Babylon, or Bagdat, is not a very large town, but is very populous, and much frequented by strangers, being the centre of intercourse between Persia, Turkey, and Arabia, caravans going frequently from it to these and other countries.  It is well supplied with provisions, which are brought from Armenia down the river Tigris, upon rafts made of goat skin bags blown full of wind, over which boards are laid, on which the goods are loaded.  When these are discharged, the skin bags are opened and emptied of air, and are then carried back to Armenia on camels to serve again.  Bagdat belonged formerly to Persia, but is now subject to the Turks.  Over against Bagdat, on the other side of the Tigris, is a very fair village, to which there is a passage across from Bagdat by a long bridge of boats, connected by a vast iron chain made fast at each side of the river.  When any boats have to pass up or down the river, a passage is made for them by removing some of the boats of this bridge.

The Tower of Babel is on this side of the Tigris towards Arabia, about seven or eight miles from Bagdat, being now ruined on all sides, and with the ruins thereof hath made a little mountain, so that no shape or form of a tower remains.  It was built of bricks dried in the sun, having canes and leaves of the palm-tree laid between the courses of bricks.  It stands in a great plain between the Tigris and Euphrates, and no entrance can be any where seen for going into it.

Near the river Euphrates, two days journey from Bagdat, in a field near a place called Ait, there is a hole in the ground which continually throws out boiling pitch accompanied by a filthy smoke, the pitch flowing into a great field which is always full of it.  The Moors call this opening the mouth of hell; and on account of the great abundance of the pitch, the people of the country daub all their boats two or three inches thick with it on the outside, so that no water can enter them.  These boats are called danec.  When there is plenty of water in the Tigris, the boats may go down from Bagdat to Basora in eight or nine days; but when the water is low it requires a longer time.

In times past, Basora belonged to the Arabs, but is now subject to the Turks.  Yet there are some Arabs that the Turks cannot subdue, as they occupy certain islands in the great river Euphrates, which the Turks have never been able to conquer.  These Arabs are all thieves, and have no settled dwelling, but remove from place to place with their camels, horses, goats, wives, children, and household goods.  They wear large blue gowns; their wives having their ears and noses full of copper and silver rings, and wear copper rings on their legs.  Basora is near the head of the gulf of Persia, and drives a great trade in spiceries and drugs, which come from Ormus.  The country round produces abundance of white rice and dates, with which they supply Bagdat and all the country, sending likewise to Ormus and India.