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

34 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
neighborhood were now utilized by Rich to satisfy his
curiosity and scientific interest in the large mounds on the
eastern side of the Tigris, opposite Mosul.
Tradition identified them with ancient Nineveh, as stated
above (pp. 7-12). Yet doubts as to the correctness and
continuity of the local tradition, as already expressed by
Jean Otter, were justified, as long as the latter had not been
corroborated by convincing facts. They were first adduced
by Rich, who, by a careful topographical survey of the ruins
here grouped together and bv a close examination of all
the large hewn stones, inscribed slabs, burnt bricks, and
other smaller antiquities accidentally found by the natives,
demonstrated beyond doubt that all these vestiges were of
the same general age and character ; that they belonged to
a powerful nation, which, like the Babylonians, employed
cuneiform script for its writing ; and that the original area
of the ancient city, represented by the two large mounds,
Qoyunjuk and Nebi Yunus, and enclosed by three walls on
the east and by one wall each on the three other sides, was
" about one and a half to two miles broad and four miles
long " — strong reasons, indeed, in support of the local tradition
and the general belief expressed bv so many travellers.
Twenty-eight years later his famous countryman, Layard,
was enabled to excavate this site methodically and to make
those startling discoveries which restored the lost civilization
of the Assyrian empire to the astonished world. But
it will always remain the great merit of Rich to have placed
the floating local tradition upon a scientific basis, to have
determined the real significance of the large Assyrian
mounds in general, and to have prepared the way for their
thorough exploration by his important maps and accurate
description.
In returning from Mosul to Baghdad Rich used the
kelek, 1 as on two previous occasions, in order to obtain more
1
A native raft composed of goat-skins inflated with air, and by reeds or