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

320 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
the marshy districts between Nuffar and the Shatt el-Ha'i,
where our old enemy, Mukota, was carried off as one of its
first victims, and in certain notoriously unclean and densely
populated quarters of Baghdad, which for several weeks in the
summer were almost completely deserted by the frightened
population.
In view of the lingering presence of the dreaded
scourge in the valleys of the Euphrates and the Tigris, and
the possibility of a renewed outbreak of the same plague in
the spring, the director deemed it necessary to engage the
services of a native physician of Syria, Dr. Selim Aftimus,
who at the same time was expected to make those botanical
and zoological collections for which the present writer had
earnestlv pleaded, before the first expedition was organized.
Haynes and Noorian were again induced to associate themselves
with the practical management of the undertaking
on the road and in the field, and to serve in the same
capacities in which they had been employed the previous
year. But, at the special desire of Dr. Peters, this time an
American scientific staff was entirely dispensed with, though
Field and Hilprecht would have been willing to accompany
the expedition again, without a salary but with increased
responsibility. This was a most unfortunate decision on
the part of the director. It is true, a solid scientific basis of
operations had been established in the first campaign, and
consequently there was no immediate need of an architect
and Assyriologist at the beginning of the new excavations ;
and vet it was impossible to excavate properly for any
length of time without the constant advice of either of
them. If, nevertheless, this expedition, sent out to investigate
the historv of one of the largest, most ancient, and,
at the same time, most ruined and complicated sites in the
country, attempted to solve its difficult problem without
the trained eyes and scientific knowledge of technicallv
prepared men, it necessarilv had to be at the expense of a
strictly methodical exploration and at the sacrifice of half