ad street so brightly and beautifully decorated to welcome her.

The moment they beheld the king and the gilded carriage, the multitude
burst into loud shouts of joy, but when Bartja, the people's darling,
came in sight, the shouts rose to thunder-peals and shrieks of delight,
which seemed as if they would never end. It was long since the populace
had seen Cambyses, for in accordance with Median customs the king seldom
appeared in public. Like the Deity, he was to govern invisibly, and his
occasional appearance before the nation to be looked upon as a festival
and occasion of rejoicing. Thus all Babylon had come out to-day to
look upon their awful ruler and to welcome their favorite Bartja on his
return. The windows were crowded with eager, curious women, who threw
flowers before the approaching train, or poured sweet perfumes from
above as they passed by. The pavement was thickly strewn with myrtle
and palm branches, trees of different kinds had been placed before the
house-doors, carpets and gay cloths hung from the windows, garlands of
flowers were wreathed from house to house, fragrant odors of incense and
sandal-wood perfumed the air, and the way was lined with thousands of
gaping Babylonians dressed in white linen shirts, gaily-colored woollen
petticoats and short cloaks, and carrying long staves headed with
pomegranates, birds, or roses, of gold or silver.

The streets through which the procession moved were broad and straight,
the houses on either side, built of brick, tall and handsome. Towering
above every thing else, and visible from all points, rose the gigantic
temple of Bel. Its colossal staircase, like a huge serpent, wound round
and round the ever-diminishing series of stories composing the tower,
until it reached the summit crowned by the sanctuary itself.

[This temple of Bel, which many consider may have been the tower of
Babel of Genesis XI., is mentioned by Herodotus I. 181. 182. 183.
Diodorus II. 8. 9. (Ktesias), Strabo 738 and many other ancient
writers. The people living in its neighborhood now call the ruins
Birs Nimrod, the castle of Nimrod. In the text we have
reconstructed it as far as possible from the accounts of classical
writers. The first story, which is still standing, in the midst of
a heap of ruins, is 260 feet high. The walls surrounding the tower
are said to be still clearly recognizable, and were 4000 feet long
and 3000 broad. ]

The procession appr