But the law per

other spot, and pull down their old houses. mits no encroachment upon lands suitable for cultivation, and, consequently, the space destined for the new village could not be taken from the grounds of this description around the mound.

The perseverance of the French Ambassador, Baron de Bourqueney, finally triumphed over the reluctance of the Porte.

By virtue of a special agreement, the inhabitants of Khorsabad were authorised to sell their houses and to locate themselves temporarily at the foot of the mound. Botta's house, which had been the cause of so many disputes, he was allowed to retain until the conclusion of the works. The researches were permitted, on condition that the ground should be restored to the state in which Botta found it, in order that the village might be rebuilt on its former site, and a commissioner was sent to Khorsabad from the Porte to prevent any fresh difficulties. These arrangements, however, owing to the unwillingness of the Divan to ratify them, had taken up much time, and it was not before the 4th of May, 1844, that Monsieur Flandin could reach Mósul, bringing with him the firmans which had been asked for seven or eight months previously.

Nothing now prevented the resumption of the excavations. Botta had at his disposal funds sufficient for clearing the whole building; the artist Flandin had arrived to copy the bas-reliefs, besides affording other active and cordial co-operation. The necessary measures for immediately commencing the works were taken, and they were pushed on briskly. In the first

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NINEVEH AND ITS DISCOVERERS.

place it was necessary to clear the ground of the houses upon it-an easy task, as there was little difficulty in satisfying the humble proprietors, who themselves desired the removal of the village, and were but too happy to effect it at the expense of the stranger antiquary; but Botta had likewise to indemnify the proprietors, or rather the tenants of the ground on which the new village was to be built, and their expectations were so exorbitant that they would have swallowed up a great part of the sum placed at his disposal, if the new Pasha, by accidentally reminding him of one of the peculiarities of the Mohammedan law, had not himself supplied the means of obliging them to moderate their demands.

case.

It had been said that the village and the surrounding grounds were the property of a mosque, and consequently could not be sold without infringing the law, which does not allow the sale of any property which has become wakf: this was not the The houses belonged to the peasants who lived in them, but the ground on which the village was built, as well as the ground in the neighbourhood, was owned by several individuals, each of whom had a greater or less share of the profits. These persons, however, were not the real proprietors, for in Mohammedan countries there is no real property, but a simple right of possession paid for every year by a ground-rent. All the soil intended for cultivation, with the exception of the gardens and orchards, belongs to an abstract being, the Imaum, who represents the Mohammedan community, and is himself represented by the sovereign. The latter being, as it were, nothing more than a guardian, can never concede more than a temporary grant of land, in return for an annual rent or service. Sometimes, it is true, these grants were transmitted by means of inheritance or sales; but this was an abuse, a real infringement of the law. In this manner the Viceroy of Egypt, Mohammed Ali, was able to recover, without difficulty, from the usurpers of the public domain, the possession which long abuse had perpetuated in their families; and during Botta's residence at Mósul this example was followed, without any more ado, by the Turkish government. In 1845 the Porte revoked all the old grants of land in this province, and commanded that for the future they should be annual, and sold by public auction.

Such was the state of matters at Khorsabad. The seven

individuals who owned the ground between them-the principal of whom was Yahia Pasha, a former governor of Mósul -had no right of real property, but merely a right of possession perpetuated by abuse in their families: this furnished a weapon against their cupidity. When Botta was treating before the Pasha for the purchase of the houses, the accredited agent of these persons had the imprudence to claim an indemnity for the land they stood on. The Pasha replied that they had no right to any, because the Sultan alone was lord of the soil, and disposed of it as he chose. This was a hint for the plundered antiquary, who henceforward easily prevailed upon the proprietors to accept with gratitude a reasonable indemnity, which he could, had he chosen, have had the right to refuse. They themselves, however, felt so clearly how little their demand was really founded on right, that they refused to give him a receipt, and begged him to be silent on the matter, for fear their conduct should reach the Pasha's

ears.

