of the river, bounding a
sort of narrow valley, in which either the main stream of the Euphrates,
or at any rate a branch from it, seems anciently to have flowed.

On the right bank of the stream the chief remains are of the same kind.
West of the river, a rampart, twenty feet high, runs for nearly a mile
parallel with the general line of the Amran mound, at the distance of
about 1000 yards from the old course of the stream. At either extremity
the line of the rampart turns at a right angle, running down towards the
river, and being traceable towards the north for 400 yards and towards
the south for fifty or sixty. It is evident that there was once, before
the stream flowed in its present channel, a rectangular enclosure, a
mile long and 1000 yards broad, opposite to the Amran mound; and there
are indications that within this _enceinte_ was at least one important
building, which was situated near the south-east angle of the enclosure,
on the banks of the old course of the river. The bricks found at this
point bear the name of Neriglissar.

There are also, besides the ramparts and the great masses of ruin above
described, a vast number of scattered and irregular heaps of hillocks
on both sides of the river, chiefly, however, upon the eastern bank.
Of these one only seems to deserve distinct mention. This is the mound
called El Homeira, "the Red," which lies due east of the Kasr, distant
from it about 800 yards--a mound said to be 300 yards long by 100 wide,
and to attain an elevation of 60 or 70 feet. It is composed of baked
brick of a bright red color, and must have been a building of a very
considerable height resting upon a somewhat confined base. Its bricks
are inscribed along their edges, not (as is the usual practice) on their
lower face.

The only other ancient work of any importance of which some remains are
still to be traced is a brick embankment on the left bank of the stream
between the Kasr and the Babil mounds, extending for a distance of
a thousand yards in a line which has a slight curve and a general
direction of S.S.W. The bricks of this embankment are of a bright red
color, and of great hardness. They are laid wholly in bitumen. The
legend which they bear shows that the quay was constructed by Nabonidus.
[PLATE XIII.]

[Illustration: PLATE XIII.]

Such then are the ruins of Babylon--the whole that can now with
certainty be assigned to the "beauty of the Chaldees' excellency"--the
"great Baby