CURIOUS TRADITION.

163

feet. Its sides face the four cardinal points: I measured them carefully; and the following is the full extent of each face. That to the north, along the visible face, is 274 yards; to the south, 256 yards; to the east, 226 yards; and to the west, 240 yards.* The summit is an uneven flat strewed with broken and unbroken bricks, the perfect ones measuring thirteen inches square, by three thick. Many

* Pliny, in describing Mesopotamia, says, " Babylon Chaldaiarum gentium caput diu summam claritatem obtinuit in toto orbe, propter quam reliqua pars Mesopotamiæ Assyriæque Babylonia appellata est, sexaginta millia passuum amplexa, muris ducenos pedes altis, quinquagenos latis, in singulos pedes ternis digitis mensurâ ampliore quàm nostra, interfluo Euphrate, mirabili opere utroque. Durat adhuc ibi Jovis Beli templum. Inventor hic fuit sideralis scientiæ. Cetero ad solitudinem rediit, exhausta vicinitate Seleuciæ, ob id condita a Nicatore intra nonagesimum lapidem, in confluente Euphratis fossa perducti, atque Tigris; quæ tamen Babylonia cognominatur, libera hodie ac sui juris, Macedo. numque moris. Ferunt ei plebis urbanæ DC. M. esse: situm vero monium, aquila pandentis alas; agrum totius Orientis fertilissimum. Invicem ad hanc exhauriendam, Ctesiphontem juxta tertium ab ea lapidem in Chalonitide condidere Parthi, quod nunc caput est regnorum. Et postquam nihil proficiebatur, nuper Vologesus rex aliud oppidum Vologeso -certam in vicino condidit."

164

MODE OF BRICK-MAKING.

exhibited the arrow-headed character, which

appeared remarkably fresh. Pottery, bitumen, vitrified and petrified brick, shells and glass, were all equally abundant. The principal materials composing this ruin are doubtless mud bricks baked in the sun, and mixed up with straw. Many of the ancient ruined cities of Persia are likewise described as being built of unburnt. bricks beaten up with straw or rush, perhaps to make the ingredient adhere, and then baked in the sun.* This mode of making bricks is of the greatest antiquity; for even in the days of the Egyptian bondage, I apprehend it to be alluded to, when Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, "Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves."-Exodus, chap. v. ver. 7.

It is not difficult to trace brickwork along each front, particularly at the south-west angle,

Vide Morier's Second Journey through Persia, cap. xiii. page 207.

EXCAVATIONS.

which is faced by a wall,

kiln-burnt brick, that in

165

composed partly of

shape exactly re

sembles a watch tower or small turret.* . On its summit there are still considerable traces of erect building: at the western end is a circular

*Pietro Della Valle, a Roman traveller, visited Babylon in 1616. He says, when speaking of this ruin, "Its situation and form correspond with that pyramid which Strabo calls the Tower of Belus."--" It is built with large and thick bricks, as I carefully observed, having caused excavations to be made in several places for that purpose; but they do not appear to have been burned, but dried in the sun, which is extremely hot in those parts. These sun-baked bricks, in