On the other hand, the semicircular arches, still preserved within the central core, may have directly supported the thick layer of earth in which the trees of the garden were planted. These would then have been growing on the palace-level, as it were in a garden-court, perhaps surrounded by a pillared colonnade with the outer chambers opening on to it on the west and south sides. In either scheme the subterranean vaults can only have been used as stores or magazines, since they were entirely without light. As a matter of fact, a large number of tablets were found in the stairway-chamber that leads down to them; and, since the inscriptions upon them relate to grain, it would seem that some at least were used as granaries. But this is a use to which they could only have been put if the space above them was not a garden, watered continuously by an irrigation-pump, as moisture would have been bound to reach the vaults.[93] Whichever alternative scheme we adopt, it must be confessed that the Hanging Gardens have not justified their reputation. And if they merely formed a garden-court, as Dr. Koldewey inclines to believe, it is difficult to explain the adjectives [κρεμαστός] and _pensilis._ For the subterranean vaults would have been completely out of sight, and, even when known to be below the pavement-level, were not such as to excite wonder or to suggest the idea of suspension in the air. One cannot help suspecting that the vaulted building may really, after all, be nothing more than the palace granary, and the triple well one of the main water-supplies for domestic use. We may, at least for the present, be permitted to hope that a more convincing site for the gardens will be found in the Central Citadel after further excavation. [Illustration: FIG. 12. BULL IN ENAMELLED BRICK FROM THE ISHTAR GATE.] In the autumn of 1901 the writer spent some time in Babylon, stopping with Dr. Koldewey in the substantial expedition-house they have built with fine burnt-brick from Nebuchadnezzar's palace. At that time he had uncovered a good deal of the palace, and it was even then possible to trace out the walls of the Throne Room and note the recess where the throne itself had stood. But, beyond the fragments of the enamelled façade, little of artistic interest had been found, and on other portions of the site the results had been still more disappointing. The deep excavation of E-sagila had already been made, the temple of the goddess Ninmakh had been completely excavated, and work was in full swing on that of the god Ninib. All proved to be of unburnt brick,[94] and the principal decoration of the walls was a thin lime-wash. Their discoverer was inclined to be sceptical of Babylon's fabled splendour. [Illustration: FIG. 13. DRAGON IN ENAMELLED BRICK FROM THE ISHTAR GATE.]