umptuous were no exceptions to this rule. There is
nothing in this, however, to surprise those who have lived in the East;
like the Turks, Arabs, and Persians of our own time, the Chaldaeans and
Assyrians were shod, except when fighting or hunting, with those
_babooshes_ or sandals that are so often figured in the bas-reliefs. These
must have been taken off, as they are to-day, before entering a temple, a
palace, or a harem. Moses was required to take off his shoes before
approaching the burning bush, because the place on which he stood was holy
ground. In the houses of their gods, in those of their kings and rich men,
the floor would be covered with those rich carpets and mats that from one
end of the East to the other conceal from sight the floors of white wood or
beaten earth. In summer the mats are fresh and grateful to the bare feet,
in the winter the carpets are soft and warm. The floors themselves are
hardly ever seen, so that we need feel no surprise at their being left
without ornament. So, too, was it in all probability in the palaces of
Sargon and of other kings, and in the sacred buildings.

Elsewhere, however, we find a pavement constructed with the most scrupulous
care, and consisting of three distinct parts,--two layers of large bricks
with a thick bed of sand interposed between them. The lower course of
bricks is set in a bed of bitumen which separates it from the earth and
prevents any dampness passing either up or down. This system of paving was
used in most of the harem chambers at Khorsabad as well as in the open
courts and upon the terraces. Lastly, in certain rooms of the seraglio and
harem, in a few of the courts, in the vestibules, before the gates of the
city, and in paths across wide open spaces, a limestone pavement has been
found. Wherever this pavement exists, the stones are of the same kind and
placed in the same manner. The limestone is exactly similar to that in the
retaining walls described on page 147. The stones are often more than three
feet square, and from two feet six inches to two feet ten inches thick.
Their shape is not that of a regular solid; it is more like a reversed
cone, the base forming the pavement and the narrow end being buried in the
ground. These stones are simply placed side by side without the use of
mortar or cement of any kind, but their weight and peculiar shape gave a
singular durability to the pavement for which they were used.

Most of the sills belong to this