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The adjoining chamber was panelled with unsculptured slabs, and contained no object of particular interest.

One of the most remarkable discoveries was made in the centre of the mound, where, as I have already mentioned *, a pair of gigantic winged bulls appeared to form the entrance to a building. The inscriptions upon them contained a name, differing from that of the king of the N. W. palace. On digging further I found a brick, on which was a genealogy, the new name occurring first, as that of the son of the founder of the earlier edifice.

I dug round these sculptures, expecting to find the remains of walls, but there were no other traces of building. As the backs of the slabs were completely covered with inscriptions, in large and well-formed characters, it was possible that these bulls might originally have stood alone. Suspecting that there must have been other sculptures near them, I directed a deep trench to be opened, at right angles, behind the northern bull. After digging about ten feet, the workmen came upon a colossal winged figure in low relief, lying flat on the brick pavement. Beyond was a similar figure, still more gigantic in its proportions, being about fourteen feet high. The beard and part of the legs of a winged bull, in yellow limestone, were next found. The trench was carried in the same direction to the distance of fifty feet, but without any other result. I had business in Mosul, and was giving directions to the workmen to guide them during my absence. Standing on the edge of the hitherto unprofitable trench, I doubted whether I should carry it any further; but made up my mind at last not to abandon it until my return, which would be on the following day. I mounted my horse; but had scarcely left the mound when the corner of a monument in black marble was uncovered, which proved to be an obelisk, about six feet six inches in height, lying on its side, ten feet below the surface.

An Arab was sent after me without delay, to announce the discovery; and on my return I found, completely exposed to

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view, an obelisk terminated by three steps or gradines and flat at the top. I descended eagerly into the trench, and was immediately struck by the singular appearance, and evident antiquity, of the remarkable monument before me. We raised it

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On each side were between them was

five small bas-reliefs, and above, below, and carved an inscription 210 lines in length. The whole was in the best preservation. The king was twice represented followed

by his attendants; a prisoner was at his feet, and his vizir and eunuchs were introducing captives and tributaries carrying

Elephant and Monkeys. (Obelisk, Nimroud)

vases, shawls, bundles of rare wood, elephant's tusks, and other objects of tribute, and leading various animals, amongst which were the elephant, the rhinoceros, the Bactrian or two-humped camel, the wild bull, and several kinds of monkeys.

In one

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bas-relief were two lions hunting a stag in a wood, probably to denote the nature of one of the countries conquered by the king. From the animals portrayed, particularly the double-humped

camel*, and the elephant, which is of the Indian and not of the African species, it is natural to conjecture that the obelisk was

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The Bull, the Rhinoceros, and an Antelope (Obelisk, Nimroud.)

sculptured to commemorate the conquest of nations far to the east of Assyria, on the confines of the Indian peninsula. The

Large Monkey and Ape. (Obelisk, Nimroud.)

name of the king, whose deeds it records, was the same as that on the centre bulls.

*This animal is a native of the great steppes inhabited by the Tatar tribes. It is almost unknown to the Arabs, and is rarely seen to the west of Persia, except amongst a few isolated families of Turcomans who now pitch their tents in the North of Syria, and probably brought this camel with them on their first migration.

In the S. W. corner, discoveries of scarcely less interest and importance were made almost at the same time. The southern entrance to the palace was formed by a pair of winged lions, of which the upper part, including the head, had been almost entirely destroyed. They differed in many respects from those in the N. W. palace. They had but four legs; the material in which they were sculptured was a coarse limestone, and not alabaster; and behind the body of the lion, and in front above the wings, were several figures, which were unfortunately greatly injured, and could with difficulty be traced. The figures behind were a dragon with the head of an

Figures on Lions. (S W. Palace, Nimroud.)

eagle and the claws of a bird, followed by a man carrying the usual square vessel, standing above a priest bearing a pole surmounted by a fir-cone, and a human figure, the upper part of which was destroyed in all the sculptures; those in front were

This monument is now in the British Museum.

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