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

36 EXPLOEATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
Parliament for the use of the British Museum. The fragments
of clay and stone which he had gathered so scrupulously
from Babylonian and Assyrian ruins filled
a comparatively
small space, and for the greater part at present have
little but historical value. But these small beginnings contained
in them the powerful germ which in due time produced
the rich treasures now filling the halls of the London
Museum.
After the fundamental work of Rich little was left for the
average European traveller to report
on the ruins of Babylon
and Nineveh, unless he possessed an extraordinary gift
of observation and discrimination, combined with experience
and technical training, archaeological taste, and a fair acquaintance
with the works of the classical writers and the native
Among the men to whom in
historians and geographers.
some way or other we are indebted for new information concerning
the geography and topography of ancient Assyria
and Babylonia at the very time when Rich himself was carrying
on his investigations, the two following deserve our
special attention.
J.
S. BUCKINGHAM
It was in the year 1816, when, on his way to India, after
a long and adventurous journey from Egypt through Palestine,
Syria, and the adjacent districts east ot the Jordan,
Buckingham had arrived at Aleppo. Soon afterwards he
joined the caravan of a rich Moslem merchant, with whom
by way of Urfa and Mardin he travelled to Mosul, " adopting
the dress, manners, and language of the country " for the
sake of greater safety and convenience. A few days before
the caravan reached the Tigris, it was overtaken by two
Turkish Tartars in
charge of papers from the British ambasand
1 in Hebrew. A list of the Syriac MSS., accompanied by a brief description,
is given by Forshall on pp. 306-311 of vol. ii. of Rich's " Narrative
of a Residence in Koordistan."