The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-07-04

sist this figure has something to do
with the tradition of Daniel and the
lions. The ponderous image is va
ried with much skill from blackish
stone, like dolerite. No marks are
on it to show its age.
A wierd sort of dragon figure, hav-
ing the scales of fish, the tail of a
scorpion, its front feet those of a
lion and its hind feet like an eagles,
horses head and the body of a
tiger, is found scattered all through
the palace, adjoining the walls. Near
it is always found the heroic bas-
relief of bull The walls of the
palace are in many places perfectly
preserved, as hard and solid as on
the day the job was finished, and old
Nebuchadnezzar ran his eagle eye
over it and told his foreman to pay
off the union bricklayers. Incident
ally, Nebuchadnezzar's own name is
stamped on many of the brick found
in the walls. They did not use NOR
tar like we do, either, in his day;
bitumen or asphalt, which is still
found in large springs along the Eu-
| pirates, was used for laying the
bricks in the Babylonian palaces. 1t
is just as good today as ever. I ex-
perienced a funny feeling when
kicked one broken brick out of the
rubbish of crumbling, exposed wall
and my eye met the perfect imprint
OF a human hand, showing where
some busy workman, now dead 1000
years or more, had placed his hand
on the asphalt-mortar when it was
still warm. l could make out the
very lines of his thumb mark. The
Germans Arab foreman told me that
in one part Of the palace, where they
broke into an old tomb, he distinct
ly saw the footprints of the work
men as they stepped about in the
dust, when walling up the tomb, CEN
turtles and centuries ago.
An odd feature Of the tombs that
have been found in Babylon has been
the kind Of collins unearthed; many
of the early Babylonians were bur-
led in a sitting position, the body
cramped into a cup-shaped stone or
urn. Still other collins were shaped
like the glass cover which country
covers put over cheese big.
round lid-like cover which fitted
down over the body. But most of
the tombs found appeared to have
been broken into and robbed ages
ago, before Babylon was "discov-
cred and the modern excavation
along scientific lines started. Few
jewels or gold of any value have
been discoveries; in fact, so far as
actual money is concerned, it seems
Nebuchadnezzar didn't use it; his
credit was doubtless good, and if
that failed he went in for barter, or
plumber. I saw big stone goose,
it's back all covered with strange
cuneiform writing. This stone
goose was a measure of standard
weight" said Professor Wetzel, the
German archaeolical expert who can
read the most staggering hieroglyph-
les that ever came up from old ruins.
This inscription on it's back says
that all scales in use in Babylon shall
be regularly tested with this weight,
and if any man attempt to harm the
standard weight goose or make
away with it, he shall suffer death"
The Germans have cut tunnels
that run like the shafts and pass
ages of great coal mine, all through
the streets of old Babylon. With
small hand lamps we made our way
through long stretches of paved
streets, silent and empty now, but
once crowded with the busy hosts
of Babylonia. Nearly 800 Arab
workmen, almost wholly naked, are
delving in these ruins, removing the
accumulated sands of centuries and
laying bare the seat of the world s
first civilization. We walked through
the very banquet hall where the
Handwriting" appeared on the wall
in the midst of the feast. If the old
time jewellers drank the same sort
of firewater that's in vogue here to-
day, it's no wonder they saw things
on the wall. "Arrak," the modern
intoxicant is called, and it is strong
enough to have made Belshazzar see
snakes. handwriting and whole f1ocks
of new comets, had he crooked his
regal elbow too frequently.
All through the ruins l saw owls,
lizards of brilliant and changing col
ors, and peculiar bird like cuckoo.
saw one jack-rabbit, too, a regular
long-eared Texas flyer. The Arabs
tell me that many of these fleet crea-
lures live on the scant vegetation
along the Euphrates, and are some
times caught with native "slugeys, -
or greyhounds.
About four miles south of the
ruins of the palace of Nebuchadnez-
Ear stands lofty edifice, majestic
in spite of decay, which by many is
Lett ~ ho he G