc. Journ. vol. xi. PP*. 11
ray narrative of “ Survey of Katul/’ 1849. The foundations and piers are distinct in the bed ot
the canal denominated erroneously il al Kabbur/’ by the modem Arabs.
I* Anabasis ii. p. 35.
t Herod, ia Clio clxxxix.
§ Diod. Sicul. book xvii. chap. x. 2.