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The tempests on that sea are sudden, terrible, and short-lived. They would appear to have been very dangerous to such boats as were in use in the days of the apostles; for we find the followers of our Lord, fishermen as they were, greatly alarmed on these occasions. When their Master was asleep on board, and when they saw the figure walking on the water, they thought their lives in danger. Captain Wilson witnessed one of these treacherous tempests and has given a description of it, which perhaps we do well to quote:

then a fountain known as the "cold before long. The officers of this expedispring," on the coast between Tiberias tion while examining the coasts of the Sea and Magdala, or else a hillside a little to of Galilee, kept a boat,* having blankets the west of this spring, and towards Hat- and a tent on board, moving about with tin, is the spot. orders to meet them at night at certain fixed points; and in this way, notwithstanding the little help afforded them by the Turkish authorities, they managed to get pleasantly over their work. The Arab dwellers in tents they found for the most part friendly and hospitable; yet some of them appear to have been greatly startled at seeing two Franks in their midst without warning. Lieutenant Anderson, however, once experienced treatment of a rather hostile character. It was on the occasion of the storm, a description of which we quoted above. He had for a time left Captain Wilson, and was engaged the storm broke, he was fain to seek shelat a village on the heights, where, when ter among the fellahin. These treated him well enough while he remained; but on his departure they followed him, and attempted to throw him down and rob him. Lieutenant Anderson managed to free himself for an instant, and to draw his revolver, the sight of which staggered his assailants; and he used the opportunity of their brief astonishment to get over the crest of a height, and so gain a start of them, which he maintained till he reached the sea. There were plenty of adventures, both on horseback and on foot; but the officers seem to have completely effected their object, evidently with satisfaction to themselves, and certainly with benefit to us. We are not aware that it was any part of their duty to give us their impressions concerning controverted points, to make clear the narrative of the Gospels, or to attempt to reconcile conflicting passages. We are, however, glad that they thought proper to perform these services: their discussions are always shrewd and unbiassed; they show that the subject had been well studied in books as well as on the ground; and their tone is such as every devout reader must approve.

Sudden storms, such as those mentioned in the New Testament, are by no means uncommon; and I had a good opportunity of watching one of them from the ruins of Gamala, on the eastern hills. The morning was delightful; a gentle easterly breeze, and not a cloud in the sky to give warning of what was coming. Suddenly, about mid-day, there was a sound of distant thunder, and a small cloud, "no bigger than a man's hand," was seen rising over the heights of Lubieh to the west. In a few moments the cloud appeared to spread; and heavy black masses came rolling down the hills towards the lake, completely obscuring Tabor and Hattin. At this moment the breeze died away, there were a few minutes of perfect calm, during which the sun shone out with intense power, and the surface of the lake was smooth and even as a mirror. Tiberias, Mejdel, and other buildings stood out in sharp relief from the gloom behind; but they were soon lost sight of as the thunder-gust swept past them, and rapidly advancing across the lake, lifted the placid water into a bright sheet of foam: in another moment it reached the ruins, driving myself and companion to take refuge in a cistern, where, for nearly an hour, we were confined, listening to the rattling peals of thunder, and torrents of rain. The effect of half the lake in perfect rest, whilst the other half was in wild confusion, was extremely grand. It would have fared badly with any light craft caught in mid-lake by the storm; and we could not help thinking of that memorable occasion on which the storm is so graphically described as "coming down" upon the lake.

