ut bread,
cucumbers, and some dates; and therefore had a great desire for a hot and
more nutritious meal. But her appetite was greatly diminished when she
saw their style of cookery. The old woman (her guide's mother) threw
several handfuls of small grain, and a large quantity of onions, into a
panful of water to soften. In about half an hour she thrust her dirty
hands into the water, and mixed the whole together, now and then taking a
mouthful, and after chewing it, spitting it back again into the pan. Then
she took a dirty rag, strained through it the delicate mixture, and
poured it over the meat in the larger vessel. Madame Pfeiffer had firmly
resolved not to touch the dish, but when it was ready her longing for
food was so great, and so savoury was the smell, that she reflected that
what she had already eaten was probably not a whit cleaner; in short, for
once she proved false to her resolution. Eating, she was filled; and the
viands gave her increased strength.

* * * * *

On the 28th of June the caravan reached Erbil, the ancient Arbela, where
Alexander the Great defeated Darius and his Persian host. Next day they
crossed a broad river, on rafts of inflated skins, fastened together with
poles, and covered with reeds, canes, and plank. Rapidly traversing the
shrubless, herbless plains of Mesopotamia, they reached at length the
town of Mosul, the point from which travellers proceed to visit the ruins
of Nineveh.

These have been so carefully explored and ably described by Layard and
the late George Smith, that it is needless to quote Madame Ida Pfeiffer's
superficial observations at any length. According to Strabo, Nineveh was
the greatest city in the Old World--larger even than Babylon; the
circumference of its walls was a three days' journey, and those walls
were defended by fifteen hundred towers. Now all is covered with earth,
and the ranges of hills and mounds that stretch across the wide gray
plain on the bank of the Tigris do but cover the ruins of the vast
Assyrian capital. Mr. Layard began his excavations in 1846, and his
labourers, digging deep into the hills, soon opened up spacious and
stately apartments, the marble walls of which were embellished from top
to bottom with sculptures, revealing a complete panorama of Assyrian
life! Kings with their crowns and sceptres, gods swooping on broad
pinions, warriors equipped with their arms and shields, were there; also
stirring representations of