RETURNS TO BAGDAD. 
407 
gentleman saw lying in the desert about midway between Hillah 
and the site of Seleucia. It consisted of the lower half of the 
statue of a man in a sitting posture; the legs were naked, and 
closed together in the Egyptian style ; the hands rested on the 
thighs. It was cut in a bluish basalt. That so few of these 
specimens have at all become visible in our days, is not sur¬ 
prising, since we may be assured that in like manner as Babylon 
had plundered Egypt, Assyria, and Judea, of their statues, their 
gold and their silver, and even the very architectural ornaments 
of their palaces and temples ; so, we can have no doubt, that this 
rich treasury of the antiquities of all nations would become the 
spoil of her successive conquerors, till nothing remained for the 
falling ruins to bury. 
Having taken my last farewell of her silent scene, her sublime 
solitude,—and yet with how many tongues had her awful appari¬ 
tion spoken to me!—I repaired to the camp of the Kiahya Bey, 
to return my thanks for all his civilities ; and after having made 
every necessary present of acknowledgement for the services 
received, we turned our horses’ heads towards the north; and 
once more retraced our way to Bagdad. We arrived there on 
the evening of the 24th, and were most cordially welcomed by 
our British friends. * 
* Mx\ Rich was good enough to calculate the result of the daily observations I 
had kept in my field-book on my way to Hillah ; his little note on the subject was 
as follows: “Latitude of Bagdad 33° 19'40''; lat. of Iskanderia 32 0 56' 18"; 
longitude 4 minutes west of Bagdad; latitude of Hillah 32^31' 18"; longitude 
12' 36" west of Bagdad. General bearing of Hillah from Bagdad, S. 13 W., dis¬ 
tant 50 geographical miles, or 57.66, (i. e. a trifle more than 5 7 \ British miles.) 
I have calculated your rate of going at 3 geographical, or about 3^ British miles the 
hour, which I have no doubt is about the truth, and indeed, is confirmed by your 
observations on the road. Niebuhr, from observation, makes latitude of Hillah 
32° 28'; Beauchamp 32° 35'; so that your latitude is between the two. Beauchamp 
twice made the journey, and he was each time 16 hours 30 minutes performing it, 
