February J9. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
37.3 
laboured under the eft’ects of enchantment(?). There is 
much that is extremely obscure in this episodical fragment, 
but it really seemed to allude to the temporary insanity of 
the monarch, and at its close, when the spell was broken, 
which had been cast over him, the thread of the argument, 
having reterence to the building of Babylon, was resumed. 
Tliere was a passing allusion in this inscription to the 
Western con(]uests of Nebuchadnezzar, and in an amplilied 
copy upon a clay cylinder, of whicli a fragment had also 
been found at the Birs, the subjugation of the countries on 
the Mediterranean was s])ecitically mentioned ; but hitherto 
annals of the Babylonian monarchs, similar to those whicdi 
were so carefully prepared in Assyria, had in no instance 
been discovered, and an independent account thereof of the 
capture of Jerusalem and the caiiying away the Jews into 
captivity was still among the desiderata of cuneifoi ni science. 
“ After a brief notice of Nebuchadnezzar’s successors, Bvil 
Merodach Ner(jal-shar-ezer (Neriglissor of the Greeks), 
Col. Rawlinson proceeded to exidain his last discovery of 
importance, which established the fact of the eldest son of 
Nabonidus having been named Bel-shar-ezer, and that pointed 
the way to the reconcilement of profane and sacred history 
in regard to- the capture of Babylon by Cyrus. Belies of 
Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, abounded, not only at 
Babylon and Borsippa, but in Chaldea also. From the ruins 
of a temple to ‘ the Moon,’ which had been recently ex¬ 
cavated at ‘ Ur of the Chaldees,’ four perfect cylinders of this 
kind had been recovered, which were now placed on the 
table, together witli the fragments of a hollow barrel cylinder 
of the same period. The latter relic contained a detailed 
account of the various works of Nabonidus throiTghout the 
empire, and was particulaily valuable in mentioning the 
monarchs who founded and repaired the temples in the 
different capitals, and in establishing their chronological 
succession. The four smaller cylinders, which all bore the 
same inscription, referred particularly to the history of the 
temple of “the Moon” at Ur of the Chaldees. In both 
legends the architectural description was finished with a 
special prayer and invocation for the welfare of the king’s 
eldest son, Bel-shar-ezer; and as this substitution of the 
name of the lung’s son for that of the king himself 
was an isolated example, and totally at variance with the 
ancient usage, the only reasonable explanation seemed to be 
that Bel-shar-ezer (abbreviated in Daniel to Belshazzar as 
Ner<jal-shar-ezervfs,‘s, shortened by the Greeks to Neriglissor) 
had been raised by the king during his lifetime to a partici¬ 
pation in the imperial dignity. On this supposition then— 
that there were two kings reigning at the same time in 
Babylon,—it could well be understood that Nabonidus, the 
father, may have met the Persians in the open field, and 
after his defeat, may have thrown himself into the strong¬ 
hold of Borshippa as stated by Berosus ; while Belshazzar, 
the son, may have awaited the attack of the enemy in 
Babylon, and have fallen under that awful visitation of the 
Divine vengeance which is described in llie Book of Daniel. 
That the eldest son of Nabonidus, indeed, who is distinctly 
ndimQdi Bel-shar-ezer m the cylinders of could not 
have survived the extinction of the empire, is rendered 
certain by the fact that when a revolt of tlie Babylonians 
took place at the commencement of the reign of Darius 
Hystaspes, the impostor who personated the heir to the 
kingdom and called his countrymen to arms, assumed the 
name of Nabukndruchur, the son of Nabunit” (see in¬ 
scription of Behistun), the rights of the eldest son having 
descended to the second. As the cylinders exhibited to the 
meeting were the only solitary documents on which the 
name of Belshazzar had been ever found, apart from the 
pages of Daniel, they were objects of special interest, and 
would no doubt be reckoned among the choicest treasures of 
the British Museum. 
“ Colonel Rawlinson had not at present in his cliarge any 
relics of a later period, though he stated that tablets dated 
during the reigns of the Achtemenian monarchs from Cyrus 
to Darius Coddomanus, w'ere by no means rare, and that he 
had even recently examined a numlier of cuneifoi-m docu¬ 
ments, consisting of lienefactions to temples, wdiich were 
dated under the reigns of Seleucus and Antiochus. 
