ular, cakes of clay. In many
cases these were enclosed in an envelope, also of clay, powdered clay
being inserted to prevent the envelope adhering. Both the inner and outer
parts were generally baked hard; but there are many examples where the
clay was only dried in the sun. The envelope was inscribed with a
duplicate of the text. Often the envelope is more liberally sealed than
the inner tablet. This sealing, done with a cylinder-seal, running on an
axle, was repeated so often as to render its design difficult to make out,
and to add greatly to the difficulty of reading the text. When the
envelope has been preserved unbroken, the interior is usually perfect,
except where the envelope may have adhered to it. Such double tablets are
often referred to as "case tablets." The existence of two copies of the
same deed has been of great value for decipherment. One copy often has
some variant in spelling, or phrasing, or some additional piece of
information, that is of great assistance. The envelope was rather fragile
and in many cases has been lost, either in ancient times, or broken open
by the native finders, in the hope of discovering gold or jewels within.
But in any case, the envelope, so long as it lasted, was a great
protection; and there are few tablets better preserved than this class of
document.

In Assyrian times, few "case" tablets are preserved, they seem to have
gone out of fashion except for money-loans and the like. But it may be
merely an accident that so few envelopes are preserved. In the case of
letters, where the same plan of enclosing the letter in an envelope was
followed, hardly any envelopes have been found, because they had to be
broken open to read the letter. The owner of a deed may have had occasion
to do the same, but here there was less excuse, as the envelope was
inscribed with the full text.

In early times, another method of sealing was adopted. A small clay cone
was sealed and the seal attached to the document by a reed, which ran
through both. The seal thus hung down, as in the case of many old
parchment deeds in Europe.

(M16) The deeds were often preserved in private houses, usually in some
room or hiding-place below ground. In the case of the tablets from Tell
Sifr, which were found by Loftus _in situ_, three unbaked bricks were set
in the form of a capital U. The largest tablet was laid upon this
foundation and the next two in size at right angles to it. The rest were
piled on these