CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS.
“Assyria, celebritate et magnitudine, et multiformi feracitate
ditissima.”--AMM. MARC. xxiii
In describing the climate and productions of Assyria, it will be
necessary to divide it into regions, since the country is so large, and
the physical geography so varied, that a single description would
necessarily be both incomplete and untrue. Eastern Assyria has a climate
of its own, the result of its position at the foot of Zagros. In Western
Assyria we may distinguish three climates, that of the upper or
mountainous country extending from Bir to Til and Jezireh, that of the
middle region on either side of the Sinjar range, and that of the lower
region immediately bordering on Babylonia. The climatic differences
depend in part on latitude; but probably in a greater degree on
differences of elevation, distance or vicinity of mountains, and the
like.
Eastern Assyria, from its vicinity to the high and snow-clad range of
Zagros, has a climate at once cooler and moister than Assyria west of
the Tigris. The summer heats are tempered by breezes from the adjacent
mountains, and, though trying to the constitution of an European, are
far less oppressive than the torrid blasts which prevail on the other
side of the river. A good deal of rain falls in the winter, and even in
the spring; while, after the rains are past, there is frequently an
abundant dew, which supports vegetation and helps to give coolness to
the air. The winters are moderately severe.
In the most southern part of Assyria, from lat. 34° to 35° 30’, the
climate scarcely differs from that of Babylonia, which has been already
described. The same burning summers, and the same chilly but not really
cold winters, prevail in both districts; and the time and character of
the rainy season is alike in each. The summers are perhaps a little less
hot, and the winters a little colder than in the more southern and
alluvial region; but the difference is inconsiderable, and has never
been accurately measured.
In the central part of Western Assyria, on either side of the Sinjar
range, the climate is decidedly cooler than in the region adjoining
Babylonia. In summer, though the heat is great, especially from noon to
sunset, yet the nights are rarely oppressive, and the mornings
enjoyable. The spring-time in this region is absolutely delicious; the
autumn is pleasant; and the winter, though cold and accompanied by a
good deal of rain and snow, is rarely prolonged and never intensely
rigorous. Storms of thunder and lightning are frequent, especially in
spring, and they are often of extraordinary violence: hail-stones fall
of the size of pigeon’s eggs; the lightning is incessant; and the wind
rages with fury. The force of the tempest is, however, soon exhausted;
in a few hours’ time it has passed away, and the sky is once more
cloudless: a delightful calm and freshness pervade the air, producing
mingled sensations of pleasure and repose.
The mountain tract, which terminates Western Assyria to the north, has a
climate very much more rigorous than the central region. The elevation
of this district is considerable, and the near vicinity of the great
mountain country of Armenia, with its eternal snows and winters during
half the year, tends greatly to lower the temperature, which in the
winter descends to eight or ten degrees below zero. Much snow then
falls, which usually lies for some weeks; the spring is wet and stormy,
but the summer and the autumn are fine; and in the western portion of
the region about Harran and Orfah, the summer heat is great. The climate
is here an “extreme” one, to use on expression of Humboldt’s--the range
of the thermometer being even greater than it is in Chaldaea, reaching
nearly (or perhaps occasionally exceeding) 120 degrees.
Such is the present climate of Assyria, west and east of the Tigris.
There is no reason to believe that it was very different in ancient
times. If irrigation was then more common and cultivation more widely
extended, the temperature would no doubt have been somewhat lower and
the air more moist. But neither on physical nor on historical grounds
Can it be argued that the difference thus produced was; more than
slight. The chief causes of the remarkable heat of Mesopotamnia--so
much exceeding that of many countries under the same parallels of
latitude--are its near vicinity to the Arabian and Syrian deserts, and
its want of trees, those great refrigerators. While the first of these
causes would be wholly untouched by cultivation, the second would be
affected in but a small degree. The only tree which is known to have
been anciently cultivated in Mesopotamia is the date-palm; and as this
ceases to bear fruit about lat. 35°, its greater cultivation could have
prevailed only in a very small portion of the country, and so would have
affected the general climate but little. Historically, too, we find,
among the earliest notices which have any climatic bearing, indications
that the temperature and the consequent condition of the country were
anciently very nearly what they now are. Xenophon speaks of the
barrenness of the tract between the Khabour and Babylonia, and the
entire absence of forage, in as strong terms as could be used at the
present day. Arrian, following his excellent authorities, notes that
Alexander, after crossing the Euphrates, kept close to the hills,
“because the heat there was not so scorching as it was lower down,” and
because he could then procure green food for his horses. The animals too
which Xenophon found in the country are either such as now inhabit it,
or where not such, they are the denizens of hotter rather than colder
climates and countries.
