THE portion of the globe which is the subject of our author's book, and where he had taken up his residence for a considerable time, is certainly the most interesting spot on the surface of the earth, and connected with recollections of the deepest and most solemn import to mankind. It was here the first inan saw the light of heaven-it was here he passed his happy days before his fallit was here sin entered the world, and by sin death, and so death and sin have passed upon all men-it was here the germ of society was laid, and from this point it expanded over the surface of the earth-it was here the remnant of a people were saved till they again replenished the world-it was here the first city was built, which founded the first mighty empire, to last 1000 years, and be the parent and model of every other. With this place, in fact, is connected all that revelation has communicated, and history detailed, of the first state of man, consequently involving in its consideration whatever concerns the future period of his existence. To investigate the present state of this place, however, requires opportunities which few men enjoy, and qualifications which still fewer possess. This cradle of the human race is now its tomb-this surface of magnificent cities is now a solitary desert. Nineveh and Babylon, and all their inhabitants, towns of 60 miles in circumference, and populations of countless millions, have left no more visible traces behind them than if they had never existed, and the traveller who now visits these places, meets nothing but solitary plains and pestiferous swamps; and if he be so robust as to escape pestilential disease in the latter, he can hardly hope to avoid the equally dangerous encounter of the only living things now to be met with in the former-the lurking serpent or the wandering robber. To describe such places as they have been, requires an ability and acquisition which the casual visitor who hurries through these regions cannot be said to possess. The only persons who resort thither are men engaged in commercial speculations, or travellers who hastily pass from India. They have neither the time nor the in

formation requisite for such a task. Intimate acquaintance with remote history, and familiar knowledge of ancient tongues, are not supposed to be the endowments of traders or couriers, and the labour and minute investigation of existing localities, as illustrating ancient descriptions, cannot be enjoyed by men whose only object is a rapid progress. It has therefore happened that this spot is perhaps less known than any other almost on the habitable globe, and that the centre, if it may be so called, of the earth's surface, where the human race began, and from whence it expanded on every side, is actually involved in as much obscurity as the remotest polar regions, to which the human race has not yet found its way. That Mr. Rich, however, was one of the favoured few who enjoyed the opportunity of enquiring, and had the necessary qualifications to profit by it, will appear by a brief sketch of his history.

Mr. Rich was a native of Dijon, in Burgundy, and was born in 1787, but at a very early age was brought to Bristol, where he was educated. He evinced an extraordinary and early propensity to the study of oriental languages. At the age of eight years he accidentally saw some Arabic manuscript with a gentleman of that town, and he immediately applied himself to master them. By the simple help of a borrowed grammar and dictionary, he learned to read, write, and speak the language with fluency and correctness, and by similar aids he was equally master of Hebrew, Syriac, Persian, and Turkish, at the early age of 15. We remember a friend who thought himself such a proficient in foreign languages, as to undertake to be an instructor; but when he came to accost a stranger in his own tongue as he thought, he was politely told by him, he was sorry he did not understand English, for such he supposed was the language in which he was addressed.Not so Mr. Rich. He met a Turk in Bristol, who could not make himself understood, but when addressed by Mr. Rich, he expressed his pleasure and surprise at hearing his own language correctly spoken in a strange country, and this was the foundation of an ac

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similarly constructed with goat-skins; but instead of being stuffed with dry hay, they were inflated, and formed so many bladders.

But besides these, and similar coincidences, there was little artificial left in the country to designate its former state. The muddy materials of which the edifices were built had crumbled away. With the exception of some traces of walls and fretwork, which could give no satisfactory explanation, nothing remained to indicate the ancient state of the people-even the coins were a source of confusion. At one place four were brought to Mr. Rich, and they were all of different æras

"As if," said he, "purposely designed to obscure and confuse; one being Arsacian, another Sassanian, a third Cufic, and a fourth an intaglio of a Roman victory."

But there still exist some artificial remnants which mark the most remote antiquity. Our travellers mention some indications, not only of Nineveh but of Nimrod. The former is situated on the Tigris, near Mousul, from whence Mr. Rich visited the remains of the ancient city. They first came to a large rampart, then a hollow, like a ditch, and then another rampart, which the Mousul Turks called the beginning of Nineveh. They soon passed another ditch and wall, which seemed to indicate that Nineveh had a double wall. He then crossed an area, which led to a Turkish village called Nebbi Yanus, and so traversed the centre of the celebrated town. On excavating about the modern Turkish town of Nebbi Yanus, fragments of brick, whole bricks, and pieces of gypsum, covered with inscriptions in the Cuneiform character, are found ; one of which, four inches thick, is deposited in the British Museum. Among the traditions of places still existing, is the tomb of Jonah, over which was erected, at first, a Christian church,-not from the supposition that he was buried there, but the circumstance of his having preached there. It is now converted into a Turkish mosque, as the Mohaminedans also recognize Jonas as a preacher against the Ninevites. Within the area were sundry dark passages, which seemed to belong to catacombs, or sepulchres, but of which the people had

