Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1863-12-31
Babylon.
Signed
R=v. j. l. Clover, Springfield, Ills

A writer in " BIackwood" paints ske following pic
ture Of the desoation which surrounds and enssread
The once mighty Babyonian empire:
In the distance, high above the plain, lsomed grea
mound of earth. On both sdes of as lay what looked
like long parallel ranges of hills. These lines pro
nou0ced to be the remaiss Of thoss canals that once
conducted waters of the Euphrates the length
and breadth of ancient Babylonis What mighty ca
nails hey have been, that still showed, under the
roll of centuries, such substantial traces Now not sc
much drop of waterloo, not even drop OF hea
7ens pearly dew gistens where once ships must
have navgatea, These mighty banks that carried fer
tiity to every OF the ancient kingdom, are no
mere useless ST. htess mouads.
No morning mist, moisening the thirsty earth, ever
hangs them. No rain clouds shadow them,
temperiDg the rays of fierce daily returning SUM-
The end of her that dneeth upon many waters" has
been brought only too surely. The awful prophecies
had bee fulfilled and desolation, in all its nakedness,
in all its dreariness After riding some
two hours arrived at the foot of the great mound
that we had seen in the morning. We dsmounted and
scrambled to the top. fer had arrived at the
ruins of Babyon and this great mound of earth that
the grave of the golden city.
believe from the summit, raised some hundred feet
above the plain, the walls of the ancient city may be
traced. But hot wind driving burning sand and the
impalpabl9 dust of ages into the pores of our skins,
made every effort to open eye terribly painful
ba; we gave up the idea in despair of ethel tracing
WallP, Or indeed looking about US much anywhere.
| remember seeing, away to the West, lines of viii
lows, and silver thread winding away into distance
and, nearer, unsghtly base mounds locking if
volcanic fire had been OF work underneath the smooth
surface OF the plain, and had thrown these mounds up
in the spirit Of pure mischief. That silver thread
first glimpse of the waters of the Euphrates and
the mounds of all that remained of the once beautiful
hanging gardens OF Babylon at east conjecture Of
men OF research has accounted for them. But 50 Gem
petey have the prophecies been fufled-so completely
has the and the remnant been cut of of all per-
tanning to the once migh4y city, that even the great
hill on which We were standing is only by conjecture
supposed to be the ruin of great building or nova
palace lhat stood within the walls-possiby the pal
ace OF Semran!s
We descended from the great mounds, and made for
the lesser mounds which supposed to be the site
of the hanging gardens OF Nitecrs and Senirams. Ia
one spotthe only thing in the shape OF build
ing Ia state ofruin-was mass of Vitrifkd brick
Wark piercing the old soil and debris OF centuries, an
gle upwards The bricks were square, OF large size
and beautiful make lhe angle of some clear and sharp
as if the brick had but LETT the kiln yesterday instead
OF nearly twice tive thousand years ago. Turning into
little hollow way between the mounds, we came sud-
denly upon the colossal stone lion. Time with bis lea.
den hands had knocked away all the sharp angles of the
statue. The features of the lion completely obter
ated also those of the PROSTATE form that lies so
utterly and wholly human, Beneath the appraised paw
of the king of beasts.
The group presents itself In the eye, owing to the
wear OF old Times, much in the appearance of those
vast blocks Of Carrara marble which the bold ehise of
Michael Angelo struck into, and then at the point that
the shapeless BILE had begun to assume the merest
abozz OF the great sc1ptors dea the black was sud-
denly abandoned and left as wonder and puzzle to
the future ages so does this group of the lion and the
man now hear an unfinished, unwrought appearance
but you cannot look at it moment and not instantly
avoW the majesty and grand ar of the idea that once lay
there so nightly embodied. This dark colossal statue
which may once have stood under the roof
temple and before which the quesnly Semiramis proud
add supremely beautiful, may onca have bowel stand
now canopied by the grandest OF canopies certainly
high HeaVen-but never noticed but BY the winds that