The fertility of Assyria is a favorite theme with the ancient writers.
Owing to the indefiniteness of their geographical terminology, it is
however uncertain, in many cases, whether the praise which they bestow
upon Assyria is really intended for the country here called by that
name, or whether it does not rather apply to the alluvial tract, already
described, which is more properly termed Chaldaea or Babylonia.
Naturally Babylonia is very much more fertile than the greater part of
Assyria, which being elevated above the courses of the rivers, and
possessing a saline and gypsiferous soil, tends, in the absence of a
sufficient water supply, to become a bare and arid desert. Trees are
scanty in both regions except along the river courses; but in Assyria,
even grass fails after the first burst of spring; and the plains, which
for a few weeks have been carpeted with the tenderest verdure and
thickly strewn with the brightest and loveliest flowers, become, as the
summer advances, yellow, parched, and almost herbless. Few things are
more remarkable than the striking difference between the appearance of
the same tract in Assyria at different seasons of the year. What at one
time is a garden, glowing with brilliant hues and heavy with luxuriant
pasture, on which the most numerous flocks can scarcely make any
sensible impression, at another is an absolute waste, frightful and
oppressive from its sterilityr.
If we seek the cause of this curious contrast, we shall find it in the
productive qualities of the soil, wherever there is sufficient moisture
to allow of their displaying themselves, combined with the fact, already
noticed, that the actual supply of water is deficient. Speaking
generally, we may say with truth, as was said by Herodotus more than two
thousand years ago--that “but little rain falls in Assyria,” and, if
water is to be supplied in adequate quantity to the thirsty soil, it
must be derived from the rivers. In most parts of Assyria there are
occasional rains during the winter, and, in ordinary years, frequent
showers in early spring. The dependence of the present inhabitants both
for pasture and for grain is on these. There is scarcely any irrigation;
and though the soil is so productive that wherever the land is
cultivated, good crops are commonly obtained by means of the spring
rains, while elsewhere nature at once spontaneously robes herself in
verdure of the richest kind, yet no sooner does summer arrive than
barrenness is spread over the scene; the crops ripen and are gathered
in; “the grass withereth, the flower fadeth;” the delicate herbage of
the plains shrinks back and disappears; all around turns to a uniform
dull straw-color; nothing continues to live but what is coarse, dry,
and sapless; and so the land, which was lately an Eden, becomes a
desert.
Far different would be the aspect of the region were a due use made of
that abundant water supply--actually most lavish in the summer time,
owing to the melting of the snows which nature has provided in the two
great Mesopotamian rivers and their tributaries. So rapid is the fall of
the two main streams in their upper course, that by channels derived
from them, with the help perhaps of dams thrown across them at certain
intervals, the water might be led to almost any part of the intervening
country, and a supply kept up during the whole year. Or, even without
works of this magnitude, by hydraulic machines of a very simple
construction, the life-giving fluid might be raised from the great
streams and their affluents in sufficient quantity to maintain a broad
belt on either side of the river-courses in perpetual verdure.
