a 
Letter from Rev: Dr. Smith on the Ruins of Nineveh. 115 
the names of other towns in the vicinity, and above all thename . 
(the prophet Jonah) given by the natives to the village on one of 
the mounds, has been deemed sufficient warrant for identifying 
this spot with that once occupied by the city of Nineveh. 
The greatest objection which has been felt to assigning to 
these ruins this name, is the size of the area which the walls 
enclose ; as this is much inferior to the area of Nineveh as de- 
scribed in history. Mr. Rich,* to meet this difficulty, suggests that 
the walls now standing represent only a palace and royal grounds, 
and that the populated part of the city was without this enclos- 
ure. As there is however no evidence of any wall enclosing such 
a city as this would suppose, the adoption of the view renders 
one of two conclusions necessary, viz. that the city was un- 
walled ; or that, while the wall of the palace has been preserved, 
that of the city has been destroyed. Both of these conclusions 
are, in themselves, improbable; but independent thereof, there 
are many facts that seem to us to render his theory untenable. 
The fact that another wall enclosing an area, is found within the 
territory that such a city must have occupied, and that marks of 
edifices are rarely if ever found in the space lying between these 
areas, seems to us to decide the point. Moreover, no one can 
stand upon one of these ruined walls, and compare the rolling 
surface without, with the level area within, and the high mounds 
upon that area, especially as these and the space around them is 
strewed with fragments of pottery and other ruins, without feel- 
ing that he is standing upon the ramparts which separated the 
town from its cultivated fields. If, however, we are warranted 
by Jonah iv, 11, in supposing that the Nineveh of Scripture in- 
cluded gardens and pasture grounds for ‘ much cattle,’ then it 
seems not unlikely that there may have been included under one 
name, two and even more distinct groups or suburbs of houses, 
each protected by a wall peculiar to itself.. Unless we adopt some 
such view as this, how can we suppose a city of three days jour- 
ney to contain only 120,000 persons who were unable to discern 
their right hand from their left hand. 'The view just proposed, 
moreover, derives support from the fact that Jonah (ch. iii, 4,) 
entered into the city a day’s journey—i. e. according to this 
supposition, he passed through the gardens which contained only 
* Residence in Koordistan and Nineveh. 
