THE RUIN OF AKARKOUFF. 
275 
Akarkouff, which had excited my attention in prospect from the 
tomb of Zobiede. The late successes of the Arabs, having em¬ 
boldened them to advance in plundering parties, even to the 
walls of the city, it had become dangerous to go to the smallest 
distance without a guard; I, therefore, set off on this, my first 
expedition to explore the colossal relics of these Titan regions, 
with an adequate escort, besides the good company of the two 
gentlemen attached to Mr. Rich’s mission. We crossed the 
bridge of the Tigris to its western shore; and again traversing 
that large suburb, with the still more extensive remains of old 
Bagdad beyond the walls, our party took a north-west direction 
over the plain, towards the point of my present curiosity ; which 
lay at several miles’ distance. The tract of country we passed over 
this morning, is regularly overflowed by the waters of the river; 
and many spots were left not yet dried up, of an expanse wide 
enough to be called little lakes. The soil, consequently, even 
under neglect, is very rich ; while the endless intersecting re¬ 
mains of the numerous canals, which, in former days, conveyed 
away the superfluous waters from the whole land of Shinar, show 
the great care of the ancient inhabitants to cultivate the ground 
to the utmost power of husbandry. Near to these broken em¬ 
bankments, rise mounds of higher elevation ; marking, no doubt, 
the sites of the villages, once inhabited by these industrious 
peasantry, who wrought on those banks, and in the fields now 
abandoned to the desert. 
The pile to which we were directing our steps, is called by the 
Arabs Tell Nimrood , and by the Turks Nemrood Tepasse, both 
of which appellations mean the Hill , not as some would translate 
them, the tower of Nimrod. The term Akarkouff, given by the 
Arabs, is intended to signify the ground only, around it; and the 
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