The so-called tomb of Jonah is conspicuous on the north edge of the western portion of the mound, and about it are grouped the cottages of the Kurds and Turcomans to whom the site of the ancient Nineveh belongs.

The eastern portion of the mound forms a burial-ground, to which the bodies of Mahometans are brought from considerable distances.

The mass of earth is calculated at six and a half millions of tons; so that its erection would have given full employment to 10,000 men for the space of five years and a half.
These two vast mounds--the platforms on which palaces and temples were raised--are both in the same line, and abutted, both of them, on the western wall of the city.

Their position in that wall is thought to have been determined, not by chance, but by design; since they break the western face of the city into three nearly equal portions.

The entire length of this side of Nineveh was 13,600 feet, or somewhat more than two and a half miles.