'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from September 1850 to June 1852. Edited by the Secretary. Volume X.' [‎123] (256/458)

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MEMOIR ON THE “ TIGRIS."
123
a superficial glance can be taken only of the ruins in the neigh-
U bood, for excavations would doubtless divulge many relics of a past
^ That Opis itself was a great city there is no question, for the
^oduce 0 f t ] ie ladies and even China reached it from the sea by way
Gerrha and the Tigris ;* from whence it was disseminated over
Northern Asia and Europe, the merchants, residing on the spot, giving
chiefly gold, drugs, grain, and precious stones in exchange, all of which
nlentiful enough at the emporium of a country whose revenue at the
vV0^ ^
time of the Macedonian conquest has been computed at £58,000,000
sterling and which in the time of the Khalifate, remained within two
millions of the same amount.f
The awful change that has taken place is not altogether attributable,
I am inclined to think, to the degeneracy of the people, and to the ex
cesses of armies that have overrun the coveted lands from Europe on
one side, from the Oxus and from Arabia on the others. These in
roads doubtless tended in a great measure to deteriorate both the soil
and the people; but I suspect there have been natural and recurring
causes for so great a depression as we witness in the present day. The
rivers themselves in changing their course must have occasioned far
greater distress and calamity than the excesses of an invading foe.
The summit of Manjur, as we gaze around, affords a picture of wreck
of this nature that could scarcely be conceived if it were not spread at
the feet of the beholder. Close to us are the dismembered walls of the
old city, and many other mounds of adjacent edifices spread like
islands over the vast plain, which is as bare of vegetation as a snow
tract, and smooth and glass-like as a calm sea. This appearance of the
country denotes some sudden and overwhelming mass of watei must
have prostrated every thing in its way, while the Tigiis, as it anciently
flowed, is seen to have left its channel and to have taken its piesent
course through the most flourishing portion of the district , indeed
through the immense island which the excavation of the Katul-al«
* Vide Commerce of the Babylonians. Heeren’s Assiatic Hist. p. 234 ; Masudi s Maiujadi
Dhahab-wa.jMadau-ab iohi«r” p. 315. 324. 328; ot Spren^er’s translations; and m another chapter
we have a comparative rank given of the magnates of the earth, which wi s ow 1 *
tion the country was held in in respect to others in ancient times, by an .""PJ
Mahomedan writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. , p. 366. Masudi says, “the Kings of China of the Turks of India, of the Za j
and all other kings of the earth look up »o the king of the climate of Rabit Wltl ;krear respect,
for he is the first king on earth and occupies the same position with respect to others as the
moon with respect to the stars. For his country is the most nob.e and most populous v h i**
the richest of all sovereigns; he is most favored by nature; and he has a powertul and
government; but now (A. D. 332 ) this description does not at all ag>ee, adds MasuQi, wua
the sovereigns of this country.” What would Masudi say could he see it now .
+ Ancient Persian history, during the khalifate of Marinin, from a document of Ahmed ilm
Mahomed ibu Abdul Hamed, employed at the time in the department of nuance.