ixxvi KEPORT — 1875. 



quired to construct tlic brick temples aud palaces of Chaldtea and Assj'ria must 

 have been enormous. The mound of Koyunjik alone contained 14| million 

 tons, and represents the labour of 10,000 men for twelve years. The palace 

 of Sennacherib, which stood on this mound, was probably the largest ever 

 built by any one monarch, containing as it did more than two mUes of walls, 

 panelled with sculptured alabaster slabs, and twenty-seven portals, formed 

 by colossal bulls and sphinxes*. 



The pyramidal temples of ChaldEca are not less remarkable for the labour 

 bestowed on them, and far surpass the buildings of Assyria in the esccUenco 

 of their brickwork. 



The practice of building great pyramidal temples seems to have passed east- 

 wards to India and Birrmah, where it appears in buildings of a later date, in 

 Buddhist topes and pagodas — marvels of skiU in masonry, and far surpassing 

 the old brick mounds of Chahtea in richness of design and in workmanship. 

 Even so late as this century a king of Burmah began to build a brick temple 

 of the old type, the largest building, according to Fergusson, which has been 

 attem])ted since the Pyramids f. 



The mere magnitude of many of these works is not so wonderful when wo 

 take into account the abundance of labour which those rulers could com- 

 mand. Countries wcro depopulated and their inhabitants carried off and 

 made to labour for the conquerors. The inscriptions of Assyria describe 

 minutely the spoils of war and the number of captives ; and in Egypt wc 

 have frequent mention made of works being executed by the labour of captive 

 pcox)les. Herodotus tells us that as many as 360,000 men were employed in 

 biiilding one palace for SennacheribJ. At the same time, it must not be 

 forgotten that the very character of the multitude would dcmaiid fi-om some 

 one the skill and brain to organize and direct, to design and plan the work. 



It would be surprising if men who were capable of undertaking and suc- 

 cessfully completing unproductive works of such magnitude did not also em- 

 ploy their powers on works of a more useful class. Traces still remain of 

 such works ; enough to show, when compared with the scanty records of the 

 times which have come down to us, that the prosperity of such countries as 

 Egypt and Mesopotamia was not wholly dependent on war and conquest, but 

 that the reverse was more likely the case, and that the natural capabilities of 

 those countries were greatly enlarged by the construction of useful works of 

 such magnitude as to equal, if not in some cases surpass, those of modci n 

 times. 



Egypt was probably far better irrigated in the days of the Pharaohs than 

 it is now. To those unacquainted with the difficulties which must be met 

 with and overcome before a successful system of irrigation can be carried 



* Layarcl's 'Nineveh and Babylon,' p. HSO. 

 t Fergn8i5on's 'History of Architecture,' vol. ii. p. 523. 

 Eawlinsoii's 'Herodotus,' vol. i. p. S89, 2r.d edit. 



