in 1845, he might have given us some features of emotions kindled by the strong contrast between Asiatic life in other quarters, not less curious, the aspect of Grecian ruins and that of the shapeoriginal, and instructive, than those which trans-less sepulchres of the eastern cities, are described pire in the course of his present proceedings. His in the following impressive passage :— papers on the sites of certain ancient cities, in the Journal of the Geographical Society, show that he seek for such ruins in Mesopotamia and Chaldæa Were the traveller to cross the Euphrates to has travelled far and seen much beyond the course as he had left behind him in Asia Minor or Syria, of the Tigris; and passages in the present work his search would be vain. The graceful column occasionally betray that the wandering tribes now rising above the thick foliage of the myrtle, the introduced to our knowledge are not the first with ilex, and the oleander; the gradines of the amphiwhom Mr. Layard has lived on intimate terms, theatre covering the gentle slope, and overlooking with whom he has thrown off all but the open and the dark blue waters of a lake-like bay; the richlyhonorable character of the Frank, and kept up uriant herbage; are replaced by the stern shapeless carved cornice or capital half-hidden by the luxthat acknowledged intellectual superiority, which, mound rising like a hill from the scorched plain, when not insolently or arbitrarily proclaimed, is the fragments of pottery, and the stupendous mass sure to meet with its proper homage. We read, of brickwork occasionally laid bare by the winterfor instance, (p. 89,) after the description of a large rains. He has left the land where nature is still tribe breaking up when migrating to new pastures: lovely, where, in his mind's eye, he can rebuild the "The scene caused in me feelings of melan- temple or the theatre, half doubting whether they would have made a more grateful impression upon choly, for it recalled many hours, perhaps unprofit- the senses than the ruin before him. He is now at ably, though certainly happily spent; and many a loss to give any form to the rude heaps upon friends, some who now sighed in captivity for the which he is gazing. Those of whose works they joyous freedom which those wandering hordes en-are the remains, unlike the Roman and the Greek, joyed; others who had perished in its defence." In another place (p. 168) we find old habits, either of throwing the jerid, or of mingling in more serious frays, "making him forget his dignity, and join in this mimic war with his own attendants and some Kurdish horsemen." We notice these things as explaining, as well as guaranteeing, the truth, and so justifying our perfect reliance on the account of the mastery which Mr. Layard acquired over the Arab mind. These hours, if our readers are disposed to appreciate as highly as we do the value of his Assyrian discoveries, were not spent The success of M. Botta in his researches at unprofitably, because, by the experience which Khorsabad, detailed in the 158th number of our they gave, by the skill thus acquired, Mr. Layard journal, roused still further the generous emulahas been able to achieve what few Europeans tion of Mr. Layard. But he must have continued under the same circumstances could have achieved to brood over the vain yearnings of his antiquarian -to persuade these unruly children of the desert ambition, and to suppress his baffled curiosity, had to labor hard and with the utmost cheerfulness in it not happened that the English ambassador at his and in our service, and all for their own good. Constantinople observed and apprehended the enHe made them feel at once that they were energetic character and abilities of his young coungaged in the service of an employer, whose object | tryman, and, entirely at his own hazard, placed was not to wring the utmost toil out of their weary funds at his disposal which would enable him at frames, and then wrest away the price of their labors that it was his purpose, besides the fair payment of their wages, to promote in every manner their happiness and improvement.

have left no visible traces of their civilization, or
of their arts; their influence has long since passed
away. The more he conjectures the more vague
the results appear.
of the ruin he is contemplating; desolation meets
The scene around is worthy
desolation; a feeling of awe succeeds to wonder;
for there is nothing to relieve the mind, to lead to
hope, or to tell of what has gone by. These huge
mounds of Assyria made a deeper impression upon
me, gave rise to more serious thought and more
earnest reflection, than the temples of Balbec or the
theatres of Ionia.-Vol. i., pp. 6, 7.

least to carry on to some extent these tempting researches. Mr. Layard gratefully and properly recalls to the remembrance of the country, the great debt of gratitude which it owes to that We must, however, wait patiently for whatever accomplished minister, for proceeding in many Mr. Layard may by and by be encouraged to give instances far beyond the bounds of his commisus of the details of his own earlier life in the sion-for being ever ready to risk his private reeast, content, meantime, with taking him up at sources, in order to secure for England such treasthe period to which these volumes distinctly refer.ures as the marbles of Halicarnassus-and now A former journey into the regions about the Ti-the remains of a city which had perished perhaps gris had awakened in his mind the strongest desire long before Halicarnassus was in being. to make researches among the vast and mysterious mounds, those barrows it might seem of great cities, which rose in so many quarters, and which appeared not to have been violated by the scrutinizing hand of man for centuries beyond centuries. He had already surveyed the remains of more modern nations, on whom nevertheless we are accustomed to look as of remote antiquity. The

The

whole affair attests strongly the generosity, influence, and prudence of Sir Stratford Canning-and shows how well the British court is represented at the Ottoman Porte.

