370 
RUINS OF BABYLON. 
long tress-like tendrils, resembling heron-feathers, growing from 
a central stem. These slender and delicate sprays, bending 
towards the ground, gave the whole the appearance of a weep¬ 
ing willow, while their gentle waving in the wind made a low 
and melancholy sound. This tree is revered as holy, by the 
Arabs, from a tradition amongst them that the Almighty pre¬ 
served it here from the earliest time, to form a refuge in after¬ 
ages for the Caliph Ali; who, fainting with fatigue from the 
battle of Hillah, found a secure repose under its shade. The 
battle adverted to, was fought within so short a period after the 
death of Mahomed, that, if any credit is to be given to the rest 
of the tale, the age of the tree must already have extended be¬ 
yond a thousand years; and from its race not being known at 
all in this part of the country, some excuse may be offered for 
supposing it a germ from the ancient royal gardens of Babylon, 
whose groves, we have reason to believe, once spread all around 
that now solitary tree. I brought away one of its beautiful 
sprays. Other relics also, myself and those with me gathered 
amongst these interesting ruins. The most valuable consisted 
of a large cylinder of baked clay, covered with a cuneiform in¬ 
scription ; an agate seal, finely cut, representing a priest sur¬ 
rounded by various symbols of the Sabian worship; and a small 
dog, in bronze, with a collar of pure gold round its neck ; this 
relic is about three inches in height. It is scarcely credible to 
believe the endless succession of curious objects of antiquity 
that are picked up from time to time, in digging these extensive 
mounds ; and which, by a strange fatality, almost always find 
their way into the hands of the remnant of Israel, yet aliens in 
the land of Shinar. 
The Kasr mound is divided from the Amran Hill (M), by a 
