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A short distance before reaching Mousul , though not precisely on Mr . Buckingham ' s route , are , or are supposed to be , the ruins of Nineveh , of which nothing is visible but those mounds and debris of ruined cities , scattered over a large area , which characterize the remains of Babylon , and from which " many antique gems , intaglios , and hieroglyphic devices on
stone , have been dug up . " In Mousul there are fourteen Christian churches , viz . of the two Chaldean sects , nine ; of Syrians , three ; of Jacobites , one ; and of Roman Catholics , also one . — " Of the particular differences of faith between these seels , " Mr . B . says , " I could learn nothing satisfactory . — The children seemed to follow implicitly the footsteps of their fathers , and no one troubled himself about the faith of his neighbour , being content with believing that there was an irreconcileable difference between it and his
own , and never attempting to accommodate or unite them . " There are about 300 Jew families , who have a synagogue for their worship . From Mousul the journey lay along the eastern side of the Tigris by the ancient Arbela to Bagdad , from whence the author made excursions to the ruins of Babylon , to Ctesiphon , and Seleucia , which terminate the journal . The description of the Babylonian remains is founded principally upon , and go to corroborate and confirm , the previous researches of Mr . Rich , the
British resident at Bagdad , whose plans and views Mr . B . has very properly copied . Every research into the topography of this most interesting district tends to confirm the accuracy of the scriptural and ancient Greek histories concerning " the glory of kingdom ? , the beauty of the Chaldees * excellency , " and to impress the mind with the vast and stupendous character of the monuments of the Assyrian empire , now marked only by the mounds which their crumbled ruins have piled upon the plains .
Mr . Rich and Mr . Buckingham concur , as it appears to us very properly , in identifying the Tower of Belus , not with the smaller remains which have usually borne that name , but with the Birs Nimroud , of which four stages , out of eight which the ancient historians describe , remain ; the lower of earth and sun-burnt masonry , and the upper of the almost indestructible burnt brick-work of the district , apparently rent asunder by the action of fire . — " Thus saith the Lord of hosts , the broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken , and her high gates shall be burnt with fire . "
There are now in Bagdad about 10 , 000 Jews : Benjamin of Tudela , probably by some accidental error , makes the number , in his day , only 10 QQ . Mr . 13 . quotes from him the following singular account of their then leaders : "It is curious to observe , that among the chiefs of the assemblies then resident at Bagdad , there was one Eliezer Ben Isainah , president of the fifth class , who traced his descent from the Prophet Samuel , and who , being a great proficient on the harp , played , accompanied by his brothers , on the sacred instrument of the royal David , in the exact manner which was in use in those early times , when the house of the Sanctuary still existed . The chief of the next class was called the * Flower of his Companions / and the
names of all the others are given in detail . " The principal officer of all , however , was Daniel , the son of Hhasdai , who was called ' the Conductor of the Captivity / and preserved a book of his genealogy in direct descent from David , His authority , being derived from the Caliph himself , was great in all the assemblies or the Israelites ; and a . decree of the Mahommeuan Pontiff had ordered that Moslems , as well as the followers of every other religion , should pay this Chief of the Captives all due respect , by rising in his presence to salute him ; in default of which , a hundred Strokes of the bastinado was the punishment to be given . " When paniel went to visit the Caliph he was accompanied by a number
Untitled Article
Review . —Buckingham's Travels in Me&bpotamta * 429
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1827, page 429, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1797/page/37/
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