The new map gives great assistance to all who would clearly comprehend the events and their order, in the New Testament, and it should be in the hands of every Bible student. It, like the other maps of Palestine by the same hands, was not made without much toil, exposure, and risk; notwithstanding which, we trust that other maps in continuation may appear

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got out of the rubbish fragments of pottery, and some bricks bearing cuneiform characters. The little that he collected was placed in the British Museum; but so small was it, that a case three feet square enclosed all that we could boast of as the remains of Nineveh and Babylon; and it does not seem that other museums in Europe were richer, either in relics or information, than our own. Of Assyrian arts we knew literally nothing; of Assyrian history we had but a few scraps, telling of events to which, in some instances, we could not assign dates more precisely than within the limits of a thousand years or so, and concerning which, in other instances, we had no certainty that they had ever happened at all.

the Persian Gulf. An iron road travers- | fused to accept this ignorance as irremeing the dominions which once belonged diable until some effort should have been to Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar is, made to dispel it. Half a century since, notwithstanding the inroads which science a gentleman named Rich, who was travhas been making on India and Egypt, and elling for his health, having visited Kur. other lands which were famous when the distan, made the journey from Mosul to world was young, still a startling idea. Baghdad. His suspicion that the numer Till very lately, it might have been said of ous heaps would repay the expense and Babylonia and Mesopotamia and Assyria, labour of examination was strengthened that they had lost every link that could by an account received from the Arabs of connect their present with their past. a sculpture representing men and animals Egypt and India, obscure though their his- which had been dug out of one of them. tories were and are in many places, yet had, Like good Mussulmans and utter barbaand have, noble monuments to witness rians, they had completely destroyed these that they must have rejoiced in a grand figures, which their doctors decided to be past; but, of the countries through which idols of the infidels; but the tale encourthe Tigris and Euphrates flow, it seemed aged Mr. Rich to examine some of the as if the few notices which occur in sacred largest mounds. He found remains of and profane accounts were the only buildings in places where the soil had vouchers that existed, or ever would ex-been washed away by the rains, and he ist, of the shadowy greatness of these realms. So completely had barbarism been re-established there by the Arabs so shockingly desolate is the whole region that we might have gone to measure it for its iron bands in profound ignorance of what manner of men they were who had aggrandized and adorned it, who had peopled it like bees, and who were a terror to their neighbours, having carried away captive men in nations. Might, we say; for it was ordained that, in the thirty years' interval between the former examination of the Euphrates valley and the practical design which seems now to be ripening towards fulfilment, the nineteenth century should become a little better acquainted with Semiramis and Sennacherib, and Esar-Haddon and Twenty years after Mr. Rich's rather Sardanapalus, and the people over whom unproductive explorations, Mr. Austin they ruled, than preceding ages had been. Layard, another Englishman, happened A ransacking of heaps and mounds has to travel, or, as he calls it, to wander, in brought to light unhoped-for treasures company with a friend, through Asia undoubted remains of the cities thought Minor and Syria. He could not resist for many ages to be entirely obliterated, an impulse which prompted him to cross and the sites of which no man could with into the desolate and dangerous region certainty point out. We had some idea beyond the Euphrates, and to enter the of where Babylon had stood; but as for shadow which hangs over Assyria, BabyNineveh, it was a name, and nothing lonia, and Chaldæa. He journeyed eastmore. Opposite to, and below, the Turk- ward from Aleppo by Bir and Orfa, ish town of Mosul, the banks of the Ti-skirted the Kurdish hills on the route to gris were studded with huge mounds, supposed to be formed of only earth and rubbish; and some of these were believed to occupy the site of Asshur's capital. But this was only a vague idea — an idea, too, which to all appearance it was too late to examine with a view to strengthening or extinguishing it; and so the world resigned itself to an inevitable ignorance. But fortunately there were one or two inquiring minds that re

