MESSIEURS LAYARD AND RASSAM.

387

generous game-preserver hates to see the birds he has fostered and trained cut and mangled by unskilful hands. The name of Nineveh will last to the latest of ages; and now the name of him who laid bare, who brought to light, its treasures, will be handed down with it let me not, therefore, requite the great hospitality I received, by ungenerous purloinings, but, rather, thanking Mr. L. for what is past, wait till he himself throws the light on it, and explains his own works, his own discoveries.

We lived a pleasant life. Mr. Rassam's house, I think, could have had no doors; if it had, they were always open, and it was furnished with all European comforts, and a goodly store of books. "Punch" and his paper had penetrated the Desert, and his sheets rustled in the halls of Nimrod. The excavators were fully employed; early the work began, late it was continued. Myself more idle, sauntered about wherever anything of interest offered itself, living with Mr. Layard in a house where treasures of antiquity were crowded in all directions; here bricks, there bas-reliefs, mingled with rude articles of to-day, whose curious form, ill-made and antique

388

VIEW FROM THE TOP OF A HOUSE.

appearance, led one strongly to doubt whether they were not also as ancient as the others. Then there was constantly fresh news from the diggings; a trusty employé bore to the house a small basket; in it were relics newly dug; then there were visits from chiefs and high men of all the people round, daily, hourly; wild Arabs loitering about-it was a life of great interest-there was also the post from Nineveh.

Our journey hither over, my companions dispersed in different directions. I spent many days at Mosul. Several English were there. Of an evening we met on the flat roof of one of the houses, and whiled away the hours: it was pleasant then to get a lonely corner: from one's lofty position, each terrace was revealed, and unseen one could watch the domestic arrangements around, and see each phase of life acted naturally before one's eyes: sometimes, friends called on the families, and all the motions of Eastern manners were performed in dumb show before one: then the company retired; then the lady of the house bawled a little, and up came mattresses borne on the heads of the daughters or maid-servants. These were laid in rows; no undressing took

THE MUSSULMAN SERVANT LAD.

389

place, but each lay down, pulled a coverlid over, and the day was done.

During the day the heat was extreme, but to make this tolerable, there are fine vaults beneath the house, with marble pavements, and the inhabitants rest in them during the heat of the day. One English traveller and his lady were on the eve of departure; with them many hours were spent ; for even among us islanders, cold-hearted as we are called, there is much companionship in these far places. They had just taken a Mussulman boy into their employ. It is generally difficult to get Turks to act as servants to Christians; they are far too proud-and in fact seldom suit when they can be had. (I only allude to Turkey and Syria when I say this.) The day the young monkey was hired, he was sent to his master's house to await his arrival. On his master entering, with the doctor of the expedition, he surveyed them both, saying, " And which is my master?" On his being pointed out to him, he said, "Do you talk Arabic ?" "No." "Turkish ?" "No." "What, pray then, do you speak? I know both, and at Koordish am a nightingale." This was a sad difficulty for all at Mosul; it might

390

GENERAL APPEARANCE OF MOSUL.

have been here that the confusion of tongues took place: Turkish, Arabic, Koordish, Chaldean, Syraic, are household tongues; Persian, Armenian, are heard everywhere: India has likewise lent many words. Mahomet is not very clear in the Koran on this point: he says, " And of his signs are also the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variety of your language." How beautifully brief is the description of the Scriptureshow brief, yet how expressive! "And now the Lord said: the people is one, and they have all one language, and this they begin to do, and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do."

Few Eastern towns of its size ever struck me as so wretched as Mosul. Nearly half of the space is bare, mere heaps of dirt and dust the buildings are nearly all built of mud, and the sun and heat dry them to a white, arid, stricken colour, peculiarly barren, and hurtful to the eye. Walking over the town, large blanks occur where broken arches and thrown down walls mark present decay. Mosul is surrounded with walls; these, though in many places ruinous, are still capable of preventing the city being suddenly surprised and sacked, as it

CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN THE CITY.

would be if open to the country.

391

It possesses

no fine mosques, * or khans. When there, the Pasha, infected with a sudden zeal, had whitewashed all the mosques, so they looked clean and new. Mr. Rajam's khan is the best, and is large and roomy: this, however, he keeps for his own extensive trade. The bazaars are well supplied, as trade is brisk with India, Koordistan, and Persia. The baths are clean and comfortable; but the extreme heat of the weather during my stay, took away the luxury of them.

It possesses fourteen Christian churches belonging to the different sects of Christians.

Several

of these are now in the hands of the Roman Catholics; others again are divided by partition walls; in one half is the old form of worship, in the other the Catholic. It is, however, unfair to mention the stories of violence, wrong and oppression, said to have been perpetuated by the Catholics; the menaces, promises, threats and dissimulation by which they procured converts; as all I heard was of course from those whose violent anti-Catholic feelings naturally induce them to

* One mosque is curiously built; it is an octagon pyramid, and is said to be of older date than the faith it belongs to. But I could hear no tradition of its building,