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

DURING lDTii CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 115
and to prevent interference on the part of others, than to
carry on extensive operations." By the middle of October,
Layard had finished the necessary preparations and
resumed active work at the mound with a force of about
one hundred men. In order to save time and labor he
changed the method of excavating formerly employed. Instead
of carrying away all the rubbish from the surface down
to the platform, he began to tunnel along the walls, sinking
shafts at intervals to admit light, air, and the descending
workmen, and "removing only as much earth as was necessary
to show the sculptured walls." It is clear that under
such circumstances the examination of the buried halls and
chambers was even less thorough than it had been previously
at Nimrud, as their centres had to be left standing to
prevent the narrow subterranean passages from collapsing
under the pressure from above. Small objects of art were
accordingly found very rarely, their discovery being due
more to a fortunate accident than to a methodical search.
As soon as the excavations in the mounds opposite
Mosul had been fairly started, Layard and Hormuzd
Rassam hurried to Nimrud, where operations were simultaneously
conducted until the end of spring, 1850. Work
was resumed in the four principal sections of the mound
which had yielded so many antiquities during the first
expedition,
but trenches were now also opened in
the remaining
parts of the ruins. It was particularly the high conical
mound at the northwest corner and the adjacent northern
edge of the large plateau which received greater attention
than had hitherto been possible. One morning, shortly
after his arrival, while ascending the mound, Layard found
an unexpected visitor in his trenches. In glancing downward
from the summit of the ruins, he discovered Rawlinson
on. the floor of an excavated chamber, " wrapped in his
travelling cloak, deep in sleep, and wearied by a long and
harassing night's ride." After an absence of more than