of
these fragments will conduct the visitor to the end of the room, and
before turning to examine the contents of the opposite compartments,
he should pause to notice an obelisk placed hereabouts, which was dug
from the centre of the great mound at Nimroud. It is seven feet in
height, and is inscribed elaborately in the cuneiform character. On
its surface are also engraved representations of various animals
bearing presents.

The visitor will now turn and proceed back towards the door,
examining, by the way, the compartments on his left hand.

The first of these, or the sixth compartment, contains, in addition to
the fragments of figures including the head and shoulders of a king,
and the upper part of an eunuch, two slabs (1,2) upon which is
represented that fruitful subject of the Assyrian sculptor's chisel,
the siege of a castle. The castle, which is represented in the middle
of the battle-piece, and at the water's edge, is attacked by soldiers
on all sides. The vigour of the assailants is well described. On the
left the king directs the attack, with weeping women behind him; the
walls are being scaled by ladders; the besieged are hurling stones
from the ramparts, and casting fire upon a tower and ram, while the
assailants are quenching the flames with water, and two figures are
quietly picking holes in the walls in another direction. Hereabouts
the visitor should notice, placed against the window, a pastoral
subject--a man driving cattle. Upon the next slab, a war chariot in
full speed, passing over a dead lion, is represented; and on the sixth
and last slab of the compartment is another battlepiece. Here the
besieged castle is surrounded by water; one of the besieged is holding
arrows aloft in token of peace, while figures, on inflated skins, swim
towards the walls, and soldiers from the banks are aiming arrows at
them.

The fragments in the seventh compartment may be easily understood from
the descriptions of previous slabs.

The eighth compartment contains some remains which demand particular
notice. The first slab introduces us to a knowledge of the interiors
of Assyrian dwellings. Here the interior of a building is represented
divided into four distinct compartments, and exhibiting various people
at their several household duties. We have even a glimpse at an
Assyrian groom, who, in an adjoining building, is cleaning a horse.
Prisoners are introduced even here, in this domestic scene, conducted
by a warr