'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in reference to Major Rennell's remarks: with narrative of a journey to Persepolis: now first printed, with hitherto unpublished cuneiform inscriptions copied at Persepolis: by the late Claudius James Rich, Esq., formerly the Resident of the Hon.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.' [‎71] (155/474)

OF BABYLON.
71
air. This account, together with its appearing the
most favourable spot to ascertain something of the
original plan of the whole, induced me to set twelve
men to work, to open a passage into the serdaub from
above. They dug into a shaft or hollow pier, sixty
feet square, lined with fine brick laid in bitumen, and
filled up with earth; in this they found a brass spike,
some earthen vessels, (one of which was very thin,
and had the remains of fine white varnish on the out
side,) and a beam of date-tree wood. On the third
day's work, they made their way into the opening,
and discovered a narrow passage nearly ten feet high,
half filled with rubbish, flat on the top, and exhi
biting both burnt, and unburnt bricks ; the former,
with inscriptions on them, and the latter, as usual,
laid with a layer of reeds between every row, except
in one or two courses near the bottom, where they
were cemented with bitumen; a curious and unac
countable circumstance. This passage appeared, as
if it originally had a lining of fine burnt brick, ce
mented with bitumen, to conceal the unburnt brick,
of which the body of the building was principally
composed. Fronting it is another passage (or rather
a continuation of the same to the eastward, in which
direction it probably extends a considerable dis
tance, perhaps even all along the northern front
of the Mujelibe), choked up with earth, in digging
out which, I discovered near the top a wooden coffin,
containing a skeleton in high preservation. Under
the head of the coffin was a round pebble ; attached