598 
description ; now buried in shapeless 
heaps, and’ a silerieé profound as’ the 
grave; I could ‘notohut(feel an unde- 
scribable awe, ip thus passing, as it were, 
into the gates of, “fallen Babylon” 
Between this bridge and | Hillah 
(something more than’ cight miles dis+ 
tant), three piles! of great magnitude 
particalarly attract atvention; but there 
are Many minor objects to arrest ivesti- 
gation in the way. A mound of consi- 
derable elevation rose on our left as we 
rude'ulong, not five hundred yards trom 
the second embankment 5) its. sloping 
sides were covered with broken bricks, 
and other fragnients of past buildings, 
while the ground aroutd) its! base pre- 
sented a most nitrous surface.’ Atatew 
hundred yards onward ‘agaiv, another 
mound projected of still greater height, 
and from it branched subordinate eleva- 
tions ia ‘several directions, I here had 
a fine’ View of the great oblong pile, 
ealled by the Arabs Mujelibé, or rather 
Mukallibe, “the overturned;” an attri- 
butive term, which; however, they do 
not confine to this sublime wreck alone ; 
other remains, in this immense field of 
ruin, bearing the saine striking designa- 
tion of the manner of its fall, BLujelibé 
bere from the elevation on which we 
stood, ‘south 10°. west. Having pro- 
ceeded about a couple of miles from the 
two canal ridges near Mahowil, we 
adyanced to another and higher em- 
bankment, of a totally different appear- 
ance from that ofa'water:course. It ran 
almost due ‘east ard west, until lost to 
ile eye’ in the liorizon on both sides... I 
rodé # considerable way along its base, 
to ‘examine whether there might not be 
some trace of a'ditch, and, though I did 
not discover'‘any, nor, indeed, aught that 
Wis atall answerable to our ideas of 
what would have been even a fragment 
of the Vast bulwark-walls of ‘Babylon, 
yet P saw no eatise to doubt its being a 
reamant of some minor iiterior boun- 
dary. 
The whole of our road was ona tolera- 
bly equal tracks excepting where una- 
voidably brokew by small mounds, de- 
tached pieces’ of canal embankments, 
and other indications ofa place iy ruins; 
mingled with! marshy hollows in ‘the 
ground, and large nitrous spots, from ihe 
deposits of accumulated rubbish. Tna- 
deed it was almost impossible’ to note; 
while their number confused our'anti- 
quarian researches, the endless ramifica~ 
lions of minor aqueducts, whose remains 
infersevted the way. At about’ four 
miles in advance fromthe long: single 
Sir Rye Ker Porter's Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, &e. 
embankment, or interior boundary ridge 
1 mentioned before, we crossed avery 
spacious: éanal-; beyond “whicli; ‘to’ the 
eastward, tbe plain appeared a ‘vast un- 
intefrapted flat..G— St tumiove nm 
» Aw hourand aquarter’ more brought 
us tothe’ northeast! shore of the din- 
phrates, ‘hitherto totally exeladed “from 
our ‘view! by’ the ‘intervening Jong'and 
varied) lines ‘of rain, which now! pro- 
claimed to'ts ‘on every side; that’ we 
were, indeed, in tho midst of owhat had 
been Babylon. © From ibe pointoon 
which we stood, to the base of Mujetibé, 
large masses of ancient ‘foundations 
spread’ on our right; more Fesembling 
natural bills in appearance, than mounds 
covering the remains: of former-great 
and splendid edifices. » "Po the eastward 
also, chains of these: undulating leaps 
were visible, but many not higher than 
the generality of the canal embankments 
we had passed. “The whole view was 
particularly solenm. © Phe’ majestio 
stream of the Buphrates wandering in 
solitude, like a pilgrim monareh through 
the silent ruins of bis devastated king 
dom, still appeared a noble river, ever 
under all the disadvantages of itsdesert= 
tracked course. Its banks were hoary 
with reeds, and the gtey osier ‘willows 
were yet there, on which the captives of 
Israel bung up their harps, and, while 
Jerusalem was not, ‘refused to be com- 
forted. But how is the rest of the scene 
changed since then!) ‘At that) time; 
these broken. hills ‘were palaces;'those 
long undulating mounds, ‘streets’; ‘this 
vast solitude, filled with the busy sub- 
jects of the proud daughter of the Kast! 
Now, “ wasted with misery;”: her ‘babi- 
tations are not to be! found; and, for 
herself, “ the worm is spread over her!” 
Our road bent, from the immediate: bank 
of the river, to the south-east; and, after 
crossing the bed of a very wide canal, 
almost close tothe bank we were leay- 
ing, we entered on an open ‘tract, on 
which I saw the extensive encampment 
of the Kiahya Bey. > The town of Hillah 
lay'a couple of miles beyond it; a tong 
stretch of low-bulwarked) wail, but ens 
livened by cupolas and glittering mina- 
rets, and the tops of numerous ‘planta- 
tictis’ of date-trees, with ‘other green 
botighs fromthe gardens, through w hose 
pleasant ‘averiues we soon approached 
the gates of the place. Ow ‘passing 
them, £ found a house prepared for mejin 
tlie’ suburb of the city, onthe east side 
of thé river and not far fromthebridge. 
I could not have had a more desirable 
situation, for comparative coolness ‘aad 
interest 
