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

DURING 10 CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 127
During this second expedition Layard and the other
members of his staff suffered from fever and ague considerably
more than previously. Before the first summer had
fairly commenced, both Dr. Sandwith and Mr. Cooper were
seriously ill and had to return to Europe. Another artist
was sent by the British Musem, but a few months after
his arrival
he was drowned in the Gonial at the foot of Sennacherib's
sculptures at Bavian (July, 1851). Layard and
Rassam alone braved and withstood the inhospitable climate
until their funds were exhausted. More than one
hundred and twenty large cases of sculptures, tablets, and
other antiquities had been sent down to Baghdad, awaiting
examination by Rawlinson previous to their shipment to
England. Finally, on April 28, 1851, the two explorers
themselves turned from the ruins of Nineveh, rich in new
honors and yet " with a heavy heart." Two years later
Layard submitted the results of his latest researches to
the public, 1 and for the first time was able to interweave the
fascinating story of his work and wanderings with numerous
quotations from the Assyrian inscriptions so admirably
interpreted by Rawlinson and by Hincks. His nomadic
days had now come to an end. He did not visit again the
mounds of Nineveh and Babylon. The enthusiastic reception
of his books all over Europe, and the extraordinary
services which he had rendered to the cause of science and
art in his own country, secured for him at last that recognition
from his government to which he was entitled.
But
though no longer active in the field of Assyrian exploration,
where he occupies the foremost position, he never lost
his interest in the continuation of this work by others, and
twenty-four years later (1877), as Her Majesty's ambassador
at Constantinople, he supported Rassam with the same
1
Comp. Layard, ''Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon,"
London, 1853 > an