Anciently, we know that recourse was had to both of these systems. In
the tract between the Tigris and the Upper Zab, which is the only part
of Assyria that has been minutely examined, are distinct remains of at
least one Assyrian canal, wherein much ingenuity and hydraulic skill is
exhibited, the work being carried through the more elevated ground by
tunnelling, and the canal led for eight miles contrary to the natural
course of every stream in the district. Sluices and dams, cut sometimes
in the solid rock, regulated the supply of the fluid at different
seasons, and enabled the natives to make the most economical application
of the great fertilizer. The use of the hand-swipe was also certainly
known, since it is mentioned by Herodotus, and even represented upon the
sculptures. [PLATE XXV., Fig. 1.] Very probably other more elaborate
machines were likewise employed, unless the general prevalency of canals
superseded their necessity. It is certain that over wide districts, now
dependent for productive power wholly on the spring rains, and
consequently quite incapable of sustaining a settled population, there
must have been maintained in Assyrian times some effective
water-system, whereby regions that at present with difficulty furnish a
few months’ subsistence to the wandering Arab tribes, were enabled to
supply to scores of populous cities sufficient food for their
consumption.
[Illustration: PLATE 25]
We have not much account of the products of Assyria Proper in early
times. Its dates were of small repute, being greatly inferior to those
of Babylon. It grew a few olives in places, and some spicy shrubs, which
cannot be identified with any certainty. Its cereal crops were good, and
may perhaps be regarded as included in the commendations bestowed by
Herodotus and Strabo on the grain of the Mesopotamian region. The
country was particularly deficient in trees, large tracts growing
nothing but wormwood and similar low shrubs, while others were
absolutely without either tree or bush. The only products of Assyria
which acquired such note as to be called by its name were its silk and
its citron trees. The silk, according to Pliny, was the produce of a
large kind of silkworm not found elsewhere. The citron trees obtained a
very great celebrity. Not only were they admired for their perpetual
fruitage, and their delicious odor; but it was believed that the fruit
which they bore was an unfailing remedy against poisons. Numerous
attempts were made to naturalize the tree in other countries; but up to
the time when Pliny wrote, every such attempt had failed, and the citron
was still confined to Assyria, Persia and Media.
It is not to be imagined that the vegetable products of Assyria were
confined within the narrow compass which the ancient notices might seem
to indicate. Those notices are casual, and it is evident that they are
incomplete: nor will a just notion be obtained of the real character of
the region, unless we take into account such of the present products as
may be reasonably supposed to be indigenous. Now setting aside a few
plants of special importance to man, the cultivation of which may have
been introduced, such as tobacco, rice, Indian corn, and cotton, we may
fairly say that Assyria has no exotics, and that the trees, shrubs, and
vegetables now found within her limits are the same in all probability
as grew there anciently. In order to complete our survey, we may
therefore proceed to inquire what are the chief vegetable products of
the region at the present time.
In the south the date-palm grows well as far as Anah on the Euphrates
and Tekrit on the Tigris. Above that latitude it languishes, and ceases
to give fruit altogether about the junction of the Khabour with the one
stream and the Lesser Zab with the other. The unproductive tree,
however, which the Assyrians used for building purposes, will grow and
attain a considerable size to the very edge of the mountains. Of other
timber trees the principal are the sycamore and the Oriental plane,
which are common in the north the oak, which abounds about Mardin (where
it yields gall-nuts and the rare product manna), and which is also
found in the Sinjar and Abd-el-Aziz ranges; the silver poplar, which
often fringes the banks of the streams; the sumac, which is found on the
Upper Euphrates; and the walnut, which grows in the Jebel Tur, and is
not uncommon between the foot of Zagros and the outlying ranges of
hills. Of fruit-trees the most important are the orange, lemon,
pomegranate, apricot, olive, vine, fig, mulberry, and pistachio-nut.
The pistachio-nut grows wild in the northern mountains, especially
between Orfah and Diarbekr. The fig is cultivated with much care in the
Sinjar. The vine is also grown in that region, but bears better on the
skirts of the hills above Orfah and Mardin. Pomegranates flourish in
various parts of the country. Oranges and lemons belong to its more
southern parts, where it verges on Babylonia. The olive clothes the
flanks of Zagros in places. Besides these rarer fruits, Assyria has
chestnuts, pears, apples, plums, cherries, wild and cultivated, qinces,
apricots, melons and filberts.
