“On the 9th December 1811 Mr. Rich made an expedition to the Birs-i-Nimrúd. He found vestiges of mounds all round it to a considerable extent, and the country traversed by canals in every direction. The soil round it is sandy. Close to the Birs, or at about a hundred yards from it, and parallel with its southern front, is a high mound, almost equal in size to that of the Kasr.
“‘The Birs,’ says he, ‘is an enormous mound. At the north end it rises, and there is an immense brick wall, thirty-seven feet high and twenty-eight in breadth, upon it. This wall is not in the centre of the north summit of the mound, but appears to have formed the southern face of it. The other parts of the summit are covered by huge fragments of brickwork, tumbled confusedly together; and what is most extraordinary is that they are partly converted into a solid vitrified mass. The layers are in many parts perfectly distinguishable; but the whole of these lumps seem to have undergone the action of fire. Several lumps of the same matter have rolled down, and remain partly on the side of the mound and partly in the plain. The large wall on the southern face of the summit is built of burnt bricks, with writing on them, and so close together that no cement is discoverable between the layers. Small square apertures are left, which go quite through the building, and are arranged in a kind of quincunx form. Down the face of the wall the bricks have been separated, leaving a large crack. On the side towards the mound of Ibrahím Khalil, the mound slopes gradually down, and up nearly half its height is a flat road running round this part of it, twenty of my paces broad.
“‘From this the mound slopes more gradually to the plain or valley between it and the mound of Ibrahím Khalil, and is worn into deep ravines or furrows, like the Mujelibé. On the other or north face of this pile it slopes down more abruptly at once into the plain, with only hollows or paths round it, the road before mentioned, which from that part appears to surround the building, losing itself before it reaches this. On the north-west face, where it also slopes down into the plain, are vestiges of building in the side, exactly similar in appearance and construction to the wall on the top, with the holes or apertures which are mentioned in the description of that. At foot of all is, seemingly, a flat base of greater extent, but very little raised above the level of the plain. The whole sides of the mound are covered with pieces of brick, both burnt and unburnt, bitumen, pebbles, spar, black stone, the same sand or limestone which covers the canal at the Kasr, and even fragments of white marble. No reeds were to be seen in any part of the building, though I saw one or two specimens of burnt bricks which evidently had reeds in their composition, and some had the impression of reeds on their cement. I saw also several bricks which were thickly coated with bitumen on their lower face. In the lowest part of the mound opposite Ibrahím Khalil, the mounds are most evidently composed of unburnt bricks, the layers being in great measure visible. This would lead one to suppose that it was not originally part of the great pile, were not specimens of this kind of bricks found in it also.
“‘The circumference of the base—not the low one—is 762 yards. The whole height of it, from this measured base to the summit of the tower or wall, is 235 feet; but there can be no doubt that it was much higher. The form is more oblong than square. I found the longest side to be 248 of my paces. Fortunately for the preservation of the ruin, it is too far from the Euphrates for the Arabs to think it worth their while to excavate for bricks; while they are so closely joined together, that it is impossible to procure them quite unbroken.’
“Mr. Rich will not admit this tower to be that of Belus, because, according to his view, it is on the wrong side of the river.
“The whole height of the Birs-i-Nimrúd above the plain to the summit of the brick wall is 235 feet. The brick wall itself, which stands on the edge of the summit, and was undoubtedly the face of another stage, is 37 feet high. In the side of the pile, a little below its summit, is very clearly to be seen part of another brick wall, precisely resembling the fragment which crowns the summit, and still encasing and supporting its part of the mound. This is clearly indicative of another stage of greater extent.
“Without forming any conjecture as to what might have been its original construction, the impression made by the sight of it is, that it was a solid pile, composed in the interior of unburnt brick, and perhaps earth or rubbish; that it was constructed in receding stages, and faced with kiln-burnt bricks having inscriptions on them, laid in a very thin layer of lime cement; and that it was reduced by violence to its present ruinous condition. The upper stones have been forcibly broken down, and fire has been employed as an implement of destruction, though it is not easy to say how or why. The facing of fine bricks has been partly removed and partly covered by the falling down of the mass which it supported and kept together.
“A still later traveller, Mr. Buckingham, is of opinion that the traces of four stages are clearly discernible.
“As to Major Rennell’s doubt whether the ruin was artificial, Mr. Rich observes that, ‘so indisputably evident is the fact of the whole mass being from top to bottom artificial, that he should as soon have thought of writing a dissertation to prove that the Pyramids are the work of human hands as of dwelling upon this point. The Birs-i-Nimrúd,’ he adds, ‘is, in all likelihood, at present nearly in the state in which Alexander saw it, if we give any credit to the report that ten thousand men could only remove the rubbish, preparatory to repairing it, in two months. If, indeed, it required one half of that number to disencumber it, the state of dilapidation must have been complete.
“‘The immense masses of vitrified brick which are seen on the top of the mound appear to have marked its summit since the time of its destruction. The rubbish about its base was probably in much greater quantities, the weather having dissipated much of it in the course of so many revolving ages; and possibly portions of the interior facing of fine brick may have disappeared at different periods.’”