The whole country from Bagdad to Hillah is extremely flat and barren, and in most parts liable, from its lowness, to the inundations of the two rivers. Cultivation is entirely confined to the banks of the river, except a little above Hillah, where it may extend a couple of miles inland, but that only during the season the river swells; and those splendid accounts of the Babylonian lands yielding crops of grain two and three hundredfold, compared with the modern face of the country, afford a remarkable proof of the singular desolation to which it has been subjected; for so wretchedly provided are the present inhabitants of a village about twenty-five miles before you reach Hillab, with that necessary article of life, water, that they have not at any period of the year a single blade of vegetation in the vicinity of their huts, aud are obliged to bring from the distance of some miles the water which they use for drinking. These people are induced to remain in their preseut miserable habitation from their being situated midway between two caravanserais, from which circumstance they gain their livelihood by selling corn, flour, dates, cattle, and asses to the caravans that pass through their village; and supply themselves and others with the coarse garments worn by the common people, made of the wool and hair of their flocks which graze on the banks of the rivers. But it is proper after this account to add, that there are villages on the road, be sides three caravanserais, at which travellers can be supplied with provisions and water; and that there cannot be a doubt that, if proper means were taken, the country could with ease be brought to a high state of cultivation, as the decayed banks of very large water-courses are seen in every direction, and particularly that leading from the Tigris to the Euphrates, which could, if kept in repair, disperse the waters of the two rivers over the lands of Babylonia, and admit the whole face of the country to be irrigated during the greatest part of the year.

As early the next morning after my ar rival as circumstances would admit, I hired horses, for my own were entirely incapable of any present exertion from fatigue; I mounted, and spent eight hours of that day in riding to, and viewing, a mound of rubbish on the right bank to the south-west of Hillah, distant about seven miles. It had been seen, but not visited, by Niebuhr; he calls it a watchtower; no other traveller even mentions it. It is an immense mass, with a wall nine feet thick rising out of the centre of it to the height of sixty feet; its top is very considerably higher than that of Aggurkuf or Nimrod's tower, near Bagdad, and of much greater extent in the circle at the base. The materials used here are

red and white furnace-baked and sunburnt bricks, of the size mentioned by travellers as found throughout all Babylonish buildings, about one foot square and from three to four inches thick. The wall before mentioned is of solid masonry, the bricks being furnace-baked, of a yellowish white colour, and cemented with a thin layer of coarse lime and sand, but no reeds or bitumen were to be fouud in any part of it. That the wall was quite solid there can be no doubt, as I saw through parts of it by means of the holes which had not been filled up when the scaffolding had been taken away. Immediately about this, and only on the top of the mound, were many masses heaped upon each other, of six and eight feet diameter, of irregular forms, resembling huge fragments of misshapen rock, above and below; some of dark blue-colour, others a mixture of blue and yellow beautifully veined. They were extremely hard, and resisted iron in the same manner as any very hard stone would do. I examined these curious masses with much attention, and was at one time inclined to be of opinion, from appearances which struck me as resembling the very porous nature of the bricks, that they were consolidated pieces of fallen brick masonry. idea, however, was soon dissipated, when I was unable to discover the regular layers of cement; as these masses were shapeless, and so huge as to make me think they never could have possessed any regular form, I was at a loss what to attribute them to, or even to conjecture how they could have been procured, as there is not a particle of stone in this country, nor did I see or hear of any building in the neighbourhood that could have admitted of my concluding that such immense fragments had ever composed part of a structure. The bricks with inscriptions upon them are most generally found here by the Arabs, who are constantly employed in digging for them to build the houses at Hillah.

This

Near this mound is another, not so high but rather more extensive, divided completely from the former by a space of one hundred and twenty paces, and having no kind of building standing on it except a small conical one resembling Zobeide's tomb at Bagdad, and of the same workmanship. Bricks, however, are dug out of this place in great quantities for buildings, but I understand none with impressions of characters on them.

