Sir R. Ker Porter’ Travels in Geotgia, Persia, Armenia, &c. 
lost. Some: persons have considered it 
to. have been.a drain; but.its dimensions 
appear.too large for sucha purpose, and. 
its .situation-not low, enough. in the foun 
dation to haye been, intended. to, carry 
off}, any. superflux. of ,waters from the 
entire /building:; -hence, 1, regard it .as 
no other than one of the. many. passages, 
which, in, every. direction, »must' have 
traversed»so comprehensive an edifice. 
‘Fhe, Kasr mound is divided from the 
Amran. Hill, sby, a space, in extent 
about, 800, yards; which space is. sub- 
divided, -by:a» long. low..mound_ of 
ridges, running cast and west; at the 
atter extremity it unites.with a trans- 
verse. sidge of, greater. altitude, and 
nearly 100. yards in breadth, which ex- 
tends from the south-west angle of the 
Kasr Hill to almost the extreme north- 
west, point of the Amran Hill. . This 
line of mound runs. parallel with the 
piece. of embankment. deserted by the 
river. It.is not. improbable that. the 
broad summit. may_ have. originally 
formed a grand terraced avenue between 
the,.two divisions of the. palace which 
occupied. these opposite mountains of 
structure. _And_ here it may not be ir- 
releyant to remind my reader, that, if 
we are c suppose there was any affinity 
in,the plans of ancient Eastern palaces, 
¢ must not. expect to find the ruins of 
the palace of Babylon confined to one 
mound ; but that its various compart- 
ments, private and ceremonial, gardens, 
&c, (like the remains at Persepolis, on 
their different stages,) would be spread 
over several of these venerable hills. 
The attendant buildings, civil and mi- 
litary, would stand in every direction, 
within the embatiled walls. 
The surface of the flat ground which 
lies between the two leading hills, is 
covered with long rank grass, the soil 
being very soft and damp. The great 
mass of the Amran spreads. over a. 
vaster expanse every way, than that of 
the Kasr; and, with the exception of 
the height gained by the surmounting: 
standing wall of the latter, appears quite’ 
as high. The form of the Aman is’ 
triangular; the south-west face, ex-° 
tending 10 ‘a line of 1400 yards, the 
eastern to 1100, the northern to 8503 
the whole of which ‘stupendous heap is’ 
broken like that of the Kasr, into deep 
caverned ravines, and long winding 
furrows. I conclude it to be exhausted 
of all its extractable bricks, from finding” 
it totally abandoned by the’ people who 
dig in ‘search of them: the whole surface 
now appearing to the éye nothing but a 
Montuty Mag, No. 870. 
609 
vast irregular hill,of earth, mixed, with 
fragments of brick, pottery, vitrifications, 
mortar, bitumen; ‘&c.,; ,while-the| foot, at 
every step, sinks into |the loose,dust.and 
rubbish. ,.On, the most, elevated jspot 
towards its south-western! brow,, stands 
the; tomb.of Amran, now inhabited, bya 
living, as, well.as.a dead saint;.a-Sheah 
Saied..(or holy, disciple, of the sect of 
Ali) having taken up;his quarters, there. 
The good man, did not seem,in the least 
alarmed by. the evil demons, which. he, 
in common with the \Arahs about, be- 
lieved to haunt all the ruins; the.sacred 
bones of the kinsman of Ali were suffi- 
cient’ protection. . Before the western 
face of the hill, extends a consider- 
able line of flat_ ground, bounded on 
its opposite side by the river’s, high 
embankment. 
My object being to ascertain whether 
there were, or were not, any signs, how- 
ever small, of former building on the 
western bank; and particularly in any 
line parallel to those I had been exa- 
mining on the eastern shore, we did not, , 
in passing through the larger suburb, of 
Hillah, quit it by the Thamasia, or 
western gate, which pointed almost di- 
rect to Birs Nimrood; but left the town 
by the gate nearest to the river, and which 
gave our march a northerly direction. 
About fifty yards to the north-west of 
the village of Anana, rises a rather con- 
siderable ridge of mounded earth, four- 
teen feet high, running due, north for 
three hundred yards, then forming a 
right angle due east, fakes that direction 
till it meets the river. All around was 
very low and marshy; and the mounds . 
in question were nearly all I could, see 
for a good way up, along this bank of. 
the stream. ’ Mictinyee! 9 
Having traversed -the plain north- 
west for some time, in search of farther 
mounds in that direction, T turned, dis-* 
appointed, and bent my way south-west, 
keeping Birs Nimrood in my eye. After 
riding onward about'a mile, I found the 
little vegetation which cheered the waste 
gradually ‘disappear, and the ground 
become pérfectly sterile.” All over this 
surface-evident marks are visible of its 
having been formerly covered with build 
ings; these indications increased at every 
step, till, after such growing proofs for 
more than a mile, we came to a nume- 
rous, and very conspicuous assemblage 
of mounds; the most considerable of 
which, was ‘abont thirty-five feet in 
height; atid fromits elevated summit I 
observed that the face of the country, 
both to the north and'the south, for up- 
4H wards 
