Book: A Dweller in Mesopotamia

D >> Donald Maxwell >> A Dweller in Mesopotamia




Not the least of the problems in controlling the marauding activities of
some of the nomadic tribes is the difficulty of meting out adequate
punishment to peace-breakers. The fact that all the stock-in-trade of a
township amounts to a few pots and pans and house material of cane
matting and mud makes it impossible to impress them by destroying their
houses. In a few days everything would be rebuilt as before. It could
often happen that the punitive expedition arrived to find the town moved
to some district not mentioned in the orders for the day.

[Illustration: A BRITISH CRUISER IN THE PERSIAN GULF]

Mesopotamia under the Turks was in some ways worse off than others of
his badly governed possessions. The officials who were sent from
Constantinople into various provinces regarded the job as a poor one, as
far as the amenities of life were concerned, and one to be endured while
making as big a pile as possible from the ground-down natives. I should
imagine that one of these officials would be about as popular with the
landowners as a publican was among the Jews.

An ancient prophecy foretells that the great river Euphrates shall be
dried up that the way of the kings of the East shall be prepared. The
time has come, if the war was indeed Armageddon. German engineers in
1914 had made a highway and effectively "dried up" the waters of the
river for the passage of the armies. They themselves expected to be
kings of the East although coming from the West, and some, it is
interesting to note, explain the Prussians as of Oriental origin. At the
same time the claims both of oil and empire kept us busy in the Persian
Gulf. It looked as if we were to share this new kingdom or sphere of
influence with Germany, until the war came and sorted things out.

There are some who see in vast irrigation schemes a "drying up" of the
Euphrates that shall bring colonists from the Far East so that the
denizens of China or Japan shall begin, like the Saxons in Kent, to get
a footing in the country and become, in very substance, the Yellow
Peril.

He is a rash man who would prophesy concerning the future of Mesopotamia
as far as our empire is concerned. Perhaps before these pages are in
print something decisive will have occurred. We read daily in our
newspapers of rumours of war with restless tribes around Mosul, and of
raids and skirmishes.

The land of Shinar, where Abraham dwelt, with its silent traces of the
great civilizations which it fostered, Babylonian and Assyrian, Persian,
Greek and Arabian, is once more, by the chances of war, an open book,
and time alone will show what is to be written therein.

[Illustration]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] "Adventures with a Sketch Book."

[2] Tennyson: "Recollections of the Arabian Nights."

[3] From Ragozin's _Chaldea_.


THE END




_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._

ADVENTURES WITH A SKETCH BOOK

With numerous Illustrations in colour and black and white by the Author.
Crown 4to. 12/6 net.

"Artistically, and from the literary point of view, it is one of the
most delectable travel books that have been published for many a long
day, for Mr. Maxwell has not only an eye for the picturesque, and a
frank, clear style both of pen and brush, but he has the even rarer gift
of finding old-world romance and adventure in places near at hand where
their presence would never be suspected by the ordinary traveller....
Mr. Maxwell's book is wholly free from any suspicion of guide-book
padding, and is as interesting and exciting to read as a work of
romantic fiction. The chief feature which should ensure it a permanent
position on the library shelf are the very vital and expressive
illustrations, the very spacing of which on the printed page is delight
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"There is certainly no lack of vitality in Mr. Maxwell's sketches, and
his adroit economic draughtsmanship, his keen observation, and the
feeling of personal interpretation in his work give them genuine
distinction."--_Sunday Times._

"Mr. Maxwell is a most original traveller.... We have said so much of
Mr. Maxwell the writer and traveller, that there is a danger of
forgetting Mr. Maxwell the artist. All the work has character; most of
it has that delicacy of colour and outline which we have learned to
associate with the author."--_Athenaeum._

"On page after page Mr. Maxwell delights the eye with views and 'bits'
picturesque, quaint or amusing, while his anecdotes and adventures make
us laugh and long to follow in his footsteps, for he has the gift of
description in words as well as in pictures. This is one of the most
thoroughly satisfactory artist-tourist books we have seen,
and its publisher has done justice to the good material at his
disposal."--_Morning Post._

"A delightful survey of scenes. Mr. Maxwell's drawings are full of the
right touch and insight, all faithfully conveyed and put into a
sumptuous book."--_Pall Mall Gazette._

"This is an exceedingly charming book. Mr. Maxwell's book is a genuine
sketch book."--_Daily News._

"Contains many clever drawings.... Charmingly sketched."--_Evening
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_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._

THE LAST CRUSADE

1914-1918

With 100 Sketches In Colour, Monochrome, and Line made by the author in
the autumn and winter of 1918, when sent on duty to Palestine by the
Admiralty for the Imperial War Museum. Crown 4to L1 5s. net.

"Exceedingly interesting.... The letterpress is full of vitality and
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"Mr. Maxwell has made a most delightful album of scenes in the Holy
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to look at."--_Field._

"Mr. Maxwell's sketches are extremely good and vivid, and the text is
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"The drawings possess great artistic merit. One of the most attractive
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