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229 A LITTLE ANCIENT HISTORY. 229 lonisiii or Qialdean baked tablets, nor any ponderous rock or brick structures^ as did the older civilizations of the East to mark their cities or places of abode, yet youi" attention is directed to the fact that it wasn't till aboyt the year 1820 that nature compelled the world to observe that great ruins were buri«d under the hills that were artificial, but which ap- peared to have been liirown up by the Creator. Evea the natives of old Mesopotamia and ChaJdea were not aware of the fact that the hills bordering the Tiip-ia and the Euphrates were bricks, and not natnre'a handiwork, and for thousands of years these infialM- ble monuments of the dead past were awaiting 4m hand of man to open the earthern doors to the Wjrtir ries that would speak as accurately of the deadwB tbe phonograph will. in the future. Less than 100 years ago the rain washed out a gully or ditch throui^ a meadow, over whjch the camels, horses, sheep and asses roamed, and It was observed that a great amount of debris kept washing down the ravine aa tt got larger. This caused the natives to wonder where the carved rocks came from, and bricks were found in great plenty, as well as a wall was brought to view compelling the attention of the dumb natives; and then it was that word began to pass around until it reached some European ofOicials, who, upon investi- gation, made the discovery that it was the buried city of Nine veh. Then the limelight was turned in on the brains of men interested in the history of the pasit, until now by the aid of the newly acquired art of i:ead- jng the cuneiform characters of the peoples told of in the Bible, we have the highest, most indelible ae-