The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware advertiser., 1827-04-05
lllE ntlNs Of BABYLON

The local circumference has been found
TO he .lSS feet, which gives to the ruins 4
much greater extrnt uf base than the origi-
nal building Thc surplus is very great,
"nen one considers the qaantity that must
have been removed by the Macedonian SOL
diers, aud hos much, in the course OF ages,
must have been taken by the workmcn en-
ployed in digging for bricks. lhc elevation
ut the mound is irregular 10 tile west it is
,9S feet high Ga the top is that which
looked like castle in the distance; it is a
solid mass ci kiln blrnt bricks, thirty seven
feet high, and twenty-eight broad. The
bricks, which are ct ali excellent desciip-
ton, are laid in with fine and scarce.
y perceptiblc cement. At regular inter-
yals, some bricks are omitted so as to leave
square apertures through the mass these
may possibly have been intended to procure
free current Of air, that should prevent the
admission OF damp into the brick work. The
summit Of the mass is much broken, and the
fractures are 80 made as to carry conviction
that violence has been used to reduce it to
this state.
Distant from the pile oi bricks Just describ
ed, and lower down on the north face of the
large mound, IS another mass exactly SINH
lar. Pieces Of marble, stones, and broken
bricks. iie scattered over the ruin. The
most curious Of the fragments are several
mis-shapen masses OF brick work quite
black, except in few places where regular
layers Of kiln-burnt bricks are disccrnabe:
these have certainly been subjected to some
fierce heat, as they are completely molten
ia strong presumption that fire was used
in the destruction OF the tower; which, in
parts, resembles that what the scriptures
prophcsicd il should become, IA burnt munh
tain"
Travellers who have visited this spot have
been struck with the curious appearance Of
these fragments, and having only seen the
black fee, have altogether rejected
the idea of their being bricks. In the de-
nnncations respecting Babylon. fire is par
tcnlarly mentioned as an agent against it,
10 this Jeremiah evidently alludes, when
he says that it should be as "whrn God o.
yerthrew Sodom and Comorrah," on which
cities, it is said ''the Lord rained fire and
birthstone" Again. 81 will kindle fire in
his cities, and it shall devour all round about
him" and in another place, cher high gates
shall be burned with fire, and the people
shall labonr in vain, and the folk in the fire,
and they shall be weary"
Taking into calculation the brick mass On
the top of the large mound, tne runs are
two hundred and thirty five fett.hgh, which
gives nearly half the height of the tower in
its perfect state. Rich thought he could
trace four stages or stories of this building;
and the united observations of our party in
duce the same conviction.
Wild beasts appeared to be as numerous
here as at Mujillele. Mr.. Lamb gave up
his examination, from seeing an animal
crouched in one of the square aperturcs.
saw another in n similar situation, and the
large Footprint of lion was so fresh, that
the beast must have stolen away on our ap-
preach. From the summit we had view
of the vast heaps which constitute all that
now remains of ancient Babylon; more
complete picture of desolation could not be
imagined. The eye wandered over bar
rem desert, in which ruins were the only in
dication that it had ever been ,nhabited.-
It was impossible TO behold this scene, and
not to be reminded how exactly the predic-
tion of Isaiah ard Jeremiah have been full
filled, even in the appearance Babylon was
doomed to present: that "she should never
be nhabited;" that "the Arabian should not
pitch his tent there" that she would ',be-
become heaps" that her cities should be
"a desolation, dry land, and Wilderness"
Cant KrhhePs hersonai Narrative.
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| RedheDer outdone.-An imposter by the
name OF Greensbung Baxter has been for