On our return we visited the village Nebbi Yunus, which is situated on a slight eminence near the ruins. It is remarkable only on account of a small mosque, which contains the ashes of the prophet Jonas, and to which thousands of devotees make annual pilgrimages.
During this excursion we passed a number of fields, in which the people were engaged in separating the corn from the straw in a very peculiar manner. For this purpose, a machine was employed, consisting of two wooden tubs, between which was fastened a roller, with from eight to twelve long, broad, and blunt knives or hatchets. This was drawn by two horses or oxen over the 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 Mósul. 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 Mósul 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 Mósul, 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.
Shortly before my arrival, an obelisk of inconsiderable height, a small and uninjured sphynx, together with other remains, had been sent to England.
The excavations near Tel-Nimroud have been discontinued about a year, and Mr. Layard has been recalled to London. An order was afterwards given to cover in the places which had been dug open, as the wandering Arabs had begun to do a great deal of injury. When I visited the spot, some places were already covered in, but the greater part remained open.