“ Among Die miscellaneous articles exhibited were anunil)er 
i of signet cylinders, which w'ere commonly used by the 
I Babylonians as seals to authenticate official documents. All 
the benefaction tablets recently discovered were thus endorsed, 
having been impressed while the clay Avas soft. The legends, 
how ever, on the cylinders were of no consequence, merely 
consisting of the name of the OAvner, of that of his father, 
and of an epithet implying dependence on one of the 
numerous gods of the Pantheon. A black stone, bearing 
the symbols of the gods, and invoking their vengeance on 
any one Avho should alter or resume a certain grant of lands 
recorded in the document Avas also on the table. It Avas 
stated to be very similar to the relic usually knoAvn in Europe 
as ‘ le caillon de Michaud.’ Another mutilated specimen 
of the same class, Avhich Avas obtained from Babylon by' 
Mr. Rich, lieing already in the British Museum, and being 
in fact the identical stone Avith Avhich some years ago the 
famous Portland vase Avas dashed to pieces. The only 
other object of interest Avas a small cube of ivory, bearing 
on it certain mathematical tables, Avhich Avere inscribed, 
hoAvever, in a character so minute, as to be almost invisible 
until examined Avith a strong magnifying glass ; and it Avas 
suggested that from this specimen alone we might reasonably 
believe the Assyrians to have been in the habit of manu¬ 
facturing lenses, and to have been thus considerably ad¬ 
vanced in a knoAvledge of the science of optics ! 
“ Colonel RaAvlinson having been further requested by 
Dr. Wilson to say a feAv Avords on the subject of the language 
of the hiscriptiojis and the mode of deciplierment, explained 
that tlie lirst clue to the reading of tlio Assyrian character, 
waA obtained from the autographic record of DariixsHystas 2 )es 
at Behistun. As a translation in the Baby Ionian character and 
language, Avhich already resembled the Assyrian, Avas a^x- 
2 )ended to the original Persian adict at the latter ixlace, the 
sense of the one being knoAvn, a sure basis Avas established 
for the analysis of the othei-. His comjAarison ol’ the 
two versions of this inscriixtion, and his xxi’eliminary re¬ 
searches into the grammar and etymological affinities of 
the language of ancient Babylon, had been jmblished in 
the Joui'jial of the Royal Asiatic Society some four years 
back, and as he had since that time studied and analysed 
many thousand insci’ijxtmns, not mere rock legends of a feAV 
lines restricted to the formula of royal in'oclamation, but 
long elaborate histories, records of the chase, architectural 
rejxorts, scientitle treatises, jirayers, invocati(rns, and the Avhole 
arcana of the Chaldee religion and idiilosojihy, he might noAV 
really claim a veiy extended acquaintance Avith the language. 
In all essential points the Babylonian Avas a mere iR'inii- 
tive Ilebi'eAV — the roots Avere the same, —tlie grammatical 
constructions perfectly^ analogous—the conjugations veiy 
similar—the names of objects for the most jiart identical. 
The radical difficulty in reading and understanding Baby¬ 
lonian and Assyrian lay in the extraordinary number of the 
characters emjiloyed (tlie idionetic signs alone exceed 300); 
in their variant poAvers, one character being often used to 
exjxress six or scA'cn diilerent syllabic sounds; and above all, 
in the v'eiy general employment both of sim^de and com¬ 
pound ideograiihs, of Avhich, although the meaning might 
be ascertained from the context, it Avas imxiossible to detine 
the phonetic values Avithout the aid of the explanatory 
taldets. From the latter source he had noAV succeeded in 
tabulating betAveen 3000 and 4000 ideograiihs Avitli their 
phonetic corresxiondents, Init he did not consider this branch 
of the subject to be one-half exhausted. His oavu impression 
Avas that there AA'as at least 20,000 ideographs in common 
use, and he considered that until these Avere all deteiininately 
explained and read, no one could jiretcnd to have thoroughly 
mastered the language.’' 
Rice Paper.—E very one is acquainted Avith this delicate 
and pearly tissue, but very feAV knoAV that it is manufactured, 
in China, from a plant called Aralia pnptjrlfera (Paper¬ 
bearing Aralia). The pith of the plant, which jiith is very 
abundant, is the part employed for the manufacture of the 
paper. The Chinese call the plant Tunp-tsaou, and it Avas 
found by Mr. Fortune groAving in the island of Formosa, 
and a figure of it is just published in the Botanical 
Mapaziiie, t. 4807. Idle consumption of this paper in 
China is very large, 100 sheets of it, each three inches 
square, are sold for five farthings. The large sheets used by 
the Chinese floAver painters are three-halfpence per sheet. 