Between these two mounds and the Euphrates there are no others of any description; a fact of which I am entirely satisfied from the result of my inquiries, as also from the particular attention with which I observed the face of the country while passing over it, and during the time I was on the top of the mound. About a

mile and half from Hillah, on the eastern side of the Euphrates, is a mound of some length, close along the bank of the river, but possessing no particular feature to render it remarkable. About two miles further on in an easterly direction is another more extensive, from which furnace-baked bricks are procured in large quantities for modern houses, but none of the sun-burnt kind, or any with inscriptions. At one part of it I saw a wall of red brick even with the surface of the earth, and reaching to the depth of thirty feet in the mound, the surrounding rubbish having been excavated for the purpose of getting at it; at another not far distant, I saw the remains of a house which must have been of extensive dimensions; some of its walls were still in great preservation ten feet above the surface of the ground, and at other sides of it their foundation had not been reached at the depth of forty-five feet. These walls were six feet eight inches thick, and built entirely of the finest kind of furnacebaked yellowish bricks, and a very thin lime and sand cement. There was not the most distant reason to imagine that reeds and bitumen had been used in the construction of any of the buildings in any part of this mound.

Our author now proceeds to describe the scite and appearance of the famous Tower of Belus, with his judicious remarks on the extent and dimensions of these venerable remains of antiquity compared with former histories and later accounts.

Proceeding about half a mile further up the eastern bank of the Euphrates, what has been supposed to be Belus's tower presents itself, about a quarter of a mile removed from the edge of the river. It is described by Herodotus, as understood by Major Rennell, as a tower of five hundred feet in the base, and as many in height. These dimensions, however, appear so disproportionate, that Major RenBell, though he does not absolutely deny the fact, yet hesitates in admitting it :he gives an excellent comparative plan of it and the great pyramid at Memphis.

Major Rennell says that Herodotus must have meant to write "breadth and length," and not "breadth and height." in which case he coincides with Strabo; leaving us to imagine it a pyramid consisting of eight stories, in which form and height it resembles the great pyramid at Memphis, except being about twenty feet higher. In Alexander's time the Greeks who mention this sepulchre had also seen the pyramids of Egypt, but no comparisons are drawn by them of either their bulk or height; Strabo asserts that the sides of Belus's temple were of burnt bricks.

Della Valle, in his travels in 1616, describes this mound, or Belus's tower, as a heterogeneous mass, of which he could determine nothing as to its original state, and that it measured 1134 paces, or 2700 feet in circumference: he however does not mention what shape it had. I must acknowledge that on reaching it I was agreeably surprised in finding it possess a greater regularity of form than I had been led to suppose :-it was almost a perfect square, retaining its faces (excepting the south one) quite regular and perceptible. Its circuit (ten feet within the outer edge of the rubbish) was nine hundred paces, or, at two feet and a half per pace, 2250 feet. I then paced the east and south faces at the top, and found the former one hundred and eighty, and the latter one hundred and ninety paces.* The southwest angle was by much the loftiest part of the whole. Major Rennell's modern authorities omit mentioning of what kind of materials they found the mound composed; but it appeared clear that the outer face or coating had been formed of red furnace-baked bricks, cemented with lime and sand; and the interior mass of sun-burnt ones, with layers of reeds and bitumen for their adhesion at every course. What I form this opinion from is, that the foot of each of the faces is strewed with great quantities of the red tricks, and that on ascending to the top of the mound, and throughout the whole body of it, nothing but the clay sun-burnt

brick is to be found. The bricks of this place are much larger, coarser, and thicker than the others that I had seen; they have no inscriptions on them, and on account of their softness are not in much request amongst the Arabs for building. I found the sides exactly in the same state as they are described by the older travellers who saw them many years since, very steep and rugged in some parts and moderately sloping in others, with deep ravines evidently formed by currents of rain; but could not discover any caverns ing a diligent search; nor do I agree with in any part of this mound, notwithstand

Della Valle, that there are a number of smaller mounds of fifty and sixty paces When I large surrounding this mass.

thus deny the assertion of Della Valle, it may be expected that I should afford some probable evidence of my own observation being correct. All travellers who had ever visited this place, M. Beauchamp excepted, acknowledge they were obliged to do it in a very hurried manner, from shortness of time and a fear of the Arabs. On the contrary, I was not under the slightest apprehension of any mischief, nor was I pushed for time, being perfectly at my ease, and having full leisure to examine the whole of it, which I did with *Medium 660 feet cach face.

