[Illustration: PLATE XII.]

Below the Babil mound, which stands isolated from the rest of the ruins,
are two principal masses--the more northern known to the Arabs as EL
KASR, "the Palace," and the more southern as "the mound of Amran," from
the tomb of a reputed prophet Amran-ibn-Ali, which crowns its summit.
The Kasr mound is an oblong square, about 700 yards long by 600 broad,
with the sides facing the cardinal points. [PLATE XII., Fig. 2.] Its
height above the plain is 70 feet. Its longer direction is from north
to south. As far as it has been penetrated, it consists mainly of
rubbish-loose bricks, tiles, and fragments of stone. In a few places
only are there undisturbed remains of building. One such relic is a
subterranean passage, seven feet in height, floored and walled with
baked brick, and covered in at the top with great blocks of sandstone,
which may either have been a secret exit or more probably an enormous
drain. Another is the Kasr, or "palace" proper, whence the mound has
its name. This is a fragment of excellent brick masonry in a wonderful
state of preservation, consisting of walls, piers, and buttresses, and
in places ornamented with pilasters, but of too fragmentary a character
to furnish the modern inquirer with any clue to the original plan of the
building. The bricks are of a pale yellow color and of the best possible
quality, nearly resembling our fire-bricks. They are stamped, one and
all, with the name and titles of Nebuchadnezzar. The mortar in which
they are laid is a fine lime cement, which adheres so closely to the
bricks that it is difficult to obtain a specimen entire. In the dust
at the foot of the walls are numerous fragments of brick, painted, and
covered with a thick enamel or glaze. Here, too, have been found a few
fragments of sculptured stone, and slabs containing an account of the
erection of a palatial edifice by Nebuchadnezzar. Near the northern edge
of the mound, and about midway in its breadth, is a colossal figure of a
lion, rudely carved in black basalt, standing over the prostrate figure
of a man with arms outstretched. A single tree grows on the huge ruin,
which the Arabs declare to be of a species not known elsewhere, and
regard as a remnant of the hanging garden of Bokht-i-nazar. It is a
tamarisk of no rare kind, but of very great ago, in consequence of
which, and of its exposed position, the growth and foliage are somewhat
peculiar.

South of the Kasr mound, at the