The construction of these edifices was of the same order as the one unearthed by Botta; and as at the latter, there was a large yield of sculptures, inscriptions, and miscellaneous objects.

A new feature, however, of Layard's excavations was the finding of several rooms filled with fragments of small and large clay tablets closely inscribed on both sides in the cuneiform characters.

These tablets, about 30,000 of which found their way to the British Museum, proved to be the remains of a royal library.

Their contents ranged over all departments of thought,--hymns, incantations, prayers, epics, history, legends, mythology, mathematics, astronomy constituting some of the chief divisions.

In the corners of the palaces, the foundation records were also found, containing in each case more or less extended annals of the events that occurred during the reign of the monarch whose official residence was thus brought to light.