Bundles of corn laid
on the ground, until the whole of the corn was separated from the
straw. It was then thrown up into the air by means of shovels, so
that the chaff might be separated from the grain by the wind.
We finally visited the sulphur springs, which lie close to the walls
of Mosul. They are not warm, but appear to contain a large quantity
of sulphur, as the smell is apparent at a considerable distance.
These springs rise in natural basins, which are surrounded by walls
eight feet in height. Every one is allowed to bathe there without
any charge, for people are not so niggardly and sparing of nature's
gifts as in Europe. Certain hours are set apart for women, and
others for the men.
On the following day we rode to the Mosque Elkosch, near the town.
Noah's son Shem has found a resting-place here. We were not allowed
to enter this mosque, but certainly did not lose much by that, as
all these monuments are alike, and are not remarkable either for
architecture or ornament.
The Nineveh excavations are carried on most extensively at Tel-
Timroud, a district where the mounds of earth are the most numerous.
Tel-Nimroud is situated about eighteen miles from Mosul down the
Tigris.
We took our seats one moonlight evening upon a raft, and glided down
between the dull banks of the Tigris. After seven hours, we landed,
about 1 o'clock in the morning, at a poor village, bearing the high
sounding name Nimroud. Some of the inhabitants, who were sleeping
before their huts, made us a fire and some coffee, and we then laid
down till daybreak upon some rugs we had brought with us.
At daybreak we took horses (of which there are plenty in every
village), and rode to the excavations, about a mile from Nimroud.
We found here a great number of places which had been dug up, or
rather, uncovered mounds of earth, but not, as at Herculaneum, whole
houses, streets, squares, indeed, half a town. Nothing beyond
separate rooms has been brought to light here, or at the utmost,
three or four adjoining ones, the exterior walls of which are not,
in any case, separated from the earth, and have neither windows nor
doors visible.
The objects which have been discovered exactly resemble those in the
neighbourhood of Mosul, but occur in greater numbers. Besides
these, I saw several idols and sphynxes in stone. The former
represented animals with human heads; their size was gigantic - about
that of an elephant. Four of these statues have been found, two of
which were, however, considerably damaged. The others were not
indeed in very good preservation, although sufficiently so to show
that the sculptors did not particularly excel in their profession.
The sphynxes were small, and had unfortunately suffered more damage
than the bulls.
