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

102 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
ing, therefore, a few guards at the mound to protect his
antiquities, and accompanied by Rassam and a few servants
and irregular soldiers, he departed to the Tiyari Mountains,
to the north of Mosul. The next two months were given
entirely to rest and to his old favorite wanderings among
the mountains and valleys of Kurdistan. The beautiful
scenery and the exhilarating climate of these romantic districts,
in which Kurdish tribes, Chaldean Christians, and
the remarkable sect of the Yezidis or " Worshippers of the
Devil," followed each their peculiar habits and interesting
customs, soon completely restored him to health.
Towards the end of October, after his return from an
expedition into the Sinjar Mountains, on which he had
accompanied the pasha of Mosul and his soldiers, we find
him again in the trenches of Nimrud. Important changes
had taken place during his absence with regard to the character
of his excavations. So far they had been conducted
as a private undertaking for the account of Sir Stratford
Canning. Letters were now received from England advising
him that the latter had presented the sculptures discovered
in Assyrian ruins, together with all the privileges
connected with the imperial firman, to the British nation.
In consequence of this generous act of the ambassador, a
grant of funds had been placed at the disposal of the British
Museum " for the continuation of the researches commenced
at Nimrud and elsewhere." This part of the news was
encouraging, but, alas, the grant was very small, considerably
smaller than the sum given by the French government
to Botta for the exploration of Khorsabad.
And the British
grant was to include even " private expenses, those of carriage,
and many extraordinary outlays inevitable in the
East."
But though the funds were scarcely adequate to the
objects in view, Lavard accepted the charge of superintending
the excavations, and made every exertion to procure
as many antiquities as possible. In the interest of science