What is most curious, however, is that the documents thus duly attested have in general been enveloped, after they were baked, in a cover of moist clay, upon which their contents have been again inscribed, so as to present externally a duplicate of the writing within; and the tablet in its cover has then been baked afresh.

That this was the process employed is evident from the fact that the inner side of the envelope bears a cast, in relief, of the inscription beneath it.

Probably the object in view was greater security--that if the external cover became illegible, or was tampered with, there might be a means of proving beyond a doubt what the document actually contained.

The tablets in question have in a considerable number of cases been deciphered; they are for the most part deeds, contracts, or engagements, entered into by private persons and preserved among the archives of families.
Besides their writings on clay, the Chaldaeans were in the habit, from very early times, of engraving inscriptions on gems.

The signet cylinder of a very ancient king exhibits that archaic formation of letters which has been already noted as appearing upon some of the earliest bricks.
[PLATE VII., Fig.