ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS. 47 



but curiously enough the pinnae are reversed, not because 

 the Assyrian artist did not know the real feature, but 

 probably because his father before him had pictured it so. 



But what is still more curious is that on its stem, 

 in three places, base, middle, and summit, it is decorated 

 with either one or two pairs of ibex horns, such as 

 are shown in fig. 18, tied on by means of two or 

 three turns of a string. 



Moreover, each set of ibex horns has above it what 

 would appear to be a pair of ram's or bull's horns, 

 such as are shown in fig. 19 ; of these horns I shall 

 speak more fully further on. 



There can be no doubt whatever that the date tree 

 in those days was not only useful, but a most im- 

 portant tree. 



Herodotus and others have told of the many uses 

 those people put the date tree to, besides using its 

 fruit for food. Not improbably the Assyrians, although 

 they had grapes, had learnt to make some sort of 

 spirit out of the fermented fruit, for at the present 

 day the cheaper kinds of dates are exported from 

 Persia to Bombay, where they are used for making 

 a kind of liquor. 



To one who has studied the importance of the date 

 tree to Orientals now, and the position it must have 

 held in Chaldean times, it is no wonder that it should 

 be styled the "tree of life" and the "key of life." 



