231 
dace some of the Babylonian and Birs Nimroud workmen to 
accompany me thither for three or four weeks; and most 
fortunately, when the time came that I could go there to 
superintend the work in person, the Tigris rose unusually high, 
and inundated the country to within half-a-mile of the mound, 
which enabled us to have a regular supply of water as long as 
we were working there. I of course did not care to drink 
that water, as it looked anything but tempting, so once a week 
1 sent and got some water for myself from the Mahaweel- 
Euphrates canal, about six miles to the south-west. 
We were very much tried while we were there by the constant 
sand storms that blew in the day-time. On several occasions the 
dust was so thick that I could not see the tents of my followers, 
nor dared to go out of my tent; and once the atmosphere was 
so thick with it that our water-carriers lost their way, and 
could not find the mound until the storm subsided. I had for 
hours to sit still with my eyes closed, without attempting to 
do anything, much less to open my mouth for the purpose of 
eating and drinking, as I should have been choked with sand. 
In the several excavations I found very little of ancient relics 
to warrant me to remain longer than a month, during which 
time we discovered a few clay tablets and bowls inscribed, the 
former with cuneiform, and the latter with Hebrew and Syro- 
Chaldean characters. In one part of the mound, after having 
penetrated about twenty feet below the surface, we came upon 
an ancient edifice, the walls of which seemed as if they had 
been built a short time ago. As we had to dig in some places 
about thirty feet before we came to the bottom of the chambers, 
I was obliged, for the sake of saving time and expense, to work 
by tunnelling. From the nature of the soil found in these 
chambers, it seemed to me that this structure was never in* 
habited ; but the owner, whoever he may have been, must have 
abandoned it before it was roofed, and ordered it to be filled 
in after it was built. This mound is about two miles in cir- 
cumference, and about sixty feet high ; and although I had no 
less than twenty tunnels and trenches opened in it, there were 
no signs discovered in it to make me think it belonged to the 
early Babylonian period. It is true that we found some kiln- 
burnt bricks like those usually found in Babylonia, with the 
name of Nebuchadnezzar on them, yet I do not think this place 
was of much importance at the time of that monarch. I have 
no doubt, however, that in later days it must have been a very 
flourishing place, because unmistakable remains extend for 
miles around, which indicate that the city and its surroundings 
were thickly inhabited. Had my firman been renewed, and 
I could have afforded to spend a hundred pounds upon making 