Thus unexpectedly furnished with funds, but, through the jealousy of certain parties, whose proceedings he contrasts with the enlightened and liberal spirit of M. Botta, obliged to act with

1845.

as we approached this formidable cataract, over which we were carried with some violence. Once safely through the danger, my companion explained the river was caused by a great dam which had to me that this unusual change in the quiet face of been built by Nimrod, and that in the autumn, before the winter rains, the huge stones of which it was constructed, squared, and united by cramps of iron, were frequently visible above the surface of the stream. It was, in fact, one of those monuments of a great people, to be found in all the rivers of Mesopotamia, which were undertaken to encanals, spreading like net-work over the surroundsure a constant supply of water to the innumerable ing country, and which, even in the days of Alexander, were looked upon as the works of an ancient nation. No wonder that the traditions of the present inhabitants of the land should assign them to one of the founders of the human race! The Arab and the city built by Athur, the lieutenant of Nimwas telling me of the connection between the dam rod, the vast ruins of which were now before usof its purpose as a causeway for the mighty hunter to cross to the opposite palace, now represented by the mound of Hammum Ali-and of the histories and fate of the kings of a primitive race, still the favorite theme of the inhabitants of the plains of and I fell asleep as we glided onward to Bagdad. Shinar, when the last glow of twilight faded away,

great caution and secrecy, Mr. Layard lost no
time in setting forth on his coveted mission. He
arrived on the banks of the Tigris in October,
We do not propose to follow him in every
step of his progress. Our design is to notice
briefly the difficulties which he had to encounter,
and the opponents with whom he had to deal, to
set him fairly to work, and then follow him for a
time as the eastern traveller, rather than as the
discoverer of ancient Nineveh; and in the later
portion of our article to give a summary account
of the extent and value of his discoveries, with
some examination of his theories as to the ancient
Assyrian history, its successive empires and dy-
nasties; to inquire what we have actually gained
for Asiatic history and for the progress of man-
kind; how far a way is opened to still further in-
vestigations into the language, character, habits,
civilization, of the race of Assur; of the great
people who preceded the rise and fall of Babylon;
who were the first traditionary conquerors of
Western Asia; who appear at the height of
power, probably under one of their later dynas-
ties, in the biblical histories; are denounced in the
fulness of their pride and glory by two at least of
the ancient seers of Israel, Isaiah and Nahum ;-Pp. 7-9.
and described as utterly razed from the earth by
another (Ezekiel) probably an eye-witness of their
total desolation.

The first question with Mr. Layard was the place of his operations; of this he seems to have entertained little doubt. The vast plain of level débris broken by huge mounds, which spreads from the bank of the Tigris opposite Mosul, had long been called by tradition the site of Nineveh. But all excavations there had been nearly unproductive-the objects discovered, from time to time, neither valuable nor exciting to further toil. M. Botta had totally failed in his attempts in that quarter. But Mr. Layard's interest had been already powerfully directed to another quarter, to Nimroud, at about five hours' distance by the winding river.

.

