378 TKAVEL, ADVENTUKE, AND SPOKT. 



great mound of earth that we were on was the grave 

 of the golden city. I believe from the summit, 

 raised some hundred feet above the plain, the walls 

 of the ancient city may be traced. But a hot wind 

 driving burning sand and the impalpable dust of ages 

 into the pores of our skins, made every effort to open 

 an eye so terribly painful, that we gave up the idea 

 in despair of either tracing walls or, indeed, of look- 

 ing about us much anywhere. I remember seeing, 

 away to the west, lines of willows, and a silver 

 thread winding away into distance ; and, nearer, 

 some unsightly bare mounds, looking as if volcanic 

 fire had been at work underneath the smooth surface 

 of the plain, and had thrown these mounds up in the 

 spirit of pure mischief. That silver thread was our 

 first glimpse of the waters of the Euphrates, and the 

 mounds all that remained of the once beautiful 

 hanging gardens of Babylon ; at least, so the con- 

 jecture of men of research has accounted for them. 

 But so completely have the prophecies been fulfilled 

 so completely has the "name and the remnant 

 been cut off" of all pertaining to the once mighty 

 city, that even the great hill on which we were 

 standing is only by conjecture supposed to be the 

 ruin of some great building or royal palace that 

 stood within the walls possibly the Palace of 

 Semiramis. There was this one fact that stood up 

 before us, clear and indisputable as the unclouded 

 sun above : we, Englishmen, were looking over the 



