es on Tel-el-Lahm_, etc., in the _Journ, of
the Royal As. Soc._, vol. xv. p. 411) with Loftus that some
of the chambers were vaulted. Cf. upon the custom of
vaulting in Chaldaean houses, Piereot-Cupiez, _Histoire de
l'Art_, vol. ii. p. 163, et seq.

** The dressing of the hair in coils and elaborate
erections, as seen in the various figures engraved upon
Chaldaean intaglios (cf. what is said of the different ways
of arranging the hair on p. 262 of this volume), appears to
have necessitated the use of these articles of furniture;
such complicated erections of hair must have lasted several
days at least, and would not have kept in condition so long
except for the use of the head-rest.

An oven for baking occupied a corner of the courtyard, side by side with
the stones for grinding the corn; the ashes on the hearth were always
aglow, and if by chance the fire went out, the fire-stick was always
at hand to relight it, as in Egypt. The kitchen utensils and household
pottery comprised a few large copper pans and earthenware pots rounded
at the base, dishes, water and wine jars, and heavy plates of coarse
ware; metal had not as yet superseded stone, and in the same house we
meet with bronze axes and hammers side by side with the same implements
in cut flint, besides knives, scrapers, and mace-heads.*

* Implements in flint and other kinds of stone have been
discovered by Taylor, and are now in the British Museum. The
bronze implements come partly from the tombs of Mugheir, and
partly from the ruins explored by Loftus at Tell-Sifr--that
is to say, the ancient cities of Uru and Larsam: the name of
Tell-Sifr, the "mound of copper," comes from the quantity of
objects in copper which have been discovered there.

[Illustration: 300.jpg CHALDAEAN HOUSEHOLD UTENSILS IN TERRA-COTTA]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the sketch by G. Rawlinson, and
the heliogravure in Heuzey-Sarzec.

At the present day the women of the country of the Euphrates spend a
great part of their time on the roofs of their dwellings.* They install
themselves there in the morning, till they are driven away by the heat;
as soon as the sun gets low in the heavens, they return to their post,
and either pass the day on neighbouring roofs whilst they bake, cook,
wash and dry the linen; or, if they have slaves to attend to such menial
occupations, they sew and