him, it will be safest for us to coincide in the rational conjecture of some able geographers, that those enormous lines of demarcation were intended rather to designate the bounds of the District, than of the City, of Babylon. Indeed, on the supposition that the circumference of those walls was enlarged by Nebuchadnezzar, there was the most urgent reason for that district to be well fortified, as well against the ferocious hordes of wild Arabs that hung over it on the western quarter, as the more formidable armies of the Medes and Persians on the north and eastern limits, who, about that period, were widely extending their conquests in Asia, and under Cyrus, only a few years afterwards, about A.D. 536, actually conquered Babylon itself, and put an end for ever to the Assyrian dynasty.

SECTION II.

The argument, whether the CHALDEANS or the EGYPTIANS were the elder race mers; greatly in favour of the former from their vicinity to the spot whereon the ark rested. The account sent to Aristotle by Callisthenes, from Babylon, when taken by Alexander, remarkably consonant to historical fact.—Strictures on the asserted proficiency of the ante-diluvians in astronomical science.-The sandy deserts of Chaldæa and Arabia travelled over, before the sea was navigated, BY THE STARS.-The constellations mentioned in the book of JOB.-The gross addiction of the Chaldeans in the most ancient periods to the Sabian superstition, proved from the dreadful denunciations of Scripture against that idolatrous race. The great cities, both of BABYLON and EC BATANA, constructed upon a plan connected with astronomy.—Decided proofs of this fact adduced from Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus. The tower of Belus, therefore, a TEMPLE TO THE SUN, and its lofty summit used as an OBSERVATORY;-higher than the great pyramid of Egypt.-Modern accounts of the BABYLONIAN BRICKS, painted and adorned with figures, accurately correspondent to the description of them by Diodorus.-The images and the unknown characters inscribed upon them probably have reference to astronomical details-High advance of the Babylonians in METALLURGIC and HYDRAULIC science—in MECHANICS-in GEOMETRY -in ARCHITECTURAL knowledge, evident in their ability to erect such vast edifices in a swampy soil.-No traces of the ARCH to be found amid all the ruins of Babylon—not in the BRIDGE, or SUBTERRANEOUS PASSAGE-not in the TEMPle of Belus—not in the PENSILE GARDENS-Strictures on the symbolic sculptured animals, the LION and the BULL, found in the ruins on the marked resemblance, in form, between the TEMPLE OF BELUS and the great TEMPLE OF MEXICO, in America—on the ORIGIN OF ALPHABETICAL WRITING.-Concluding reflections.

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In the preceding section, the reader will please to observe, that I have rather adhered to plain descriptive narration of the wonderful objects there recorded, than indulged in any conjectural hypothesis in respect to the early advance in science of those who fabricated them; for science they evince in a high degree, and of various and important kinds. In regard, indeed, to the colours laid on the bricks and afterwards burnt in, as described by Diodorus, I ventured to

hint that this was nearly the most early specimen of enamelling on record, and that their acquaintance with engraving might also justly be inferred from the characters universally inscribed on those bricks. With a view also to this more extended dissertation on the astronomical proficiency of the Chaldæans, I was careful to mark, in italics, what occasionally occurred in regard to the great SOLAR TEMPLE, as I shall now take the liberty to call it, being built to front the four cardinal points, and the zodiacal figures sculptured on the walls, as attested by modern travellers. The subject, however, being very curious and important, and connected with the first progress of mankind in the arts, it is my purpose, in the present section, to discuss these interesting topics in considerable detail. Let us begin with considering the astronomy of the Chaldæans.

Whether the Chaldæans, or the Egyptians, were the more ancient race of astronomers, has been a subject of warm debate among the learned in all ages. The former boasted, for the patron of their order, BELUS, the youngest son of Cush, the grandson of Noah, and the supposed founder of the mighty fabric that bears his name. Their vain-glorious historians carried up their astronomical annals to the incredible height, according to Cicero, of four hundred and seventy thousand years. Babylonios, eos qui, ex Caucaso, cœli signa servantes numeris et motibus stellarum cursus persequntur; qui 470 millia annorum, ut ipsi dicunt, monumentis comprehensa continent*." They had in use among them three great cycles; 1st, the SAROS, consisting, according to Abydenus, of 3600 years; the NEROS, of 600 years; and the sossos, of sixty years; all doubtless great exaggerations, and the years probably to be considered as lunar

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* Cic. de Divinat. lib. i. cap. 19.