wild-cats, and deer, are somewhat uncommon.

Chaldaea possesses a great variety of birds. Falcons, vultures, kites,
owls, hawks and crows of various kinds, francolins or black partridges,
pelicans, wild-geese, ducks, teal, cranes, herons, kingfishers, and
pigeons, are among the most common. The sand-grouse (Pterocles
arenarius) is occasionally found, as also are the eagle and the
bee-eater. Fish are abundant in the rivers and marshes, principally
barbel and carp, which latter grow to a great size in the Euphrates.
Barbel form an important element in the food of the Arabs inhabiting the
Affej marshes, who take them commonly by means of a fish-spear. In the
Shat-el-Arab, which is wholly within the influence of the tides, there
is a species of goby, which is amphibious. This fish lies in myriads on
the mud-banks left uncovered by the ebb of the tide, and moves with
great agility on the approach of birds. Nature seems to have made the
goby in one of her most freakish moods. It is equally at home in the
earth, the air, and the water; and at different times in the day may be
observed swimming in the stream, basking upon the surface of the tidal
banks, and burrowing deep in the mud.

The domestic animals are camels, horses, buffaloes, cows and oxen, goats,
sheep, and dogs. The most valuable of the last mentioned are grayhounds,
which are employed to course the gazelle and the hare. The camels,
horses, and buffaloes are of superior quality; but the cows and oxen seem
to be a very inferior breed. The goats and the sheep are small, and
yield a scanty supply of a somewhat coarse wool. Still their flocks and
herds constitute the chief wealth of the people, who have nearly forsaken
the agriculture which anciently gave Chaldaea its pre-eminence, and have
relapsed very generally into a nomadic or semi-nomadic condition. The
insecurity of property consequent upon bad government has in a great
measure caused this change, which render; the bounty of Nature useless,
and allows immense capabilities to run to waste. The present condition
of Babylonia gives a most imperfect idea of its former state, which must
be estimated not from modern statistics, but from the accounts of ancient
writers and the evidences which he country itself presents. From them we
conclude that this region was among the most productive upon the face of
the earth, spontaneously producing some of the best gifts of God to man,
and capable, under careful man