The commonest shrubs are a kind of wormwood--the _apsinthium_ of
Xenophon--which grows over much of the plain extending south of the
Khabour--and the tamarisk. Green myrtles, and oleanders with their rosy
blossoms, clothe the banks of some of the smaller streams between the
Tigris and Mount Zagros; and a shrub of frequent occurrence is the
liquorice plant. Of edible vegetables there is great abundance. Truffles
and capers grow wild; while peas, beans, onions, spinach, cucumbers, and
lentils are cultivated successfully. The carob (_Ceratonia Siliqua_)
must also be mentioned as among the rarer products of this region.
It was noticed above that manna is gathered in Assyria from the dwarf
oak. It is abundant in Zagros, and is found also in the woods about
Mardin, and again between Orfah and Diarbekr. According to Mr. Rich, it
is not confined to the dwarf oak, or even to trees and shrubs, but is
deposited also on sand, rocks, and stone. It is most plentiful in wet
seasons, and especially after fogs; in dry seasons it fails almost
totally. The natives collect it in spring and autumn. The best and
purest is that taken from the ground; but by far the greater quantity is
obtained from the trees, by placing cloths under them and shaking the
branches. The natives use it as food both in its natural state and
manufactured into a kind of paste. It soon corrupts; and in order to fit
it for exportation, or even for the storeroom of the native housewife,
it has to undergo the process of boiling. When thus prepared, it is a
gentle purgative; but, in its natural state and when fresh, it may be
eaten in large quantities without any unpleasant consequences.
Assyria is far better supplied with minerals than Babylonia. Stone of a
good quality, either limestone, sandstone, or conglomerate, is always at
hand; while a tolerable clay is also to be found in most plices. If a
more durable material is required, basaltic rock may be obtained from
the Mons Masius--a substance almost as hard as granite. On the left
bank of the Tigris a soft gray alabaster abounds which is easily cut
into slabs, and forms an excellent material for the sculptor. The
neighboring mountains of Kurdistan contain marbles of many different
qualities; and these could be procured without much difficulty by means
of the rivers. From the same quarter it was easy to obtain the most
useful metals. Iron, copper, and lead are found in great abundance in
the Tiyari Mountains within a short distance of Nineveh, where they crop
out upon the surface, so that they cannot fail to be noticed. Lead and
copper are also obtainable from the neighborhood of Diarbekr. The
Kurdish Mountains may have supplied other metals. They still produce
silver and antimony; and it is possible that they may anciently have
furnished gold and tin. As their mineral riches have never been explored
by scientific persons, it is very probable that they may contain many
other metals besides those which they are at present known to yield.
Among the mineral products of Assyria, bitumen, naphtha, petroleum,
sulphur, alum, and salt have also to be reckoned. The bitumen pits of
Kerkuk, in the country between the Lesser Zab and the Adhem, are
scarcely less celebrated than those of Hit; and there are some abundant
springs of the same character close to Nimrud, in the bed of the Shor
Derrell torrent. The Assyrian palaces furnish sufficient evidence that
the springs were productive in old times; for the employment of bitumen
as a cement, though not so frequent as in Babylonia, is yet occasionally
found in them. With the bitumen are always procured both naphtha and
petroleum; while at Kerkuk there is an abundance of sulphur also. Salt
is obtained from springs in the Kerkuk country; and is also formed in
certain small lakes lying between the Sinjar and Babylonia. Alum is
plentiful in the hills about Kifri.
