guaranteed, and the fact that the scale of payment was fixed by the area of ground covered by the building, is direct evidence that the houses of the period consisted of no more than one story. The beginning of town-planning on systematic lines, with streets running through and crossing each other at right angles, of which we have noted evidence at Babylon, may perhaps date from the Hammurabi period; but no confident opinion on the point can be expressed until further excavation has been undertaken in the earlier strata of the city.[31] [Illustration: I. A SMALL KELEK ON THE TIGRIS AT BAGHDAD. II. FERRY-BOATS ON THE EUPHRATES AT BIREJIK.] We have recovered from contemporary documents a very full picture of family life in early Babylonia, for the duties of the separate members of a family to one another were regulated by law, and any change in relationship was duly attested and recorded in legal form before witnesses. Minute regulations were in force with regard to marriage, divorce and the adoption and maintenance of children, while the provision and disposal of marriage-portions, the rights of widows and the laws of inheritance were all controlled by the state upon traditional lines. Perhaps the most striking feature in the social system was the recognized status of the wife in the Babylonian household, and the extremely independent position enjoyed by women in general. Any marriage to be legally binding had to be accompanied by a duly executed and attested marriage-contract, and without this necessary preliminary a woman was not regarded as a wife in the legal sense. On the other hand, when once such a marriage-contract had been drawn up and attested, its inviolability was stringently secured. Chastity on the wife's part was enforced under severe penalty;[32] but on the other hand the husband's responsibility to maintain his wife in a position suitable to their circumstances was also recognized.