no tradition, except that they were of extreme antiquity. No sculpture is now to be seen, but some years ago a remarkable bas-relief, representing men and other animals, covering a grey stone of the height of two men, was dug out. All the people of Mousul went to see it, and every one taking away a small piece, left to our traveller no remnant of it. The walls, in many places, were ten or twelve feet high, and the angles of bastions were still traceable, though no towers seemed to have crowned them. In the foundations appear to have been laid large blocks of stone, and in many concrete masses, even among bricks cemented together by bitumen. In some places, they were nothing more than conglomerate mounds of pebbles, united together by some intermediate substratum, and so worn down into mounds as to resemble natural hills. The area which the remnant of the walls included, did not seem to be more than one mile by two and a-half. This would but faintly resemble a city which Diodorus Siculus says, was 150 stadia long, and 90 broad; which, supposing a stadium to be about a furlong, or the eighth part of a mile, would give a circumference of 58 miles. But Mr. Rich justly supposes that the present remains visible include only the citadel, or royal precincts, or probably both, as the practice of fortifying the residence of an oriental sovereign is of very ancient date. So it certainly is at Constantinople, at the present day, the seraglio occupies the whole space of ancient Byzantium; and among the more than half Asiatic Russians, the Kremlin, in Moscow, is of similar extent and structure.

But the most remote city, to which the human mind can go back, is that of Nimrod,-built by that son of Cush "who was a mighty hunter before the Lord." The supposed site of this ancient place is four hours' journey from Mousul. The first intimation the travellers had of this primæval architect was, a voice crying from the waters. This was caused by a dam run across the river, over which the stream rushed with the rapidity of a cataract, and caused a loud roaring, heard at a considerable distance. This mound the inhabitants universally attributed to Nimrod. The country

around was highly cultivated, and villages appear in sight every where, thickly scattered. The principal remains found at the spot assigned as the site of this city was, a pyramidal mount, at the N. W. angle of a raised platform, round which were scattered the remnants of ruins, like those which a place of the remotest antiquity would be likely to leave, after the lapse of countless centuries. About a quarter of a mile from these debris is a large modern village, called Nimrod at this very day. This is a remarkable instance of the permanency of tradition among the inhabitants of a place. The name of Memphis, Troy, and other cities, are altogether unknown to the people who live on the spot on which they stood; but here the name is as recognized as when it was first imposed, immediately after the flood; and the villagers consider this “mighty hunter" as the architect of the place they inhabit, and certain village storytellers entertain the inhabitants at night, by reciting tales of him, from a book called Kisseh Nimrod, or "legends of Nimrod."

The remains of the old town resemble those of Nineveh; concrete masses of pebbles, and brick, in which the latter were covered with similar Cuneiform character, and thicker than those of Babylon. The pyramid was rounded at the angles, by time, but sufficient remained of it to ascertain its original shape. The height was one hundred and forty-four feet, and the circumference, at the base, seven hundred and seventy-seven. The coincidence of this form of edifice with those in Egypt is worthy of notice. But it was further observed, that in the composition of the bricks of this region, there was not the slightest trace of straw having been used as a material. In another place, bricks were found impressed with the form of a man's hand. These Mr. Rich refers to the Sassanian, or some recent period. It is a remarkable fact, however, that Mohammed sometimes signed his documents by the impression of a hand, and these bricks might have some connexion with this Moslem signature.

Among the artificial objects which attract attention here, are the mounds, or tumuli, which are scattered over

this region also. They are called tepé, probably a corruption of the Greek rapos, a tomb, to which use they are generally assigned. But the great extent of surface which they cover, in various regions of Asia and Europe, render it doubtful if they were always applied to that purpose. Those seen at the entrance of the Dardanelles, on the supposed plains of Troy, are universally supposed to be the tombs of the heroes who fell in that war; but they expand every where over the plains of Thrace, on the opposite shore, and from thence all the way along the steppes of Tartary, where Dr. Clarke found them so abundant that he could not reckon the number that appeared at once above the horizon. They are found likewise, as appears from Mr. Rich, in great numbers on the plains of Mesopotamia, and thus they are seen in various places within a circle of many thousand miles in circumference, in different quarters of the globe, and among all varieties of people,-the most refined as well as the most barbarous. Mr. Rich conjectures that "they were probably royal stations, marking the progress of an army; perhaps of that of Xerxes, or Darius Hystaspes." It is certain that the Turks, in their march to besiege Buda, did erect some of them in modern times, for this purpose, which are mentioned by Cantemir. Dr. Walsh, on his return from Constantinople, saw several on the plains of Thrace, erected to mark the place where the imperial ensign was stuck up. One of them is still called Buyuk Sanjak Tepé, or "the Great Hill of the Standard."

From the alluvial soil of the Tigris and Euphrates, our party ascended the highlands. The face of Koordistan formed a strong contrast to the plains of Babylon and Mesopotamia. Lofty mountains and verdant valleys, were an agreeable contrast to arid plains or stagnant swamps, particularly to an invalid, changing his residence in search of health. Nor did he find the people those robbers that most travellers apprehend, and with reason, who have occasion to pass through the country. The state of the population resembled that of parts of Europe a century ago, divided into serfs and feudal barons. The former are the cultivators of the soil, and seem a distinct race from the