ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS. 23 



Sometimes the bananas are strongly curved upwards, 

 sometimes they are almost straight. 



The attachment of each individual fruit varies. In 

 some kinds each banana is separately attached to the 

 stem. In others the stalk becomes partially confluent ; 

 that is, the stem-half of each stalk adheres to its 

 neighbour, so as to form a sort of flat, or fasciated 

 branch, from which the individual bananas spring. 



Near the junction of the fruit-stalks with the stem 

 there is a distinct thick dark line, which is the scar 

 of the fallen bract, and in cases of confluence the line 

 is often on the fasciated part. 



All these details, although tedious, are important, 

 because, without them, it would not be easy to make 

 out that Assyrian monarchs refreshed themselves with 

 bananas. 



In M. Botta's plates a distinct thick line is in all 

 cases shown near the base of each cluster of banana- 

 like objects, and it is curious to note that this thick 

 line is on the concave side of the cluster, as occurs 

 in the fruit itself Considering the interesting, though 

 rough details, which the Assyrian artists often intro- 

 duced into their sculptures, this line may have been 

 meant for that which, on the real cluster, indicates the 

 scar left by the falling off of the large leathery bract. 



As to the number of bananas in each cluster, Mnsa 

 Zebrina (Van Houtte's Flore des Serres) has single 



