"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." [‎١‎٦‎٧] (٤٧٤/٢٥٥)

RUINS OF BABYLON.
167
been rather an inclosed district than a city; and
there can of course be no hesitation in abandoning
less accurate evidence, and receiving the statement
of Herodotus, if there be any traces on the spot to
justify it.
The whole height of the Birs Nemroud above
the plain to the summit of the brick wall is two
hundred and thirty-five feet (235). The brick wall
itself which stands on the edge of the summit, and
was undoubtedly the face of another stage, is thirty-
seven (37) feet high. In the side of the pile a little
below the summit is very clearly to be seen part
of another brick wall, precisely resembling the
fragment which crowns the summit, but which still
encases and supports its part of the mound. This is
clearly indicative of another stage of greater extent.
The masonry is infinitely superior to any thing of
the kind I have ever seen ; and leaving out of the
question any conjecture relative to the original desti
nation of this ruin, the impression made by a sight
of it is, that it was a solid pile, composed in the
interior of unburnt brick, and perhaps earth or rub
bish ; that it was constructed in receding stages,
and faced with fine burnt bricks, having inscriptions
on them, laid in a very thin layer of lime cement;
and that it was reduced by violence to its present
ruinous condition. The upper stories have been
forcibly broken down, and fire has been employed
as an instrument of destruction, though it is not easy
to say precisely how or why. The facing of fine