he situation of the ruins and the materials of which they are composed. Speaking of Della Valle's ruin, he says it could never have been supposed to be the work of human hands, had it not been proved to be so by the layers of bricks, in regular order, burned in the fire, cemented with bitumen, and intermixed with csiers. He observed, impressed on most of them, the unknown characters already mentioned. He confirms all that Diodorus reports concerning the sculptured animals on the walls, and the paintings on the bricks in the following remarkable passage: "This place and the Mount of Babel adjoining, are commonly called by the Arabs Makloube, that is, turned topsy turvy," (the Mujelibè of Mr. Rich,) "I was informed "by the master-mason employed to dig for bricks, that the places from which he procured them were large thick walls, "and sometimes spacious chambers. He has frequently found " in them earthen vessels, engraved marbles, and about eight "years ago, a statue as large as life, which he threw back "amongst the rubbish. On one wall of a chamber he found "the figures of a cow, and of the sun and moon" (objects sacred in the astronomical worship of both Egypt and Babylon,) formed of tarnished bricks. Sometimes idols of clay are "found, representing human figures. I found one brick on " which was a Lion (the zodiacal lion) and on others a half"moon in relief." The same master-mason took him to a place, where the wall, built of the same furnace-baked bricks, appeared to have been sixty feet thick; what an inexhaustible source of materials for the Arabian architect! In another place he found a subterranean canal, which instead of being arched over, was covered with massy pieces of sand-stone, six or seven feet long, by three wide. He concludes thus: "These ruins "extend several leagues to the north of Hellah, and incontestably mark the situation of Ancient Babylon."

2

We come at length, after this extensive range through preceding history and prior description ancient and modern, to the more recent survey of Babylon by the author before us.

The residence of Mr. Rich at the court of Bagdad, and the powerful protection of the Pasha, could not but afford him every facility for that comprehensive investigation, of which he desires us to consider the present essay, as only the precursor. He commences the essay by declaring that he means to refrain from all idle conjecture, and to adhere to facts alone; to relate only what he saw, and in the order in which he saw it. He

describes the whole country between Bagdad and Hellah, a distance of 48 miles, as a perfectly flat, and for the most part, uncultivated waste; though it is evident from the number of canals by which it is traversed, and the immense ruins that cover its surface, that it must formerly have been both well peopled and well cultivated. For the accommodation of the traveller, at convenient distances throughout the whole track, there have been erected khans, or caravanseraes, and to each is attached a small village. About two miles above Hellah, the more prominent ruins commence, among which, at intervals, are discovered in considerable quantities, burnt and unburnt bricks and bitumen; two vast mounds in particular attract attention from their size, and these are situated on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. There are scarcely any remains of ruins visible, immediately opposite on the western bank, but there are some of a stupendous magnitude on that side, about six miles to the south-west of Hellah, which will be noticed hereafter.

The first grand mass of ruins, Mr. Rich thus describes :

"It is one thousand one hundred yards in length, and eight hundred in greatest breadth, its figure nearly resembling that of a quadrant: its height is irregular; but the most elevated part may be about fifty or sixty feet above the level of the plain, and it has been dug into for the purpose of procuring bricks. Just below the highest part of it is a small dome in an oblong inclosure, which, it is pretended, contains the body of a son of Ali, named Amran, together with those of seven of his companions, all slain in the battle of Hellah. Unfortunately for the credit of the tradition, however, it is proved on better authority to be a fraud not uncommon in these parts, Ali having had no son of this description. From the most remarkable object on it I shall distinguish this mound by the name of Amran.

"On the north is a valley of five hundred and fifty yards in length, the area of which is covered with tussocks of rank grass, and crossed by a line of ruins of very little elevation. To this succeeds the second grand heap of ruins, the shape of which is nearly a square, of seven hundred yards length and breadth, and its S. W. angle is connected with the N.W. angle of the mounds of Amran, by a ridge of considerable height, and nearly one hundred yards in breadth. This is the place where Beauchamp made his observations, and it is certainly the most interesting part of the ruins of Babylon: every vestige discoverable in it declares it to have been composed of buildings far superior to all the rest which have left traces in t the eastern quarter: the bricks are of the finest description; and notwithstanding this is the grand storehouse of then, and that the greatest supplies have been and are now constantly drawn from it, they appear still to be abundant. But the operation of extracting the bricks has caused great confusion, and contributed much to increase the difficulty of decyphering the original design of this mound, as in search of them the workmen pierce into it in every direction, hollowing out deep ravines and pits, and throwing up the rubbish in heaps on the surface. In some places they have bored into the solid mass, forming winding caverns and subterranean passages, which, from their being left without

