'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in reference to Major Rennell's remarks: with narrative of a journey to Persepolis: now first printed, with hitherto unpublished cuneiform inscriptions copied at Persepolis: by the late Claudius James Rich, Esq., formerly the Resident of the Hon.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.' [‎70] (154/474)

70 MEMOIR ON THE RUINS
having the thighs and legs of a sheep or goat; he
said also that the Arabs hunt it with dogs, and eat
the lower parts, abstaining from the upper, on ac
count of their resemblance to those of the human
species. " But wild beasts of the desert shall lie
there, and their houses shall be full of doleful crea
tures ; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall
dance there." Isaiah xiii. 21.*
In the northern face of the Mujelibe, near the
summit, is a niche or recess, high enough for a man
to stand upright in, at the back of which is a low
aperture leading to a small cavity, whence a passage
branches off to the right, sloping upwards in a west
erly direction, till it loses itself in the rubbish. The
natives call this the serdaub or cellar; and a respect
able person informed me, that four years ago, some
men searching in it for bricks, pulled out a quantity
of marble, and afterwards a coffin of mulberry wood,
containing a human body, inclosed in a tight wrap
per, and apparently partially covered with bitumen,
which crumbled into dust soon after exposure to the
* I with difficulty refrain from transcribing the whole of this most
spirited and poetical chapter. The Hebrew word which we translate
satyrs is literally " the hairy ones," a signification which
has been preserved in the Vulgate. In Lev. xvii. 7, the word is used
for "devils, evil spirits." The present Jews understand it in this
place as synonymous with or demons. I know not why we
introduced the word satyrs, —probably on the authority of Aben
Ezra, or some other commentator,—but we should have been cautious
how we made the Prophet, in a manner, accountable for a fabulous
being. Since the above was written, I find that the belief of the
existence of satyrs is by no means rare in this country. The Arabs
call them Sied Assad, and say that they abound in some woody places,
near Semava on the Euphrates.