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

434 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
trating the proverbial fertility of ancient Babylonia, and
through their flourishing state demonstrating more forcibly
than many arguments could do, what might be made again
of the treeless desert and pasture grounds of modern 'Iraq
through well-directed human labor and proper irrigation.
The first task for Haynes was to put the wells in order,
as the procuring of suitable drinking-water had gradually become
a vital question for the expedition. During the first
and second campaigns, which lasted only a
few months, we
had troubled ourselves very little about the quality of the
water. We drank it as the Arab women brought it from
the marshes, without boiling it
and with an occasional joke
as to the animal life which we observed in our jars and cups.
But in 1893, when Haynes went to Nuffar with the understanding
that he was to remain there through summer and
winter for several years, he had to take greater care of his
health and to face the problem, how to obtain the necessary
supply of water during the hottest months of the year,
when the marshes usually recede from the ruins. At first
he had adopted the Arab method, and conducted the water
to his " castle " by digging a small but sufficiently deep
canal to one of the principal streams in the midst of the
Khor. But after the neighboring tribes, for the sake of
gain, repeatedly had closed his canal, he decided in 1894
to make his camp independent of the interferences of the
Arabs by digging wells around his house. This experiment
led to a very unique result. The water obtained
from three of them, dug at a distance of only forty to fortyfive
feet from each other, was as different as it
possibly could
be. That of the first well was " very bitter," that of the
second " absolutely undrinkable for men and animals," that
of the third, which subsequently was lined
with bricks and
provided with a pump, was " drinkable, slightly impregthe
information which I received directly from the Arab gardeners at both
places.