The most remarkable wild animals of Assyria are the following: the lion,
the leopard, the lynx, the wild-cat, the hyaena, the wild ass, the
bear, the deer, the gazelle, the ibex, the wild sheep, the wild boar,
the jackal, the wolf, the fox, the beaver, the jerboa, the porcupine,
the badger, and the hare. The Assyrian lion is of the maneless kind, and
in general habits resembles the lion of Babylonia. The animal is
comparatively rare in the eastern districts, being seldom found on the
banks of the Tigris above Baghdad, and never above Kileh-Sherghat. On
the Euphrates it has been seen as high as Bir; and it is frequent on the
banks of the Khabour, and in the Sinjar. It has occasionally that
remarkable peculiarity--so commonly represented on the sculptures--a
short horny claw at the extremity of the tail in the middle of the
ordinary tuft of hair. The ibex or wild goat--also a favorite subject
with the Assyrian sculptors--is frequent in Kurdistan, and moreover
abounds on the highest ridges of the Abd-el-Aziz and the Sinjar, where
it is approached with difficulty by the hunter. The gazelle, wild boar,
wolf, jackal, fox, badger, porcupine, and hare are common in the plains,
and confined to no particular locality. The jerboa is abundant near the
Khabour. Beau’s and deer are found on the skirts of the Kurdish hills.
The leopard, hyaena, lynx, and beaver are comparatively rare. The last
named animal, very uncommon in Southern Asia, was at one time found in
large numbers on the Khabour; but in consequence of the value set upon
its musk bag, it has been hunted almost to extermination, and is now
very seldom seen. The Khabour beavers are said to be a different species
from the American. Their tail is not large and broad, but sharp and
pointed; nor do they build houses, or construct dams across the stream,
but live in the banks, making themselves large chambers above the
ordinary level of the floods, which are entered by holes beneath the
water-line.
The rarest of all the animals which are still found in Assyria is the
wild ass (_Equus hemionous_). Till the present generation of travellers,
it was believed to have disappeared altogether from the region, and to
have “retired into the steppes of Mongolia and the deserts of Persia.
But a better acquaintance with the country between the rivers has shown
that wild asses, though uncommon, still inhabit the tract where, they
were seen by Xenophon.” [PLATE XXVI., Fig. 1.] They are delicately made,
in color varying from a grayish-white in winter to a bright bay,
approaching to pink, in the summer-time; they are said to be remarkably
swift. It is impossible to take them when full grown; but the Arabs
often capture the foals, and bring them up with milk in their tents.
They then become very playful and docile; but it is found difficult to
keep them alive; and they have never, apparently, been domesticated. The
Arabs usually kill them and eat their flesh.
[Illustration: PLATE 26]
It is probable that all these animals, and some others, inhabited
Assyria during the time of the Empire. Lions of two kinds, with and
without manes, abound in the sculptures, the former, which do not now
exist in Assyria, being the more common. [PLATE XXV., Fig. 2.] They are
represented with a skill and a truth which shows the Assyrian sculptor
to have been familiar not only with their forms and proportions, but
with their natural mode of life, their haunts, and habits. The leopard
is far less often depicted, but appears sometimes in the ornamentation
of utensils, and is frequently mentioned in the inscriptions. The wild
ass is a favorite subject with the sculptors of the late Empire, and is
represented with great spirit, though not with complete accuracy. [PLATE
XXVI., Fig. 1.] The ears are too short, the head is too fine, the legs
are not fine enough, and the form altogether approaches too nearly to
the type of the horse. The deer, the gazelle, and the ibex all occur
frequently; and though the forms are to some extent conventional, they
are not wanting in spirit. [PLATE XXVII.] Deer are apparently of two
kinds. That which is most commonly found appears to represent the gray
deer, which is the only species existing at present within the confines
of Assyria. The other sort is more delicate in shape, and spotted,
seeming to represent the fallow deer, which is not now known in Syria or
the adjacent countries. It sometimes appears wild, lying among the
reeds; sometimes tame, in the arms of a priest or of a winged figure.
There is no representation in the sculptures of the wild boar; but a
wild sow and pigs are given in one bas-relief, sufficiently indicating
the Assyrian acquaintance with this animal. Hares are often depicted,
and with much truth; generally they are carried in the hands of men, but
sometimes they are being devoured by vultures or eagles. [PLATE XXVIII
Figs. 1, 2.] No representations have been found of bears, wild cats,
hyaenas, wolves, jackals, wild sheep, foxes, beavers, jerbdas,
porcupines, or badgers.
