THE BRICKS OF BABYLON.
Besides sun-dried bricks, remains of kiln-baked or burnt bricks are found in all the principal ruins of ancient Babylonia, and were used for the purpose of revetting or casing the walls. Like the sun-dried bricks they are made of clay mixed with grass and straw, which have, of course, disappeared in the baking, leaving, however, traces of the stalks or stems in the clay. Generally they are slack-burnt, of a pale red colour, with a slight glaze or polish. The finest sort, according to Mr. Rich, are white, approaching more or less to a yellowish cast, like our Stourbridge, or fire-brick; the coarsest are red, like our ordinary brick. Some have a blackish cast, and are very hard. The finest are those which come from the ruins of the Akerkuf. The general measurement of the kiln-dried bricks, at the Birs Nimrúd, is 1 ft. 1 in. square, and 3 in. thick. Some are submultiples, or half of these dimensions. A few are of different shapes for particular purposes, such as rounding corners. Those at the Akerkuf measured a trifle less, or 12½ in. square, and 2¾ in. thick, and are placed at the base of the monument. The bricks of Al Hymer, on the eastern bank, measure 14 in. long, 12¾ in. broad, 2½ in. thick, and are of fine fabric. There are bricks of two dimensions at this ruin of the Birs Nimrúd; those on the northern brow, a little way down it, measure 12 in. square, and 3¼ in. thick; they are of a pale red colour, and used for revetting the monument. Lower down to the east of this, they are 4¾ in. broad, and 12¾ in. long. Similar bricks were found at the Mujellibe, and in one place was an entire wall of them 60 feet thick. The whole plain here is covered with masses of brick work, and on one of the mounds the bricks are so red, that it looks one bright gleaming mass. The bricks from the Mujellibe or Kasr are described as very hard, and of a pale yellow colour; and this edifice presents a remarkable appearance of freshness. We have seen only one fragment of a brick from Niffer; it is of a white, or rather yellowish white colour, and sandy, gritty texture. This spot, it will be remembered, is supposed to be the site of old Babylon. All these bricks are made by the same process as those of Assyria, namely, stamped out of a wooden or terra-cotta mould, and are also impressed with several lines of cuneiform character. This impression is always sunk below the superficies, rectangular, and often placed obliquely on the brick, with that disregard to mechanical symmetry which is so usual on works of ancient art. The stamp is generally about 6 inches long, by 4 inches wide, and the number of lines varies from three to seven: an arrangement quite different from that observed on the bricks of Assyria, and rather resembling that adopted by the brick-makers of Egypt. The engraving on previous page is of a brick stamped with the name of Nebuchadnezzar, which is now in the possession of the Royal Society of Literature. The inscriptions sometimes commence with the figure of a lion, a bull, or what may be intended for an altar. These read, according to Sir H. Rawlinson,—
[of] Nebuchadnezzar,
the king of Babylon,
founder of Beth Digla, or Saggalu,
and of Beth Tzida
son of Nebopalasar [I am].
A TURKISH BAZAAR.
A Turkish bazaar is one of the most wonderful sights in the world, and well deserves a place in our record of curiosities. We cannot do better than quote the description which Mr. Albert Smith gives of one of these extraordinary places in his "Month at Constantinople:"—
"Smyrna had, in some measure, prepared me for the general appearance of an oriental bazaar; but the vast extent of these markets at Constantinople created a still more vivid impression. To say that the covered rows of shops must altogether be miles in length—that vista after vista opens upon the gaze of the astonished stranger, lined with the costliest productions of the world, each collected in its proper district—that one may walk for an hour, without going over the same ground twice, amidst diamonds, gold, and ivory; Cashmere shawls, and Chinese silks; glittering arms, costly perfumes, embroidered slippers, and mirrors; rare brocades, ermines, Morocco leathers, Persian nick-nacks; amber mouthpieces, and jewelled pipes—that looking along the shortest avenue, every known tint and colour meets the eye at once, in the wares and costumes, and that the noise, the motion, the novelty of this strange spectacle is at first perfectly bewildering—all this, possibly, gives the reader the notion of some kind of splendid mart, fitted to supply the wants of the glittering personages who figure in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments; yet it can convey but a poor idea of the real interest which such a place calls forth, or the most extraordinary assemblage of treasures displayed there, amidst so much apparent shabbiness. No spot in the world—neither the Parisian Boulevards, nor our own Regent-street—can boast of such an accumulation of valuable wares from afar, as the great bazaar at Constantinople. Hundreds and thousands of miles of rocky road and sandy desert have been traversed by the moaning camels who have carried those silks and precious stones from Persia, with the caravan. From the wild regions of the mysterious central Africa, that ivory, so cunningly worked, in the next row, has been brought—the coal-black people only know how—until the Nile floated it down to Lower Egypt. Then those soft Cashmere shawls have made a long and treacherous journey to Trebizond, whence the fleet barks of the cold and stormy Euxine at last brought them up the fairy Bosphorus to the very water's edge of the city. From the remote active America; from sturdy England; from Cadiz, Marseilles, and all along the glowing shores of the Mediterranean, safely carried over the dark and leaping sea, by brave iron monsters that have fought the winds with their scalding breath, these wares have come, to tempt the purchasers, in the pleasant, calm, subdued light of the bazaars of Stamboul."
VARNISH-TREE OF THE JAPANESE.
The urusi or varnish-tree, of which they make so extensive a use, is a noble tree when grown to its full size. On incision it yields a rich, milky, glutinous juice, out of which the Japanese make the celebrated varnish, known by the name of Japan. With this varnish they cover and coat all their household furniture, all their dishes and plates, and all their drinking-vessels, whether made of wood or of paper. The use of plate, or porcelain, or glass appears to be very limited, and is probably interdicted by some rule of nationality or religion: from the emperor down to the meanest peasant, all make use of the light varnished or japanned cups and dishes, the inner substance of which is wood or paper, or what we term papier-maché.