'Narrative of a journey to the site of Babylon in 1811, now first published: memoir on the ruins; with engravings from the original sketches by the author: remarks on the topography of ancient Babylon, by Major Rennell; in reference to the memoir: second memoir on the ruins; in reference to Major Rennell's remarks: with narrative of a journey to Persepolis: now first printed, with hitherto unpublished cuneiform inscriptions copied at Persepolis: by the late Claudius James Rich, Esq., formerly the Resident of the Hon. East India Company at Bagdad. Edited by his widow.' [‎39] (66/474)

INTRODUCTION.
xxxix
agree with M. d'Anville, who divides Babylon by
the river Euphrates. I carefully inquired of the
Arabs, who have been forty years employed in dig
ging for bricks with which to build houses in
Hillah, whether in digging on the other side of the
river they found bricks, and they answered no. It
is true that, on the other side of the river, at about
a league's distance from the banks of the river, there
are mounds of ruins, called by the Arabs,
Those of Babylon are exactly under the mound they
call Babel. I was told on the spot, that the ruins
of Babylon extended three leagues to the north of
Mohawil, and as far below Hillah, which would give
a length of more than six leagues. There is, there
fore, no difficulty about the position of Babylon."*
* In speaking of the latitude of Babylon, M. de Beaucliamp says,
" According to M. Niebuhr, the latitude of Hillah is 32° 28 r , which
would make the distance between Bagdad and Hillah 211 leagues,
allowing 25 to a degree, the meridian being pretty much the same.
But Hillah is 5 degrees to the west of Bagdad, according to an
observation of longitude taken on the 5th of November, 1789, at
Hillah. It therefore appears to me that 22 leagues is rather too
much, and that 18 leagues is about the real distance. The result of
two expeditions made by me from Bagdad to Hillah is 16 J hours, at
a horse's pace,—not at the rate of caravan travelling. M. Niebuhr
counts 13 or 14 German miles ; and in taking 13J, that would give
22J leagues, at 25 to a degree. This distance, which is too much, is
sufficient to induce mo to believe that the latitude of Hillah, accord
ing to M. Niebuhr, is too little. I made it to be 32° 35'. I had made
it 32° 40', but I think there must have been some error in my instru
ment, and that my observation gives as much above, as M. Niebuhr's
had given under, the truth. My last observation corresponds better
with the distance; so that the latitude of Babylon would be 32° 37'.
M. d'Anville has made it less, as well as Niebuhr, The only error I
could have made, would have been in my calculation of the hour on a
march. But, supposing I granted that a horseman would walk his
horse one league an hour, allowing 20 to a degree, it would follow