Ashur-natsir-pal's great palace at Kalkhi was excavated by Layard, who
has given a vivid description of the verdant plain on which the
ancient city was situated, as it appeared in spring. "Its pasture
lands, known as the 'Jaif', are renowned", he wrote, "for their rich
and luxuriant herbage. In times of quiet, the studs of the Pasha and
of the Turkish authorities, with the horses of the cavalry and of the
inhabitants of Mosul, are sent here to graze.... Flowers of every hue
enamelled the meadows; not thinly scattered over the grass as in
northern climes, but in such thick and gathering clusters that the
whole plain seemed a patchwork of many colours. The dogs, as they
returned from hunting, issued from the long grass dyed red, yellow, or
blue, according to the flowers through which they had last forced
their way.... In the evening, after the labour of the day, I often sat
at the door of my tent, giving myself up to the full enjoyment of that
calm and repose which are imparted to the senses by such scenes as
these.... As the sun went down behind the low hills which separate the
river from the desert--even their rocky sides had struggled to emulate
the verdant clothing of the plain--its receding rays were gradually
withdrawn, like a transparent veil of light from the landscape. Over
the pure cloudless sky was the glow of the last light. In the distance
and beyond the Zab, Keshaf, another venerable ruin, rose indistinctly
into the evening mist. Still more distant, and still more indistinct,
was a solitary hill overlooking the ancient city of Arbela. The
Kurdish mountains, whose snowy summits cherished the dying sunbeams,
yet struggled with the twilight. The bleating of sheep and lowing of
cattle, at first faint, became louder as the flocks returned from
their pastures and wandered amongst the tents. Girls hurried over the
greensward to seek their fathers' cattle, or crouched down to milk
those which had returned alone to their well-remembered folds. Some
were coming from the river bearing the replenished pitcher on their
heads or shoulders; others, no less graceful in their form, and erect
in their carriage, were carrying the heavy loads of long grass which
they had cut in the meadows."[431]

Across the meadows so beautiful in March the great armies of
Ashur-natsir-pal returned with the booty of great campaigns--horses
and cattle and sheep, bales of embroidered cloth, ivory and jewels,
silver and gold, the products of ma