adequate support, frequently bury the workmen in the rubbish. In all these excavations walls of burnt brick laid in lime mortar of a very good quality are seen; and in addition to the substances generally strewed on the surfaces of all these mounds we here find fragments of alabaster vessels, fine earthen ware, marble, and great quantities of varnished tiles, the glazing and colouring of which are surprisingly fresh. In a hollow near the southern part I found a sepulchral urn of earthen ware, which had been broken in digging, aud near it lay some human bones which pulverized with the touch.

To be more particular in my description of this mound, not more than two hundred yards from its northern extremity is a ravine hollowed out by those who dig for bricks, in length near a hundred yards, and thirty feet wide by forty or fifty deep. On one side of it a few yards of wall remain standing, the face of which is very clean and perfect, and it appears to have been the front of some building. The opposite side is so confused a mass of rubbish, that it should seem the ravine had been worked through a solid building. Under the foundations at the southern end an opening is made, which discovers a subterranean passage floored and walled with large bricks laid in bitumen, and covered over with pieces of sand stone, a yard thick and several yards long, on which the whole being so great as to have given a considerable degree of obliquity to the side walls of the passage. It is half full of brackish water (probably rain water impregnated with nitre, in filtering through the ruins which are all very productive of it,) and the workmen say that some way on it is high enough for a horseman to pass upright: as much as I saw of it, it was near seven feet in height, and its course to the south. This is described by Beauchamp, (vide Rennel, p. 869.) who most unaccountably imagines it must have been part of the city wall. The superstructure over the passage is cemented with bitumen, other parts of the ravine with mortar, and the bricks have all writing on them. The northern end of the ravine appears to have been crossed by an extremely thick wall of yellowish brick cemented with a brilliant white mortar, which has been broken through in hollowing it out; and a little to the north of it I discovered what Beauchamp saw imperfectly, and understood from the natives to be an idol (Rennel, ibid.). I was told the same thing, and that it was discovered by an old Arab in digging, but that not knowing what to do with it, he covered it up again. On sending for the old man, who pointed out the spot, I set a number of men to work who, after a day's hand labor, laid open enough of the Statue to show that it was a lion of colossal dimensions, standing on a pedestal, of a coarse kind of gray granite and of rude workmanship; in the mouth was a circular aperture into which a man might introduce his fist."--pp. 21-B.

The next considerable mass to that of Amran is the Kasr, or Palace, as it is called by the natives, and it is thus described

"It is a very remarkable ruin, which being uncovered and in part detached from the rubbish, is visible from a considerable distance, but so

"It is probable that many fragments of antiquity, especially of the larger kind, are lost in this manner. The inhabitants call all stones with inscriptions or figures on them Idals på."

surprisingly fresh in its appearance, that it was only after a minute inspection I was satisfied of its being in reality a Babylonian remain. It consists of several walls and piers (which face the cardinal points) eight feet in thickness, in some places ornamented with niches, and in others strengthened by pilasters and buttresses, built of fine burnt brick, (still perfectly clean and sharp,) laid in lime cement of such tenacity, that those whose business it is have given up working, on account of the extreme difficulty of extracting them whole. The tops of these walls are broken, and may have been much higher. On the outside they have in some places been cleared nearly to the foundations, but the internal spaces formed by them are yet filled with rubbish in some parts almost to their summit. One part of the wall has been split into three parts and overthrown as if by an earthquake; some detached walls of the same kind, standing at different distances, show what remains to have been only a small part of the original fabric; indeed it appears that the passage in the ravine, together with the wall which crosses its upper' end, were connected with it. There are some hollows underneath, in which several persons have lost their lives; so that no one will now ventore into them, aud their entrances have now become choked up with rubbish. Near this ruin is a heap of rubbish, the sides of which ure cu riously streaked by the alternation of its materials, the chief part of which, it is probable, was unburnt brick, of which I found a small quantity in the neighbourhood, but no reeds were discoverable in the interstices. There are two paths near this ruin, made by the workmen who carry down their bricks to the river side, whence they are transported by boats to Hellah; and a little to the N. N. E. of it is the famous tree which the natives call Athelè, and maintain to have been flourishing in ancient Babylon, from the destruction of which they say God purposely preserved it, that it might afford Ali a convenient place to tie up his horse after the battle of Hellah! It stands on a kind of ridge, and nothing more than one side of its trunk remains (by which it appears to have been of considerable girth); yet the branches at the top are still perfectly verdant, and gently waving in the wind produce a melancholy rustling sound. It is an evergreen, something resembling the lignum vite, and of a kind, I believe, not common in this part of the country, though I am told there is a tree of the same description at Bassora."-pp, 25-27.

