a large river of Asia, taking its origin from several sources in the great range of Mount Taurus. There are two branches in particular which dispute the honour of being the principal. One to the east, called Mured, rising not far from the town of Bayazid, traverses the southern part of Armenia Proper; the other, to the west, called by the inhabitants Frat, is formed under the walls of Erzeroum by the junction of two small rivers. The Frat and Mured unite their waters a little below the town of Arabkir, when the river descends rapidly towards the defile called the Pass of Nashar. It then winds along an elevated plain, and about twenty-two miles above Samosat, the ancient Samosata, forms a double cataract. Having now cleared all the obstacles that opposed its progress, it rolls majestically along through a wide and verdant valley. At Korna, about a hundred and thirty miles from its mouth, it is joined by the Tigris, and forms with it the Shet-al-Arab, or river of Arabia, one of the noblest rivers in the east. At this point the land sinks, and is occupied with meadows and morasses; but even in the driest season it is navigable for boats of considerable burden as far as Sukashu, a village about a day's sail farther up. Above this point the tides of the Persian Gulf reach twenty or twenty-five miles, and the river is navigated during six months of the year by flat-bottomed boats as far as Hibah. The Euphrates has three principal mouths; but bars of sand formed by the river, and which change in their form and situation, render the approach very dangerous. It is said that the tide, meeting with violence the downward course of the stream, divides its waters in the form of frothy billows. The course of the Euphrates before joining the Tigris is about 1400 miles; and adding a hundred and thirty miles for the distance from its junction with the Tigris to the sea, its whole course will be upwards of 1500 miles. Its greatest increase is in January, when it rises twelve perpendicular feet, in consequence principally of the melting of the snows on the Taurian range. Taking advantage of this circumstance, the ancient inhabitants of Asia Minor formed numerous artificial canals and lakes, for the double purpose of protecting the contiguous plains from inundation, and of preserving the superfluous waters for irrigation. The canal of Pallacopuss, which was dug by the Babylonian kings, is one of these; and the Sea of Nejif was also a gigantic work. In general, however, the country languishes under the wretched policy of the Turks; and these great works of art for protecting it against the overflowing streams, and at the same time for preserving the water for fertilising the soil, have fallen into neglect and disrepair. In the time of Alexander, the Tigris and Euphrates entered the sea by separate mouths. (Mannert, Geographie von Indien, vol. ii. p. 143; D'Anville, Euphrates; Niebuhr, Voyage, vol. ii. p. 228, 253, 261. See also Malte Brun, and an able memoir on the Euphrates in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. iii. Lond. 1834.)