'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in reference to Major Rennell's remarks: with narrative of a journey to Persepolis: now first printed, with hitherto unpublished cuneiform inscriptions copied at Persepolis: by the late Claudius James Rich, Esq., formerly the Resident of the Hon.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.' [‎56] (134/474)

MEMOIR ON THE RUINS
change in the course of the river has taken place,
will be hereafter shown.
I have before remarked that the whole of this part
of Mesopotamia is intersected by canals
These are of all ages; and it is not uncommon to
see workmen employed in excavating a new canal,
close to, and parallel with, an old one, when it might
be supposed that the cleansing the old one would be
a work of much less toil. The high embankments
of these canals easily impose on the unpractised eye
for ruins of buildings, especially when the channel
has been filled up by the accession of soil, and I
doubt not are the origin of the belief, expressed by
some travellers, that there are ruins in the gardens
of Hillah. Niebuhr and Otter say that the remains
of walls and edifices are in existence, though enve
loped in woods and coppices. Otter in particular
observes that the site of Babylon is generally covered
with wood* : this is certainly incorrect. On the
ruins ot Babylon there is not a single tree growing,
excepting the old one which I shall hereafter have
occasion to mention ; but in the intervals of the ruins,
where in all probability no building ever stood, there
are some patches of cultivation. I made the most
I am unacquainted with the original work of Mr. Otter, and
imagine that the word coppice must exist only in the translation, as
it is an improper term, the only wood being the date gardens of Hil
lah, to which certainly the word coppi will not apply 3 .
" Mr. Otter's expression is as follows " Le Geographe Turc place
Babil aupres de Hilla, a la gauche du chemin en allant de la a Bag
dad. Aujourd hm on n y voit qu'un bois taillis.''-Voyage en Turquie
et en Perse, par M. Otter, Tome ii., p. 211.—E d