painted. I explored three rooms, and part of a fourth on the southern side of this building.

PLAN III. - Upper Chambers on the west side of the Mound. (Nimroud.)

It is probable that there were four similar groups of chambers, facing the cardinal points. In front of the southern entrance*, was a large square slab with slightly raised edges, similar to those frequently found in the N. W. palace. On two sides of it were narrow pieces of alabaster, forming parallel lines, which I can only compare to the rails of a railroad. I cannot form any conjecture as to their use. The rooms had been more than once painted and two distinct coats of plaster were visible on the walls. The outer coating, when carefully detached, left the under, on which the designs were different.

The painted ornaments were remarkable for their elegance. The Assyrian bull was frequently introduced, sometimes with wings, sometimes without. Above the animals was a border resembling the battlements of castles in the sculptures, and below, forming a kind of cornice, squares and circles, tastefully arranged. The colors were blue, red, white, yellow, and black; and although thus limited in number, were arranged with much taste and skill, the contrasts being carefully preserved, and the combinations generally agreeable to the eye. The pale yellow ground, on which the designs were painted, resembled the tint on the walls of Egyptian monuments; and a strong well-defined black outline is a peculiar feature in Assyrian as in Egyptian painting, in the ornaments described, black frequently combining with white alone, or alternating with other colors.

But the most important discovery, connected with these upper chambers, was that of the pavement slabs at two entrances. The inscriptions upon them contained the names of several kings, most of which were new, and are of the greatest interest, as adding to the list of monarchs of the earliest dynasty.*

I could not ascertain whether there were any chambers, or remains of buildings, beneath this upper edifice; or whether it was a tower constructed on the solid outer wall. A deep trench was opened on the eastern side of it, and, about twenty feet below the surface, a pavement of brick and several square slabs of alabaster were uncovered; but these remains did not throw any light upon the nature of the building above; nor were they sufficient to show that the N. W. palace had been carried under it. To the south of it there were no remains of building, the platform of unbaked bricks being continued up to the level of the flooring of the chambers.

In the centre of the mound, I had in vain endeavoured to find the walls and other remains of the palace which must at one time have stood there. Except the colossal bulls, the obelisk,

* One of these slabs is in the British Museum.

two winged figures, and a few fragments of yellow limestone, which appeared to have formed part of a gigantic bull or lion, no sculptures had yet been discovered there. Excavations to the south of the bulls disclosed a tomb built of bricks and closed by a slab of alabaster. It was about five feet in length, and scarcely more than eighteen inches in breadth in the interior. On removing the lid, parts of a skeleton were exposed to view; the skull and some of the larger bones were still entire; but soon crumbled into dust. A vase of reddish clay, with a long narrow neck, stood near the body, in a dish of such delicate fabric, that I had great difficulty in moving it entire. Over the mouth of the vase was placed a bowl or cup, also of red clay. In the dust, which had accumulated round the skeleton, were found beads and small ornaments of opaque-colored glass, agate, cornelian, and amethyst. A small crouching lion of lapis lazuli, pierced on the back, had been attached to the end of the necklace. With the beads was a cylinder, on which was represented the king in his chariot, hunting the wild bull, as in the bas-relief from the N. W. palace; a copper ornament resembling a modern seal, two bracelets of silver, and a pin for the hair. These remains show the tomb to be that of a female.

On digging beyond this tomb, I found others, similarly constructed, and of the same size. In them were vases of highly glazed green pottery, elegant in shape, and in perfect preservation, copper mirrors, and copper lustral spoons.

I was surprised to find, about five feet beneath these tombs, the remains of a building. Walls of unbaked bricks could still be traced; but the alabaster slabs, with which they had been panelled, had been removed and were heaped on the pavement. Slab succeeded to slab; and when I had removed nearly twenty tombs, and had cleared a space about fifty feet square, the ruins presented a very singular appearance. Above

* Most of the small objects discovered in the tombs, and described in the text, are now in the British Museum.

one hundred slabs were uncovered, placed in rows, one against the other, like the leaves of a gigantic book.

Every slab was sculptured; and as they followed each other according to the subjects upon them, it was evident that they had been moved, in the order in which they stood, from their original positions; and had been left as found, preparatory to their removal elsewhere. That they had not been thus collected prior to their arrangement against the walls, was evident from the fact, proved beyond a doubt by repeated observation, that the Assyrians sculptured the slabs, with the exception of the great bulls and lions, after they had been placed. The slabs had also been split, if I may be allowed the expression, in order to reduce their dimensions, and render them more easily transportable. To the south of the centre bulls were two colossal figures, similar to those discovered to the north.

The bas-reliefs resembled, in many respects, some of those discovered in the S. W. palace, in which the sculptured faces of the slabs were turned, it will be remembered, towards the walls of unbaked brick. It would appear, therefore, that the one building had been destroyed, to supply materials for the construction of the other. But here were tombs over the ruins. The edifice had perished, and in the rubbish accumulating above its remains, a people, whose funereal vases and ornaments were nearly identical with those found in the catacombs of Egypt, had buried their dead. What race, then, occupied the country after the destruction of the Assyrian palaces? At what period were these tombs made? What antiquity did their presence assign to the buildings beneath them? It is difficult to answer these questions. The tombs undoubtedly prove that the Assyrian edifices were overthrown and buried at a very remote period. The Egyptian character of the pottery, beads and. ornaments, is very remarkable, and would seem to indicate that those who were buried at Nimroud came from Egypt, or were closely connected with that country. The mode of sepulture is, however, undoubtedly not Egyptian; it is, on the con

trary, that which prevailed throughout Assyria and Babylonia during an epoch yet unfixed. It resembles in some respects that adopted by the early Persians,-Cyrus and Darius having been buried in sarcophagi or troughs. All we can at present assert is, that these tombs prove the remote period of the utter destruction of the palaces.

The subjects of the sculptures thus found collected together, with the exception of a few colossal figures of the king and his attendant eunuchs, and of the winged priests or divinities, were principally battle-pieces and sieges. Some cities were represented as standing on a river, in the midst of groves of date-trees, and amongst the conquered people were warriors mounted on camels. It may be inferred, therefore, that one series of these bas-reliefs recorded the conquest of an Arab nation, or perhaps of a part of Babylonia-the inhabitants of the cities being assisted by auxiliaries, from the neighbouring desert. The conquered races, as in the bas-reliefs of the N. W. palace,