he mentions (pp. 66, 67) a third discovery of the same kind.
But the character of the objects found with these masks seems clearly to
show that the tombs from which they were taken were at least as late as the
Seleucidae, if not as the Roman emperors (Cf. HOFFMANN, in the
_Archaeologische Zeitung_ for 1878, pp. 25-27).

[421] When we come to speak of Chaldaean sculpture, we shall give a
reproduction of this relief. We cannot make much use of it in the present
inquiry, because its meaning is so obscure. The stone is broken, and the
imperfections of the design are such that we can hardly tell what the
artist meant to represent. The two figures with baskets on their heads for
instance--are they bringing funeral offerings, or covering with earth the
heaped-up corpses on which they mount?

[422] LAYARD, _Monuments_, 1st series, plates 14, 21, 26, 57, 64, &c.

[423] In more than one battle scene do we find these birds floating over
the heads of the combatants (LAYARD, _Monuments_, 1st series, plates 18,
22, 26, &c). We may also refer to the curious monument from Tell-loh, in
which vultures carrying off human heads and limbs in the clouds are
represented. For an engraving of it see our chapter on Chaldaean sculpture.

[424] See an article published by M. J. HALEVY in the _Revue
archeologique_, vol. xliv. p. 44, under the title: _L'Immortalite de l'Ame
chez les Peuples semitiques_.

[425] PLACE, _Ninive_, vol. ii. p. 184.

[426] LOFTUS, _Travels and Researches_, pp. 198, 199.

[427] LOFTUS especially speaks strongly upon this point (_Travels_, &c. p.
199). "By far the most important of these sepulchral cities is Warka, where
the enormous accumulation of human remains proves that it was a peculiarly
sacred spot, and that it was so esteemed for many centuries. It is
difficult to convey anything like a correct notion of the piles upon piles
of human relics which there utterly astound the beholder. Excepting only
the triangular space between the three principal ruins, the whole remainder
of the platform, the whole space between the walls, and an unknown extent
of desert beyond them, are everywhere filled with the bones and sepulchres
of the dead. There is probably no other site in the world which can compare
with Warka in this respect; even the tombs of Ancient Thebes do not contain
such an aggregate amount of mortality. From its foundation by Urukh until
finally abandoned by the Parthians--a period of probably 2,500 years--W