608 
bitumen ‘bad ‘boen ‘used; the backs «of 
cach course’ s0 ‘disposed, were then co- 
vered with a layer .of bitumen, on which 
reeds “were ‘spread, or Jaid’ in-regnlar 
matting ; and on thisicareful preparation, 
the face ‘of the succeeding course of 
bricks ‘was’ bedded; which preserving 
management, i seme measure, accounts 
for the’astonishingly fresh state in which 
the ifscriptious on their surfaces are ge- 
nerally presented. Ihave an exception 
or two in my possession; having picked 
up several pieces of the brick, where the 
charactets have been totally filled up 
by the bitumen; an accident likely to 
happen, from the alnost fluid state of 
the petroleum when first applied, Spe- 
cimens of the actual reed or matting 
bave never yet been found here, even in 
breaking up any of its walls; though im- 
pressions of the (now mouldered) inter- 
sccting weavings of the straw remain 
perfectly legible on the pitchy covering 
of the bricks. How faithfully do these 
vestiges agree with the method of builds 
ing in Babylon, as described by Werodo- 
tus! | fe observes, that the bricks 
intended for the walls were formed of the 
clay dug from the great diteh that 
backed them: they were baked in large 
furnaces; and, in order to join them to- 
gether in building, warm bitamen was 
used; and between each course of thirty 
bricks, beds of reeds were laid inter- 
woven together. "The bitumen (he con- 
tinucs to tell us), is drawn from certain 
pits in the neighbourhood of Is, a town 
on the Euphrates. These pits exist to 
this day ; the town in their vicinity now 
bearing the name of Hit or Heet ; it lies 
about four days’ journey north-west of 
Bagdad, and is on the western bank of 
the river. 
I have already stated its present di- 
mensions ; and that its whole exterior is 
one mass of rugged surface, and deeply 
caverned hollows. The piles of wall, to 
which the natives haye more peculiarly 
viven the name of the Kasr, or Palace, 
still stand in striking remnants, from six- 
icen to cighteen feet above the general 
line of the broken summit, Parts. of 
ihem are so connected as to give indica- 
tions of their haying originally formed 
several square picrs, or supports, rather 
than distinct ranges of chamber or tower 
walls. Their. thickness,_in general, 
measures from eight 1o_nine_feet ; and 
their. materials. are. so. strongly _ce- 
mented, that, ia spite of the; bricks being 
the hardest of any, E had hitherto met 
with, [ found, they, would not bear de- 
taching fiom the mortar ; in short, it was 
Sir Ry Ker Povter’s Travets in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, &c. 
nearly impossible to separate them : and 
to' this circumstance the present masses 
owe their preservation. The bricks of 
which they are composed are‘ofa very 
pale yellow ; having so fresh an appear- 
ance as’to strike’me at first, as they did 
Mr. Rich, with an idea of their hav 
heen‘ a’ more modern ‘erection than’ the 
mound; ‘bit, on a minute examination, 
no doubt remained on my mitid of ‘their 
equal ‘antiquity. © After’ ‘cotisiderable 
labour, I succeeded iv having several 
pieces of the brick chipped off from an 
immense fragment wich had fallen’ from 
an adjacent mass; and, on eledring my 
specimens from the lower ‘eoutse,’ I 
plainly traced sufficient of the cuneiform 
characters, to discover them to be parts 
of inscriptions in seven lines, Each 
brick was placed with its written face 
downwards, on a layer of cement’ so 
sparing, that it did’ not exceed the twen- 
tieth part of an inch in thickness ; appear- 
ing, where it united the two bricks, like 
a fine white line, subdivided by another 
of a reddish brown, with a granulated © 
sparkling effect. ‘The hardness Of this’ 
mass was inconccivable; anid it seemed 
notless wonderful that'so slender a Miso 
of cement should hold so ‘tenaciously its 
respective courses of such “massive 
bricks. I was also much struck with 
-the singular appearance of several of 
these buttress-like walls, standing, or 
rather ivelining from their centre, as if 
shaken by some convulsion of nature : 
part are half torn asunder; and others 
seem actually pushed beyond the smooth 
and regular line of their original front. 
On examining a projecting ledge thus 
formed, and Jooking up under its pro- 
truding bricks, I plainly discerned the 
cunciform inscriptions on their down- 
ward faces, thus exposed ; a sufficient 
proof of the very ancient antiquity of the 
structure, notwithstanding the fresh, un- 
tarnished aspect of the materials. 
Standing, as 1 believed myself to be, 
over, part of the foundations of one of 
these yenerable specimens of building, 
of ages so near the first fathers of man- 
kind, it was with, inexpressible regret 
that I found the avenues of search closed 
in. many places. which bad admitted 
Mr. Rich to the most interesting par- 
ticulars.of his examination. The lower 
distxibation of the serdaubs, dark cham- 
bers, and numerous intricate passages, 
have Jeng been broken, up,.or.impene- 
trably. buried; and. the sabterraneous 
way,,near the ravine, which our British 
resident, bas, described. with so. much 
valuable precision, is mow. completely 
Jost. 