great attention; and on reading Major Rennell's remarks on this part of his account while seated on the top of the tower, I surveyed the whole country in the vicinity, but could not perceive even a single hillock, or the least vestige of a mound, except the one described just before at the distance of about half a mile, and the double banks of a deep water-course per pendicular to the bank of the river, and running parallel to the south-west face of the square, The height of the tower, if we may judge from the view of objects in the surrounding country, appears very great, as a man or horse seen from its summit is considerably diminished in appearance. This is the only place at which I found reeds and bitumen used as a cement (except at Aggurkeef near Bagdad), where it is seen at the sixth, seventh, and eighth layer of bricks, but here at every course without the least variation. Beauchamp, who seems to have visited these ruins with greater security and frequency than any preceding or subsequent traveller, is in consequence more full, and in my opinion more correct, than Della Valle: he, however, mentions some things which I was unable after a diligent search to verify; but he does not give the statement as the result of personal inspection, but as information received from the natives.

These most interesting descriptions by our traveller, whilst they inform us of what he saw, will doubtless have great future importance in guiding travellers to the place of these famous ruins of the east; and he shews the way to them identically. He observes, "that the ruins of the mounds lie on the left, a short distance off the direct road from Hillah; and a traveller merely sees Belus's tower as he rides along, and must turn out of his way if he wishes to examine it, which will occupy a longer time than travellers generally have leisure for, as appears from their own acknowledgments, not to notice their dread of being surprised by the wandering Arabs."

As to the other travellers who have visited this celebrated spot, it would be carrying complaisance too far to place implicit confidence on their relations, as they appear merely to have passed over the ground, and sometimes not even to know that they were amidst the ruins, until their guides told them it was Babel they were riding over. They of course had no time to examine the heaps of rubbish. Other travellers visited only one bank of the Euphrates, not caring to risk meeting with the Arabs while gratifying their curiosity on the other. From Belus's tower (which is four miles from Hillah in a di

rect line) there are no more mounds ou the bank of the river for the distance of twelve miles above the tower, when you are shown a small heap of white and red furnace-baked bricks, called by the Arabs the Hummum or bath. I strongly suspect this to be the remains of a modern building, from the size, colour, and general appearance of the bricks, which in my opinion bear not the slightest resemblance to those I had previously seen. This spot I should imagine had not been visited by any traveller, as it lies at a great distance from the main road from Hillah to Bagdad; indeed no one mentions ever having seen it.

These are all the mounds, or ruins as they are called, of Babylon, that are generally shown to travellers under the general denomination of Babel. I however discovered, after much inquiry, that there were some heaps on the right bank, at the distance of some miles from Hillah, between the village of Karakoolee and the river. I accordingly rode to them, and perceived that for the space of about half a mile square the country was covered with fragments of different kinds of bricks, but none of them led me to conclude that they were of the same size and composition as those found either at Belus's tower or the mound mentioned to be situated between it and Hillah; I therefore returned, somewhat disappointed.

Having now gratified my curiosity in examining every mound or spot described either by Rennell, or pointed out by the natives as belonging to Babel, I next began to search for the remains of the ditch and city-wall that had encompassed Babylon, which was the principal object of my journey, and still remained to be accomplished. Neither of these have been seen by any moderu travellers, nor do they give any intimation that they had even looked for them. All my inquiries amongst the Arabs on this subject completely failed in producing the smallest effect. Desirous, however, of verifying the conjectures of Major Rennell, I commenced my search first by riding five miles down the stream, and next by following the windings of the river sixteen miles to the northward from Hillah, on the eastern side of the river. The western I ranged exactly in the same manner, and discovered not the least appearance or trace of any deep excavation running in a line, or the remains of any rubbish or mounds that could possibly lead to a conclusion that either a ditch or wall had existed within the range of twenty-one miles.

