etable productions.
The variety and excellence of such esculents are prominently put forward
by Berosus in his account of the original condition of the country; and
they still form the principal support of those who now inhabit it.

We are told that Nimrod was "a mighty hunter before the Lord;" and it is
evident, from the account already given of the animals indigenous in
Lower Mesopotainia, that there was abundant room for the display of a
sportsman's skill and daring when men first settled in that region. The
Senkareh tablets show the boldness and voracity of the Chaldaean lion,
which not only levied contributions on the settlers' cattle, but
occasionally ventured to attack man himself. We have not as yet any
hunting scenes belonging to these early times; but there can be little
doubt that the bow was the chief weapon used against the king of beasts,
whose assailants commonly prefer remaining at a respectful distance from
him. The wild-boar may have been hunted in the same way, or he may have
been attacked with a spear--a weapon equally well known with the bow to
the early settlers. Fish were certainly taken with the hook; for
fish-hooks have been found in the tombs; but probably they were also
captured in nets, which are among the earliest of human inventions.

A considerable portion of the primitive population must have been engaged
in maritime pursuits. In the earliest inscriptions we find constant
mention of the "ships of Ur," which appear to have traded with Ethiopia
--a country whence may have been derived the gold, which--as has been
already shown--was so largely used by the Chaldaeans in ornamentation.
It would be interesting could we regard it as proved that they traded
also with the Indian peninsula; but the "rough logs of wood, apparently
teak," which Mr. Taylor discovered in the great temple at Mugheir, belong
more probably to the time of its repair by Nabonidus than to that of its
original construction by a Chaldaean monarch. The Sea-God was one of the
chief objects of veneration at Ur and elsewhere; and Berosus appears to
have preserved an authentic tradition, where he makes the primitive
people of the country derive their arts and civilization from "the Red
Sea." Even if their commercial dealings did not bring them into contact
with any more advanced people, they must have increased the intelligence,
as well as the material resources, of those employed in them, and so have
advanced their civiliza