File:Ridpath's Universal history - an account of the origin, primitive condition and ethnic development of the great races of mankind, and of the principal events in the evolution and progress of the (14597677339).jpg

Identifier: ridpathsuniversa05ridp (find matches)
Title: Ridpath's Universal history : an account of the origin, primitive condition and ethnic development of the great races of mankind, and of the principal events in the evolution and progress of the civilized life among men and nations, from recent and authentic sources with a preliminary inquiry on the time, place and manner of the beginning
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Ridpath, John Clark, 1840-1900
Subjects: World history
Publisher: Cincinnati : Jones
Contributing Library: University of Pittsburgh Library System
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation

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ide. Such structures are still em-ployed by the Kurds in the navigationof the Tigris, in a manner no doubt THE ARAAL^ANS.—OLD ASSHURITES. 211 identical with that of their ancestralriver captains of three thousand yearsago. To the raft succeeded boats of variouspatterns and measures of utility. Asearly as the last quarter of the twelfthcentury B. C, we find among the in-scriptions of Tiglath-Pileser I cuts anddescriptions of the coracles which wereused in the navigation of the river, andwhich must needs remind the reader ofthe Welsh boats of wicker work and only, and contain, perhaps, a single warchariot for transportation. Those of alater period are laden propulsion ofwith building materials, tTl\:Z^:general merchandise, mill- <^ise.tary supplies, squads of Assyrian sol-diers, and domestic animals. Atlength the round boat is succeeded bythe long boat. The galley takes theplace of the coracle. Many oarsmenare substituted for the few. A differ-ence is discoverable between war boats
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PRIMITIVE BLADDER BOAT ON THE TIGRIS. skins used at the present day. Thesewere of sufficient size to carry a consid-erable amount of merchandise. Theywere propelled by oars, and were broad,deep, and tub-like in their general ap-pearance. These coracles also havetheir representatives among the riverKurds of the present day. The modernboat is called a kiifa, is circular in form,and is much used on both the Tigris andthe Euphrates. The sculptures and inscriptions ofNineveh show also the uses to whichthe primitive boats were put. Some-times they are rowed bv two oarsmen and boats of commerce. The inscrip-tions indicate the rapid expansion ofAssyrian power, and correspond to thevarious stages through which the greatpeople of Asshur passed during the sev-eral centuries of their growth and as-cendency. On the whole, however, it may be saidthat the spirit of war among the North-ern Semites prevailed over the spirit ofproduction and commerce. ^ The spirit of The fatal and barbarous conquest pr

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