Part 11 (1/2)

The tents of Mohammed Emin, the Jebour Sheikh, were pitched under the ruins of Arban, and on the right or northern bank of the river, which was not at this time fordable As we drew near to them, after a ride of nearly two hours, the Sheikh pointed in triumph to the sculptures, which were the principal objects of e, at the base of a mound of considerable size We had passed several tels and the double banks of ancient canals, showing that ere still ath we stopped opposite to the encampment of the Jebour Sheikh, but it was too late to cross the river, so required to make ready the rafts We raised our tents, therefore, for the night on the southern bank They were soon filled by a roup of Boraij, Haha me as a present a well-trained hawk and so's sport The falcon was duly placed on his stand in the centre of the spacious tent, and re the rest of my sojourn in the East a member of my establishment His name was Fawaz, and he was a native of the hills of Makhhoul, near Tekrit, celebrated for their breed of hawks He was of the species called ”chark,” and had been given by Sadoun-el-Mustafa, the chief of the great tribe of Obeid, to Ferhan, the Sheikh of the Shahaht us a wild ass-colt, scarcely twoits dam, and had been since fed upon camel's milk Indeed, nearly all those who ca, either sheep, ht for us the elegant jerboa, which burrows in vast numbers on the banks of the river Suitable presents were uests, and we celebrated our first night on the Khabour by general festivities

CHAPTER XII

ARBAN--OUR ENCAMPMENT--SUTTUM AND MOHAMMED EMIN--WINGED BULLS DISCOVERED--EXCAVATIONS COMMENCED--THEIR RESULTS--DISCOVERY OF SMALL OBJECTS--OF SECOND PAIR OF WINGED BULLS--OF LION--OF CHINESE BOTTLE--OF VASE--OF EGYPTIAN SCARABS--OF TOMBS--THE SCENE OF THE CAPTIVITY

On theafter our arrival in front of the encampment of Sheikh Mohammed Emin, we crossed the Khabour on a sht, or northern, bank I found the ruins to consist of a large artificial ular shape, washed, and indeed partly carried away by the river, which was gradually under earth The Jebours were encamped to the west of it I chose for our tents a recess, like an a the stream We were thus surrounded and protected on all sides

Behind us and to the east rose the mound, and to the ere the family and dependents of Mohammed Emin In the Desert, beyond the ruins, were scattered far and wide the tents of the Jebours, and of several Arab tribes who had placed the keepers of herds of buffaloes; the Buggara, driven by the incursions of the Aneyza frorounds at Ras-al-Ain (the source of the Khabour); and so in the district of Orfa, whose sheikh having quarrelled with his brother chiefs had now joined Mohaed over a level country bright with flowers, and spotted with black tents, and innu our stay at Arban the color of these great plains was undergoing a continual change After being for soolden yellow, a new fa up, and it would turn alain as suddenly give way to the deepest blue Then the meadoould be reen of thedescriptions I had so frequently received from the Bedouins of the beauty and fertility of the banks of the Khabour were more than realised

In the extreme distance, to the east of us, rose a solitary conical elevation, called by the Arabs, Koukab In front, to the south, was the beautiful hill of the Sinjar, ever varying in color and in outline as the declining sun left fresh shadows on its furrowed sides Behind us, and not far distant, was the loooded range of Abd-ul-Azeez Artificial mounds, smaller in size than Arban, rose here and there above the thin belt of trees and shrubs skirting the river bank

I had brought with h to hold full two hundred persons, and intended as a ”museef,” or place of reception, always open to the wayfarer and the Arab visitor; for the first duty of a traveller wishi+ng to ain an influence over thereat pavilion was pitched in the centre of ht were the tents of the Cawass and servants; one fitted up expressly for the Doctor to receive patients, of whom there was no lack at all times, and the black Arab tent of Rathaiyah, ould not mix with the Jebours To the left were those of my fellow travellers, and about two hundred yards beyond, near the excavations,the day, ishi+ng to be undisturbed, and to which the Arabs were not admitted In it, also, we usually breakfasted and dined, except when there were any Arab guests of distinction hom it was necessary to eat bread In front of our encampment, and between it and the river, was a small lawn, on which were picketed our horses Suttum and Mohammed Emin usually eat with us, and soon became perfectly reconciled to knives and forks, and the other restraints of civilised life Suttu escaped his hawk-like eye A few hours had enabled him to form a correct estimate of the character of each one of the party, and he had detected peculiarities which ht have escaped the notice of the most observant European The most polished Turk would have been far less at ho the whole of our journey he never committed a breach of manners, only acquired after a few hours' residence with us As a cohtful,--full of anecdote, of unclouded spirits, acquainted with the history of every Bedouin tribe, their politics and their wars, and intimate with every part of the Desert, its productions and its inhabitants Many happy hours I spent with hi the great plain and the winding river, listening to the rich flow of his graceful Bedouin dialect, to his eloquent stories of Arab life, and to his anile coood-natured portly Arab, in intelligence inferior to Suttuour intercourse I had every reason to be satisfied with his hospitality and the cordial aid he afforded me The Jebour chief was a co no less than sixteen children, of whom six sons were horseest, a boy of four years old, named Sultan, was as handsome and dirty as the best of Arab children His mother, who had recently died, was the beautiful sister of Abd-rubbou I chanced to be her brother's guest when the news of her death was brought to him An Arab of the tribe, weary and orn, entered the tent and seated hi the usual salutation; all present knew that he had coued evil tidings By an indirect remark, immediately understood, he told his errand to one who sat next him, and who in turn whispered it to Sheikh Ibrahih, ”It is the will and mercy of God; she is not dead but released!” Abd-rubbou at once understood of who of the mother and of the women soon issued from the inner recesses of the tent

