Notes of an Excursion to Kal'ah Sherkat, the U'r of the Persians, and to

kal'ah aShertczt.
ing; but there was a stranffle adherence to an antique custom, in
thus 1liling brick upon brick, without regar(l to the cost an(l value
of labour, where hills innumerable an(l equally good and ele^Jated
sites were easily to be found. Although in places reposing upon
solid rock (red an(l brown sanelstones), still almost the cntire
depth of the mound, which +ras in parts upwards of 60 feet high,
an(l at this siele 909 yards in estent, was built u of sun-burnt
bricks, like the 'Alver Kuf and the Mujallibah, only without ir.teraening
laeers of ree(ls. Ons the si(le of these llfty artificial
clifEs nuinerous hawks anel crows nestled in security, while at their
base was a (lee) sloping declivity of crumble(l materials. On this
northern face, which is the most perfect as well as the highest,
there occurs at one point the remains of a wall built with large
square-cut stones, levelled an(l fitte(l to one anothel with the
utmost nicety, and beselletl upon the faces, as in man) Saracenic
structures, the top stones were also cut away as in steps. Mr.
Ross deeme(l this to be part of the still remaining perfect front,
which was also the opinion of some of the travellers now present,
but so great is the diSerence between the style of an Assyrian
mounel of burnt bricks and this partial facing of hen stone that it
is difficult to conceive that it belonged to the same periotl, an(l if
carriezl along the whole front of the moun(l, some remains of it
woul(l be founel in the detritus at the base of the cliff, which s-as
not the case. At the same time its llosition gave to it ml)re the
appearance of a facing, whether contemporary with the moun(l or
subsequent to it I shall not attempt to deci(le, than of a castle,
if any castle or other edifice was ever erected here by the Mohammedans,
whose style it so greatly resembles. On the same side
we visited the subterranean passage noticed by Mr. Ross; axld
WIr. Mitford found there the llead of a small urn.
Our researches were first directe(l towards the mound itself.
We follnd its form to be that of an irregular triangle, measuring
from the S. to the N. E. point, along the si(le which is waslled
by the river, 1 727 yards; along the N. side, exten(ling from
N. 72 E. to S: 72 W., 9()9 aar(ls. The mound then strikes off
in a nearly straight line 400 yards to the S. 38 W.; afterwards
curving round to the S. point, a (listance of 1750 yar(ls, making
a total circumference of 46835 yar(ls; whereas the Mujallibah,
the suppose(l tower of Babel, is only 737 yards in circumference;
the great mound of Borsippa, known as the Birs Nimrud,
76'2 yards; the Kasr, or terraced palace of Nebuchallnezzar,
2 1 00 -ards; and the mound called Koyunj uli, at N ineveh,
2.563 yards. But it is to be remarked of this Assyrian ruin on
the Tigris, that it is not entirely a raised mound of sun-burnt
bricks; on the contrary, sexeral sections of its central portions
displayed the ordinary pebbly deposit of the river, a common