KASR, OR PALACE. 
359 
business it is, have given up working, on account of the extreme 
difficulty of extracting them whole. The tops of these walls are 
broken, and may have been much higher. On the outside they 
have, in some places, been cleared nearly to the foundations ; 
but the internal spaces formed by them are yet filled with 
rubbish in some parts almost to their summit. One part of the 
wall has been split into three parts, and overthrown as if by an 
earthquake. Some detached walls of the same kind, standing 
at different distances, shew what remains to have been only a 
part of the original fabric; indeed it appears that the passage 
in the ravine, together with the wall which crosses its upper 
end, were connected with these remains. There are some hol¬ 
lows underneath, in which several persons have lost their lives ; 
so that no one will now venture into them, and their entrances 
have now become choked up with rubbish. Near this ruin is a 
heap of rubbish, the sides of which are curiously streaked by 
the alternation of its materials, the chief part of which, it is 
probable, was unburnt brick, of which I found a small quantity 
in the neighbourhood; but no reeds were discoverable in the 
interstices. There are two paths near this ruin, made by the 
workmen who carry down their bricks to the river side, whence 
they are transported by boats to Hillah.” 
In making my own observations on the entire mound of the 
Kasr, through all the mutations it had undergone during the * 
lapse of seven years, (which was the space of time between my 
visit and that of Mr. Rich.) I still found, deep in the ravines, 
considerable pieces of wall standing; also detached masses of the 
same, composed of furnace-burnt bricks, of a beauty, admirable 
masonry, and freshness, that indeed struck me with similar 
amazement, when I reflected that thousands of years had passed 
