, 1881-09-16


thu attention Ut tho crew Of MI English VS.
se!. The Captain decided upon hur rescnu,
aiN! calling on Ills men TO Md him. i;e IT.
tSsksa te tsra nt paEly aa ndge @ fme
and they lived near tho spot Of !.er .ialivor.
a,,ce, thus forming tlla nucleus for tho pres
Cit Capital Of British 1ndta.
OLDER THAN THE FLOOD.
1ltlna and Records Found In n baby.
lol,tan Tclnple-ikennulnH Also Of tisc
Hanging Gnrtlena-Tahlcts nnd THOR
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Findings of the
1ligl,ust Archaeological Importance.
London IitHst.
The spade Of tho explorer las once moro
bcun busy amid tic mounds niia ruins OF
Assyria and I}abylonla, md Il rich harvest Of
antiquities i,as resulted from the work. The
explorations carried out during elghteun
nffordng i,o sltcl, ESande trollyaillo rs the
bronze gntes FROM Dallawat, 1lnyc.
nevertheless, been ricl, In discover
les which vii! ba welcomed by all
students Of history and p,lilology. The
recovery of tho library Of tcrral-cotta tablets
frolu tho palaces Of Sennacl,crlb and Assur-
bantpnl Inns restored 10 us II vnst mass OF IT.
erntu1e, and supplied toughest chapters In
tho history, mythology, and sctonco Of the
world. 1t hus MISC proved to Ua, that valtl-
nble ns tl,0su records nre, VIC lIave III them bit
second and third editions of works first c0nl-
piled by tho scrlbcs III the library cities OF Baby
lut,ia. Tho discovery Of fragments led AssyrI-
ologists to hope that tic explorer would be
abe 10 recover from the ruins Of tho cities Of
Chaldct the ol,lur VERSIONS Of tho AysyrIan
texts, and the expedition uf lSS0-6l, which
Mr.. RassaM has Just concluded, hils so far
met their wishes III TINT from tho ruins Of the
temples and palaces Ut Babylon, Dorsippn,
Stpprn, md CutIta he brings records and
copies OF religious texts, sOlllU Of Which Will,
si0ns.
From tho earliest days OF Mesopotanian
travel the spade OF tl1e explorer hAs been ny. =.
may seenl, although fol more thait three
centuries the ruins have been known aud
visited, and for centuries the Arab brick
merchants llass becn digging amid its ruins s
fuw yenrs TINT records of impor-
tancc .haye bcen recovered: with tie
exception Of thousands Of bricks bearlnE the
names md titie* Of Nebuchadnezzar,, and
temples and palaees built or restored by the
bulltler-ktng and Ills successors, no record Of
historical OF scientific, importanee hns been
recovered from nntld tho ruins, But the
lonIan explorations, for from that time
on there, has beon continuous flow
Ut inscriptions and records from tho
trcasrrt-ioHse Of tho city; and wy now
Babylon and Its people than aftar years Of
| study VIC have been able to ASCERTAIN roFard-
| lnE NlnnvGh from tll8 monuments ana rec
ors hs tablets found by ths Arabs In n
| Smith for the Trustees Of tho Britlsl! Mu-
SCUM, a1,d the subsequent finds ulado by A1r.
Russian liayo ad.ca sonne hundreds tg this
esne ass If q tes h1 afs 5 o SO ts ofe o. a t
5000 examples III illo British Museum. These
tablets slsuw that for long period. probably
several centuries, the family OF ths Deni
Bsbylo, a9d o tsH ',n;n was son1e RIs,1 alt thy
Finunee. ,The building whose ruins. arc
marked by the, mound OF Jumjnma
from It's ruins conlo tho records Of every
class OF monetary transactions. Tile 4uoli..
ments being MI NEST carefully dated mud
complied, arc Of great value to tho ohronolo.
l,abyIonlan civilization they are Of the highest
| Importance. From the lax receipts we learn
how the reyon.le was raised by duties leyiel
OIL lnnd, on crops OF dntrs and cprt,on cattle,
aid the use of tie public roais, ltls utmost
| Impossible to estimate too highly the ilhpor-
tancu OF sucl, series Of documents 9s ~ these,
dealing with every pllase OF SOCIAL llfc and
walls were gathered representatives Of every
'i' The inserpticns seSps @ wIic1li viii Mr Rassam has
sfs y HIS a1s cess es eSaef 9 i 'S Ws Gs o
feared. by Assyrtologlsts that Dabyio-
t0rlcAl records were recovered, but from tlio
ot S pascfEs %as Of e kgs Of poPyG % ys
toricai Inscriptions ot Nebuclntlnexzar, y
valuable, precls !at the history Of tile Inst