Beyond this space in every direction, north, east, south and west, are detached mounds indicating the former existence of edifices of some size, while the intermediate ground between these mounds and the main ruins shows distinct traces of its having been built upon in former days.
Of the actual size of the town, modern research gives us no clear and definite notion.

One explorer only has come away from the country with an idea that the general position of the detached mounds, by which the plain around Hillah is dotted, enables him to draw the lines of the ancient walls, and mark out the exact position of the city.

But the very maps and plans which are put forward in support of this view show that it rests mainly on hypothesis; nor is complete confidence placed in the surveys on which the maps and plans have been constructed.

The English surveys, which have been unfortunately lost, are said not to have placed the detached mounds in any such decided lines as M.Oppert believes them to occupy, and the general impression of the British officers who were employed on the service is that "no vestige of the walls of Babylon has been as yet discovered." [PLATE XI.] [Illustration: PLATE XI.] For the size and plan of the city we are thus of necessity thrown back upon the reports of ancient authors.

It is not pretended that such reports are in this, or in any other case, deserving of implicit credence.