numbers were pretty equal. A fight ensued, in which two men on the side of the enemy, and one of the Jebour, were killed; but the Aneyza were defeated, and Abd'rubbou carried off, in triumph, a couple of mares.

A few days after my return to Nimroud, the Jebour were compelled, from want of pasturage, to leave the neighborhood of Kalah Sherghat. The whole desert, as well as the jungle on the banks of the river, which generally supplied, even in the driest seasons, a little grass to the flocks, was dried up. Abd'rubbou, with his tribe, moved to the north. A few of his people came to Nimroud to cultivate millet; but the Sheikh himself, with the greater part of his followers, left the district of Mosul altogether, and migrated to the sources of the Khabour, and to the Nisibin branch of that river-the ancient Mygdonius. The desert to the south of the town was now only frequented by wandering parties of plunderers, and the position of my workmen at Kalah Sherghat became daily more insecure. After they had been once or twice exposed to molestation from the Aneyza, and the Obeid, I found it necessary to withdraw them-had I not, they would probably have run away of themselves. I renounced the further examination of these ruins with regret, as they had not been properly explored; and I have little doubt, from the fragments discovered, that many objects of interest, if not sculptured slabs, exist in the mound.

Although I was unable, at this time, to remove the sitting figure, I have, since my return to England, at the desire of the Trustees of the British Museum, sent orders for its transport to Baghdad. This has been accomplished under the directions of Mr. Ross. It will, I trust, be ere long added to the Assy rian remains now in the national collection. Although it has unfortunately suffered greatly from long exposure, it is of considerable interest, as being the only specimen, hitherto discovred, of an entire Assyrian figure.

CHAPTER XIII.

ASSYRIA PROPER, ike Babylonia, owed its ancient fertility as much to the system of artificial irrigation, so extensively and successfully adopted by the inhabitants of the country, as to the rains which fell during the winter and early spring. The Tigris and Euphrates, unlike the Nile, did not overflow their banks, and deposit a rich manure on the face of the land. They rose sufficiently at the time of the melting of the snows in the Armenian hills, to fill the numerous canals led from them into the adjacent country; but their beds were generally so deep, or their banks so high, that when the stream returned to its usual level, water could only be raised by artificial means.

The great canals dug in the most prosperous period of the Assyrian Empire, and used for many centuries by the inhabitants of the country-probably even after the Arab invasionhave long since been choked up, and are now useless. When the waters of the rivers are high, it is still only by the labor of man that they can be led into the fields. I have already described the rude wheels constructed along the banks of the Tig's Even these are scarce. The government, or rather thecal authorities, levy a considerable tax upon machines for irrigation, and the simple buckets of the Arabs become in many cases the source of exaction or oppression. Few are consequently bold enough to make use of them. The land, therefore, near the rivers, as well as that in the interior of the country out of the reach of the canals, is entirely dependent upon the rains for its fertility.

Such

Rain, amply sufficient to insure the most plentiful crops. generally falls during the winter; the grain, in the days of Herodotus, yielding two and even three hundred fold. Indeed, such is the richness of the soil of Assyria, that even a few heavy showers in the course of the year, at the time of sowing the seed, and when the corn is about a foot above the ground, are sufficient to insure a good harvest.* It frequently, however, happens that the season passess without rain. was the case this year. During the winter and spring, no water fell. The inhabitants of the villages, who had been induced to return by the improved administration and conciliatory measures of the late Pasha, had put their whole stock of wheat and barley into the ground. They now looked in despair upon the cloudless sky. I watched the young grass as it struggled to break through the parched earth; but it was burnt up almost at its birth. Sometimes a distant cloud hanging over the solitary hill of Arbela, or rising from the desert in the far west, led to hopes, and a few drops of rain gave rise to general rejoicings. The Arabs would then form a dance. and raise songs and shouts, the women joining with the shrill tahlehl. But disappointment always ensued. The clouds passed over, and the same pure blue sky was above us. Το me, the total absence of verdure in spring was particularly painful. For months my eye had not rested upon a green thing; and that unchanging yellow, barren waste, has a depressing effect upon the spirits. The Jaif, which the year before had been a flower-garden and had teemed with life. was now as naked and bare as a desert in the midst of summer. I had been looking forward to the return of the grass