[Illustration: PLATE 27]
There is reason to believe that two other animals, which have now
altogether disappeared from the country, inhabited at least some parts
of Assyria during its flourishing period. One of these is the wild
bull-often represented on the bas-reliefs as a beast of chase, and
perhaps mentioned as such in the inscriptions. This animal, which is
sometimes depicted as en-gaged in a contest with the lion, must have
been of vast strength and boldness. It is often hunted by the king, and
appears to have been considered nearly as noble an object of pursuit as
the lion. We may presume, from the practice in the adjoining country,
Palestine, 96 that the flesh was eaten as food.
[Illustration: PLATE 28]
The other animal, once indigenous, but which has now disappeared, was
called by the Assyrians the _mithin,_ and is thought to have been the
tiger. Tigers are not now found nearer to Assyria than the country south
of the Caspian, Ghilan, and Mazanderan; but as there is no conceivable
reason why they should not inhabit Mesopotamia, and as the _mithin_ is
constantly joined with the lion, as if it were a beast of the same kind,
and of nearly equal strength and courage, we may fairly conjecture that
the tiger is the animal intended. If this seem too bold a theory, we
must regard the _mithin_ as the larger leopard, an animal of
considerable strength and ferocity, which, as well as the hunting
leopard, is still found in the country. [PLATE XXVI., Fig. 2.]
The birds at present frequenting Assyria are chiefly the following: the
bustard (which is of two kinds--the great and the middle-sized), the
egret, the crane, the stork, the pelican, the flamingo, the red
partridge, the black partridge or francolin, the parrot, the Seleucian
thrush (_Turdus Seleucus_), the vulture, the falcon or hunting hawk, the
owl, the wild swan, the bramin goose, the ordinary wild goose, the wild
duck, the teal, the tern, the sand-grouse, the turtle dove, the
nightingale, the jay, the plover, and the snipe. There is also a large
kite or eagle, called “agab,” or “the butcher,” by the Arabs, which is
greatly dreaded by fowlers, as it will attack and kill the falcon no
less than other birds.
We have little information as to which of these birds frequented the
country in ancient times. The Assyrian artists are not happy in their
delineation of the feathered tribe; and though several forms of birds
are represented upon the sculptures of Sargon and elsewhere, there are
but three which any writer has ventured to identify--the vulture, the
ostrich, and the partridge. The vulture is commonly represented flying
in the air, in attendance upon the march and the battle--sometimes
devouring, as he flies, the entrails of one of Assyria’s enemies.
Occasionally he appears upon the battle-field, perched upon the bodies
of the slain, and pecking at their eyes or their vitals. [PLATE XXVIII.,
Fig. 4.] The ostrich, which we know from Xenophon to have been a former
inhabitant of the country on the left bank of the Euphrates, but which
has now retreated into the wilds of Arabia, occurs frequently upon
cylinders, dresses, and utensils; sometimes stalking along apparently
unconcerned; sometimes hastening at full speed, as if pursued by the
hunter, and, agreeably to the description of Xenophon, using its wing
for a sail. [PLATE XXIX., Figs. 1, 2.] The partridge is still more
common than either of these. He is evidently sought as food. We find him
carried in the hand of sportsmen returning from the chase, or see him
flying above their heads as they beat the coverts, or finally observe
him pierced by a successful shot, and in the act of falling a prey to
his pursuers. [PLATE XXIX., Fig. 3.]
[Illustration: PLATE 29]
The other birds represented upon the sculptures, though occasionally
possessing some marked peculiarities of form or habit, have not yet been
identified with any known species. [PLATE XXIX., Fig. 2.] They are
commonly represented as haunting the fir-woods, and often as perched
upon the trees. One appears, in a sculpture of Sargon’s. in the act of
climbing the stein of a tree, like the nut-hatch or the woodpecker.
Another has a tail like a pheasant, but in other respects cannot be said
to resemble that bird. The artist does not appear to aim at truth in
these delineations, and it probably would be a waste of ingenuity to
conjecture which species of bird he intended.