Nisibin, and from Nisibin made his way to the Turkish town of Mosul on the Tigris. The place last named was thought to be the descendant of ancient Nineveh. On the bank of the river opposite to it were great mounds known as Kouyunjik and Nebbi Yunus, said to be the ruins of the mighty city; and up and down the river, at Khorsabad, Nimroud, and Kalah Shergat, were similar mounds. Buried in their own rubbish, and covered by the

mould of ages, the different ruins slept a unjik, he wrote to that gentleman encour-
sleep which gave no promise of a waking. aging him to persevere. M. Botta's en-
The plough cut the soil above them; terprise does not, however, appear to
burying-grounds of the true believers have been quite sufficient for such a task.
were established in the superincumbent He worked at the heaps of Kouyunjik,
earth; Arab villages straggled over the but he failed to broach the casket which
ruins, no soul of their inhabitants know- contained so much hid treasure; and but
ing or heeding of the famous people who for an accident, his operations would
had trod the courts below, and whose only probably have been fruitless to himself,
records were enclosed in the mounds. and have discouraged others. He was
The conviction was strong in the mind of not, however, destined to labour in vain.
the traveller that these leng-neglected A peasant from Khorsabad happening to
heaps had secrets of inestimable value to visit the excavations, told him that such
disclose to that adventurous soul who things as he appeared to be seeking were
should be worthy to penetrate their mys- frequently turned up in digging founda-
teries. Desire to essay the task at a more tions or other trenches in the village to
convenient season grew apace as in the which he belonged. After being for a
clear air of the solitude his eye ranged while unconvinced of the profitableness
through a vast expanse from mound to of seeking another field, M. Botta at
mound; and his respect for the sealed-up length conceived better hope of the proj-
ruins, if it could not be increased, at least ect, and commenced digging at Khorsa-
was quickened by the immediate recog- bad. The peasant's advice proved fortu-
nition of Nimroud with its pyramidical nate. A shaft sunk in the mound soon
mound, as that Larissa which Xenophon reached a wall; the wall proved to be
had described, and near to which the ten lined with sculptured slabs of gypsum; it
thousand Greeks had encamped twenty-formed the side of a chamber which led
two centuries before. It was even then
an ancient city; and in what undisturbed
obscurity must it have lain to make it
possible for the Englishman of the nine-
teenth century to identify it at sight with
that which was seen and written of by
the old Greek! "These huge mounds of
Assyria," says Mr. Layard, "made a
deeper impression upon me, gave rise to
more serious thoughts and more earnest
reflection, than the temples of Balbec
and the theatres of Ionia." His mind was
fixed to examine thoroughly, whenever it
might be in his power, these interesting
remains.

into many other chambers, all being set
about with sculptured slabs representing
battles, sieges, and similar events. "His
wonder may be easily imagined. A new
history had been suddenly opened to
him; the records of an unknown people
were before him. . . . The style of art of
the sculptures, the dresses of the figures,
the mythic forms on the walls, were alĺ
new to him, and afforded no clue to the
epoch of the erection of the edifice, or to
the people who were its founders. Nu-
merous inscriptions, accompanying the
bas-reliefs, evidently contained the ex-
planation of the events thus recorded in
sculpture; and being in the cuneiform or
arrow-headed character, proved that the
buildings belonged to an age preceding
the conquests of Alexander.
ta had discovered an Assyian edifice, the
first, probably, which had been exposed
to the view of man since the fall of the
Assyrian empire.'

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M. Bot

The secret of Mr. Layard's future success lay in that word "thoroughly," which was evidently not a mere figure of speech with him. He might have rambled about and scratched at the mounds as others had done before him, without adding much to our knowledge or our collections; but what he undertook to do he would do thoroughly nil actum The prize was not, however, what it reputans si quid superesset agendum; first appeared. The building which M. and the scientific world has reason to re- Botta discovered had been destroyed by joice that he was a man of this mettle. fire, and the calcined slabs, on being exHe was unable for a year or two to carry posed to the air, began immediately to out his cherished design, but he endeav- fall to pieces. There was time to copy oured to impress upon others the import- the inscriptions and figures before the ance of making the explorations, and the gypsum was disintegrated, but that was good hope there was of their being re- all. The venerable monument had been warded; and when he heard that M. Bot- uncovered only to be dissolved. Like the ta, who had been appointed by the French Government Consul at Mosul, was excavating in the mounds of Kouy-ment), p. 8.

