A Dweller in Mesopotamia Part 8

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 pa.s.sage 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 j.a.pan 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 s.h.i.+nar, where Abraham dwelt, with its silent traces of the great civilizations which it fostered, Babylonian and a.s.syrian, 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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

"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 ill.u.s.trations, the very s.p.a.cing of which on the printed page is delight to the eye."--_Observer._

"There is certainly no lack of vitality in Mr. Maxwell's sketches, and his adroit economic draughtsmans.h.i.+p, 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 a.s.sociate 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 Standard._

_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._

THE LAST CRUSADE

1914-1918

"Exceedingly interesting.... The letterpress is full of vitality and humour; the reader is irresistibly carried on from one incident to another without a dull moment."--_Sat.u.r.day Review._

"A very handsome book. It makes good reading, and a still better 'picture book,' and it is a valuable addition to the vast literature of the war."--_Westminster Gazette._

"Full of good matter. The pictures are finely done, and neither the Colour nor the black and white reproductions leave anything to be desired. It is indeed one of the best war books published."--_Outlook._

"A very handsome souvenir of the Last Crusade."--_Pall Matt Gazette._

"Mr. Maxwell has made a most delightful alb.u.m of scenes in the Holy Land."--_Globe._

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"Mr. Maxwell's sketches are extremely good and vivid, and the text is lively and readable."--_Land and Water._

"The drawings possess great artistic merit. One of the most attractive books which the war has yet evoked."--Connoisseur.

John Lane, The Bodley Head, Vigo St., W. 1.