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

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.

a human figure, and a monster with the head of a lion, the body of a man, and the feet of a bird, raising a sword.

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

Between the two lions, forming this entrance, were a pair of crouching sphinxes, not in relief, but entire. The human head was beardless; and the horned cap square, and highly ornamented at the top, like that of the winged bulls of Khorsabad. The body was that of a winged lion. These sphinxes may have been altars for sacrifice or offerings.

The whole entrance was buried in charcoal, and the sphinxes were almost reduced to lime. One had been nearly destroyed; but the other, although cracked into a thousand pieces, was still standing when uncovered. I endeavoured to secure it with rods of iron and wooden planks; but the alabaster was too much calcined to resist exposure to the atmosphere. I had scarcely time to make a careful drawing, before the whole fell into fragments, too small to admit of their being collected with

a view to future restoration. The sphinxes, when entire, were about five feet in height, and the same in length.

E.W.

Sphinx from S. W. Palace. (Nimroud.)

Buried in the charcoal, was found a small head in alabaster, with the high-horned cap, precisely similar to that of the large sphinx; and subsequently the body was dug out, giving thus a complete model of the larger sculptures. In the same place I discovered the bodies of two lions, united and forming a platform or pedestal, like the one crouching sphinx; but the human heads were wanting, and the rest of the sculpture had been so much injured by fire, that I was unable to preserve it.

The plan of the edifice in which these discoveries were made could not yet be determined. All the slabs uncovered had evidently been brought from another building; chiefly from the N. W. palace. The entrance I have just described, proved this beyond a doubt; as it enabled me to distinguish between the back and front of the walls. I was now convinced that the sculptures hitherto found, were not meant to be exposed to view; but had been placed against the wall of

*Now in the British Museum.

sun-dried bricks; the backs of the slabs, smoothed preparatory to being re-sculptured, having been turned towards the interior of the chambers.

There were no inscriptions between the legs of the lions just described, as in other buildings at Nimroud and Khorsabad. I had not before found sculptures unaccompanied by the name and genealogy of the founder of the edifice in which they had been placed. When no inscription was on the face, it was invariably on the back of the slab. I dug, therefore, at the back of the lions, and was not disappointed in my search; a few lines in the cuneiform character were discovered, containing the names of three kings in genealogical series. The name of the first king nearly resembled that of the builder of the N. W. lace; that of his father was identical with the name on the bricks found in the ruins opposite Mosul; and that of his grandfather with the name of the founder of Khorsabad. This fortunate discovery served to connect the latest palace at Nimroud with two other Assyrian edifices.

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Whilst excavations were thus successfully carried on amongst the centre ruins, and those of the two palaces first opened, discoveries of a different nature were made in the S. E. corner, which was much higher than any other part of the mound. I dug to a considerable depth, without meeting with any other remains than fragments of inscribed bricks and pottery, and a few entire earthen vessels. At length an imperfect slab bearing a royal name similar to that on the bull in the centre of the mound, was found at some depth beneath the surface. On raising it to copy the inscription, I found to my surprise that it had been used as a lid to an earthen sarcophagus, which, with its contents, was still entire beneath. The sarcophagus was about five feet in length, and very narrow. The skeleton was well preserved, but fell to pieces almost immediately when exposed to the air; by its sides were two jars in baked clay of a red color, and a small alabaster bottle, precisely resembling in shape similar vessels discovered in Egyptian tombs. There was no other clue to the date, or origin of the sepulchre.