[65] The impressions of the signets of the Egyptian and Assyrian kings, besides a large collection of seals found in Kouyunjik, are now in the British Museum.
[66] The sockets, which are now in the British Museum, weigh 6 lb. 3¾ oz.; the diameter of the ring is about five inches. The hinges and frames of the brass gates at Babylon were also of brass (Herod. i. 178).
[67] “Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh.” (Gen. x. 11.)
[68] On Egyptian monuments captives are portrayed with similar feathers attached to their heads; but they appear to be of a negro race, whilst those on the Nimroud bricks bear no traces of negro color or physiognomy. (Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians, vol. 1. plate, p. 385.)
[69] That is, as will be hereafter shown, to Pul, or Tiglath Pileser.
[70] The canvass of such tents is divided into strips, which, packed separately on the camels during a march, are easily united again by coarse thread, or by small wooden pins.
[71] The reader may remember a well-known anecdote of this celebrated Sheikh, still current in the desert. He was the owner of a matchless mare whose fame had even reached the Greek Emperor. Ambassadors were sent from Constantinople to ask the animal of the chief, and to offer any amount of gold in return. When they announced, after dining, the object of their embassy, it was found, that the tribe suffering from a grievous famine, and having nothing to offer to their guests, the generous Hatem had slain his own priceless mare to entertain them.
[72] It was parallel to, and to the south of, the chamber marked A A, in the plan of the north-west palace. (Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. Plan III.)
[73] Few wells in the plains bordering on the Tigris yield sweet water.
[74] The caldrons contained about eighty bells. The largest are 3¼ inches high, and 2¼ inches in diameter, the smallest 1¾ inch high, and 1¼ inch in diameter. With the rest of the relics they are now in the British Museum.