My first care, after crossing to Arban, was to exaradually worn away thethe recent floods, left uncovered a pair of winged hue, and full fifty beneath the level of the ruin Only the forepart of these figures had been exposed to view, and Mohammed Emin would not allow any of the soil to be removed before my arrival The earth was soon cleared away, and I found the 5-1/2 feet in height by 4-1/2 in length Between them was a paveeneral fored bulls of Nineveh, but in the style of art they differed considerably froular, with an archaic feeling conveying the ireat antiquity They bore the sahly ornamented sculptures of Nimroud, as the earliest remains of Greek art do to the exquisite monuments of Phidias and Praxiteles The human features were unfortunately much injured, but such parts as remained were sufficient to show that the countenance had a peculiar character, differing from the assyrian type The sockets of the eyes were deeply sunk, probably to receive the white and the ball of the eye in ivory or glass The nose was flat and large, and the lips thick and overhanging like those of a negro Human ears were attached to the head, and bull's ears to the horned cap, which was low and square at the top, not high and ornamented like those of Khorsabad and Kouyunjik, nor rounded like those of Nimroud The hair was elaborately curled, as in the pure assyrian sculptures, though s were small in proportion to the size of the body, and had not the majestic spread of those of the bulls that adorned the palaces of Nineveh

It would appear fro whose name has been found on no other monu;” nor is the country over which he reigned mentioned; so that some doubt reat accumulation of earth above these sculptures proves that, since the destruction of the edifice in which they stood, other habitations have been raised on its ruins Arban, indeed, iscity, in a singularly fertile district of the Khabour Part of a minaret, whose walls were cased with colored tiles, and ornamented with cufic inscriptions in relief, like that of the Sinjar, and the foundations of buildings, are still seen on the mound; and at its foot; on the western side, are the ree which once spanned the streaed its course The piers, adorned with elegantly shaped arabesque characters, are now on the dry land

I will describe, at once, the results of the excavations carried on during the three weeks our tents were pitched at Arban To please the Jebour Sheikh, and to keep around our encareater security, a body of ared their pastures, I hired about fifty of Mohammed Emin's Arabs, and placed them in parties with the workmen who had accompanied me from Mosul Tunnels were opened behind the bulls already uncovered, and in various parts of the ruins on the sa into the surface of the mound

Behind the bulls were found various assyrian relics; aments of bricks with arrow-headed characters painted yellohite outlines, upon a pale green ground

In other parts of the lass and pottery, some assyrian, others of a ments of earthenware, ornalazed, had assulass[120]

It was natural to conclude, froement of assyrian edifices, that the two bulls described stood at an entrance to a hall or chah digging for three days to the right and left of the sculptures, a work of considerable difficulty in consequence of the immense heap of superincumbent earth I then directed a tunnel to be carried towards the centre of thedoorway opposite I was not disappointed On the fifth day a sied bulls were discovered They were of the same size, and inscribed with the sainally broken off, either in carving the sculpture or init, a fresh piece of stone had been carefully fitted into its place I also dug to the right and left of these sculptures for remains of walls, but without success, and then resu towards the centre of the mound In a few days a lion, with extended jaws, sculptured in the same coarse limestone, and in the same bold archaic style as the bulls, was discovered It had five legs, and the tail had the claw at the end, as in the Nineveh bas-reliefs In height it was nearly the same as the bulls I searched in vain for the one which must have formed the opposite side of the doorway

[Illustration: Lion discovered at Arban]

With the exception of these sculptures, no re were found in this part of the mound In another tunnel, opened at soure in relief was discovered[121] The face was in full One hand grasped a sword or dagger; the other held so and flowing, and ornamented with a profusion of curls as in the assyrian bas-reliefs The head-dress appeared to consist of a kind of circular hel in a sharp point The treatment and style marked the sculpture to be of the same period as the bull and lion

Such were the sculptures discovered in the st smaller objects of different periods were sohly-glazed pottery, and fraglass In a trench, on the south side of the ruin, was found a sreen and white bottle, inscribed with Chinese characters

A jar, about four feet high, in coarse half-baked clay, was dug out of the centre of the ures, and the sides covered with grotesque representations of men and animals, and arabesque ornaments in relief

Vases of the saures, are frequently discovered in digging the foundations of houses in theto a comparatively recent period, later probably than the Christian era, but previous to the Arab occupation As they have upon the of a high cap and embroidered robes, I should attribute them to the Persians A vase similar in size and shape to that of Arban, and also covered with grotesque representations of monstrous animals, the finest specimen I have seen of this class of antiquities, was found beneath the foundations of the very ancient Chaldaean church of Meskinta at Mosul, when that edifice was pulled down and rebuilt two years ago It was given to ed as chief of the community, but was unfortunately destroyed, with other interesting relics, by the Arabs, who plundered a raft laden with antiquities, on its way to Baghdad, after st other relics discovered at Arban were, a large copper ring, apparently assyrian; an orna the pine-cone of the assyrian sculptures; a bull's head in terracotta; fragments of painted bricks, probably of the saular that engraved stones and scarabs bearing Egyptian devices, and in some instances even royal cartouches, should have been found on the banks of the Khabour Siht to me by the Arabs from various ruins in assyria