the Arab
chiefs, and the means employed to divide them into several apartments, see
LAYARD, _Discoveries_, p. 313, and the sketch on page 321.

[244] There is a photographic reproduction of these interesting reliefs in
the fine publication undertaken by the Society of Biblical Archaeology. This
work, which is not yet (1883) complete, is entitled _The Bronze Ornaments
of the Gates of Balawat_, _Shalmaneser_ II. 859-825, edited, with an
introduction, by Samuel BIRCH, with descriptions and translations by
Theophilus G. PINCHES, folio, London. The three first parts are before us.
The motive reproduced above belongs to the plate marked F, 5.

[245] They are to be found on the sheet provisionally numbered B, 1, in the
publication above referred to.

[246] This cylinder, which is now in the British Museum, was perhaps the
actual signet of the king.

[247] LAYARD, _Nineveh_, vol. ii. p. 272.

[248] LAYARD, _Monuments of Nineveh_, first series, plate 77; second
series, plates 24 and 36.

[249] _Genesis_, xiii. 12.

[250] _Genesis_, xix.

Sec. 4.--_The Column._

As Chaldaea, speaking broadly, made no use of stone in its buildings, the
stone column or shaft was unknown to its architects; at least not a single
fragment of such a thing has been found among the ruins. Here and there
cylindrical piers built up of small units seem to have been employed. These
are sometimes of specially moulded bricks,[251] sometimes of sandstone
fragments supported by a coat of masonry. Time has separated the stones of
the latter, and it is now only represented by fragments whose shape betrays
their original destination. Taylor, indeed, found one of these piers still
in place during his excavations at Abou-Sharein, but his sketch and
description are so confused that it is quite useless to reproduce
them.[252]

On the other hand, Chaldaea preceded Assyria in the art of raising airy
structures mainly composed of wood and metal, and by them she was led to
the use of slender supports and a decoration in which grace and elegance
were the most conspicuous features. We have a proof of this in a curious
monument recently acquired by the British Museum. It comes from Abou-Abba,
about sixteen miles south-west of Bagdad, and is in a marvellous state of
preservation. Abou-Abba has been recognized as the site of the ancient
Sippara, one of the oldest of Chaldaean towns. Its sanctuaries, in which the
sun-god, Samas, was chiefly adored, always maintaine