e necessary agreement. In
this he would insert as many details as possible--the day of the month,
the year of the reigning sovereign, and at times, to be still more
precise, an allusion to some important event which had just taken place,
and a memorial of which was inserted in official annals, such as the
taking of a town, the defeat of a neighbouring king, the dedication of
a temple, the building of a wall or fortress, the opening of a canal, or
the ravages of an inundation: the names of the witnesses and magistrates
before whom the act was confirmed were also added to those of the
contracting parties. The method of sanctioning it was curious. An
indentation was made with the finger-nail on one of the sides of the
tablet, and this mark, followed or preceded by the mention of a name,
"Nail of Zabudamik," "Nail of Abzii," took the place of our more or less
complicated sign-manuals. In later times, only the buyer and witnesses
approved by a nail-mark, while the seller appended his seal; an
inscription incised above the impress indicating the position of the
signatory. Every one of any importance possessed a seal, which he wore
attached to his wrist or hung round his neck by a cord; he scarcely
ever allowed it to be separated from his person during his lifetime, and
after death it was placed with him in the tomb in order to prevent any
improper use being made of it. It was usually a cylinder, sometimes
a truncated cone with a convex base, either of marble, red or green
jasper, agate, cornelian, onyx or rock crystal, but rarely of metal.
Engraved upon it in intaglio was an emblem or subject chosen by
the owner, such as the single figure of a god or goddess, an act of
adoration, a sacrifice, or an episode in the story of Gilgames, followed
sometimes by the inscription of a name and title. The cylinder was
rolled, or, in the case of the cone, merely pressed on the clay, in the
space reserved for it. In several localities the contracting parties had
recourse to a very ingenious procedure to prevent the agreements being
altered or added to by unscrupulous persons. When the document had been
impressed on the tablet, it was enveloped in a second coating of clay,
upon which an exact copy of the original was made, the latter thus
becoming inaccessible to forgers: if by chance, in course of time, any
disagreement should take place, and an alteration of the visible text
should be suspected, the outer envelope was broken in the presence