scarcely a month ago you came over the Zab on purpose to appropriate the little property I am accustomed to carry about me." "Wallah, Bey," he replied, " you say true, we are friends; but listen: the Arabs either sit down and serve his Majesty the Sultan, or they eat from others, as others would cat from them. Now my tribe are of the Zobeide, and were brought here many years ago by the Pashas of the Abd-el-Jelleel. These lands were given us in return for the services we rendered the Turks in keeping back the Tai and the Shammar, who crossed the rivers to plunder the villages. All the great men of the Abou Salman perished in encounters with the Bedouin, and Injeh Bairakdar, Mohammed Pasha, upon whom God has had mercy, acknowledged our fidelity and treated us with honour. When that blind dog, the son of the Cretan, may curses fall upon him! came to Mosul, I waited upon him, as it is usual for the Sheikh; what did he do? Did he give me the cloak of honour? No; he put me, an Arab of the tribe of Zobeide, a tribe which had fought with the Prophet, into the public stocks. For forty days my heart melted away in a damp cell, and I was exposed to every variety of torture. Look at these hairs," continued he, lifting up his turban," they turned white in that time, and I must now shave my beard, a shame amongst the Arabs. I was released at last; but how did I return to the tribe ?—a beggar, unable to kill a sheep for my guests. He took my mares, my flocks, and my camels, as the price of

*The former hereditary governors of Mosul.

my liberty. Now tell me, O Bey, in the name of God, if the Osmanlis have eaten from me and my guests, shall I not eat from them and theirs?"

The fate of Abd-ur-rahman had been such as he described it; and so had fared several chiefs of the desert and of the mountains. It was not surprising that these men, proud of their origin and accustomed to the independence of a wandering life, had revenged themselves upon the unfortunate inhabitants of the villages, who had no less cause to complain than themselves. However, the Sheikh promised to abstain from plunder for the future, and to present himself to Ismail Pasha, of whose conciliatory conduct he had already heard.

It was nearly the middle of February before I thought it prudent to make fresh experiments among the ruins. To avoid notice I only employed a few men, and confined myself to the examination of such parts of the mound as appeared to contain buildings. A trench was first opened at right angles to the centre of wall k (plan 2.), and we speedily found the wall 7. All the slabs were sculptured, and unin1. jured by fire; but unfortunately had been half destroyed by long exposure to the atmosphere. Three consecutive slabs were occupied by the same subject; others were placed without regularity, portions of a figure, which should have been continued on an adjoining stone, being wanting. It was evident from the costume, the ornaments, and the nature of the relief, that these sculptures did not belong either to the same building, or to the same period as those previously dis

covered. I recognised in them the style of Khorsabad, and in the inscriptions particular forms in the character, which were used in the inscriptions of that monument. Still the slabs were not "in situ :" they had been brought from elsewhere, and I was even more perplexed than I had hitherto been.

The most perfect of the bas-reliefs (No. 1.) was in many respects interesting. It represented a king, distinguished by his high conical tiara, standing over a prostrate warrior; his right hand elevated, and the left supported by a bow. The figure at his feet, probably a captive enemy or rebel, wore a pointed cap, somewhat similar in form to that already described. I was, from this circumstance, at first inclined to believe that the sculpture represented the conquest of the original founders of Nimroud, by a new race, perhaps the overthrow of the first by the second Assyrian dynasty; but I was subsequently led to abandon the conjecture. An eunuch holds a fly flapper or fan over the head of the king, who appears to be conversing or performing some ceremony with a figure standing in front of him; probably his vizir or minister.* Behind this personage, —a simple -are two attendants, the first

who differs from the King by his head-dress, fillet round the temple,

* I shall in future always designate this figure, which frequently occurs in the Assyrian bas reliefs, the King's Vizir or Minister. It has been conjectured that the person represented is a friendly or tributary monarch, but as he often occurs amongst the attendants, aiding the king in his battles, or waiting upon him at the celebration of religious ceremonies, with his hands crossed in front, as is still the fashion in the East with dependants, it appears more probable that he was his adviser or some high officer of the court.

an eunuch, the second a bearded figure, half of which was continued on the adjoining slab. This bas-relief was separated from a second above, by a band of inscriptions; the upper sculpture was almost totally destroyed, and I could with difficulty trace upon it the forms of horses, and horsemen. A wounded figure beneath the horses wore a helmet with a curved crest, resembling the Greek. These two subjects were continued on either side, but the slabs were broken off near the bottom, and the feet of a row of figures, probably other attendants, standing behind the king and his minister, could only be distinguished.

Another slab in this wall (No. 3.) was occupied, with the exception of the prisoner, by figures resembling those on the slab just described. The king, however, held his bow horizontally, and his attendant eunuch was carrying his arms-a second bow, the mace, and a quiver. All these figures were about three feet eight inches in height, the dimensions of those before discovered being somewhat smaller.

The rest of the wall, which had completely disappeared in some places, had been composed of gigantic winged figures, sculptured in low relief. They were almost entirely defaced.

Several trenches carried to the west of wall 1 and at right angles with it, led me to walls s and t. The sculptured slabs, of which they were built, were not better preserved than others in this part of the mound. I could only distinguish the lower gigantic figures; some had been purposely defaced by a sharp instrument; others, from long exposure,

part of

had been worn almost smooth. Inscriptions were carried across the slabs over the drapery, but were interrupted when a naked limb occurred, and resumed beyond it. Such is generally the case when, as in the older palace of Nimroud, inscriptions are engraved over a figure.

These experiments were sufficient to prove that the building I was exploring had not been entirely destroyed by fire, but had been partly exposed to gradual decay. No sculptures had hitherto been discovered in a perfect state of preservation, and only one or two could bear removal. I determined, therefore, to abandon this corner, and to resume excavations near the chamber first opened *, where the slabs were uninjured. The workmen were directed to dig behind the small lions, which appeared to form an entrance, and to be connected with other walls. After removing much earth, a few unsculptured slabs were discovered, fallen from their places, and broken in many pieces. The sides of the room of which they had originally formed part could not be traced.

As these ruins occurred on the edge of the mound, it was probable that they had been more exposed than the rest, and consequently had sustained more injury than other parts of the building. As there was a ravine running far into the mound, apparently formed by the winter rains, I determined to open a trench in the centre of it. In two days the workmen reached the top of a slab, which appeared to be both well preserved, and to be still standing in its original posi† Entrance to chamber B B.

* Chamber A, plan 3.