'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from September 1850 to June 1852. Edited by the Secretary. Volume X.' [‎59] (192/458)

f ° re it ai, ■
•‘H
tad of
n t Works, ]j
k ' TorIc see t(|
a %
180 n, inierou
be ^yXe a ,
Median wall,)
’ e yneh htij
: «dieular walk
or k of maik
wtifical adora-
8 ^ is dificul
^ed Serathi
turtle of tie
lefcer may k
id certainly ol
, the old caoal
d over it, fot
which is kilt
indeed is tk
5 in it’s cons-
by Xenophon
;en attempted
the Anabasis,
^ contenting
[ nights*
made in
)ther upon
i were cutt^
juall water
“River » ,1S “
MEMOIR ON THE “ TIGRIS” gg
myself, however, with advocating the venerable character of this ruin,
not from its appearance alone, but from the fact of the waters of the
canal itself when in existence having flowed over the pile ; and if
ou^ht more is wanting to give it a claim to a high antiquity, we have
buried in the bed of the canal above it, in a straight line with
its course, a nicely arranged and continuous tier of sepulchral
urns, amounting to thirty-four in number. I tried in vain to
extract a perfect one, but they crumbled to dust on exposure
to the air. In shape they differ from most of the urns disinterred
on this soil, and though lined on the inside with a thin coating of
bitumen, their contents, except in being more damp, werenot dis
tinguishable from the earth of the surrounding soil. The ruin and canal,
indeed, derive their names from the peculiar form of this urn, though
I was at first inclined to view the term Serakha * as an ancient one,
whose meaning was unknown in the country at the present time. The
bricks seen here are of the size and shape of the Babylonian period,
though I could not discern any stamped characters similar to those
found in the most remarkable Babylonian structures ; indeed this
peculiarity may have been in use only on the material of the more
sacred edifices, and as at the Kasr, on the recognised site of Babylon,
the ordinary buildings, whether palaces or of other public character,
may have been constructed of bricks of the prescribed size without
bearing the legendary tablet; I have indeed heard from others that the
cuneiform stamp had been seen on the bricks brought from hence.
The number of shafts sunk in the soil attest, however, that a vast mine
of material exists here and in the immediate vicinity, did not the
caravans of asses passing to and fro between Baghdad and Serikha,
laden with bricks of a large size, show the extent of the city that once
occupied the country contiguous to the Tigris and the canal. When we
reflect, too, that this has been the store from whence these supplies have
been derived, perhaps for some centuries past, the mind will not be at
a loss to comprehend the magnitude of the cities named by sacred and
profane writers as existing on the soil; a surprise rather will be expres
sed that,—notwithstanding the devastation of war, the trade in material,
tbe ravages occasioned by the destruction of canals, and the annual
* Serakha
signifies an elongated earthen vessel.