he floated down
the Tigris, and in four hours reached the bourne of his long hopes. He
had the mound, he had the money, and now he would dig.

The Arabs have strange stories of this ruin. The palace, they say, was
built by Athur, the vizier of Nimrod. There Abraham brake in pieces the
idols worshipped by the unbelievers. Nimrod was angry and waged war on
the holy patriarch. Abraham prayed to God: "Deliver me, O God, from this
man who worships stones, and boasts himself to be lord of all kings;"
and God said to him, "How shall I punish him?" and the prophet answered,
"To thee armies are as nothing, and the strength and power of men
likewise. Before the smallest of thy creatures will they perish." And
God was pleased at the faith of his servant, and he sent a gnat that
vexed Nimrod day and night, so that he built himself a room of glass in
that palace that he might dwell therein and shut out the insect. But the
gnat entered also, and passed by his ear into his brain, upon which it
fed, and increased day by day, so that the servants of Nimrod beat his
head continually with a mallet that he might have some ease from his
pain; but he died after suffering these torments four hundred years. And
after him the mound was named Nimroud.

It was dark when Layard and his little company reached the place. They
found near by a few huts occupied by poor Arabs, who had been harried by
the Turkish Pasha. There they slept, or tried to sleep. But the
explorer could not sleep. Hear him:--

"Hopes, long cherished, were now to be realized, or were to end in
disappointment. Visions of palaces under ground, of gigantic monsters,
of sculptured figures, and endless inscriptions, floated before me.
After forming plan after plan for removing the earth and extricating
these treasures, I fancied myself wandering in a maze of chambers from
which I could find no outlet. Then, again, all was reburied, and I was
standing on the grass-covered mound. Exhausted, I was at length sinking
into sleep, when, hearing the voice of Awad, I rose from my carpet and
joined him outside the tent. The day already dawned. The lofty cone and
broad mound of Nimroud broke like a distant mountain on the
morning sky."

Awad, his host, was a little chief among the Arabs, and was engaged to
take charge of the diggers. The first morning he had six Arabs at work,
and found alabaster slabs with cuneiform inscriptions. He was now sure
he would succeed.

It is not necessary to