326 
TOWER OF BABEL; 
measured across between three and four hundred feet, at that 
distance I observed mounds of varied elevations in unconnected 
heaps, filling the ground from that line to the bank of the great 
canal I mentioned having passed in my approach to the Birs. 
Clustering ranges of these remains appear to continue, curving 
round to the east; then a vacuum occurs ; then they commence 
again, running from the eastward in a similar sweeping direction 
along the southern front of the great mounds. Many of these 
latter vestiges are but very faint, yet they are sufficient to prove 
the existence of former structures on those spots, and the regular 
plan of their disposition. There are, likewise, answering chains, 
of apparent greater consequence, to the west, rising about 200 
yards from the supreme pile; and these connect themselves with 
others to the north and south. When we recollect the numerous 
consecrated animals, protected, if not worshipped, by the Sabian 
ritual; also the multitudes retained for sacrifice, with all the 
inferior officers employed in their attendance, and the many 
occasional inhabitants of a place, which, at times, was regarded 
as a temple, a college, a royal sanctuary, and even a fortress in 
the day of extremity, we shall not be surprised to see so many 
traces of dwelling places within its walls. 
From the elevation on which I stood, I traced, without diffi¬ 
culty, the lines of embankment also, which had compassed the 
whole sacred area. The extent of their broken remains appears 
to agree very nearly with that mentioned by Herodotus as in¬ 
closing the ground of the temple of Belus; he, describing it to 
be quadrangular, on each side measuring two stadia, or 1000 feet. 
On extending my view beyond the boundary, to the south, all 
seemed flat, arid desert; to the westward, the same trackless 
waste presented itself; but towards the north-east, very consider- 
