225 
should destroy, and blessings on those who should restore, the 
monument in question.” 
I have been puzzled to determine why these relics were 
buried in asphalt pavement, because, if those who hid them 
there wished to preserve them from destruction from the 
enemy, they could not have placed them in a more conspicuous 
place ; for a man who is accustomed to the mode of Assyrian 
paving could not help noticing the difference. This discovery 
at the outset was most fortunate, as it proved to us the exact 
site of the temple and city of Sippara. Different savants and 
historians supposed it to be in other parts of Babylonia, 
immediately on the banks of the Euphrates, but now we are 
certain of the exact spot being on the great historical canal 
of Babylonia, called Nahr-malka, or the royal river, about six 
miles from the Euphrates, but its source about twenty miles 
westward. This canal was the wonder of the age when the 
Babylonian kingdom was at the zenith of its power, as it must 
have been about one hundred and fifty miles in length, and 
bridged over in many places. Xenophon tells us that the 
Greeks had to cross it on bridges made of palm-trees when 
they were retreating northwards after the death of Cyrus. 
It runs from the Euphrates as far as Aboo-habba, when it 
divides ; the main body passes Dair, and runs in an easterly 
direction as far as Shat-el-hai, passing within a few miles of 
Seleucia and Ctesephon; the other part takes a more southerly 
direction nearer the Euphrates, passing through endless cities, 
one of which is supposed to be Cuthah, known by the Arabs 
as Tel-Ibraheem. The remains of the former are now called 
Yosephia, and the latter Habl-Ibraheem. Both these canals 
are crossed by wayfarers who travel between Baghdad and 
Hillah, in the vicinity of Babylon, and between the former 
place and Musayib, on the way to Karbala. 
It is most interesting to examine this canal all the way 
between the Euphrates and the Tigris, because a traveller 
cannot help being struck with the remains of its former 
grandeur, when it must have irrigated hundreds of miles of 
alluvial soil. 
On all sides are found remains of innumerable small water- 
courses, which were fed by these two grand canals ; and at 
different intervals remains of prodigious basins are seen, in 
which a surplus supply must have been kept for any emer- 
gency, when the water in the Euphrates falls low, especially 
in summer. It is said that there were two Sipparas in Baby- 
lonia ; the one which I discovered was for the worship of the 
sun, and the other for the worship of the moon. They were 
represented as being situated on either side of the river 
