depicted is precisely the same as that practised to this day by the inhabitants of Mosul. The fourth and fifth are two slabs representing a Domestic Scene, apparently the interior of the castle and the pavilion of the conqueror. The ground plan of the former is indicated by a circle divided into four equal compartments, and surrounded by towers and battlements. In each compartment there are figures evidently engaged in culinary occupations, and preparing a feast; one is holding a sheep while the other is cutting it up; another appears to be making bread or boiling a cauldron: various bowls and utensils stand upon tables and stools. The pavilion is supported by three posts or columns; on the summit of one is the fir cone; on the others are figures of the ibex, or mountain goat. Beneath the canopy a groom is currycombing a horse, while other horses, picketed by their halters, are feeding at a trough: an eunuch stands at the entrance to receive four prisoners, who, with their hands tied behind them, are brought to him by a warrior with a pointed helmet. Above this group, but on the same slab, are two singular figures, which unite the human form with the head of a lion; one holds a whip or thong in his right hand, and grasps his under jaw with his left: they are accompanied by a man clothed in a short over-dress, and raising a stick with both hands. On the adjoining slab, to the right, are two chariots containing each a warrior and standard; above the horses is an eagle carrying the head of a man in his talons; before the chariots are two groups of warriors with the heads of the slain in their hands, and three musicians. The sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth are small slabs, each containing one standing figure, who holds in his hands the fir cone and basket: the figures face different ways.

The fragments are, first, the head and portion of the shoulders of the King, and the head, right shoulder, and right hand of an eunuch holding the fly-flapper, on one slab; the second, the head of a figure wearing a tiara of rosettes, and still retaining marks of the original paint; the third, the fragment of a bas relief representing the King, who holds in his hands a bowl, and an attendant eunuch.

CENTRAL PALACE.

The remains which Mr. Layard discovered on what he has called, for distinction sake, the Central Palace, consist of three classes :1. The Obelisk; 2. Slabs referring to the taking of some town; and 3. Domestic scenes. The Obelisk we shall describe under the head of Inscriptions.

The slabs relating to sieges of towns or battles are very curious, and present excellent specimens of the later period of Assyrian art.

The first is a siege of a town or castle containing three tiers of embattled walls, from which warriors are seen discharging arrows at an enemy who are attacking them from without. Against the outer wall of the building to the right is an inclined plane, probably a sort of agger, or mound, on which stands a battering-ram, with a covering to protect the besieging force. Figures are represented falling from the walls, and two dead men lie below the outer wall.

The second and third slabs represent a city which has been taken, two battering-rams standing idle against its walls. Without the walls are two carts, each containing three female figures, and drawn by two bullocks, which are apparently leaving the city. In the distance are eunuchs driving away the spoil; another takes an inventory of the herds. The fourth and fifth are scenes from sieges, both considerably injured. On the first are two warriors standing and discharging arrows, with representations of a lake, three trees, and a portion of the upper bastion of some fortified building. On the second is a battering-ram on a wattled agger, the point of which has been forced into the wall; three archers standing behind, and three impaled prisoners in the distance. Below the agger are two dead bodies. On the sixth slab is an eunuch bringing in four prisoners, two and two, whose arms have been tied behind them.

The seventh slab, which has been much mutilated, and on the left side is so much injured as to be almost unintelligible, represents two horsemen pursuing a third figure, who is on a camel, and is apparently asking mercy. On the plain are extended three dead men. On slabs eight and nine are respectively a man, driving before him flocks of sheep and goats, and a female followed by five camels.

The decorations of this building, like those of the S.W. Palace, are without doubt taken from some other building; and the excellence of the workmanship of some of the slabs proves beyond a question that they originally belonged, if not to the N.W. Palace, at least to the period when that edifice was constructed. In almost all cases the inscriptions which once were under or over the slabs have been cut off, so as to render it impossible to determine with certainty whence they came.

The slab containing the pursuit of the enemy on a camel appears to us to be of inferior and later workmanship; but it is possible that the corroded state of the surface of this slab has led to its present appearance of inferiority.

S.W. PALACE.

The portions of Mr. Layard's discoveries in the S.W. palace are at present confined to two slabs, both much mutilated, and two fragments. These two slabs have a considerable similarity, and apparently refer to the same event. On the first are two horsemen, in peaked helmets, charging a third, who is flying from them; the first pursuer appears to have driven his spear through the enemy in front of him, who is falling from his horse. Behind the horseman is a vulture with the entrails of the slain in its beak. This slab has been much injured, and the edges have been cut off apparently to make it fit into another building, for which it was not originally adapted. The marks of the defacing chisel are very apparent on the left hand side of it. The second slab represents a similar scene of an enemy

on horseback pursued by two Assyrian horsemen. Like the preceding, a considerable portion of this slab has been cut off. The helmets the pursued enemy wear are peculiar, and unlike those worn by the Assyrians; they have considerable resemblance to the Greek crested helmet. The two fragments are, first, a bearded head wearing a singular shaped and horned cap; and a bust of a figure wearing a close fitting woollen-cap, and holding up both hands with the fists doubled. The attitude of this figure is almost identical with that of the right hand man on the monkey-slab, and the head dress of the two figures is precisely the same. The material in which this fragment is wrought is quite peculiar, and unlike that of any other slab in the collection. As we have already stated, the S. W. Palace appears to have been made up from the ruins of previous buildings, and, though we cannot in all cases be sure to what edifice these slabs and fragments belong, we think that there can be no doubt of the correctness of Mr. Layard's theory of the origin of that building.

Inscriptions.

The inscriptions preserved in the Nimrúd Rooms consist of two slabs of alabaster, engraven on both sides, and found under winged human-headed lions at one of the entrances to Ch. B. of the N. W. Palace; a large slab which served as a pavement at the same entrance, and the Obelisk which was found in the Central mound. Mr. Layard gives an interesting account of the discovery of the Obelisk, which shows how fortuitous was much of the success which attended his exertions. He states, that, after excavating for some time, and finding nothing to reward him for his labours, he dug a trench fifty feet long into the heart of the centre of the mound, but with equally little profit: and that he was on the point of ordering the work to be stopped and the hands transferred to some other place, when the projecting corner of a piece of black marble was uncovered, lying on the very edge of the trench. This corner was part of an Obelisk about seven feet in height, and was lying on its side about ten feet below the surface. It was flat at the top and cut into three gradines. It was sculptured on the four sides, and there were in all twenty small bas-reliefs, and above, below, and between them was carved an inscription 210 lines in length. The whole was in excellent preservation, very few characters of the inscription being deficient; and the figures were as sharp and well defined as if they had been carved but a few days before. The King is there represented, followed by his attendants;

a prisoner is at his feet, and his vizir and eunuchs are introducing men leading various animals, and carrying vases and other objects of tribute on their shoulders, or in their hands. The animals are, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the Bactrian or two-humped camel, the wild bull, the lion, a stag, and various kinds of monkeys. Among the objects carried by the tribute-bearers may perhaps be distinguished the tusks of the elephant, shawls, and bundles of precious wood. From the character of the bas-reliefs, it was natural to conclude, when it was first discovered, that this monument referred to the conquest of India, or of some country far to the East of Assyria; an expectation, however, which has not been confirmed by the interpretation of the inscriptions upon it. Mr. Layard almost imme