"سرد لرحلة إلى موقع مدينة بابل في ١٨١١، طُبعت الآن لأول مرة: مذكرات على الأطلال؛ مع نقوش من الخرائط المدبئية للمؤلف: ملاحظات على طبوغرافية بابل القديمة،بقلم الرائد رينيل؛ في إشارة إلى المذكرات: مذكرات ثانية على الأطلال؛ في إشارة إلى ملاحظات الرائد رينيل: مع سرد لرحلة إلى برسبوليس: طُبعت الآن لأول مرة، مع كتابات مسمارية نسخت في برسبوليس ولم تُنشر من قبل: كتبها الراحل كلوديوس جيمس ريتش، المحترم، المقيم البريطاني السابق لشركة الهند الشرقية في بغداد. حررته أرملته." [‎٢‎٨] (٤٧٤/١٠٣)

28
JOURNEY TO BABYLON.
current 2^ knots per hour. It is at present rising.
In the spring, when it is at its height, it probably
runs a knot more, and when low, half a knot less.
The number of boats of which the bridge at Hillah
is composed, is thirty-two. When the river is low
they diminish, when at its height they add to this
number.
December 18///.—Went to see the Governor, and
afterwards rode out to the mounds of Amran Ibn Ali,
to retouch my sketches, which I had not been able
to do yesterday. I entered the little mosque, and
found a court-yard, at one end of which was a dome.
The tomb of Amran, who was a son of Ali's, and
killed in a battle near this place, is under the dome,
but below the surface of the earth ; you descend to it
by a flight of twenty-two steps. The body is in a
kind of niche, or rather chamber, in the wall, and is
enclosed in a wooden chest, part of which is visible
through the wooden grating that covers the door of
the niche, which is not above two feet and a half
high above the ground. To the balustrade are tied
various small pieces of silk and cord. I inquired the
meaning of this, and was informed that people are in
the habit of coming to make requests of the Saint,
upon which occasion they tie a piece of string to the
balustrade of his tomb, and when they have succeeded
according to their desire, they come and remove the
string, bringing a small present to the keeper of the
tomb. On the light hand, in the same chamber, is