Notices reJpeSllng Nt'iv Books. 363 



like thofe of dried wood. The more compa6l earthy and 

 floney parts burned lefs cicar, gave out a fiilphureous fmell, 

 and left behind a flaty caulk, that foon contradled on the fur- 

 face a deep brown ochraceous cruft. The borer being put 

 down in feveral places in hopes of meeting with the maia 

 bed of coal, the general rcfult was as follows: 



In the bed of the rivulet : Fetr. 



Coal - - ... a 



Blue foapy rock - . - _ ^ 



White foapv rock - - - - 32 



Gray fand-ilone with clay - - - ai 



Sand-ftone of chocolate brown - - 14 



Blueifli foapy clay - - - 31 



Striated fand, red and white, containing clay - ^^ 



Here the operation was difcontinued. 



128 



XLV. Notices rffpeiling Nczu Books. 



BABYLONIAN INSCRIPTIONS. 



J. HOUGH a great many travellers fpeak of the ruins of 

 the antient Babylon, and dcfcribe the bricks of which thefe 

 ruins are compofed, very few of them have noticed the (in- 

 ^lar infcriptions or charafters imprefled on them. Pietro 

 aella Valle, a moft circunillantial and accurate traveller, 

 even carried fome Babylonian bricks to Italy, one of which 

 he prefented to Kircher, then rcfiding at Rome, to be pre- 

 fervcd in his mufaeum, Hill extant iii that city; but neither he 

 hinifelf, nor that learned jefuit, who was fo much ens;agcd in 

 refearches refpefting Egyptian, Chincfc, and other kinds of 

 oriental literature, ever made mention of Babylonian infcrip- 

 tions. 



The firfl; by whom they were noticed feems to have been 

 father Emanuel, a Carmelite friar, who, having rcfided fome 

 time at Bagdad, in his nianulcript account, (peaks of cha- 

 raftcrs imprcded on the antient bricks ftill remainino: amonrr 

 the ruuirf of Babylon, which, d'Anville fays, would fupply 

 the literati, who are defirous of penetrating into the remotert 

 antif|uity, with entirely new matter for meditation and iludy. 



After him Niebuhr, in his Travels to Arabia, mentions 

 infcriptions on the Babylonian bricks ftill extant, but with- 

 out telling whether they contained characters unknown, or 

 fimilar to any already difcoveredj only, when fpeaking o» 



\\ 4 ihc 



