In antiquity, so long as the canalisation of the country was properly carried out, the fertility of the alluvial plain enabled great and prosperous nations to have their home in the Euphrates valley.
"Hasisadra's Adventure Essay #7 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition""
Thomas Henry Huxley
Without an elaborate system of canalisation, providing an escape for such sudden excesses of the supply of water, the annual floods of the Euphrates, and especially of the Tigris, must always be attended with risk, and often prove harmful.
"Hasisadra's Adventure Essay #7 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition""
Thomas Henry Huxley
The first has been the canalisation, the fencing in of the tideways; the second has been the banking out of the general sea.
"Hills and the Sea"
H. Belloc