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

108 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
separated by the sacred tree, various religious ceremonies,
and elaborate scroll-work. Besides these larger monuments,
he discovered numerous smaller objects of art, such
as ivory ornaments betraying Egyptian origin or influence,
three lions' paws in copper, different vases in clay and metal,
and many baked bricks elaborately painted with animals,
flowers, and cuneiform characters, which apparently had
decorated the walls above the sculptures.
In the ruins of the central
edifice, which, with the northwest
palace, had been used as a quarry to supply material
for the southwest palace, he uncovered over one hundred
sculptured slabs "packed in rows, one against the other,"
and "placed in a regular series, according to the subjects
upon them." Nearlv all the trenches which he opened in
different parts of the mound, particularly, also, in the southeast
corner and near the west edge, exposed to view traces
of buildings, brick pavements, remains of walls and chambers,
and fragments of sculptures. In his endeavor " to
ascertain the nature of the wall surrounding the inner
buildings," he found it to be nearly fifty feet thick, constructed
of sun-dried bricks, and in its centre containing the
first
Assyrian arch ever discovered.
Until the end of April, thirteen pairs of the gigantic
winged bulls and lions and several fragments of others had
rewarded his labors. The authorities in London, not contemplating
the removal of anv of these enormous sculptures for
the present, had determined that they " should not be sawn
into pieces, to be put together again in Europe, as the pair
of bulls sent from Khorsabad to Paris," but that they were
to remain at
Nimrud covered with earth, "until some favorable
opportunity of moving them entire might occur."
But
Lavard was not the man to leave behind the most imposing
of all
the monuments unearthed, without making a serious
effort to ship them. Accordingly he selected one of the
best-preserved smaller bulls and a similar lion, and strained