We have no direct evidence that bustards inhabited Mesopotamia in
Assyrian times; but as they have certainly been abundant in that region
front the time of Xenophon to our own, there can be little doubt that
they existed in some parts of Assyria during the Empire. Considering
their size, their peculiar appearance, and the delicacy of their flesh,
it is remarkable that the Assyrian remains furnish no trace of them.
Perhaps, as they are extremely shy, they may have been comparatively
rare in the country when the population was numerous, and when the
greater portion of the tract between the rivers was brought under
cultivation.
The fish most plentiful in Assyria are the same as in Babylonia, namely,
barbel and carp. They abound not only in the Tigris and Euphrates, but
also in the lake of Khutaniyeh, and often grow to a great size. Trout
are found in the streams which run down from Zagros; and there may be
many other sorts which have not yet been observed. The sculptures
represent all the waters, whether river, pond, or marsh, as full of
fish; but the forms are for the most part too conventional to admit of
identification. [PLATE XXIX., Fig. 3.]
The domestic animals now found in Assyria are camels, horses, asses,
mules, sheep, goats, oxen, cows, and dogs. The camels are of three
colors--white, yellow, and dark brown or black. They are probably all
of the same species, though commonly distinguished into camels proper,
and _delouls_ or dromedaries, the latter differing from the others as
the English race-horse from the cart-horse. The Bactrian or
two-humped camel, though known to the ancient Assyrians, is not now
found in the country. [PLATE XXX., Fig. 1.] The horses are numerous, and
of the best Arab blood. Small in stature, but of exquisite symmetry and
wonderful powers of endurance, they are highly prized throughout the
East, and constitute the chief wealth of the wandering tribes who occupy
the greater portion of Mesopotamia. The sheep and goats are also of good
breeds, and produce wool of an excellent quality. [PLATE XXX., Fig. 2.]
The cows and oxen cannot be commended. The dogs kept are chiefly
greyhounds, which are used to course the hare and the gazelle.
[Illustration: PLATE 30]
It is probable that in ancient times the animals domesticated by the
Assyrians were not very different from these. The camel appears upon the
monuments both as a beast of burden and also as ridden in war, but only
by the enemies of the Assyrians. [PLATE XXX., Fig. 3.] The horse is used
both for draught and for riding, but seems never degraded to ignoble
purposes. His breed is good, though he is not so finely or delicately
made as the modern Arab. The head is small and well shaped, the nostrils
large and high, the neck arched, but somewhat thick, the body compact,
the loins strong, the legs moderately slender and sinewy. [PLATE XXX.,
Fig. 4.] [PLATE XXXI., Fig. 1.] The ass is not found; but the mule
appears, sometimes ridden by women, sometimes used as a beast of burden,
sometimes employed in drawing a cart. [PLATE XXXI., Fig. 2] [PLATE
XXXII., Figs. 1, 2.] Cows, oxen, sheep, and goats are frequent; but they
are foreign rather tham Assyrian, since they occur only among the spoil
taken from conquered countries. The dog is frequent on the later
sculptures; and has been found modelled in clay, and also represented in
relief on a clay tablet. [PLATE XXXII., Fig. 3.] [PLATE XXXIII., Fig.
1.] Their character is that of a large mastiff or hound, and there is
abundant evidence that they were employed in hunting.
[Illustration: PLATE 31]
[Illustration: PLATE 32]
If the Assyrians domesticated any bird, it would seem to have been the
duck. Models of the duck are common, and seem generally to have been
used for weights. [PLATE XXXIII., Fig. 2.] The bird is ordinarily
represented with its head turned upon its back, the attitude of the
domestic duck when asleep. The Assyrians seem to have had artificial
ponds or stews, which are always represented as full of fish, but the
forms are conventional, as has been already observed. Considering the
size to which the carp and barbel actually grow at the present day, the
ancient representations are smaller than might have been expected.
[Illustration: PLATE 33]