In mineral products Chaldaea was very deficient indeed.  The alluvium is wholly destitute of metals, and even of stone, which must be obtained, if wanted, from the adjacent countries.  The neighboring parts of Arabia could furnish sandstone and the more distant basalt; which appears to have been in fact transported occasionally to the Chaldaean Cities.  Probably, however, the chief importation of stone was by the rivers, whose waters would readily convey it to almost any part of Chaldaea from the regions above the alluvium.  This we know to have been done in some cases, but the evidence of the ruins makes it clear that such importation was very limited.  The Chaldaeans found, in default of stone, a very tolerable material in their own country; which produced an inexhaustible supply of excellent clay, easily moulded into bricks, and not even requiring to be baked in order to fit it for the builder.  Exposure to the heat of the summer sun hardened the clay sufficiently for most purposes, while a few hours in a kiln made it as firm and durable as freestone, or even granite.  Chaldaea, again, yielded various substances suitable for mortar.  Calcareous earths abound on the western side of the Euphrates towards the Arabian frontier; while everywhere a tenacious slime or mud is easily procurable, which, though imperfect as a cement, can serve the purpose, and has the advantage of being always at hand.  Bitumen is also produced largely in some parts, particularly at Hit, where are the inexhaustible springs which have made that spot famous in all ages.  Naphtha and bitumen are here given forth separately in equal abundance; and these two substances, boiled together in certain proportions, form a third kind of cement, superior to the slime or mud, but inferior to lime-mortar.  Petroleum, called by the Orientals mumia, is another product of the bitumen-pits.

The wild animals indigenous in Babylonia appear to be chiefly the following:—­the lion, the leopard, the hyeena, the lynx, the wild-cat, the wolf, the jackal, the wild-boar, the buffalo, the stag, the gazelle, the jerboa, the fox, the hare, the badger, and the porcupine.  The Mesopotamian lion is a noble animal.  Taller and larger than a Mount St. Bernard dog, he wanders over the plains their undisputed lord, unless when an European ventures to question his pre-eminence.  The Arabs tremble at his approach, and willingly surrender to him the choicest of their flocks and herds.  Unless urged by hunger, he seldom attacks man, but contents himself with the destruction of buffaloes, camels, dogs, and sheep.  When taken young, he is easily tamed, and then manifests considerable attachment to his master.  In his wild state he haunts the marshes and the banks of the various streams and canals, concealing himself during the day, and at night wandering abroad in search of his prey, to obtain which he will approach with boldness to the very skirts of an Arab encampment.  His roar is not deep or terrible, but like the cry