311
 

Return  to  Baghdad  via  ABtr   Habbah  and  D^r,
Baghdad to London.

The next morning, February 23rd, at daybreak, we
left the little house in which we had passed the night,
and went to the mound of " Jumjumah" (so called
because its shape is that of a skull), and examined that
part of it which had been excavated by Mr. Rassam.
Some of the villagers knew where the site was, and they
conducted us to it without delay. We found men digging
in all parts of it, not for bricks, as we expected, but for
Babylonian tablets. We asked for the watchman, whom we
naturally expected to find there, or in the neighbourhood,
and there was none. The natives were astonished at the
question, and told us that there never had been a watch¬
man, or even a guard, and that every one of them had a
right to dig anywhere in the ruins for dust for their fields,
and bricks for their houses, provided that the Turkish
Governor of Hillah did not prevent them. After a little
more talk one of their number went and fetched a basket
containing several contract tablets of the Persian and later
periods, which were still nearly as wet as they were when
they were taken out of the ground a night or two before.
When asked why did they dig at night if they could dig by
day unmolested, they said that at night-time they searched
specially for " pillows," i.e., tablets, because they were
more valuable than bricks, and they would be taken from
them by the officials from Hillah if it were reported that
they had found any. They hid all the tablets which they
found, and took them secretly into Baghdad, where they
sold them to the merchants who exported goods to
England. They would be very glad if we would buy the
tablets they had brought in the basket, and I bought
them all at the rate of a few piastres each. Wherever
we went in and about Jumjumah we heard the same
story, and we saw in the possession of several natives