The verification of the fulfilment of ancient prophecy becomes more eminently conspicuous in these curious remarks respecting the ruins of Babylon, its mounds and its heaps without iuhabitant-Babylon shall become heaps." Jer. ch. 51. 37. Edit,

On the western hank, in returning home, I left the winding of the river and proceeded in a straight line from the village of Karakoolee, fifteen miles to the northward and westward of Hillah, to the latter place. The next day I rode in a perpendicular direction from the river at Belus's tower, six miles east and as many west; so that within a space of twentyone miles in length along the banks of the Euphrates, and twelve miles across it in breadth, I was unable to perceive any thing that could admit of my imagining that either a wall or ditch had existed within this extensive area. This leads, however, only to this conclusion ;-that if any remains do exist, the walls must have been of greater circumference than is allowed by modern geographers. I may possibly have been deceived, but I spared no pains to prevent it; I never was employed in riding and walking less than eight hours a day for six successive days, and upwards of twelve on the seventh.

That part of the Euphrates which lies between Karakoolee and Hillah, a distance of upwards of sixteen miles, winds extremely, and particularly where it passes Belus's tower a quarter of a mile distant. Arguing from the well established fact that streams on so soft a bottom and level a surface in the course of years change their beds, we may, without violating probability, presume that the Euphrates had anciently flowed between Belus's tower and the other large mound lying about three-quarters of a mile to the west of it, mentioned in this account as the one with the walls of a large house still standing in it, and the decayed tree; for where the remains of the palace could have been situated, if not at this mound, I am at a loss to conjecture. But if we admit that the river may have changed its course from what it held in those ancient times, and that it now flows to the westward of both the palace and the tower, instead of passing between them as it is said to have done, the positions of the palace and tower are then exactly marked by these two mounds; for, with the exception of Niebuhr's watch-tower, mentioned in my first day's excursion, there is not a single mound on the western bank to be found, nor do the natives ever procure any bricks from that side, though the principal part of the town of Hillah is situated on it. If this conjecture be admissible, then the ancients and moderns agree in their accounts of this far-famed city with regard to the site of its two principal edifices; but if it be rejected as improbable, we still remain as much in the dark as ever, when we come to look for the remains of the palace. I shall, however, lay no stress upon what I have here advanced, but only offer it as a conjecture that struck me as probable, from the modern appearances of

the river, ruins, and country in their vicinity at the time I was examining them.

The author having taken his survey in every thing worthy of notice, concludes with equally important observations on the probable dimensions of the Babylonian tower and the several kinds of bricks found; and lastly notices the navigation of the country.

Della Valle and Beauchamp make the square of the tower of Belus from six hundred and forty to six hundred and sixty feet. I paced the circumference, and found the four faces amount to nine hundred paces, or 2,250 feet: the slope as you descend the face is gradual, and generally easy. We might not have measured it exactly at the same place; but the difference which appears between us is immaterial, as a laspse of two centuries may in all probability have occasioned considerable alterations. The altitude of the south-west angle, which is the loftiest part of the whole, is computed at two hundred feet. I had no means of ascertaining the truth of this, but should imagine it is fully that height. Della Valle mentious two kinds of bricks, furnacebaked and sun-dried; and Beauchamp met with only the former. I saw both. these, and another sort of deep red, apparently high baked, the colour of an English brick. This latter is in greatest abundance at Niebuhr's watch-tower, and generally has an inscription on it, but in a small character: I could not procure any of this kind whole, they were always in small pieces. The tower of Belus, the mound opposite to it, and the watchtower, had these two kinds used in their construction; but the large clay sun-dried brick was to be found only at Belus's tower, the whole interior body of which was composed of it; and the employment of reeds and bitumen as a cement appears to have been but seldom introduced in other parts of the ruins, except at the one denominated the Tower of Belus, where it was universally seen as the cement for the sun-dried brick, and at every course; whereas at Aggurkeef near Bagdad, which is certainly a Babylonish building, it is found at every sixth, seventh, and eighth course, though the same sort of brick is used in the building. The reeds and bitumen were evidently but seldom used with the furnace-baked, which I observed most generally cemented with a thin layer of lime and sand. The dimensions of the bricks were clay sundried, four inches seven-tenths thick, seventeen inches and a half broad; furnacebaked, three inches thick, twelve inches broad, and generally weighed thirty-one pounds.

The Euphrates as far as Korna, which