vill PREFACE.

fallow deer, horse, monkey, ape, eagle, ostrich, and many
birds, crabs, turtles, and fish of various kinds; cattle of
two species “being distinguished in the sculpture by
horns curved towards the back of the head, and horns
projecting in front ;” also a “ wild ox, once inhabiting the
Assyrian plains, and long since extinct, as neither tradi-
tion nor history records its existence in this part of Asia.
It is distinguished from the domestic ox by a number of
small marks covering the body, and apparently intended
to denote long and shaggy hair*.” The oryx, supposed to
be the wild ox of Deuteronomy xiv., is white, spotted with
yellow and red. The sheep also appear to have been of
two species: that with the broad tail, referred to in Leviticus
ix., is still found in the country.

The emblematic figures in these most interesting and valu-
able remains are thus described by Layard, and illustrate in a
remarkable manner several passages in the Scriptures, par-
ticularly in Ezekiel. The eagle or vulture-headed figares

* Layard’s ‘ Nineveh.’