The traveler is on historic ground as he halts before this picturesque Arab village. It is very different in every respect from the villages of men who live in harsher climes. The broad Euphrates River, seen in the background, with its fringe of beautiful palms, and the dense foliage along its farther bank, has witnessed the rise and fall of great empires. Syrians and Arabians, Parthians and Macedonians have dyed its waters with their blood. Legions of men have crossed it in wicker boats. Rafts made of poles, buoyed up by sheepskins inflated with air, have floated for hundreds of miles along its course. Under the caliphs prosperous towns and great cities lines its banks. Roman cohorts and Macedonian phalanxes have maneyvered on the adjacent plains. Romance and legend connect it with the remot-

est antiquity. It is said to have been one of the rivers of the Garden of Eden. Starting in far distant Armenia, it drains basin of 250,000 square miles, winding and turning in its course for 1,700 miles before its flood is poured into the Persian Gulf. Reeds along the river bank furnish abundant material for such simple habitations as the climate requires. Gathered into bundles they form walls for the huts, woven into mats they make roof and floor. The needs of this people are few, their lives simple. The loose garments and flowing robes which they wear are appropriate in the terrific heat. Date palms produce large crops. Grains and vegetables and a primitive commerce supply all that they require.