ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS. Tl 



ments de Ninive' leave no doubt whatever as to the 

 material of which the bucket was made. It was a metal 

 bucket, such as might have been used for drawing and 

 carrying water, and such as is often used in India, 

 under the name of ' dol.' Several of these Assyrian 

 buckets appear as if they had a surface of basket-work ; 

 but this is evidently the metal surface of the bucket 

 ejfibossed in the fashion of basket-work ; for, as is shown 

 in the figure, there could be no sense in fixing, to a 

 bit of basket-work, metal heads and wings of a bird 

 to receive the handle. I don't think there can be any 

 question about its having been meant for a metal bucket, 

 more especially as others are embossed with figures and 

 other ornaments. 



We have now to find out whether Dr. Tylor's theory, 

 which appears plausible as regards the cone, is tenable 

 when taken in connection with its invariable accom- 

 paniment — the metal bucket. This vessel must mean 

 something in connection with what the genius is supposed 

 to be doing. 



In Rawlinson's translation of Herodotus III, 2nd edit, 

 vol. i, p. 317, there is the following passage: "The 

 natives (of Babylonia) tie the fruit of the male palms, 

 as they are called by the Greeks, to the branches of 

 the date-bearing palm, to let the gall-fly enter the 

 dates and ripen them, and to prevent the fruit from 

 falling off." 