Still there seems no doubt, from Mr. Layard's subsequent and successful excavation in the mound of Kouyunjik-one of the mounds opposite to Mosul-as well as those made by him at Nimroud, and by M. Botta at Khorsabad, that each or all of these places, and others adjacent or intermediate, where the same great mounds appear, were, if not parts of one vast city, the successive localiits successive dynasties. As (though unquestionties occupied or comprehended by Nineveh under ably in a very much more extensive period of time) Babylon, Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Bagdad, succeeded each other on sites at no considerable distance, so as to be loosely described as the same city; in like manner, from that imperial caprice which seems almost to be a characteristic of great eastern sovereigns, each proud of being the founder As I descended the Tigris on a raft, I again saw of his own capital, the temples or palaces which the ruins of Nimroud, and had a better opportunity it is manifest stood on every one of these sites, of examining them. It was evening as we ap differing as they apparently do in age, and to a proached the spot. The spring rains had clothed the mound with the richest verdure, and the fertile certain extent in the character of their art, may meadows, which stretched around it, were covered each have been the Nineveh of its day, the chief with flowers of every hue. Amidst this luxuriant dwelling-place and centre of worship of the kings vegetation were partly concealed a few fragments and of the gods of Assyria; and so no one of of bricks, pottery, and alabaster, upon which might these being absolutely destroyed, but deserted be traced the well-defined wedges of the cuneiform only, and, if we may so speak, gone out of fashcharacter. Did not these remains mark the nature ion, this aggregate of cities-this cluster of alof the ruin, it might have been confounded with a natural eminence. A long line of consecutive narmost conterminous capitals-may have then gone row mounds, still retaining the appearance of walls by the proverbial name, the City of Three Days' or ramparts, stretched from its base, and formed a Journey, just like Thebes of the Hundred Gates; vast quadrangle. The river flowed at some dis- or the poetic hyperbole of the Book of Jonah may tance from them: its waters, swollen by the melt- be taken to the strict letter; and the prophet's ing of the snows on the Armenian hills, were broken into a thousand foaming whirlpools by an artificial barrier, built across the stream. On the eastern bank the soil had been washed away by the current; but a solid mass of masonry still with stood its impetuosity. The Arab, who guided my small raft, gave himself up to religious ejaculations

first day's slow and interrupted pilgrimage through the streets may not have led him to the palace of the king. In this conjecture, which occurred to us on reading the earlier part of this work, we rejoice to find that we have anticipated the conclusion of Mr. Layard. The hypothesis in fact

seems to us the only one that can account for the Here is the gold, sure enough, and, please God, vast number of magnificent edifices which unques- we shall find it all in a few days. Only don't say tionably existed within a circuit too extensive for anything about it to those Arabs, for they are asses, a single city, but not for a capital, which had thus and cannot hold their tongues. The matter will come to the ears of the pasha.' The sheikh was grown up out of many cities. much surprised, and equally disappointed, when I But from the old Assyrian monarchs-the Nim-generously presented him with the treasures he had rods or the Sardanapali-we must descend at once collected, and all such as he might hereafter discovto modern pashas. Mr. Layard broke ground at er. He left me, muttering "Yia Rubbi!" and other Nimroud under unfavorable auspices. The ruling pious ejaculations, and lost in conjectures as to the representative of the Sublime Porte required his meaning of these strange proceedings.-P. 30. most dexterous management. This worthy personage, Mohammed Pasha, was commonly known as Keritli Oglu, that is, the son of the Cretan; he seems fully to have answered to the description of that race by the old Greek poet, to whom St. Paul has given the sanction of his authority :

Κρῆτες ἄει ψεῦσται, κάκα θήρια, γάστερες ἄργοι. This last phrase has, as will appear, its peculiar force-it expresses admirably "tooth-money :".

The appearance of his excellency was not prepossessing, but it matched his temper and conduct. Nature had placed hypocrisy beyond his reach. He had one eye and one ear; he was short and fat, deeply marked by the small-pox, uncouth in gestures, and harsh in voice. His fame had reached the seat of his government before him. On the road he had revived many good old customs and impositions which the reforming spirit of the age had suffered to fall into decay. He particularly insisted on dish-parassi—or a compensation in money, levied upon all villages in which a man of such rank is entertained, for the wear and tear of his teeth in masticating the food he condescends to receive from the inhabitants. On entering Mosul he had induced several of the principal aghas who had fled from the town on his approach to return to their homes; and, having made a formal display of oaths and protestations, cut their throats, to show how much his word could be depended upon.-Pp. 19,

20.

No sooner had Mr. Layard succeeded in organdifferent races and religions, all of whom willingly izing and bringing into discipline the laborers of enlisted in his service, than other important personages of Mosul-the cadi and the ulemas, the magistrates and the clergy-who were not disposed to surrender their share in the treasuretrove their tribute and their tithe-and were besides full of orthodox Mussulman hatred and jealousy of the Frank, began their intrigues to stop With his usual promptitude, his proceedings. Mr. Layard galloped off to Mosul. His excellency the Cretan expressed the most sovereign contempt for the cadi. "Does that ill-conditioned fellow think that he has Sheriff Pasha (his immediate predecessor) to deal with, that he must be planning a riot in the town?

