'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎268] (335/905)

268
SOURCES OF FOUR RIVERS. [CHAP. XII.
limits are the elevated ranges of Ararat and Nimrud, which
form parts of the vast chain of the Taurus.
Sources of four Without attaching particular importance to local impres-
nversnear . . ti i-i
Ararat. sions, it must be admitted that those traditions which place
Eden in that part of Asia, acquire a certain degree of proba
bility from the fact, that we actually find in the great plateau
round Ararat,—that is, within a circle whose radius is about
ninety miles,—the sources of four noble rivers, which flow
from thence to as many different seas, and of which two, at
least, are known, from the description given in the Bible, to
have been connected with the first abode of man.
Various Scarcely any subject has given rise to such diversity of
ceming S Eden. 0 pi n i on as the site of Paradise. Armenia, Mesopotamia,
Syria, Arabia, Central Asia, and, indeed, almost every other
division of the earth's surface, has, in turn, laid claim to the
distinction of inclosing within its boundaries this interesting
spot. The fact that the Euphrates and Tigris are two of the
rivers of Eden appears, however, to limit the inquiry con
cerning the position of the Garden to the countries in the
vicinity of both ; but hitherto the evidences in favour of any
particular place within this tract have been so little conclu
sive, that two districts very distant from each other, and
totally different in soil, climate, and geographical features,
have, by different persons, been assigned as the most probable
situations. One of these is in the parched plains towards the
lower part of the courses of the rivers, and the other is the
mountainous country about their sources.
Reason for
The circumstances now about to be presented to the reader's
piadng it near notice willj it is hoped, make it apparent that the latter district
possesses the best-founded claim to the privilege of having
received on its bosom the parents of the human race.
We are told that a river (or rivers, for the original word
has both a singular and a plural signification) 1 went out of
1 Some commentators have considered this word as implying a mass of
waters; and one explanation is, " that a stream or supply of water went from
the country of Eden into the garden, where it filled the pools and reservoirs,
and thence^went out into other countries in four different directions, forming
four rivers. MS. by Mr. Morrison, author of the Religious History of Man.
Smith, Elder, and Co., London, 1838. i^e