or me by the at I asked for passage in the I am aware is a leads to error;

I have no doubt

I have heard ed them. Should

the similarity of a is Borsippa, that those of the sacred appeal to the appearse that the Birs is Borbe to believe that there exformer place perfectly re

nt of Belus, both in form and imple of Borsippa has resisted s obliterated that of Babylon.

- Memoir without correcting two inner one. Tahmasia was, I find, built nd not by Nadir Shah, as I was inac↑ at Hillah; and the Khan half-way beand Hillah is not called Khan Bir Yunus, but Bir-un-nous (incorrectly for nisf), i. e. the Half-way.

reckoned at one league of 20 to a degree (and which I believe will generally be found to come near the truth), it will bring the latitude of Hillah to 32° 32′ and Babylon to 32° 34', which comes nearer his observation than that of Niebuhr. (See Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscr., vol. xlviii. p. 31.) I hope on my next visit to Babylon to ascertain correctly its longitude and latitude, both by astronomical observations and measurement. In my sketch the magnetic variation was not allowed; it is at Bagdad 8° 44′ west, and at Bussora, 9°.

(F.) Page 169.

It appears on examination that the Brouss or Broussa of M. Beauchamp* is no other than the Birs Nemroud (which Major Rennell calls throughout the "Remarks" Nimrod Birs). The situation two leagues south-east of Hillah, and the name, which seems to be only a corrupt pronunciation of Birs or Burs, all sufficiently point out the correspondence between the Birs Nemroud and Brouss. It is true, Beauchamp says it is only one league from the banks of the river; and Major Rennell, in his Sketch, makes it rather more than two; but Beauchamp was never at the Birs himself; and he must either speak from mere conjecture, or from the careless report of some person of the country.

Major Rennell says that the Broussa of Beauchamp is called Boursa by the Arabs, and he concludes it to be the Barsita of Ptolemy, or Borsippa of Strabo. It would appear that he has some other authority for Boursa, which he does not mention. Boursa in Arabic means a sandy desert, or the dwelling-places of evil spirits, either being very remote from the appellation of Celestial, which d'Anville gives it in fixing it at Samawa, much lower down the

* Geog. of Herod., p. 370. Mém. de l'Acad., vol. xlviii.

Tuphrates. In my first Memoir I speak of the ruins of Boursa near the village of Jerbouiya, which is about four leagues below Hillah, and about half an hour from the river. I only met with one man at Hillah who recognised the name of Boursa; and he was found out for me by the governor. It is necessary here to explain that I asked for Boursa by name, from having just read the passage in the Geography of Herodotus relating to it. This I am aware is a mode of inquiry which sometimes in the East leads to error; but whatever may be thought of the name, I have no doubt concerning the ruins at Jerbouiya, which I have heard described by several persons who had visited them. Should any one be tempted to imagine, from the similarity of names, and the conjecture that Boursa is Borsippa, that the ruins of the Birs Nemroud are those of the sacred Tower of the Chaldeans, I can only appeal to the appearance of the Birs itself. To suppose that the Birs is Borsippa, and not Babylon, would be to believe that there existed a temple and tower at the former place perfectly resembling the gigantic monument of Belus, both in form and proportions; and that the Temple of Borsippa has resisted the hand of time, which has obliterated that of Babylon.

I must not finish this Memoir without correcting two inaccuracies of my former one. Tahmasia was, I find, built by Shah Tahmas, and not by Nadir Shah, as I was inaccurately informed at Hillah; and the Khan half-way between Bagdad and Hillah is not called Khan Bir Yunus, or Jonas's Well, but Bir-un-nous (incorrectly for nisf), i. e. The Well of the Half-way.

APPENDIX.

BABYLONIAN ANTIQUES.

HAVING given an account of the ruins of Babylon, it will perhaps be expected that I should describe the monuments of the arts, manners, and religion of past ages which are found among them, and which are as yet but imperfectly known to the public. But to enter fully into this subject would require an attention of which I am not now capable, and time which I have it not in my power to bestow. I must therefore at present content myself with merely offering specimens of some of the most interesting of these fragments; and I console myself with the hope that I may thus supply some materials to those who are infinitely more capable of using them than I can ever expect to be.

Hillah is the general depôt for antiques found throughout all this country, especially on the banks of the Euphrates, from Raka to Samawa.* The most interesting of these antiques are the Sassanian and Babylonian. It is of the latter only of which I

* I have even been offered at Hillah English and Russian copper coins, common European seals of false carnelian, and a head of Frederick the Great in blue glass!