diately packed the Obelisk up and despatched it on a raft to Baghdad, whence, after it had been under the care of Colonel Rawlinson for some time, it has safely come to England. Within the last year Colonel Rawlinson has published a sketch of his interpretation of the Obelisk inscription in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society; premising, however, that the reading so given is not to be considered in the light of a critical interpretation, but rather as giving a general idea of the nature of Assyrian records. From this essay it appears, that the Inscription on the Obelisk is the personal annals of the reign of Temenbar II., the son of Sardanapalus, for a period of thirty-one years, commencing with an invocation to the Gods to protect the Assyrian Empire, and proceeding to narrate the events year by year whereby this king's reign was distinguished. The Central Palace, where it was discovered, was built by this monarch. A great many curious things are noticeable in this inscription, which we have not time and space to discuss here. Those who wish to follow out the subject more fully, will find all that is yet made out of this inscription in "A Commentary on the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Babylonia and Assyria, by Major H. C. Rawlinson, C.B., Lond., 8vo. 1850," the substance of two lectures delivered before the Asiatic Society in the spring of last year.

Besides the larger inscriptions, there are five short Epigraphs attached to the five series of figures, containing a sort of register of the tribute sent in by five different nations to the Assyrian King: Colonel Rawlinson, however, adds that they do not, as might have been expected, follow the series of offerings as they are represented in the sculpture with any approach to exactitude.

The first Epigraph records the receipt of tribute from Shehuá, of Ladsán, a country which joined Armenia, and is possibly connected with Lazistán. The second line of offerings are said to have been sent by Yahua, son of Hubiri, a prince who is not mentioned in the annals, and of whose country we are ignorant. The third is the tribute of a country called Misr, and which there is every reason to suppose indicates Egypt. Colonel Rawlinson conjectures from them that since Misr is not mentioned in the Obelisk Annals, it was in subjection to Assyria, during the whole of the reign of Temenbar II. The fourth tribute is that of Sut-pal-adan, of the country of the Shekhi, probably a Babylonian or Elymæan Prince, who is not otherwise mentioned. The fifth is that of Barberanda, the Shetina, a Syrian tribe, probably the same as the Sharutana of the Hieroglyphics. Colonel Rawlinson states that he cannot at present identify the various articles which are named in the Epigraphs; that the mention of gold and silver, pearls and gems, ebony and ivory, may be made

out with more or less certainty, but that the nature of many of the other offerings cannot even be conjectured.

With regard to the animals, that horses and camels may be identified, the latter being described as "beasts of the desert with the double back;" but that the more remarkable ones, the elephant, wild bull, unicorn or rhinoceros, and the monkeys or baboons, are not specified unless they are included under the category of " from the river of Arki and the country beyond the sea.”

KHORSABÁD.

rare animals

Khorsabád was, as we have stated, the scene of the successful labours of M. Botta, whose splendid collection of Assyrian antiquities procured from that place, is among the most valuable of the collections in the Louvre at Paris. The Museum possesses a considerable number of specimens from this ruin, some of which were the earliest results of Assyrian excavation which reached England. The finest slabs are, without doubt, those which were procured by Colonel Rawlinson, and which came to England towards the close of the last year, in the same ship which conveyed the lion and the bull. These two slabs were originally each carved on two separate blocks of stone, and afterwards united together. They represent a gigantic winged human figure, more than thirteen feet in height, clad in the customary Assyrian dress, and wearing a conical cap surmounted by two horns on each side of it. The right hand is raised and holds the fir-cone, the left carries a basket, symbolical emblems of common occurrence on the Assyrian sculptures, but of which no satisfactory explanation has, as we think, yet been offered. The great peculiarity of these slabs is the mode of representation which has been adopted by the artist. It will be observed that the figures are walking in the directions, respectively, of the right and left hand; but that, at the same time, the heads and bodies down to the knees are drawn in full to the spectator, the eyes of the figures looking directly out of the picture. In the ancient building, where they were discovered, these figures stood each facing one of the gigantic human-headed bulls, to whom they were apparently offering the fir-cones they hold in their right hands.