To return to Botta's narration. The misfortunes of others now placed at his disposal the number of workmen necessary for the speedy clearance of the rest of the monuments. A few months previously, the fanaticism of the Kurds had terminated by triumphing over the resistance which the courage of the Nestorians had for ages made against them. Intrenched in the lofty mountains where the Zab takes its rise, these Christians, who were the remains of one of the most ancient sects that separated from the Catholic church, had been, up to that time, enabled to escape from the Mohammedan yoke; but in 1843 their own internal divisions weakened them so much as to incapacitate them from contending longer against the continually increasing power of their enemies. After a courageous but useless resistance, some Nestorian tribes were destroyed by the Kurds and in order to escape a general massacre, a great number of these Christians, following the example of their patriarch, Mar-shimoun, took refuge either at Mósul, or in some of the villages of the neighbourhood, where they could at least be certain of safety in exchange for their independence. Previous to this event, Botta had been charged with distributing among these unhappy Christians the direct assistance of the French government, not the first relief afforded by that power to the victims of fanaticism in the

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East; and now the continuation of the researches at Khorsabad placed at Botta's disposal new means of alleviating the misery of the refugees. He found among them a whole population of labourers at once robust and docile, whose assistance was the more useful, as it was almost impossible to procure the requisite number of workmen among the inhabitants of the environs. Besides their demand for high wages, the natives had certain singular superstitions which inspired them with repugnance for the work he offered, and this influence was trebly powerful when it was proposed to interfere with the village of Khorsabad itself. They said they were afraid it would bring misfortune upon themselves and their families. As regarded the Nestorians, although they suffered a great deal from the climate of the plain, so different from that of the high mountains they had until then inhabited, they worked with great spirit, and many of them were enabled to return to their own country, carrying with them savings which made them much richer than they had ever been before.

All obstacles being removed, about the middle of the month of May, 1844, Botta once more proceeded with his researches, nor did he pause in his labours before the end of the month of October in the same year. As Monsieur Flandin was first obliged to copy the bas-reliefs discovered before his arrival, the works progressed, in the beginning, but slowly; but the scientific labourers were able gradually to increase their scale of operations, until at last they had almost three hundred workmen in full employment. During these six months each had but one thought, which was to unite every effort to turn Botta's discovery to the best possible account. Accordingly, they worked together with the most cordial understanding. Monsieur Flandin used to copy, with the greatest care, the bas-reliefs as fast as they were uncovered; to measure the building and draw up a definite plan of it: while Botta, on his side, was occupied not less actively, in transcribing the numerous inscriptions which covered a part of the walls. It is true that both had to suffer much, but they were amply recompensed for it by the results and the nature of the work; for it was with a feeling of delight that they were able, from hour to hour, to observe what the pick-axe of the workmen had uncovered, and to endeavour to guess the direction of the

walls which were still buried, to realise the scenes they would offer to view, and even to divine the signification of the basreliefs as they were successively brought to light.

Botta liberally acknowledges the zeal with which Flandin joined in the researches into the secrets of a buried city. Being less accustomed than the consul himself to the miseries of eastern life, Flandin, it appears, felt more keenly the inconveniences of a prolonged stay in a miserable village, beneath a burning sky: and his health suffered more than once in consequence. But his courage never failed him, not even at a most serious conjuncture, when the consulate of Mósul, and the existence of the whole Christian population, were for a moment endangered.1 His share in the undertaking was not limited to the execution of the artistic portions with which he was more especially charged. Botta's official duties not allowing him to remain constantly at Khorsabad, he relied upon Flandin to superintend and employ the work-people and the artist, thus left in charge, discovered certain objects which would otherwise, perhaps, have escaped notice, such, for instance, as the little statues in terra-cotta, hidden under the pavement, and the sepulchral urns. Thus the two Frenchmen worked in concert with each other, and Monsieur Flandi can, with justice, lay claim to a part of the merit of the operations which led to the complete exhumation of the monument of Khorsabad.

At the period when Botta was obliged by Mohammed Pasha to suspend the works, he had only to follow into the interior of the mound the walls already laid bare. The work then completed naturally pointed out the direction their further labours should be made to take, and they pursued this indication until all traces of construction disappeared. The monument, how

1 In the month of July, 1844, the Dominican Missionaries settled at Mósul having had a house repaired in order to add it to their original monastery, were, as Botta had formerly been himself, accused of wishing to erect a fortress. The weakness of the new Pasha, who had just succeeded Mohammed Pasha, having encouraged the populace, the ridiculous accusation occasioned a serious riot, during which the monastery was destroyed, the church pillaged, and one of the missionaries assassinated. This circumstance, as he could easily foresee, produced similar feelings in the inhabitants of Khorsabad: and it was only the firmness of Monsieur Flandin which could keep them in check, until such time as efficient assistance arrived.