When I was at Si

vas the ulema tried to excite the people because I encroached upon a burying-ground. But I made them eat dust, Wallah! I took every gravestone, and built up the castle walls with them!" The pasha pretended to know nothing of the excavations; but subsequently thinking to detect the astute Frank, "he pulled out of his writing-tray a scrap of paper, as dingy as that produced by Awad, in which was also preserved an almost invisible particle of gold-leaf." This had been sent him by an officer set to watch the proceedings at Nimroud. Mr. Layard at once suggested that an

fairs

Mr. Layard was too prudent to demand permis-agent should be appointed to receive all the precious sion at once to commence his operations, for other metals discovered, on behalf of his excellency. Afreasons rather than any anticipated difficulties on upon this went on smoothly for some daysthe part of the governor. The Cretan, no doubt, chamber after chamber, sculpture after sculpture would have hugged himself with delight at the was coming to light-when orders arrived to stop facility with which he should possess himself of further work. Again Mr. Layard rode off to Mothe gold and precious marketable treasures which sul. The Cretan disclaimed all his own ordersthe cunning Frank, pretending to be seized with professed the utmost good will. Mr. Layard rean unaccountable passion for disinterring old turned and at night arrived more stringent orders stones, no doubt hoped to discover and to carry off. This to Daoud Agha, then "Commander of the Irregview of Mr. Layard's object was shared by others ulars" encamped in the neighborhood :-indeed, we may say by all. Awad, the Sheik Surprised at this inconsistency, I returned to Moof the Jehesh, who inhabited the village near Nim- sul early next day, and again called upon the pasha. roud, and was the first, and, from his familiarity" It was with deep regret," said he, "I learnt, afwith the ruins, the most useful of Mr. Layard's ter your departure yesterday, that the mound in fellow-laborers

could scarcely persuade himself that the researches were limited to mere stones. He carefully collected all the scattered fragments of gold-leaf he could find in the rubbish; and, calling me aside in a mysterious and confidential fashion, produced them wrapped up in a piece of dingy paper. "O, bey," said he, "Wallah! your books are right, and the Franks know that which is hid from the true believer.

which you are digging had been used as a buryingground by Mussulmans, and was covered with their graves; now you are aware that by the law it is forbidden to disturb a tomb, and the cadi and mufti have already made representations to me on the subject." "In the first place," replied I, " being pretty well acquainted with the mound, I can state that no graves have been disturbed; in the second, after the wise and firm politica which your excellency exhibited at Sivas, grave-stones would pre

sent no difficulty. Please God, the cadi and mufti | baskets and cloaks. Whilst Awad advanced and have profited by the lesson which your excellency asked for a present to celebrate the occasion, the gave to the ill-mannered ulema of that city." "In Arabs withdrew the screen they had hastily conSivas," returned he, immediately understanding my structed, and disclosed an enormous human head meaning, "I had Mussulmans to deal with, and sculptured in full out of the alabaster of the counthere was tanzimat, but here we have only Kurds try. They had uncovered the upper part of a figand Arabs, and, Wallah! they are beasts. No, I ure, the remainder of which was still buried in the cannot allow you to proceed; you are my dearest earth. I saw at once that the head must belong to and most intimate friend: if anything happens to a winged lion or bull, similar to those of Khorsayou, what grief should I not suffer! your life is bad and Persepolis. It was in admirable presermore valuable than old stones; besides, the respon-vation. The expression was calm, yet majestic, sibility would fall upon my head." Finding that and the outline of the features showed a freedom the pasha had resolved to interrupt my proceedings, and knowledge of art scarcely to be looked for in I pretended to acquiesce in his answer, and request- the works of so remote a period. The cap had ed that a cawass of his own might be sent with me three horns, and, unlike that of the human-headed to Nimroud, as I wished to draw the sculptures and bulls hitherto found in Assyria, was rounded and copy the inscriptions which had already been un- without ornament at the top. covered. To this he consented, and ordered an officer to accompany me. Before leaving Mosul, I learnt with regret from what quarter the opposition to my proceedings chiefly came.-Pp. 44, 45.

