he 19th, increased my workmen to
thirty, and divided them into three parties. The excavations were
actively carried on, and an entrance, or doorway, leading into the
interior of the mound, being cleared, rich results soon rewarded our
efforts. In a chamber that the Arabs unearthed were found two slabs on
which were splendid bas-reliefs, depicting on each a battle scene. In
the upper part of the largest were represented two chariots, each drawn
by richly caparisoned horses at full speed, and containing a group of
three warriors, the principal of which was beardless and evidently a
eunuch, grasping a bow at full stretch.

_II.--"They have Found Nimrod Himself!"_

Mohammed Pasha was deposed, and on my return to Mosul, in the beginning
of January, I found Ismail Pasha installed in the government. My fresh
experiments among the ruins speedily led to the discoveries of
extraordinary bas-reliefs. The most perfect of these represented a king,
distinguished by his high, conical tiara, raising his extended right
hand and resting his left on a bow. At his feet crouched a warrior,
probably a captive or rebel. A eunuch held a fly-flapper over the head
of the king, who appeared to be talking with an officer standing in
front of him, probably his vizir or minister.

The digging of two long trenches led to the discovery of two more walls
with sculptures not well preserved. I abandoned this part of the mound
and resumed excavations in the north-west ruins near the chamber first
opened, where the slabs were uninjured. In two days the workmen reached
the top of an entire slab, standing in its original position. In a few
hours the earth was completely removed, and there stood to view, to my
great satisfaction, two colossal human figures, carved in low relief and
in admirable preservation.

The figures were back to back, and from the shoulders of each sprang two
wings. They appeared to represent divinities, presiding over seasons.
One carried a fallow deer on his right arm, and in his left a branch
bearing five flowers. The other held a square vessel or basket in the
left hand, and an object resembling a fir cone in his right.

On the morning following these discoveries some of the Arab workmen came
towards me in the utmost excitement, exclaiming: "Hasten to the diggers,
for they have found Nimrod himself! Wallah! it is wonderful, but we have
seen him with our own eyes. There is no God but God." On reaching the
trench I found unearth