They are seen employed in the conveyance of masses of stone, and of other materials for building, ferrying men and horses across a river, guiding their boat while a fisherman plies his craft from it, assisting soldiers to pursue the enemy, and the like.

They wear the short tunic and belt, and sometimes have their hair encircled with a fillet.

Of laborers, employed in work connected with building, the examples are numerous.

In the long series of slabs representing the construction of some of Sennacherib's great works, although the bulk of those employed as laborers appear to be foreign captives, there are a certain number of the duties--duties less purely mechanical than the others which are devolved on Assyrians.
Assyrians load the hand-carts, and sometimes even draw them [PLATE CXXXIX., Fig.

7], convey the implements--pickaxes, saws, shovels, hatchets, beams, forks, coils of rope--place the rollers, arrange the lever and work it, keep the carved masses of stone steady as they are moved along to their proper places, urge on the gangs of forced laborers with sticks, and finally direct the whole of the proceedings by signals, which they give with their voice or with a long horn.