But how came the tombstones there?—

Daoud Agha confessed to me on our way that he had received orders to make graves on the mound, and that his troops had been employed for two nights in bringing stones from distant villages for that purpose. "We have destroyed more real tombs of the true believers," said he, "in making sham ones, than you could have defiled between the Zab and Selamiyah. We have killed our horses and ourselves in carrying those accursed stones.' P. 46.

Mr. Layard afterwards, during his excavations, did come on some real graves; but as he was enabled to convince the Arabs, by an elaborate argument, that, since the feet were not turned to Mecca, they could not be the tombs of true believers, their removal, which was conducted with great care, gave no offence to the pious Mussul

I was not surprised that the Arabs had been amazed and terrified at this apparition. It required no stretch of imagination to conjure up the most strange fancies. This gigantic head, blanched with age, thus rising from the bowels of the earth, might well have belonged to one of those fearful beings which are pictured in the traditions of the country as appearing to mortals, slowly ascending from the regions below. One of the workmen, on catching the first glimpse of the monster, had thrown down his basket and run off towards Mosul as fast as his legs could carry him. I learnt this with regret, as I anticipated the consequences.

Whilst I was superintending the removal of the earth, which still clung to the sculpture, and giving directions for the continuation of the work, a noise of horsemen was heard, and presently Abd-ur-rahman, followed by half his tribe, appeared on the edge of the trench. As soon as the two Arabs had reached the tents, and published the wonders they had seen, every one mounted his mare and rode to the mound, to satisfy himself of the truth of these inconceivable reports. When they beheld the head they all cried together, "There is no god but God, and Mohammed is his Prophet!" It was some time before the sheikh could be prevailed upon to By and bye-fortunately for Mr. Layard descend into the pit, and convince himself that the and for his researches, no less than for the inhab- image he saw was of stone. "This is not the work itants of Mosul and its neighborhood-Keritli of men's hands," exclaimed he, "but of those infiOglu was recalled, and the province was commit- del giants of whom the Prophet, peace be with ted to the more equitable rule of Ismail Pasha. him! has said that they were higher than the tallBut even Ismail, though of the new school, was at est date tree; this is one of the idols which Noah, first so beset by the ulema and the other Frank-peace be with him! cursed before the flood." In haters, that he requested Mr. Layard to suspend his operations for a time.

men.

The next disturbance, after he had resumed his work, was caused by a great event in the discovery. We cannot lay this before our readers in other words than those of Mr. Layard:

On the morning I rode to the encampment of Sheikh Abd-ur-rahman, and was returning to the mound, when I saw two Arabs of his tribe urging their mares to the top of their speed. On approaching me they stopped. Hasten, O Bey," exclaimed one of them-"hasten to the diggers, for they have found Nimrod himself. Wallah, it is wonderful, but it is true! we have seen him with our eyes. There is no god but God;" and both joining in this pious exclamation, they galloped off, without further words, in the direction of their

tents.

all the bystanders concurred.—Pp. 65–67.
this opinion, the result of a careful examination,

The commotion excited by this apparition, which gave rise to still more active opposition from the religious authorities of Mosul, induced Ismail Pasha to advise Mr. Layard to proceed with greater caution. Other reasons concurred with this friendly admonition. Mr. Layard, therefore, gradually discontinued his operations, and having carefully earthed up the discoveries already made, and leaving only two men to proceed on work marked out for them, determined to await an answer to a communication which he had addressed to Constantinople, and in the mean time to extend his acquaintance with the dominant Arab tribes in the vicinity, and to pursue his antiquarian researches by visiting, for the second time, the cele

brated ruins of Al Hather.

This first excusion of Mr. Layard led him only among the Kurdish tribes. This we pass over,

and when he had ceased dancing, he sat gazing upon her from a corner of the tent-" Wallah," he whispered to me," she is the sister of the Sun! what would you have more beautiful than that? Had I a thousand purses, I would give them all for such a wife. See!-her eyes are like the eyes of my mare, her hair is as bitumen, and her complexion resembles the finest Busrah dates. Any one would die for a houri like that. The sheikh was almost justified in his admiration.-P. 121.