Layard's "Nineveh and its Remains" (abridg

*

The suspicions and expected opposition of the Turkish officials were obviated by Mr. Layard's prudence, and by the use of the credentials with which he was provided. In his previous excursions he had learned how to manage the Arabs, and to make them labour for him. He conciliated a Sheikh, procured through his means a small gang of workmen, and, before the Pasha was aware of his design, had made such discoveries in the mounds of Nimroud as convinced him that his further labour would be well rewarded. So he now took the Pasha into his confi

lamp in Rosicrucius' sepulchre, it would | pursuit, and agreed to share with Mr. have endured for an indefinite time con- Layard the expense of a venture. The cealed and unprofitable; but as soon as ardent explorer left Constantinople in it seemed likely to serve a useful purpose, the middle of October, and such dilior to gratify curiosity, it was shivered in gence did he use that he reached Mosul pieces! Yet though this was the fate of in twelve days. the monument-though it perished for ever as soon as seen—it nevertheless, as Mr. Layard reminds us, answered to a great extent the purpose of its builder. It was preserved underground until men had learned the art of rapidly transferring, and of repeating at will, its forms and its legends. An educated mind caught and stored up its import while it was in the article of dissolution; its story was rescued by art from the limbo of secret things; its material has become powder, but the ideas of its builder belong to us and to our children for ever! That builder was over-sanguine in fancy-dence, asked to have an agent of Governing that his work would endure for all time, but his mind must have come far short of conceiving the dissemination which his thoughts are like to have in spite of the destruction of the marble in which he put his trust.

Encouraged by this success, M. Botta applied for and obtained from his Government the means of pursuing his investigations; but he did not examine other mounds beside those of Khorsabad, all the walls of which had unfortunately, like those first discovered, been destroyed by fire. He did, however, secure some specimens of Assyrian sculpture, and copies of very many inscriptions, and returned home the most successful explorer that had yet busied himself with excavations on the banks of the Tigris.

ment appointed to secure any treasure that might be found (the idea that hidden riches were the object of the search being fixed in the Turkish mind), and received a tacit sanction to his proceedings. The work advanced, and in a very little while sculptured slabs were uncovered, in many respects resembling those found by M. Botta at Khorsabad—a pair of gigantic winged bulls, a crouching lion rudely carved, two smaller winged lions, and a bas-relief nine feet high. Again the slabs had been exposed to fire, but the sculptures were copied. Each slab contained two bas-reliefs divided by an inscription in the cuneiform character. The scenes represented were: Ist, A battle or pursuit, in which two chariots containing warriors were being driven past or over The first fruits had thus been snatched enemies, some resisting, others prostrate. from Mr. Layard, through no fault of his. 2d, A siege of a castle or walled city. 3d, Many a man seeing the wind thus taken Two warriors - one on horseback, the out of his sails, would have resigned him- other in a chariot. 4th, The towers and self to having missed his destiny, and battlements of a castle, with a stream and looked for a fresh field for his endeav-a man fishing. These were clearly hisours. Not so Mr. Layard. He rejoiced and triumphed in M. Botta's good fortune with the soul of a true follower of science; he saw in what had been achieved the justification of his belief, and the earnest of a fuller harvest; his appetite for a thorough" exploration was only whetted. In the autumn of the same year which had witnessed the termination of M. Botta's labours, he was able to carry out his cherished wish. Sir Stratford Canning, then our Minister at Constantinople, interested himself in the

66

Vide No. 379 of the "Spectator." † 1845.

