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base of the great platform, and which was reached by an inclined way, or steps, leading down to the water's edge. But the principal approach to the royal abode was on the eastern side, where the great bulls were found bearing the inscribed annals of Sennacherib.

From this eastern entrance we passed through the halls and larger rooms of the deserted palace, and expe rienced an enthusiasm which language is inadequate to express. Many of the bass-reliefs remain in their orig inal positions, and evince a degree of perfection in sculpture not excelled in later times. There is more of the picturesque in these than in those at Nimroud, and a greater fullness of detail. The sculptor sought to transfer to the marble the landscape where occurred the his toric events he aimed to portray. The high mountain, the extended plain, the flowing river, the spreading palm, the rugged rocks, the embattled city, the contending ar mies, are traced with marvelous reality. On the walls of one hall is sculptured a lofty mountain covered with trees, and at its base a broad and flowing river, filled with fish, whose motion in the water is almost perceptible. On the walls of other apartments through which we passed are portrayed battle-scenes; triumphal processions; captives taken in war; superb horses led by grooms; the Tigris, wherein fish are swimming; a gar den, wherein are fruitful trees and blooming flowers; a palm with six branches; and gigantic human-headed lions, whose sides are covered with the arrow-headed characters.

When in its glory, this palace was an art-gallery, on whose walls were sculptured in relief the national and domestic life of the Ninevites; their religious ceremonies; their hunting-scenes; their mechanical arts; the natural history of their country; their methods of warfare; the

chief incidents in their famous battles; the treatment of captives taken in war; their military equipments; their domestic and public architecture; their modes of navigation; their ornaments in glass, ivory, metals, and pottery; their household furniture; their musical instruments, such as the harp and the lyre; the variety of their food and style of cooking; their implements of agriculture; their festal scenes; the ornaments worn by the ladies; the private life of the king, and the royal honors paid him at court and on his return from victorious war. So numerous were the bass-reliefs in this magnificent palace, that, were they arranged in order, their aggregated length would not be less than two miles; and to these should be added the colossal winged lions, bulls, and sphinxes which adorned the twenty-seven portals that have been discovered. By a careful study of these sculptures, it was easy to learn what were the birds, the beasts, the fishes, the plants and flowers, the minerals and metals, the topography and landscape scenery of Assyria; the size and features of the people; the style of the costumes worn; and the peculiar features of the government of the Ninevites.

On the northern wall of the great hall of the palace were a series of reliefs, which convey to the mind the skill of the artist and the state of mechanical science which then obtained. They represent the process of transporting the great human-headed lions from the quarry whence the marble was taken to the place for which it was designed. There is the low, flat-bottomed boat floating on the river which conveyed the huge mass to a point opposite the city; there are the strong cables by which it is held in its place, and to which are attached smaller ropes held by a large body of men, who are tracking the boat to its destination; there are the

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