; but there are some of them which are
scarce to be comprehended or believed, of which number is the vast extent
of the lake which I have just described.

Berosus, Megasthenes, and Abydenus, quoted by Josephus and Eusebius, make
Nebuchadnezzar the author of most of these works; but Herodotus ascribes
the bridge, the two quays of the river, and the lake, to Nitocris, the
daughter-in-law of that monarch. Perhaps Nitocris might finish what her
father left imperfect at his death, on which account that historian might
give her the honour of the whole undertaking.

IV. _The Palaces, and Hanging Gardens._(_989_)--At the two ends of the
bridge were two palaces, which had a communication with each other by a
vault, built under the channel of the river, at the time of its being dry.
The old palace, which stood on the east side of the river, was thirty
furlongs (or three miles and three quarters) in compass; near which stood
the temple of Belus, of which we shall soon speak. The new palace, which
stood on the west side of the river, opposite to the other, was sixty
furlongs (or seven miles and a half) in compass. It was surrounded with
three walls, one within another, with considerable spaces between them.
These walls, as also those of the other palace, were embellished with an
infinite variety of sculptures, representing all kinds of animals, to the
life. Amongst the rest was a curious hunting-piece, in which Semiramis on
horseback was throwing her javelin at a leopard, and her husband Ninus
piercing a lion.

In this last palace, were the hanging gardens, so celebrated among the
Greeks.(990) They contained a square of four hundred feet on every side,
and were carried up in the manner of several large terraces, one above
another, till the height equalled that of the walls of the city. The
ascent was from terrace to terrace, by stairs ten feet wide. The whole
pile was sustained by vast arches, raised upon other arches, one above
another, and strengthened by a wall, surrounding it on every side, of
twenty-two feet in thickness. On the top of the arches were first laid
large flat stones, sixteen feet long, and four broad; over these was a
layer of reeds, mixed with a great quantity of bitumen, upon which were
two rows of bricks, closely cemented together with plaster. The whole was
covered with thick sheets of lead, upon which lay the mould of the garden.
And all this floorage was contrived to keep the moisture of the mould from
ru