122 Letter from Rev. Dr. Smith on the Ruins of Nineveh. 
» Heretofore our remarks have referred to bas-reliefs only. We 
have now to speak of a few complete sculptures, which are more 
astonishing than any thing yet mentioned. These are immense 
monsters, having the form of an ox, with the face, hair and 
beard of a man, and the wings of a bird. Of these there are 
upwards of twenty, each cut from a single block of massive 
sulphate of lime. They stand generally in single pairs, at the 
sides of the main entrances of the building, but at one entrance 
there are two pairs, and at another three. They differ somewhat 
from each other in size, but their average will not vary much 
from four feet broad, fourteen feet long and fifteen feet high. If 
the reader will apply these dimensions to the walls of some build- 
ing, he will be much better able to conceive of the magnitude of 
these gigantic images, than if his imagination is governed by the 
mere mention of numbers and measures. The shape of these 
monsters is not uniform, but some of them exactly resemble the 
figure mentioned above in the scene of boats landing before a 
besieged city. In these the wings of each side extend above the 
back of the animal until they nearly or quite come together, but 
in others they are so carved as not to interfere essentially with 
the natural shape of the ox. Their breasts and sides are gener- 
ally covered with small figured work, probably representing a 
coat of mail, and their horns, instead of protruding, are turned 
around upon the sides of the head so as to form a sort of wreath. 
As these sculptures stand in every case with a part of one side 
contiguous to a wall, the artist left that half of the lower portion 
of the original block as a basis for the support of the rest. This 
rendered it impossible for him to exhibit the forwards legs both 
in front and at the side in a natural position ;—accordingly, he 
made five legs, four visible at the side and two in front, buta 
person looking upon them obliquely sees the whole number at one 
view. Ina recess of a few inches deep, which exists between 
the fore and hind legs, are found ineesiptiont: of the same kind 
as those before where to. 
A few remarks respecting the inscriptions cannot fail to be in- 
teresting. The character is that known as the cuneiform or arrow 
headed, and differs but a little from that found on the bricks of 
Bagdad. They are in lines about an inch broad and are indented 
in the stone about a quarter of an inch. Their length, if written 
in a continuous straight line, would be measured by miles. They 