Besides these newly arrived specimens of the later Assyrian art of Khorsabád, the Museum possesses several slabs more or less injured, procured by Mr. Hector, a gentleman resident at Mosul, from the same place. These are, a large figure of the King standing to the right, and resting his right hand on a long staff, while his left reposes on his sword handle, the end of that weapon being richly ornamented by lions' heads placed back to back, and the original

ornament having probably been executed in silver or gold. He is bearded, and wears the usual Royal head dress, a square-topped cap with a long fillet which falls down his back, and bears traces of original red paint. The King wears a very rich robe, which extends to his feet, and sandals, still, like the fillet, retaining evident marks of paint. To the left and fronting the King stands a beautiful figure, raising his open right hand, as though addressing him; his left rests on the hilt of a plain and straight sword. His dress is less rich than that of the King, but he wears a fillet round his uncovered head. The next figure is that of an eunuch standing to the left, with his hands crossed in the Oriental attitude of attention; his dress is plain, and he has no fillet, but a sword similar to that of the last figure. Besides these, the most important of the Khorsabád collection, are some smaller pieces of sculpture; one, an archer with a bent bow in his left and two arrows in his right hand; a man carrying what is probably a wine-skin on his shoulders; two figures facing different ways, and carrying in their right hands a flower resembling the poppy; three fragments containing horses' heads, and eleven detached heads, five of them bearded, the rest those of eunuchs. All these were obtained for the Museum by Mr. Hector, and were the earliest Assyrian remains deposited in the National Collection. There is also a remarkable fragment procured by Mr. Layard, and originally one of the Khorsabád slabs. It is that of the head,

shoulders, and right arm of a Man leading Two Horses, the heads and necks of which alone have been preserved. The heads of the horses have a very rich ornament, not unlike that which we are in the habit of placing upon our funeral horses. This fragment, from the depth of its cuttings and the beauty of its execution, is one of the most effective of the Assyrian sculptures.

KOYUNJIK.

The Museum at present possesses only three slabs from these ruins, but we may hope that many more relics of this once magnificent pile of buildings may be procured by Mr. Layard, ere he leaves the country. The first and second form one continuous subject, which Mr. Layard has considered to represent the passage of troops through a mountain country; we, however, are inclined to believe that jungle, or copse, is intended by this singular representation. It will be observed that a tree or plant with long flat leaves is pourtrayed on the upper portion of the slab; this plant has a very great resemblance to the banana, which only grows in low and marshy districts. Four warriors are represented on the slabs, on foot and leading two horses. The inscription bears the name of Khorsabád. The third slab is an attack upon some place by slingers. It is curious that another subject, apparently almost identical with that at present on this slab, has formerly been sculptured upon it, and that for some reason it has been erased, and the present substituted. This slab has been once considerably larger, and has been shortened, to the injury of its sculptures, probably to fit some other building.

KALAH SHERGHÁT.

Kalah Sherghát, in the Desert, is one of the most celebrated ruins in Assyria, and like Nimrúd, Koyunjik, and other Assyrian sites, is a large square mound surmounted at one end by a cone or pyramid. Long lines of smaller mounds enclose a quadrangle, which may perhaps have been once occupied by houses, or unimportant buildings. At this place Mr. Layard has also opened trenches; but with the exception of the figure we are about to describe, he has found little there as yet to reward his labours. Subsequent excavations have not yielded anything of importance; there were indeed many walls, but probably recent ones, about the ruins; and there were tombs and sarcophagi above the walls, as at Nimrúd. As the platform in which the building, whatever it was, must have stood, was not reached, Mr. Layard considered that the ruins had not been satisfactorily exposed. The Seated Figure in black basalt is much mutilated. The head and

hands have been destroyed, and the character therefore of the countenance cannot now be determined. The square stool on which the figure sits is covered on three sides with Cuneiform character. Unlike all the other sculptures as yet discovered in Assyria, this figure is full, and not in relief. Part of the beard is still preserved; the hands appear to have rested on the knees, and a long robe, fringed with tassels, to have reached to the ankles. There is a great resemblance between the character of this, the only Assyrian statue yet discovered, and the Egyptian style of workmanship.