Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

DURING 19 th CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 101
of El-Hadhr, on the west side of the Tigris, during the
recent suspension of his work. No wonder, then, that, after
his excavations at Qoyunjuk, he returned to Nimrud again,
and with about thirty men resumed his examination of the
contents and extent of the large northwest building, which
had previously furnished the well-preserved monuments.
His Arabs, standing completely under the spell of his personal
magnetism, seemed to feel as much interest in the
objects disclosed as their enthusiastic master. As each head
of all these strange figures was uncovered, " they showed
their amazement by extravagant gestures or exclamations of
surprise. If it was a bearded man, they concluded at once
that it was an idol or a jin, and cursed or spat upon it. If
female, and kissed or patted the cheek."
By the end of July so many fine bas-reliefs had been
a eunuch, they declared that it was the likeness of a beautiful
discovered in this building that Layard decided to make an
effort to send a representative collection to England. Rawlinson's
attempt at despatching the small steamer Nitocris,
commanded by Felix Jones, directly to Nimrud for their
embarkation to Baghdad, failed. Layard was therefore
obliged to follow Botta's example and forward the smaller
sculptures, the weight of which was reduced by cutting from
the back, on a raft to Basra, which they reached safely some
time in August. The explorer's health began now visibly
to suffer from continual exposure to the excessive heat.
week's stay at Mosul, during which he discovered a gateway
flanked by two mutilated winged figures and cuneiform
inscriptions with the name of Sennacherib in the northern
boundary wall of Qoyunjuk, seemed to have refreshed him
sufficiently to warrant his return to Nimrud. He uncovered
the tops of many more slabs, bearing either similar
sculptures or having only the usual inscription across them ;
but before August was over it was very evident that he
required a cooler climate to regain his former vigor.
A
Leav-