IN MESOPOTAMI A. INCLUDING A JOURNEY FROM ALEPPO TO BAGDAD, BY THE ROUTE OF BEER, ORFAH, DIARBEKR, MARDIN, & MOUSUL; WITH RESEARCHES ON THE RUINS OF NINEVEH, BABYLON, AND OTHER ANCIENT CITIES. BY J. S. BUCKINGHAM, AUTHOR OF TRAVELS IN PALESTINE AND THE COUNTRIES EAST OF THE JORDAN; IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1827. ΤΟ THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY HESTER LUCY STANHOPE, ONE OF THE BRIGHTEST ORNAMENTS OF HER SEX AND STATION, THIS VOLUME OF TRAVELS IN MESOPOTAMIA, PERFORMED SOON AFTER QUITTING HER HOSPITABLE RESIDENCE IN SYRIA, IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED, AS A MEMENTO OF THE HIGH RESPECT AND UNAFFECTED ESTEEM OF HER OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL FRIEND, " THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. In laying before the world the present account of a Journey through Mesopotamia, I feel a stronger assurance of its being acceptable to the generality of readers, than I could venture to indulge on either of the two former occasions on which I had to present to the public eye the result of my researches and observations in other countries of the East. The "TRAVELS IN PALESTINE" appeared under the greatest disadvantages: notwithstanding which, their success, and the almost universal commendation they obtained, was as encouraging to future labours, as flattering in its b |