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was put into a vessel and half boiled * when they drank the soup , and voraciously devoured the scarcely-warmed carcase . They are a very filthy set of people , particularly in their food , " &c . Their method of spinning and weaving is better . " At sunset [ passed through an extensive camp of Arabs : they were as civil
and respectful as those I had hitherto met with , and appeared to be living in the most primitive state , chiefly employed in making a cloth from the wool of their sheep . They first spin it into yaru , winding the threads round small stones ; those they haug on a stick , fixed in a horizontal position , between some shrubs
or trees , to form a woof ; then passing other threads alternately betweeu these , they thus weave the cloth with which they clothe themselves . " ( P . 22 . J Of their navigation we have the following particulars : ** Parries of both sexes were crossing the stream , in a state of nudity , upon a stratum of rush . " " At three
we saw an encampment of Arabs crossing the river on inflated sheep-skins , " &c . The process , it seems , is very much the same as it was in the days of Herodotus , and the construction of rafts very little improved . For music , " they were contented with a kettle covered with a round , empty , sheep skin bag , which in general is used for holding oil , " but on
greaj occasions served for a drum . " The harmony of the instrument was heightened by the clapping of Jiands , and a loud chorus of so peculiar a strain , that I am incapable of describing it , and such as I never heard before . One person at a time came forward and danced , keeping
lip a constant wriggling motion with his feet , hands , breast , and shoulders , until his gestures became too fatiguing to be continued . " A specimen of this diversion our author witnessed amongst bis attendants , one night when " the cold was piercing , " and " they were in high spirits / ' P . 28 .
The remain ? of antiquity , which were Captain Mignan ' s principal object , are mostly of brick . On the left bank of the Tigris , however , on the highest of a r < i 4 ge of mounds ex ^ o ^ ing for nearly a mile , and covered with broken pieces of pottery , fcauiiienta of tile , flint glass , and
shells , he " stumbled upon some blocks of black tttouts , measuring four or five feetjaquare , and completely honeycornped from exposure . " ' Concluding that these rtones mubt have been extracted from beneath the tumulus , " says Capt- > l ) gnan , " I commenced cleariug away at t , pe base : and as far as I dug , L found , that
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4 the mound rested on layers of stone , each measuring about five feet square , so firmly joined together , that ray digging implements broke to pieces , and obliged me to discontinue any farther attempt at excavation . There was no appearance of erect building whatever , nor any burnt or unburnt bricks except on the summit ,
where I saw some fragments of brickwork perfectly black , petrified , and molten . I found a large portion of an earthen vase , ( similar to some I have dug up near a village called Reschire , five miles to the Houth of Bushire on tlje Persian Qulf , ) and human bones lying- 'in . it . . ' This vessel was made of baked clay , and appeared painted over : we had to delve with our
hands for two feet deep , previous to extracting it . That there were several more I am convinced , as they are never found singly , bm ; in long rows nearly touching each other , and fronting East and West . " ( P . 47 . ) On the right bank of the Tigris , not far from the site and remains of Ctesiuhou , " stands the Tank Kesra , a magnificent monument of
antiquity , " which is described at some length . The full extent of the front , or eastern face , of this pile of building , is three hundred feet . " It is divided by a high semicircular arch , supported by walls sixteen feet thick ; the arch itself making a span of eighty-six feet , and rising to the height of one hundred and three feet . The front of the building is
ornamented and surmounted by four rows of small arched recesses , resembling in form the large one . The style and execution of these are most delicate , evincing a fertile invention , and great experience in the architectural art . " ( P . 72 . ) To crown all , the natives of this country assert that the ruins are of the age of Niinrod 1 At Bagdad , English travellers are well
received , " on account of the veueration and respect which the inhabitants of that place bear to tjhe memory of the lamented Mr . Rich , the late British resident /" The largest gate of this city is walled up and held sacred , in honour of Sultan Murad IV ., who quitted the , city by it , a . fter haviug recovered Bagdad from the Persians . The iascription on this , gate
is remarkable enough to deserve quotation as a specimen of Mohammedan ta ^ te ; it is as , rollows : " In the name of tbe Merciful aq 4 Beneficent , " ( TJben a verse of the Koran , chosen , as it would 8 e , enu , a £ raudoni . ) «« * uir ^ d \ f Abraham (\ tkd hfAuel lake tfre laws from the ten \ plef our Lord will accept af , qyr bands that tJj . au art thf hearer , the wtye . * This is what he cijimmuiik ' i ) should be built , our
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Monthly Report of General Literature . 8 J 1
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1829, page 871, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2579/page/55/
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