Here and there
grew some low herbage scarcely sufficient for the frugal camel; even
this ceases a few miles before coming to Assad, and from thence to
Hilla the desert appeared uninterruptedly in its sad and uniform
nakedness.
We passed the place where the town of Borossippa formerly stood, and
where it is said that a pillar of Nourhwan's palace is yet to be
seen; but I could not discover it anywhere, although the whole
desert lay open before me and a bright sunset afforded abundance of
light. I therefore contented myself with the place, and did not, on
that account, remember with less enthusiasm the great Alexander,
here at the last scene of his actions, when he was warned not to
enter Babylon again. Instead of the pillar, I saw the ruins of one
large and several smaller canals. The large one formerly united the
Euphrates with the Tigris, and the whole served for irrigating the
land.
31st May. I had never seen such numerous herds of camels as I did
today; there might possibly have been more than 7,000 or 8,000. As
most of them were unloaded and carried only a few tents, or women
and children, it was probably the wandering of a tribe in search of
a more fruitful dwelling-place. Among this enormous number, I saw
only a few camels that were completely white. These are very highly
prized by the Arabians; indeed, almost honoured as superior beings.
When I first saw the immense herd of these long-legged animals
appearing in the distant horizon, they looked like groups of small
trees; and I felt agreeably surprised to meet with vegetation in
this endless wilderness. But the wood, like that in Shakspere's
Macbeth, shortly advanced towards us, and the stems changed into
legs and the crowns into bodies.
I also observed a species of bird today to which I was a complete
stranger. It resembled, in colour and size, the small green
papagien, called paroquets, except that its beak was rather less
crooked and thick. It lives, like the earth-mouse, in small holes
in the ground. I saw flocks of them at two of the most barren
places in the desert, where there was no trace of a blade of grass
to be discovered, far and wide.
Towards 10 o'clock in the morning, we halted for two hours only at
Chan Nasri, as I was resolved to reach Hilla today. The heat rose
above 134 degrees Fah.; but a hot wind, that continually accompanied
us, was still more unbearable, and drove whole clouds of hot sand
into the face. We frequently passed half-ruined canals during the
day.
The chans upon this road are among the best and the most secure that
I have ever met with. From the exterior, they resemble small
fortresses; a high gateway leads into a large court-yard, which is
surrounded on all sides by broad, handsome halls built with thick
brick walls. In the halls, there are niches arranged in rows; each
one being large enough to serve three or four persons as a resting-
place. Before the niches, but also under the halls, are the places
for the cattle. In the court-yard, a terrace is also built five
feet high for sleeping in the hot summer nights. There are likewise
a number of rings and posts for the cattle in the court, where they
can be in the open air during the night.
These chans are adapted for whole caravans, and will contain as many
as 500 travellers, together with animals and baggage; they are
erected by the government, but more frequently by wealthy people,
who hope by such means to procure a place in heaven. Ten or twelve
soldiers are appointed to each chan as a guard. The gates are
closed in the evening. Travellers do not pay anything for staying
at these places.
Some Arabian families generally live outside the chans, or even in
them, and they supply the place of host, and furnish travellers with
camel's milk, bread, coffee, and sometimes, also, with camel's or
goat's flesh. I found the camel's milk rather disagreeable, but the
flesh is so good that I thought it had been cow-beef, and was
greatly surprised when my guide told me that it was not.
When travellers are furnished with a pasha's firman (letter of
recommendation), they can procure one or more mounted soldiers (all
the soldiers at the chans have horses) to accompany them through
dangerous places, and at times of disturbances. I had such a
firman, and made use of it at night.
In the afternoon we approached the town of Hilla, which now occupies
a part of the space where Babylon formerly stood. Beautiful woods
of date-trees indicated from afar the inhabited country, but
intercepted our view of the town.
Four miles from Hilla we turned off the road to the right, and
shortly found ourselves between enormous mounds of fallen walls and
heaps of bricks. The Arabs call these ruins Mujellibe. The largest
of these mounds of bricks and rubbish is 2,110 feet in
circumference, and 141 feet in height.
Babylon, as is known, was one of the greatest cities of the world.
With respect to its founder there are various opinions. Some say
Ninus, others Belus, others Semiramis, etc. It is said that, at the
building of the city (about 2,000 years before the birth of Christ),
two million of workmen, and all the architects and artificers of the
then enormous Syrian empire, were employed. The city walls are
described as having been 150 feet high, and twenty feet thick.
