UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 103 



Among the fragments, and elevated on a sort 

 of ridge, he found the famous solitary tree which 

 has escaped the general destruction. It bears 

 the marks of almost as great antiquity in its ap- 

 pearance as tradition gives it. The Arabs call 

 it athelg, but its species was quite unknown to 

 him ; the trunk must have been enormous, and 

 now, though hollow and shattered, it supports 

 very large spreading branches, which are adorned 

 with tress-like tendrils resembling heron fea- 

 thers. These long and delicate tendrils bend 

 towards the ground, like a weeping willow, and 

 while gently waving in the wind, they make a 

 low melancholy sound. 



The Euphrates wanders in solitude through 

 this desolate region, its banks are covered with 

 reeds, and now unrestrained by its former stately 

 quays, it annually overflows the country ; pro- 

 ducing high rank grass, and leaving stagnant 

 pools and swamps among the hollows of the ad- 

 jacent plain. Ct I will make thee a possession 

 for the bittern, and pools of water." 



Upon the whole, though so little remains to 

 point out the several parts of this once stupen- 

 dous city, there is enough to convince the atten- 

 tive examiner, that he is on the very spot 

 where the hand of God wrote on the wall the 

 awful and well known denunciation against Ba- 

 bylon ! 



u How the scene is now changed ! At that 