The description of Herodotus agrees exactly with the present state of the country, and with the remains of canals still existing near the two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. The Assyrians," he says, "have but little rain; the lands, however, are fertilized, and the fruits of the earth nourished, by means of the river. This does not, like the Egyptian Nile, enrich the country by overflowing its banks, but is dispersed by manual labor, or by hydraulic engines. The Babylonian district is intersected by a number of canals. Of all countries which have come under my observation this is the most fruitful in corn." (lib. i. c. 193.)

to encamp outside the village, and had meditated many excursions to ancient ruins in the desert and the mountains; but I was doomed to disappointment like the rest.

The Pasha issued orders that Christians, as well as Mussulmans, should join in a general fast and in prayers. Supplications were offered up in the churches and the mosques. The Mohammedans held a kind of three days Ramazan, starving themselves during the day, and feasting during the night. The Christians abstained from meat for the same length of time. If a cloud were seen on the horizon the inhabitants of the villages, headed by their mullahs, would immediately walk into the open country to chant prayers and verses from the Koran. Sheikhs-crazy ascetics who wandered over the country, either half-clothed in the skins of lions or gazelles, or stark naked -burnt themselves with hot irons, and ran shouting about the streets of Mosul. Even a kind of necromancy was not neglected, and the Cadi and the Turkish authorities had recourse to all manner of mysterious incantations, which were pronounced to have been successful in other parts of the Sultan's dominions on similar occasions. A Dervish returning from Mecca, had fortunately brought with him a bottle of the holy water of Zemzem. He offered it, for a consideration, to the Pasha, declaring that when the sacred fluid was poured out in the great mosque, rain must necessarily follow. The experi. The Pasha paid the

ment had never been known to fail. money, some twenty purses, and emptied the bottle; but the results were not such as had been anticipated; and the dervish, when sought after to explain, was not to be found.

There was no rain, not even the prospect of a shower. A famine appeared to be inevitable. It was known, however, that there were abundant supplies of corn in the granaries of the principal families of Mosul; and the fact having been brought to the notice of the Pasha, he at once ordered the stores to be opened, and their contents to be offered for sale in the market at moderate prices. As usual, the orders were given to the very persons who were speculating upon the mis

eries of the poor and needy-to the cadi, the mufti, and the head people of the town. They proceeded to obey, with great zeal and punctuality, the orders of his Excellency; but somehow or another overlooked their own stores and those of their friends, and ransacked the houses of the rest of the inhabitants. In a few days, consequently, those who had saved up a little grain for their own immediate wants, were added to the number of the starving; and the necessities and misery of the town were increased.

The Bedouins, who are dependent upon the villages for supplies, now also began to feel the effects of the failure of the crops. As is generally the case in such times, they were preparing to make up for their sufferings by plundering the caravans of merchants, and the peaceable inhabitants of the districts within reach of the desert. Although early in the spring, the Shammar and other formidable tribes had not yet encamped in the vicinity of Mosul; still, casual plundering parties had made their appearance among the villages, and it was predicted that as soon as their tents were pitched nearer the town the country without the walls would be not only very unsafe, but almost uninhabitable.

These circumstances induced me to undertake the removal of the larger sculptures as early as possible. The dry season had enabled me to carry on the excavations without interruption. As no rain fell to loosen the earth above the ruins there was no occasion to prop up the sides of the trenches, or to cover the sculptures: considerable expense was thus saved. Had there been the usual violent storms, not only would the soil have continually fallen in and reburied the building, but the bas-reliefs would have been exposed to injury. A marsh would also have been formed round the base of the mound, completely cutting me off from the river, and impassable to any cart carrying the larger sculptures. My first plan, when anticipating the usual wet weather, was to wait, before moving the bas-reliefs, until the rain had completely ceased, and the low ground under the mound had been dried up. I