Present State of the Huins of Babylon. 215 



Euphrates, and twelve miles across it in breadth, I was unable 

 to perceive any thing that could admit of my imagining that ei- 

 ther a wall or ditch had existed within this extensive area. This 

 leads, however, only to this conclusion ; — that, if any remains 

 do exist, they must have been of greater circumference than is 

 allowed by modern geographers. I may possibly have been de- 

 ceived, but I spared no pains to prevent it ; 1 never was employ- 

 ed in riding and walking less than eight hours a-day for six suc- 

 cessive days, and upwards of twelve on the seventh. 



" That part of the Euphrates which lies between Karakoolee 

 and Hillah, a distance of upwards of sixteen miles, winds ex- 

 tremely, and particularly where it passes Belus's tower a quarter 

 of a. mile distant. Arguing from the well established fact, that 

 streams, on so soft a bottom and level a surface, in the course of 

 years change their beds, we may, without violating probability, 

 presume that the Euphrates had anciently flowed between Belus's 

 tower and the other large mound lying about three quarters of a 

 mile to the west of it, mentioned in this account as the one with 

 the walls of a large house still standing in it, and the decayed 

 tree ; for, where the remains of the palace could have been si- 

 tuated, if not at this mound, I am at a loss to conjecture. But 

 if we admit that the river may have changed its course from what 

 it held in those ancient times, and that it now flows to the west- 

 ward of both the palace and the tower, instead of passing be- 

 tween them, as it is said to have done, the positions of the pa- 

 lace and tower are then exactly marked by these two mounds ; 

 for, with the exception of Niebuhr's watch-tower, there is not a 

 single mound on the western bank to be found, nor do the natives 

 ever procure any bricks from that side, though the principal part 

 of the town of Hillah is situated on it. If this conjecture be ad- 

 missible, then the ancients and moderns agree in their accounts 

 of this far-famed city with regard to the site of its two principal 

 edifices ; but if it be rejected as improbable, we still remain as 

 much in the dark as ever, when we come to look for the remains 

 of the palace. I shall however lay no stress upon what 1 have 

 here advanced, but only offer it as a conjecture that struck 

 me as probable, from the modern appearances of the river, 

 ruins, and country in their vicinity, at the time I was examining 

 them." 



The author having taken his survey in every thing worthy of 

 notice, concludes with equally important observations on the pro- 

 bable dimensions of the Babylonian tower, and the several kinds 

 of bricks iound ; and lastly, notices the navigation of tl)e country. 



" Delia Valle and Beauchamp make the square of the tower of 



Bclus from six hundred and forty to six liundred and sixty feet. 



4 1 paced 



