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45. It may be that after the destruction of the Nineveh 
palaces other occupiers of less refined tastes levelled the 
hateful sites and erected their dwellings on them, and thus 
the brick buildings accumulated from time to time on the 
top and made the Royal residences look like a mass of rub- 
bish. This is shown by the Sassanian and Arab ruins which 
were found in the palace of Assur-bani-pal and Kala-Shergat. 
Indeed, at the former place, it is shown that other people 
who occupied that site made some show of modern architec- 
ture by using stone and plaster with pillars to adorn the 
exterior part of the building. Unfortunately these super- 
structures have also been so much destroyed that I could not 
trace the general plan of the building, because undoubtedly 
both the people of Nebbi Younis and Mossul had been digging 
for stone and marble from time immemorial for their own pur- 
poses, and nothing but the depths of the Assyrian structures 
saved them from utter demolition. I believe that more than 
one-half of Assur-beni-paks palace was destroyed by the Sas- 
sanians in digging for stone, as they were too indolent to 
obtain it from the stone and marble quarries which are abun- 
dant around Koyunjik and Mossul. 
46. It is quite marvellous how the different prophecies have 
been truly fulfilled with regard to the destruction of the great 
Biblical kingdoms, and I cannot but feel surprised and pained 
at the scepticism of the day, and wonder what greater proof can 
be looked for than to follow the prophets in their different 
denunciations against the ungodly, and see how literally every 
inspired word has come to pass even on the disobedient people 
of God. The time of reconciliation has not yet come, and 
when God through His mercy vouchsafes His forgiveness that 
once-blest land will again “ flow with milk and honey / ’ 
47. The site of the city of Nineveh has never been forgotten 
in the country, because both tradition and historical records 
point out Koyunjik and Nebbi Younis as the spots where the 
capital of the old world stood. Nebbi Younis (which means 
in Arabic “ Prophet Jonah,”) is the mound within half a mile 
of Koyunjik, contains a mosque dedicated to that prophet in 
which is shown the shrine of Jonah. It was formerly a 
Chaldean church, but like many other old churches in Asiatic 
Turkey they were preferred by the indolent Mohammedan 
conquerors to convert into mosques rather than to go to the 
expense of building new ones. Though this mound is generally 
called Nebbi Younis, after the prophet Jonah, officially it is still 
called “ Nineweh ” and this I learnt when I wanted to make 
some excavations there, and had to enter into an agreement 
