Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

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144 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
laurels. And it was in connection with this last visit to the
place so dear to him that he effected the principal discoveries
which established his name as a Babylonian explorer.
The first three months of the year 1854 he devoted to
his difficult task. Conditions around Warka had completely
changed during his absence. The Tuwaiba tribe had been
driven out of Mesopotamia, and it was no small matter to
obtain the necessary gangs of workmen from his distant
friends and the exorbitant shaikh of Kl-Khidhr. In consequence
of the river having failed to overflow its natural
banks in the previous years, extreme poverty prevailed
among the Arabs of the Lower Euphrates, and it became
necessarv to order all the supplies for men and beasts from
Suq esh-Shivukh, a distance of sixty miles, while every day
a number of camels were engaged to carry water from the
river to the camp, which he had pitched halfway between
Kl-Khidhr and the ruins, and to the Arabs working in the
trenches of Warka, nine miles away. To make the situation
even more disagreeable, frequent sand-storms, 1 especially
characteristic of the regions of Warka and Jokha and Tell
Ibrahim (Cuthah), at the slightest breath of air enveloped
the mounds " in a dense cloud of impalpable sand," driving
from their places the workmen, who often lost their
wav in returning to camp. Loftus, however, was not to be
discouraged by all the difficulties, and with determination
he tried to accomplish his task.
The ruins of Warka, the largest in all Babylonia, are
situated on an elevated tract of desert soil slightly raised
above a series of inundations and marshes caused by the
annual overflowing of the Euphrates. When this inundation
does not occur, the desolation and solitude of Warka
are even more striking than at ordinary seasons. There is
then no life for miles around. " No river glides in grandeur
at the base of its mounds ; no green date groves flour-
At least twice or thrice a week.