My exploration extended to Koyunjik, Nimroud and Kalaa-Shirgat (the ancient Asshur), but my great success was achieved in the former site. There I discovered in the northern part of the mound the edifice of Assur-bani-pal. The sculp tures of this palace have been considered by com petent authorities to be of a higher order of art than those of other Assyrian buildings. The royal lion hunt, especially, has been the admiration of every one. The animals are portrayed in every variety of posture and are sculptured with sur prising vigor. In the lion hunt saloon, I discov ered the library of Assur-bani-pal, and among the records were found the legends of the creation and the dCluge.
To prove that there may be still invaluable treasures buried underground, both in Assyria and Babylonia, I will mention two important discover. ics I made in the former country some years ago, which will show how necessary it is to examine thoroughly every ancient site without being dis couraged by disappointment and failures.
(4) Colossal Gates. A few years ago, while an Arab was digging a grave in a mound, called Balawat, about fifteen miles to the east of Koy unjik, and nine miles to the northeast of Nim roud, he came upon a bronze band, covered with embossed illustrations and inscriptions, which he broke into a number of pieces and sold to differ ent individuals. Fortunately one of those who purchased three or four portions of the rare an tique sent me two pieces of it, and so, when I went out to Assyria for the trustees of the British Museum, in the first thing I did was to find out where that relic was obtained, and as I felt certain that the band discovered by the Arab dig ger was a part of a large trophy. I determined to find the remainder.
On arriving there I found to my great regret that the mound in which that object was buried had been used as a cemetery from time imme morial by the lohanimedans, and there was not a vacant space even of two feet where a grave had not been dug to the depth of five or six feet.
For nearly 2,50o years that monument of As syrian grandeur was unknown to explorers, and no one happened to hit upon it, though it was buried only about live feet below the surface of the ground. It was both difficult and dangerous to dig there for antiquities, on account of the prejudice of the natives, but nothing daunted, I managed by the help of my Aral) friends to try a spot on which there was no grave visible, and in a few hours' time 1 was rewarded by the dis cover y of that part of the trophy %Ouch was only five feet deep. There were, however, two good
reasons why that mound was left untouched by European explorers before 1 commenced work in it ; the first was its insignificance. quite unliVe Koyunjik, Khorsabad or Nintroud; and, sec ondly. the existence of the graves on it would naturally debar an archa•ologist front attempting to dig in it from fear of coining into collision with the fanatical Arabs.
These bronzes, which arc now exhibited at the British Museum, appear to have covered a two• leaf cedar gate, about twenty feet square by foul inches thick, and as the wood had rotted away I could only find out its thickness from the bend of the nails that were found fixed to it. The scrolls, or bands, of bronzes which I found lying flat on the soil in their original position did not cover the whole wooden frame, but between each of the scrolls there must have been some orna mented cedar work or some other rare materiai of which the monument was stripped when the Assyrian monarchy began to decay. The illus trations on this relic, which are of bas-reliefs in repose work, are minute in detail and artistic in style. They represent the battle scenes, marching order and religious ceremonies of the Assyrians. Each plate is divided into two sections and sur rounded by a large number of rosettes, which answered the purpose of ornamentation, and also encircled the top of the nails that fastened the metal to the wood.
(5) Cylinder. The second valuable discovery I made at Koyunjik was a perfect ten-sided terra cotta cylinder, with 1,30o lines of fine inscriptions detailing the conquests of Assur-bani-pal. It was by a mere chance that this unique historical rec ord was discovered, because, generally speaking, Sir Henry Layard and I did not think it necessary to waste our time and money in digging thick, solid brick walls to no purpose. But I was asked by the overseer superintending the work in the palace of Assur-bani-pal if lie should remove a small remnant of brick wall, which was left in digging out two chambers, or leave it to be cov ered with rubbish which came out of the excava tions. On seeing that its removal would not en tail much expense I ordered it to be pulled down, and I was glad to find that the little labor and expense had gained us that most valuable record of Assyrian history. It was found built inside the solid brick wall.