a

though it describes many amusing and character- his heart was the wife of the French consul.” istio points in their manners. On his return to His admiration of her beauty exceeded all bounds; resume his labors under more, favorable auspices, he ventured to give an entertainment—a ball and supper-close by the ruins of Nimroud, to the various Arab chiefs of the district, with their followers male and female, and the Christian gentlemen and ladies of Mosul, who were all eager to see these wonderful discoveries. The ladies were glad for once to be without the walls of their houses, where, it seems, they are generally cooped up with Mohammedan jealousy. Mr. Rassam, the English consul-who was throughout the faithful A still more favorable revolution in the governand intelligent friend of Mr. Layard, his assistant ment of Mosul had in the mean time taken place. in his researches, and the companion of some of Hafiz Pasha, who succeeded Ismail, being promoted, his excursions-Mrs. Rassam, the French consul the province had been sold to Tahyar Pasha, " and his wife, were of the party. "White pavil-venerable old man, bland and polished in his manions, borrowed from the pasha, had been pitched ners, courteous to Europeans, and well informed near the river on a broad lawn still carpeted with on subjects connected with the literature and hisflowers. These were for the ladies and for the tory of the country. He was a perfect specimen reception of the sheikhs. Black tents were pro- of the Turkish gentleman of the old school, of vided for some of the guests, the attendants, and whom few are now left in Turkey." Few, inthe kitchen." Arabs watched the horses; an deed, there are who have not been corrupted by open space was left for dancing and other amuse- Frank intercourse, and have not dwindled in dements. The great man of the feast was Abd-ur-meanor and manners by adopting European habits, rahman, sheikh of the Abu-Salman, who appeared as they have in personal appearance by the Euin his most magnificent dress, and was received with befitting solemnity and noise. Then came the other sheikhs with their ladies humbly on foot; then the wife and daughter of Abd-ur-rahman on mares, surrounded by their slaves and handmaidens. They were entertained with a repast, ladylike and cooling, of sweetmeats, halwa, parched peas, and lettuces. The more vigorous appetites of the men, and of the less exclusive ladies, were stayed by fourteen sheep, roasted and boiled; from which, we are sorry to say, that the men first most ungallantly helped themselves, and then passed on the fragments to the females. The influence of Mr. Rassam persuaded some of the women to join in the Arab dance; but these figurantes preserved somewhat too rigid propriety; though their motions were not without grace, they persisted in wrapping themselves in their coarse cloaks. Sword-dancers followed, which wound up the performers to such a pitch of excitement that it was necessary to replace their swords by stout staves, wherewith they were allowed full Irish license of belaboring each other till they His proceedings were, however, again interrupted were tired. Then came the buffoons, the constant for a time by a more unmitigable adversary than the amusement of Eastern and of all half-civilized untractable pasha or the bigot ulema-the heat. tribes. All passed off, it would seem, with ex- He was first driven for refuge into the underemplary decorum; the grave old Arab chief was ground chambers, where the inhabitants of Mosul the only one whose tender feelings were noticea- screen themselves from the summer sun; his bly awakened. At the banquet which he gave in health then forced him to seek a cooler climate, return the next day, the women, uncontrolled by and he set forth on his second expedition, to the the presence of another tribe, entered more fully mountains of Tiyari, inhabited by the Chaldean or into the amusement, and danced with greater ani- Nestorian Christians. This second expedition, mation. The sheikh challenged Mr. Layard to though the interest is of a very melancholy cast, join in the dance, which he was too courtly to re-introduces us to scenes of much greater natural fuse; and went whirling round, in a corps de ballet, consisting of 500 warriors and Arab women. But that was probably a device of the sheikh to drown his rising passion. "The conqueror of

ropean garb. How is the whole race dwarfed down from the tall, broad, magnificent, terrible, and turbaned Turks-who affrighted Christendom with their strength and prowess, and of yore enforced our youthful awe in the cuts to Sir Paul Rycaut's edition of old Knolles-into the shabby, short, slim, shuffling, Jew-pedlar-like, and most unalarming Moslemin, who now appear in our streets, and, we regret to hear, in Constantinople, in half Frankish and half Oriental costume! Tahyar Pasha took up Mr. Layard with the utmost zeal, and only appointed an officer to protect and assist, rather than to watch, his proceedings. Of this cawass, Ibrahim by name, Mr. Layard speaks in high terms as to his intelligence and even his honesty. Besides this, our indefatigable ambassador had forwarded an imperial rescript from Constantinople, which not merely gave the full sanction of the sultan for the prosecution of the researches, but allowed Mr. Layard to secure for his country the possession of all these remarkable monuments of ancient Assyria.

beauty, and to a much more remarkable people than the Kurdish clans, among which he travelled during his first ride from the Tigris.

The Chaldean Christians (the appellation Nes