388 
RUINS OF BABYLON 
the utter fall of Babylon, and abandonment of the place; veri¬ 
fying, in fact, the very words of Isaiah, — “ Wild beasts of the 
desert shall lie there; and the houses shall be full of doleful 
creatures: owls shall dwell there; and dragons shall cry in the 
pleasant places.” 
The over-careful presence of the Kiahya Bey had so impeded 
my plan of examination, measurements, &c., during my first 
visit to the Birs Nimrood, I gladly seized this opportunity of 
making up for all deficiencies in that respect; and my attendants 
still retaining the same idea with their chief, that my several 
compassings of the pile, with my pencil, tablets, and bible in 
my hand, (which latter was often the case, comparing the words 
of the prophets with the scene before me,) were all acts and 
instruments of pilgrim devotion, this second visit certainly 
raised me to something like the devout dignity of one of their 
own Hadjes, in their mind; though it is not probable that under 
the then increased hostilities awakened in the desert, they would 
have accompanied me thither, had I not drawn them on by 
stratagem. I had become sufficiently acquainted with the cha¬ 
racters of these men, to know that they would stand their ground 
well in a case of extremity, for their own sakes as much as mine; 
and that they so shrewdly knew the “ advantages of a start,” I 
need not be apprehensive of a superior force coming within shot 
of us, in so open a plain. The kiahya, however, would not 
now have hearkened to any project of the kind; and, therefore, 
when I asked for a second escort into the desert, his own con¬ 
sciousness of the dangers his treachery to its brave sons had 
exasperated there, led him to suppose that I could not mean to 
go farther than the village of Anana; and I did not undeceive 
him. For the men themselves, when I got them out, I led 
them gradually on from place to place, encouraging their gal- 
