prising mass of all the remains of Babylon is situated in the desert about six miles to the south-west of Hella. It is called by the Arabs Birs Nimrod, by the Jews, Nebuchadnezzar's Prison. It is a mound of an oblong figure, the total circumference of which is seven hundred and sixty-two yards. At the eastern side it is cloven by a deep furrow, and is not more than fifty or sixty feet high; but at the western it rises in a conical figure to the elevation of one hundred and ninety-eight feet; and on its summit is a solid pile of brick, thirty-seven feet high by twerty-eight in breadth, diminishing in thickness to the top, which is broken and irregular, and rent by a large fissure extending through a third of its height. It is perforated by small square holes, disposed in rhomboids. The fine burnt bricks of which it is built have inscriptions on them; and so admirable is the cement, which appears to be lime-mortar, that, though the layers are so close together that it is difficult to discern what substance is between them, it is nearly impossible to extract one of the bricks whole. The other parts of the summit of this hill are occupied by immense fragments of brick-work, of no determinate figure, tumbled together and converted into solid vitrified masses, as if they had undergone the action of the fiercest fire, or been blown up with gunpowder, the layers of the bricks being perfectly discernible,-a curious fact, and one for which I am utterly incapable of accounting.

"Round the Birs are traces of ruins to a considerable extent. To the north is the canal which supplies Mesjid Ali with water, which was dug at the expence of the Nuwaub Shujahed Doulah, and called after his country, Hindia. We are informed that, from the summit of the Birs, in a clear morning, the gilt dome of Mesjid Ali may be seen."

BABYLONIAN BRICKS.

THE most ancient method of writing was on stone or brick, of which, as the earliest example on record, if allowable to be cited, may be adduced that of the two pillars of SETH, the one of brick and the other of stone, said by Josephus to have been erected before the deluge, and to have contained the history of antediluvian arts and sciences.— However disputable this account may be, that of the table

of stone on which the decalogue was written by the finger of the Deity, and delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai, can admit of no doubt, no more than can the hieroglyphic characters in the most ancient periods, engraved on the marbles of Egypt, at present so abundant in the collections of Europe. They remain to this day, and will be, for centuries to come, a lasting proof of the high advance in the engraving art, as well as in chemical science, of a nation, who, at that early period, could fabricate instruments to cut them so deep and indelibly on the almost impenetrable granite.

In countries destitute of stone, like Chaldæa, an artificial substance, CLAY, intermixed with reeds, and indurated by fire, was made use of for that purpose. Of this substance, formed into square masses, covered with mystic characters, the walls and palaces of Babylon were, for the most part, constructed; and it has been seen in the accounts of travellers who have visited these ruins, examined the bricks, and observed those reeds intermingled with their substance, how durable, through a vast succession of ages, those bricks, with their inscribed characters, have remained.— Their real meaning, or that of the Persepolitan arrow-headed obelistical characters, and the still more complicated hieroglyphics of Egypt, however partially decyphered by the labours of the learned, will, perhaps, never be fathomed in their full extent, by the utmost ingenuity of man.

Of the bitumen with which these Babylonian bricks were cemented together, and which was plentifully produced in the neighbourhood of Babylon, it may be proper in this place to remark, that it binds stronger than mortar, and in time becomes harder than the brick itself. It was also impenetrable to water, as to the early descendants of Noah was well known, for both the outside and the inside of the ark was incrusted with it. Gen. vi. 14. It may be proper to add here, that the bitumen, to deprive it of its brittleness, and render it capable of being applied to the brick, must be boiled with a certain proportion of oil, aud that it retains its tenacity longest in a humid situation. Mr. Rich informs us, that it is, at present, principally used for caulking boats, coating cisterns, baths, and other places which usually come in contact with water. The fragments of it scattered over the ruins of Babylon are black, shining, and brittle, somewhat resembling pit-coal in substance and appearance.'

It will not be forgotten, that the custom, above alluded to of mixing straw or reeds with bricks baked in the sun, in order to bind them closer, and to make them more firm and compact, was also used in Egypt, as may be inferred from Exodus v. 7, where Pharaoh commands the taskmasters of the oppressed Israelites not to give them straw to make bricks, in order to multiply their vexations, aud increase their toil.

Speaking of the Babylonian bricks, and their variety, in respect to size, colour, and hardness, Mr. Rich informs us, that "the general size of the kiln-burnt brick is thirteen inches square, by three thick: there are some of half these dimensions, and a few of different shapes for particular purposes, such as rounding corners, &c. They are of several different colours; white, approaching more or less to a yellowish cast, like our Stourbridge, or fire-brick, which is the finest sort; red, like our ordinary brick, which is the coarsest sort; and some which have a blackish cast, and are very hard. The sun-dried brick is considerably larger than that baked in the kiln, and in general looks like a thick clumsy clod of earth, in which are seen small broken reeds, or chopped straw. used for the obvious purpose of binding them in like manner the flat roofs of the houses of Bagdad are covered with a composition of earth and mortar, mixed up with chopped straw." At the Birs Nemroud, Mr. Rich found some fire-burnt bricks, which appeared to have had the same materials in their composition. The best sun-dried bricks he met with are those which compose the ruin called Akerkout. In the kasr, or palace, our author found, in general, finer specimens of ait; for, in addition to the substances generally strewed on the surfaces of all these mounds, he saw fragments of alabaster vessels, fine earthern-ware, marble, and great quantities of varnished tiles, the glazing and colouring of which are surprisingly fresh. The process from making pottery to moulding figures in clay, was not difficult; but the designs in brass, and the grouping of the figures, must have required much greater skill and labour.

RUINS OF PERSEPOLIS.

THE most striking feature, on a first approach to these splendid ruins, is the stair-case and its surrounding walls.

Two grand flights, which face each other, lead to the priocipal platform. To their right is an immense wall of the finest masonry, and of the most massive stones; to the left, are other walls, equally well built, but not so imposing. On arriving at the summit of the stair-case, the first objects which present themselves directly facing the platform, are four vast portals and two columns. Two portals first, then the columns, and then two portals again. On the front of each are represented, in basso-relievo, figures of animals, which, for want of a better name, may be called sphinxes. The two sphinxes on the first portals face outwardly, i. e. towards the plain and the front of the building. The two others, on the second portals, face inwardly, i. e. towards the mountain. From the first, (to the right, on a straight line,) at the distance of fifty-four paces, is a stair-case of thirty steps, the sides of which are ornamented with bassreliefs, originally in three rows, but now partly reduced by the accumulation of earth beneath, and by mutilations above. This stair-case leads to the principal compartment of the whole ruins, which may be called a small plain, thickly studded with columns, sixteen of which are now erect. Ilaving crossed this plain, on an eminence are numerous stupendous remains of frames, both of windows and doors, formed hy blocks of marble of sizes most magnificent. These frames are ranged in a square, and indicate an apartment the most royal that can be conceived. On each side of the frames are sculptured figures, and the marble still retains a polish which, in its original state, must have vied with the finest mirrors. On each corner of this room are pedestals, of an elevation much more considerable than the surrounding frames; one is formed of a single block of marble. The front of this apartment seems to have been to the south-west, for few marks of masonry are to be seen on that exposure, and the base of that side is richly sculptured and ornamented. This front opens upon a square platform, on which no building appears to have been raised. But on the side opposite to the room just mentioned, there is the same appearance of a corresponding apartment, although nothing but the bases of some small columns, and the square of its floor, attest it to have been such. The interval between these two rooms, (on those angles which are the furtherest distant from the grand front of the building,)