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

DURING 19 CENTURY : ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 277
about four miles to the north of Babil, where nothing but
bricks indicated their Babylonian origin ;
the numerous
tells
in the neighborhood of Mahmudiye mentioned above,
especially Der, 1 which yielded only the common bricks of
Nebuchadrezzar; and above all, the enormous ruins of Tell
Ibrahim, about fifteen miles to the northeast of Hilla, with
the nest of mounds situated to the southeast of it.' 2
Under
extraordinary deprivations caused by the absence of water
and frequent sandstorms, several of his best gangs of workmen
remained a month in the desert around Tell Ibrahim.
But though they showed a rare energy and labored with all
their might, opening no less than twenty different tunnels
and trenches and penetrating deep into the mass of rubbish,
nothing but stray bricks of Nebuchadrezzar, a few cuneiform
tablets and terra-cotta bowls covered with Hebrew
inscriptions had been brought to light when they finally
quitted this inhospitable region.
We cannot close this sketch of Rassam's archaeological
work in Babylonia without referring briefly to his hasty visit
to the southern districts of 'Iraq, which lasted from February
24 to March 13, 1879.
3
The news of De Sarzec's
secret proceedings at Tello had spread rapidly among the
Arabs, and naturally reached the ear of Rassam immediately
after his arrival at Baghdad, in the beginning of February,
1879. A faithful and jealous guardian of British interests,
as he proved to be during his long career in the East,
he decided at once to examine those remarkable ruins in
person with a view of occupying them, if possible, for his
own government somewhat in the same manner as he previously
had obtained the palace of Ashurbanapal in the
northern part of Qoyunjuk. His task seemed to be facilitated
by the circumstance that De Sarzec had made his first
1
Rassam, /. c. , pp. 398, seqq.
2
Rassam, /. c, pp. 396, seq., 409, seqq.
3
Rassam, /. c, pp. 272, seqq.