The fragments of them which remain are so placed that if the lines were produced they would include all the principal ruins on the left bank except the Babil tower.

They may therefore be the old defences of the Eastern palace; though, if so, it is strange that they run in lines which are neither straight nor parallel to those of the buildings enclosed by them.

The irregularity of these ramparts is certainly a very strong argument in favor of their having been the work of a people considerably more barbarous and ignorant than the Babylonians.

[PLATE XIV.] [Illustration: PLATE XIV.].