The third and last ruin described in this eastern division, is that of Della Valle, so often alluded to above; and we think it too curious to be omitted, although Mr. Rich seems rather disinclined to adopt the opinion of its actually being the remains of the Tower of Belus,

A mile to the north of the Kasr, or full five miles distant from Hellah, and nine hundred and fifty yards from the river bank, is the last ruin of this series, which has been described by Pietro della Valle, who determines it to have been the Tower of Belus, an opinion adopted by Rennel. The natives call it Mukallibe (l) or, according to the vulgar Arab pronunciation of these parts, Mujelibè, meaning overturned; they sometimes also apply this term to the mounds of the Kasr. It is of an oblong shape, irregular in its height and the measurement of its sides, which face the cardinal points; the northern side being two hundred yards in length, the southern two hundred and nineteen, the eastern one hundred and eighty-two, and the western one hundred and thirty-six ;

the elevation of the S. E. or highest angle, one hundred and forty-one fect. The western face, which is the least elevated, is the most interesting on account of the appearance of building it presents. Near the summit of it appears a low wall, with interruptions, built of unburnt bricks mixed up with chopped straw or reeds, and cemented with claymortar of great thickness, having between every layer a layer of reeds: and on the north side are also some vestiges of a similar construction. The S. W. angle is crowned by something like a turret or lanthern: the other angles are in a less perfect state, but may originally have been ornamented in a similar manner. The western face is lowest and easiest of ascent, the northern the most difficult. All are worn into furrows by the weather; and in some places, where several channels of rain have united together, these furrows are of great depth, and penetrate a considerable way into the mound. The summit is covered with heaps of rubbish, in digging into some of which, layers of broken burnt brick cemented with mortar are discovered, and whole bricks with inscriptions on them are here and there found; the whole is covered with innumerable fragments of pottery, brick, bitumen, pebbles, vitrified brick or scoria, and even shells, bits of glass, and mother of pearl. On asking a Turk how he imagined these latter substances were brought there, he replied, without the least hesitation, " By the deluge." There are many dens of wild beasts in various parts, in one of which I found the bones of sheep and other animals, and perceived a strong smell like that of a lion. I also found quantities of porcupine quills, and in most of the cavities are numbers of bats and owls. It is a curious coincidence, that I here first heard the oriental account of satyrs. I had always imagined the belief of their existence was confined to the mythology of the west: but a Chôadar, who was with me when I examined this ruin, mentioned by accident, that in this desert an animal is found resembling a man from the head to the waist, but having the thighs and legs of a sheep or goat; he said also that the Arabs hunt it with dogs, and eat the lower parts, abstaining from the upper, on account of their resemblance to those of the human species. "But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.-Isaiah xiii. 21.”—pp. 28–30.

Mr. Rich, having now finished his observations on the ruins upon the east bank of the Euphrates, enters upon the examination of what, on the opposite west bank, have been by some travellers supposed (and their suppositions have been adopted by Major Rennel) to be the remains of this great city. Those, however, which Mr. Rich describes are of the most trifling kind, scarcely exceeding one hundred yards in extent, and wholly consisting of two or three insignificant mounds of earth, overgrown with rank grass. The country too being marshy, he doubts the possibility of there having been any buildings of any magnitude ever erected in that spot, and much less, buildings of the astonishing dimensions of those described by the classical writers of antiquity. He then opens to our view, a new and almost unexplored remain of ancient grandeur in the following passage, with which, and a few subsequent