During these events the state of the country rendered the continuation of my researches at Nimroud almost impossible. I determined, therefore, to proceed to Baghdad, to make arrangements for the removal of the sculptures at a future period, and to consult generally with Major Rawlinson, from whose experience and knowledge I could derive the most valuable assistance. A raft having been constructed, I started with Mr. Hector, a gentleman from Baghdad, who had visited me at Nimroud, and reached that city on the 24th of December.

NEW INTERRUPTIONS.-SHEIKH ABD-UR-RAHMAN AND THE ABOU SALMAN ARABS. FRESH BAS-RELIEFS IN THE NORTH-WEST CORNER. DISCOVERY OF THE PRINCIPAL PALACE. -ENTIRE BASRELIEFS. DISCOVERY OF THE GIGANTIC LIONS.-SURPRISE OF THE ARABS. SENSATION AT MOSUL, AND CONDUCT OF THE PASHA AND CADI. EXCAVATIONS STOPPED. FURTHER DISCOVERIES. DESCRIPTION OF THE HUMAN-HEADED LIONS. FLECTIONS ON THEIR ANTIQUITY AND OBJECT. -THE JEBOUR ARABS. THEIR SHEIKHS. A KURDISH CHIEF. NIMROUD IN MARCH.-DESCRIPTION OF THE PLAIN AT SUNSET.-THE TUNNEL OF NEGOUB. AN ASSYRIAN INSCRIPTION.

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On my return to Mosul in the beginning of January, I found Ismail Pacha installed in the government. He received me with courtesy, offered no opposition to the continuation of my researches at Nimroud, and directed the irregular troops stationed at Selamiyah to afford me every assistance and protection. The change since my departure had been as sudden as great. A few conciliatory acts on the part of the new Governor, an order from the Porte for an inquiry into the sums unjustly levied by the late Pasha, with a view to their repayment, and a promise of a diminution of taxes, had so far reassured and gained the confidence of those who had fled to the mountains and the desert, that the inhabitants of the villages were

slowly returning to their homes; and even the Arab tribes, which were formerly accustomed to pasture their flocks in the districts of Mosul, were again pitching their tents on the banks of the Tigris. The diminished population of the province had been so completely discouraged by the repeated extortions of Keritli Oglu, that the fields had been left untilled. The villagers were now actively engaged, although the season was already far advanced, in sowing grain of various kinds. The palace was filled with Kurdish chiefs and Arab Sheikhs, who had accepted the invitation of the new Pasha to visit the town, and were seeking investiture as heads of their respective tribes. The people of Mosul were looking forward to an equal taxation, and the abolition of the system of torture and arbitrary exactions, which had hitherto been adopted by their governors.

During my absence my agents had not been inactive. Several trenches had been opened in the great mound of Baasheikha; and fragments of sculpture and inscriptions, with entire pottery and inscribed bricks, had been discovered there. At Karamles a platform of brickwork had been uncovered, and the Assyrian origin of the ruin was proved by the inscription on the bricks, which contained the name of the Khorsabad king.

I rode to Nimroud on the 17th of January, having first engaged a party of Nestorian Chaldæans to accompany me.

The change that had taken place in the face of the country during my absence, was no less remarkable

than that which I had found in the political state of the province. To me they were both equally agreeable and welcome. The rains, which had fallen almost incessantly from the day of my departure for Baghdad, had rapidly brought forward the vegetation of spring. The mound was no longer an arid and barren heap; its surface and its sides were covered with verdure. From the summit of the pyramid my eye ranged, on one side, over a broad level enclosed by the Tigris and the Zab; on the other, over a low undulating country bounded by the snow-capped mountains of Kurdistan; but it was no longer the dreary waste I had left a month before; the landscape was clothed in green, the black tents of the Arabs chequered the plain of Nimroud, and their numerous flocks pastured on the distant hills. The Abou Salman, encouraged by favourable reports of the policy of the new Pasha, had recrossed the Zab, and had sought their old encamping grounds. The Jehesh and Shemutti Arabs had returned to their villages, around which the wandering Jebours had pitched their tents, and were now engaged in cultivating the soil. Even on the mound the plough opened its furrows, and corn was sown over the palaces of the Assyrian kings.

Security had been restored, and Nimroud offered a more convenient and more agreeable residence than Selamiyah. Hiring, therefore, from the owners three huts, which had been hastily built in the outskirts of the village, I removed to my new dwelling place. A few rude chairs, a table, and a wooden bedstead,

formed the whole of my furniture. My Cawass spread his carpet, and hung his tobacco pouch in the corner of a hovel, which he had appropriated, and spent his days in peaceful contemplation. The servants constructed a rude kitchen, and the grooms shared the stalls with the horses. Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, the brother of the British Vice-Consul, came to reside with me, and undertook the daily payment of the workmen and the domestic arrangements.

My agent, with the assistance of the chief of the Hytas, had punctually fulfilled the instructions he had received on my departure. Not only were the coun terfeit graves carefully removed, but even others, which possessed more claim to respect, had been rooted out. I entered into an elaborate argument with the Arabs on the subject of the latter, and proved to them that, as the bodies were not turned towards Mecca, they could not be those of true believers. I ordered the remains, however, to be carefully collected, and to be reburied at the foot of the mound.

I had now uncovered the back of the whole of wall j, of wall k to slab 15, and of six slabs of wall m; Nos. 1. and 2. of wall f, and the entrance d with a small part of wall a. All these belonged to the palace in the S. W. corner of the mound represented by plan 2. In the centre of the mound I had discovered the remains of the two winged bulls; in the N. W. palace Y (plan 3.), the chamber A, and the two small winged lions forming the entrance to chamber BB. The only additional bas-reliefs were two on