314 
BIRS NIMROOD 
ters in length; and are joined by a bed of mortar more than an 
inch deep. The bricks, though decidedly furnace-burnt, are of 
a much softer texture than those described above, and the ce¬ 
ment is of a coarser quality. The use of straw in the midst of 
the layers of lime, as seen in the upper remains, was here also 
every where evident; but here it was quite mouldered away, its 
impression alone being visible. 
The space of wall, now under description, is of considerable 
extent, and appears to me to have actually formed part of the 
north-west angle of the pile in its ancient state. But what marks 
it as an object of particular observation is, that the courses of its 
bricks do not run level, but have a gentle inclination on its north¬ 
ern face , towards the east; and on its eastern face , they slope to 
the south. This singularity cannot be accounted for by ascribing 
it to the electric shock that may have split, and, possibly, over¬ 
turned part of the superstructure; their situation in the building 
being too distant from that point, to be affected by the means of 
its destruction. At some yards still lower down, we came to an 
excavation, or rather very large and deep hole, made by the 
clearing away of the rubbish ; and through it we plainly dis¬ 
cerned, what I may call the pith of the building; that is, the 
composition of the solid body, and base of the pile ; which con¬ 
sisted of sun-dried bricks, of the same dimensions with those 
from the furnace, described in the last specimen of wall, and 
which, like the bark of a tree, seem to have encased the whole. 
These interior, and, I may term them, imperishable materials, 
are cemented together by layers of slime and broken straw, lying 
full an inch and a half in thickness ; and through this vast, con¬ 
solidated mass, large square holes (each two feet in height, by 
one in width) penetrate, apparently, to the very heart of the 
structure. 
