This vast building, whatever it was, stood within a square enclosure, two sides of which, the northern and eastern, are still very distinctly marked.  A long low line of rampart runs for 400 yards parallel to the east face of the building, at a distance of 120 or 130 yards, and a similar but somewhat longer line of mound runs parallel to the north face at rather a greater distance from it.  On the west a third line could be traced in the early part of the present century; but it appears to be now obliterated.  Here and on the south are the remains of an ancient canal, the construction of which may have caused the disappearance of the southern, and of the lower part of the western line. [Plate XII., Fig. 1.]

[Illustration:  Plate XII.]

Below the Babil mound, which stands isolated from the rest of the ruins, are two principal masses—­the more northern known to the Arabs as el Kasr, “the Palace,” and the more southern as “the mound of Amran,” from the tomb of a reputed prophet Amran-ibn-Ali, which crowns its summit.  The Kasr mound is an oblong square, about 700 yards long by 600 broad, with the sides facing the cardinal points. [Plate XII., Fig. 2.] Its height above the plain is 70 feet.  Its longer direction is from north to south.  As far as it has been penetrated, it consists mainly of rubbish-loose bricks, tiles, and fragments of stone.  In a few places only are there undisturbed remains of building.  One such relic is a subterranean passage, seven feet in height, floored and walled with baked brick, and covered in at the top with great blocks of sandstone, which may either have been a secret exit or more probably an enormous drain.  Another is the Kasr, or “palace” proper, whence the mound has its name.  This is a fragment of excellent brick masonry in a wonderful state of preservation, consisting of walls, piers, and buttresses, and in places ornamented with pilasters, but of too fragmentary a character to furnish the modern inquirer with any clue to the original plan of the building.  The bricks are of a pale yellow color and of the best possible quality, nearly resembling our fire-bricks.  They are stamped, one and all, with the name and titles of Nebuchadnezzar.  The mortar in which they are laid is a fine lime cement, which adheres so closely to the bricks that it is difficult to obtain a specimen entire.  In the dust at the foot of the walls are numerous fragments of brick, painted, and covered with a thick enamel or glaze.  Here, too, have been found a few fragments of sculptured stone, and slabs containing an account of the erection of a palatial edifice by Nebuchadnezzar.  Near the northern edge of the mound, and about midway in its breadth, is a colossal figure of a lion, rudely carved in black basalt, standing over the prostrate figure of a man with arms outstretched.  A single tree grows on the huge ruin, which the Arabs declare to be of a species not known elsewhere, and regard as a remnant of the hanging garden of Bokht-i-nazar.  It is a tamarisk of no rare kind, but of very great ago, in consequence of which, and of its exposed position, the growth and foliage are somewhat peculiar.