torical pieces. The dresses and arms of the figures were very distinct, according to the side on which they were fighting, and showed that the war was between nations of diverse fashions. It was assumed that those who were getting the better of the contests were in every case Assyrians, and these were represented in coats of mail, wearing helmets with lappets to protect the neck, like the early Normans. They carry bows and arrows, or swords and shields, and their horses are richly caparisoned, and their chariots much ornamented. The enemies are dressed in short tunics descending to the knees, their heads bare, and the hair confined

by a simple fillet. In the siege are por- ties were enough to break the spirit of an trayed all the ancient methods of attack ordinary man, and yet these were not all and defence: flights of missiles, escalade, the difficulties that Mr. Layard had to demolition of walls, destruction by fire, contend with. He was in the desert, dropping of heavy weights and precipita- surrounded by Arab tribes who were at tion of assailants from the walls, attempts war with each other, continually executing to burn the assailants' engines, and so on; raids, and who might at any time come while the appearance within the walls of down upon his party and make short work a female figure with dishevelled hair, and of himself and his discoveries. To guard in an attitude of supplication, raises a against this he had to make alliances sentiment, and indicates how the victory from time to time with different tribes, so is inclining. The large bas-relief repre- as to secure protection; and this he apsented a human figure raising the right pears to have done with a skill which hand, and carrying a flower in the left. formed no inconsiderable part of his The lion was of black basalt. The heads qualification for the task which he had and wings of the bulls had been de- undertaken. He studied and learned the stroyed; but on the backs of the slabs | peculiarities of the Arab nature; could out of which they had been wrought were inscriptions. The small winged lions are described as being only remains! The knowledge of form, of grouping, and of composition exhibited in the bas-reliefs, showed them to have been produced in a nation much advanced in art. There were disproportions in the objects; arbitrary methods of representing the beards and hair of men, and the wings and coverings of animals, were used; and there was the presentation of all the figures in profile, as in the Egyptian bas-reliefs; notwithstanding which a considerable power could be traced, and a knowledge of the requirements of art which as yet the sculptors' hands could not satisfy.

It took but a short examination to convince the quick perception of Mr. Layard that the slabs had not originally stood in the place where he found them. The edges had been cut away, to the injury of both figures and inscriptions; and one slab was reversed. Thus far there was nothing to indicate the character of the building of which these relics had been the ornaments.

Here Mr. Layard was compelled to pause, as the Turks were seized with an obstructive fit; but he was so far satisfied with the results of his labours that he wrote to Sir Stratford Canning to procire for him a definite authority to proceed with them. One excuse made by the Pasha for interrupting the work was, that some graves of the faithful had been disturbed by the excavation. A little while after, it was confessed by a subordinate officer that he had been ordered to make graves which the diggers might appear to have disturbed; also that in making the sham graves he had disturbed several real ones, although the excavators had not. The ignorant suspicions, duplicity, and lying of the Turkish authori

adapt himself to the wild simple habits of the children of the desert; dared to rely on their nobler qualities; bore with and turned to good account their infirmities; and was immensely popular with all the tribes among whom he sojourned. Many a traveller has managed to lose his property or his life before penetrating a tenth of Mr. Layard's incursion into the wastes of Mesopotamia and Assyria, or achieving anything worthy of record; while he, venturing everywhere, shrinking from no attempt which promised to gratify his thirst for information, traversed the wilderness, tore out its secrets, and returned to Europe unharmed. He had, however, sometimes to shift his berth rather suddenly; and a flitting of this kind took place during the first examination of the mounds of Nimroud, which we have just described.. On account of the many depredations of numerous and powerful tribes in the neighbourhood of Naisa, a village near to Nimroud, he removed to Selamiyeh, higher up the river, where he took up his quarters in the house of the chief of the village, living in a degree of comfort of which the following extract will give some idea: —

pleted, consisted of four hovels, surrounded by The premises, which were speedily coma mud wall, and roofed with reeds and boughs of trees. I occupied half of the larger habitation, the other half being appropriated for beasts of the plough and various domestic animals. We were separated by a wall, in which, however, numerous apertures served as a means of communication. These I studiously endeavoured for some time to block up. Á second hut was devoted to the wives, children, and poultry of my host; a third served as kitchen and servants' hall; the fourth was converted into a stall for my horses. In the enclosure formed by the buildings and outer wall, the few sheep and goats which had escaped the rapacity of the Pasha congregated during

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