desert? Some writers have attempted to solve the difficulty otherwise, from a passage in Alydenus, where we read that anciently the name of sea was given to the waters spread abroad in the neighbourhood of Babylon. If this explanation, which has been adopted by some commentators, and among others by Don Calmet, is thought too conjectural, might it not be as well to take simply the word sea here for the Euphrates itself, which served as a port to the ships of all the nations of the East, who were in the habit of trading with the Babylonians? This seems the more probable, as this manner of expression was not unknown in the East, the Egyptians commonly calling the Nile, bahr, or sea.

These waves which overwhelmed Babylon soon rendered it uninhabitable; and, as Isaiah says,* she became the habitation of wild beasts, and owls, and satyrs. The progressive accomplishment of the prophecies is one means used by God to perpetuate the remembrance of His oracles, and to keep them continually before the minds of men. Nevertheless, that progress is neither hidden nor unfelt-the rod strikes, and from time to time lets itself be seen; and this is principally what we ought to observe as regards Babylon. Her destruction was marked by several epochs; and one of the last of these was when she was sacked by the Parthian general, Hymerus from that time forward the name of city could no longer be applied to her.

"Mine eyes

* Isaiah xiii. 21.

shall behold her," says the Lord to Micah ;* "now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets." And truly, for a long time nothing was to be seen but fragments of her ruined walls and buildings, in the midst of which she seemed altogether to disappear. Her very position came to be a problem; and it has only been by diligent search that it has again been discovered. With difficulty does the

traveller of modern times find out the remains of this Queen of Cities; he turns them over with astonishment and contempt; and seems to triumph over her, in carrying away some fragments of her remains. The whole territory is a desert, caravans no longer passing through it, and commerce being carried on by means of the Tigris, from Bagdad to Bassora.

Thus has everything concurred to accomplish most literally that prophecy of Jeremiah, regarding the final ruin of Babylon-" Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness; a land where no man dwelleth, neither doth any man pass thereby."†

JOURNEY TO BABYLON,

IN

THE YEAR 1811*.

December 9th.-SET out this morning on an expedition to visit the remains of Ancient Babylon, accompanied by Mrs. Rich, Mr. Hine, and some friends. Our escort consisted of my own troop of Hussars, with a galloper gun, a havildar, and twelve sepoys; about seventy baggage-mules, a mehmandar from the Pasha, and a man from the Sheikh of the Jirbah Arabs.

We left our encampment at Gherrara, or rather the opposite bank of the river, at half-past eight in the morning, Bagdad bearing from Gherrara N. 44 W., distant three miles. In order to get into the Hillah road we took a course 50 W., passing over a level country covered with small bushes. The canal of the Naher Malcha was in sight the whole of the morning. We passed over several artificial mounds, called the old bed of the Tigris. In two hours and a half we reached the road that leads from Bagdad to Hillah, after a march of seven miles, according to

* It was from this Journal that the following "Memoirs on the Ruins of Babylon" were composed.

B

our rate of travelling. Kiahya Khan, which bore N. 12 E., was built by the celebrated Ahmed Kiahya of Bagdad; but being so near the town, it is not much frequented. Our road now lay S. 20 W., over a perfectly level country; and in about half an hour it took the direction of S. 5 W. At noon we arrived at Assad Khan, after a march of three hours and three quarters, or about eleven miles. These khans are built in quadrangular forms, with niches all round them for the accommodation of travellers, and a room or two near the gateway. In the centre of the court is a raised plinth, on which travellers sleep in the summer; and in the best khans there is an inner range of stabling all round the quadrangle. Over the gate is an open room, and there is always a small mud village round the khan. We only halted for a short time, in order to take some refreshment, and then proceeded on our journey. From a mound near Assad Khan the ruin of Aggher Koof, or Nimrod's Tower, bore N. 26 E.*

*

Bagdad, Saturday, January 4th, 1812.-I went with a party to see Agger Koof, or Nimrod's Tower, as it is vulgarly called, a ruin of very great antiquity, and very much of the same character as those of Babylon. It stands on the west side of the Tigris, about six miles from Bagdad. The general resemblance of it with the Birs Nemroud struck me forcibly. Like that ruin, it has a mound of rubbish on the east side. The mass of the building is of unburnt bricks, mixed up with chopped reeds, and layers of reeds between every fifth or sixth layer of bricks. Fragments of burnt bricks are found in the base, which is apparently composed of the decayed bricks and rubbish, together with the dust blown up against it by the high wind. The mass is of an irregular shape, and about half way up it is an aperture, apparently of no great extent. Square holes are visible in the sides, as at the Birs. The