'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in reference to Major Rennell's remarks: with narrative of a journey to Persepolis: now first printed, with hitherto unpublished cuneiform inscriptions copied at Persepolis: by the late Claudius James Rich, Esq., formerly the Resident of the Hon.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.' [‎51] (129/474)

OF BABYLON.
51
mosque derives its appellation. It is a small build
ing, having instead of a minaret an obelisk, or rather
hollow cone fretted on the outside like a pine-apple,
placed on an octagonal base: this form, which is a
very curious one, I have observed in several very old
structures, particularly the tomb of Zobeide, the
wife of Haroun-al-raschid at Bagdad, and I am in
formed it cannot now be imitated. On the top of
the cone is a mud cap, elevated on a pole, resem
bling the cap of liberty. This, they say, revolves with
the sun; a miracle I had not the curiosity to verify.
The inside of the mosque is supported by rows of
short pillars about two feet in girth: from the top of
each spring pointed arches, in form and combina
tion resembling in a striking manner the Gothic
architecture. It contains nothing remarkable except
what the people show as the tomb of the prophet
Joshua. This country abounds in supposed tombs
of prophets. On the Tigris, between Bagdad and
Bussora, they show the sepulchre of Ezra; twelve
miles in the Desert to the S. W. of Hillah is that
of Ezechiel, and to the southward the tomb of Job;
the two former are places of pilgrimage of the Jews,
who do not acknowledge those of Job and Joshua.
The district of Hillah extends from Husseinia
(which is a canal leading from the Euphrates near
Musseib to Imam Hussein) on the north, to the
town of Hasca on the south. It is governed by a
Bey, who is always a Turk or Georgian, appointed
by the Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of Bagdad, from whom the govern-
E