Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-07-23

NINEvEH,
Every thing connected with the discoveries made an,
sll in progress the site Of the ancient Nineyeh and
its neghborhood is Of the profoundest interest IN
ligous, and even in merely historical point Of view.
The English and French explorers are still at work con-
tending with friendly rivalry which shall exhume the
greatest and most valuable prizesB We find notice OF
proceedings during the year in the Report Of the
Council read at the late anniversary meeting Of the Asia
tic Society Of LondonT
The French excavations have revealed many new vault
ed passages colonnades and chambers full Of relics Of
various kinds which have been sent to Paris and cons
tue the nucleus Of Assyrian forming in
that city. The collection embraces cylinders, tiles,
naments and vessels Of beautiful workmanship in marbl
agate and carnelion. The is be adorned also,
with Photographic views Of the discoveries taken upon
the spot in many cases., says the Atheneum color
ed with the actual pigments found at the same time
among which splendid cake Of ultramarine is recorded
as big as pigeons egg" This is curious circumstance
reminding us Of the drawings made by Chantrey the
sculptor, with sepia from the fossil nkbag Of snted
luyian cutte-fsh furnished him by Dr. auckland, the
geologist
The Athenmum gives the following account Of the Eng
sh explorations which is chiefly interesting from the
full notice presented Of the researches of COL Rawnson
the most learned and able Of living archnoogss who has
devoted himself with much ardor to the calculation Of
biblical history:
The labors Of countrymen have also been attend
ed with great success beautiful godornaments, cyn
Sheriff Khan The letters Of Col Rawlinson from time to
time nave Kept the society informed Of his discoveries
In one letter ne gives an account Of abronze lion, disco
vered at Nebb Yunus, bearing the inscription Esarhad
don KING Of kings, conqueror Of Misr and Cush, Egypt
and Ethiopia In another he enclosed copy Of in
scription IN Semitic alphabet being Of
c1ecuon OF inscriptions upon sheet lead, packed in
puchra jars discovered at place called Abushudhr.
With third ne communicated List Of the sBabylonian
months found on slab by the aid of WHICH the
sion Of events recorded in the inscription Of Bsitun may
be approximately determined In the last letter received
he states that he had prepared, with great palms, full
account Of his recent abors and discoveries for the pur
pose OF being read at this meetings but the mail by which
it had been dispatched had been pundered by Auezeh
Arabs, and it was said that they wearing the
known cuneiform characters amuets COL Rawlinson
had at length received the long expected cylinders from
Kilah Shergat, splendid document consisting of 800
lines of writing which contains the bulletins of Tgath
Peser i and is at least 100 years older than any other
document yet discovered He says that he cannot at
tempt to give even of the inscriptions but it
shows that the king warred principally in Armenia Cap
padocia Pcnus and the shores Of the Euxne and that
he crossed the Kurdish mountains to the east and the
Euphrates to the west He Northern Syria and
Ccia but did not attempt to penetrate towards Pales
tine Having fairly entered upon period anterior to the
gorcs Of Nineveh and Calah, Col Rawlinson says he
does not despair of ascending the Institution of the
monarchy The writing Of this inscription Of Tglath Pr
Lesser is better, the language polished, and the
grammatical distinctions more nicely marked than in later
legends The capital city Assur Isl Of course the Aasar
of Genesis OF which Arioch king and the TelAssar
Of the Targums, which is used for the Mosaic Resen He
considers the site Of Nneveh to be deermnatey fixed at
Nebbi Yunu Calah of Nimrud and Resen at Klah Sher
ga slab Of Sennacherip's recently found at Nebbi
Yunus is Of much interest Icontans account of two
campaigns later apparently than those chroncled in the
annals-the one against Merodach Baladan, and the
other against the confederated kings of the East among
whom is king OF the Persians, whose name is unfortu
nately lost.
The new broken obelisk from Nimrud has not yet
reached COL Rawlnson but he expects much from it, az,
judging from the description it is not duplicate of the
old one The writer turned lastly to his real treasure
house Of discovery the dfr in fact of the Royal Libra
ry, Of which Layards collection formed the upper and
better preserved part Here he has found fragments OF
aphabets sylabra photographic Signs
also, table OF notation with the phonetic readings Of
the signs showing that the Assyrians counted by Sixties
in exact agreement with the sosso saoos and Of Be-
rossus The numbers completely Semitic. There
also elaborate dissecons of the Pantheon geographical
dissertations explaining the deographs for countries and
cities, designating their products and describing their po
sitons The principal Asiatc rivers and mountains
also given There treatses weights and measures,
divisions Of time, points Of the compass Sc. There is
an almanac for twelve years apparently forming cycle
ike that OF the Mongos Each year bears name, gen.
orally that OF god, and all the old annals numbered
after this cycle Again, there are lists Of stones metals
ana trees or elementary tracts geology, metaurgy
and botany, and astronomical and astrological formula
without end. There also what appear to be verabo
grammars and dictionaries and much will be
spared by sure guide which he has found to the deter
mnation Of Geographic signs and their distinction from
phonetic characters The whole collection is in
but 1t gives most curious insight into the state Of Assy
rian science whilst Greece still sunk in barbarsrn
COL Rawlinson has found the ideogrnphs for Warka
Erech, Accad Kaskar, Caneh or Niffer &c., and has
just got sure footing on the slippery ground Of Babyo
man geography Altogether, he expresses himself de-
lighted at the splendid field opening out The labor
OF carrying through complete analysis will be immense,
but the resuss must be brilliant He concludes with
stating that splendid ruin full Of marbles and sculp
ture has been recently discovered In Southern Chadea
place called Abu-Shahrein."