There is evidence that under the Assyrians rafts floated on inflated
skins were employed for the transport of heavy goods, and these have
survived in the keleks of the present day. They are specially adapted
for the transportation of heavy materials, for they are carried down by
the current, and are kept in the course by means of huge sweeps or oars.
Being formed only of logs of wood and skins, they are not costly, for
wood is plentiful in the upper reaches of the rivers. At the end of
their journey, after the goods are landed, they are broken up. The wood
is sold at a profit, and the skins, after being deflated, are packed on
to donkeys to return by caravan.
[Illustration: 298.jpg THE MODERN BRIDGE OF BOATS ACROSS THE TIGRIS
OPPOSITE MOSUL.]
It is not improbable that such rafts were employed on the Tigris and the
Euphrates from the earliest periods of Chaldaean history, though boats
would have been used on the canals and more sluggish waterways.
In the preceding pages we have given a sketch of the more striking
aspects of early Babylonian life, on which light has been thrown by
recently discovered documents belonging to the period of the First
Dynasty of Babylon. We have seen that, in the code of laws drawn up
by Hammurabi, regulations were framed for settling disputes and fixing
responsibilities under almost every condition and circumstance which
might arise among the inhabitants of the country at that time; and the
question naturally arises as to how far the code of laws was in actual
operation.
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