tian Nippur, about forty years of age, and clad in a
simple abba, led me to the treasure-chamber of the temple, on its
south-east side. He went with me into a small low-ceiled room without
windows, in which there was a large wooden chest, while scraps of
agate and lapis lazuli lay scattered on the floor. Here he addressed
me as follows:--

"'The two fragments, which you have published separately upon pages 22
and 26, _belong together_'" (this amazing Assyrian priest spoke
American!). {20} "'They are not finger-rings, and their history is as
follows:--

"'King Kurigalzu (about 1300 B.C.) once sent to the temple of Bel,
among other articles of agate and lapis lazuli, an inscribed votive
cylinder of agate. Then the priests suddenly received the command to
make for the statue of the god Nibib a pair of ear-rings of agate. We
were in great dismay, since there was no agate as raw material at
hand. In order to execute the command there was nothing for us to do
but cut the votive cylinder in three parts, thus making three rings,
each of which contained a portion of the original inscription. The
first two rings served as ear-rings for the statue of the god; the two
fragments which have given you so much trouble are parts of them. If
you will put the two together, you will have confirmation of my words.
But the third ring you have not found yet, and you never will find
it.'"

The professor awoke, bounded out of bed, as Mrs. Hilprecht testifies,
and was heard crying from his study, "It is so, it is so!" Mrs.
Hilprecht followed her lord, "and satisfied myself in the midnight
hour as to the outcome of his most interesting dream".

The professor, however, says that he awoke, told his wife the dream,
and verified it next day. Both statements are correct. There were
two sets of drawings, one in the study (used that night) one used next
day in the University Library.

The inscription ran thus, the missing fragment being restored, "by
analogy from many similar inscriptions":--

TO THE GOD NIBIB, CHILD
OF THE GOD BEL,
HIS LORD
KURIGALZU,
PONTIFEX OF THE GOD BEL
HAS PRESENTED IT.

But, in the drawings, the fragments were of different colours, so that
a student working on the drawings would not guess them to be parts of
one cylinder. Professor Hilprecht, however, examined the two actual
fragments in the Imperial Museum at Constantinople. They lay in two
distinct cases, but, when put together, fitted. When cut asun