We may deduce the interesting fact that Esarhaddon was at Carchemish in Ab, B.C. 681. The advance was made for the use of the royal household there. (M622) Advances of corn were made exactly as in the earlier times. Thus:(670) L advances thirty homers of corn to D, the messenger from the city of Maganiṣi, by the hands of E, a colonel in the army. He shall pay the corn in Marchesvan, in the city of Maganiṣi, or pay the full value of it in Nineveh. Dated the seventeenth of Sebat, B.C. 665. Eight witnesses. (M623) One peculiarity of the corn loans is that they are chiefly recorded upon what have been called heart-shaped tablets. These were lumps of clay through which a string passed and came out at the upper shoulders. The string was probably tied around the neck of a sack containing the corn. They thus served both as labels, seals, and as bonds. Many of them have Aramaic dockets, which have been collected and edited by Dr. J. H. Stevenson, in his _Assyrian and Babylonian Contracts, with Aramaic reference-notes_. (M624) Thus the above example bears the words in Aramaic, “_barley, assignment, which is from Nabû-dûri._” These Aramaic legends, in the case of such labels, may have served as addresses. But the general purpose is obscure. All the corn advances seem to have been made by officials of the royal household to inferior officers, in charge of farms or otherwise dependent for supplies. (M625) (M626) They show by their dates that the corn was usually advanced just before harvest, when corn was dearest. Some of them name the reapers; others give the number of them. We conclude that these advances were made as food for the harvesters, or as wages for their labor. Occasionally, however, the loan was made at seed-time. Most of the loans are _ana pûḫi_,(671) which supports the view that the meaning of this phrase is really “for management expenses” and presupposes the metayer system. (M627) Closely connected with money or other loans are receipts for payment. These are somewhat rare. The more usual practice was to break the tablet, or promise to pay, which was returned to the debtor. But we have two good examples, thus:(672) The four minas of silver, interest, belonging to C, which were due from D, D has paid and given to C. One with the other, neither shall litigate. Dated seventh of Sivan, B.C. 683. Three witnesses. Here we are not aware of the circumstances which lead to the loan. But, in one case, we have records both of the loan and its repayment, thus:(673) (M628) Baḫiânu advanced two homers of corn, for food, to Nabû-nûr-nammir; and one homer each to Latubashâni-ilu and Ṣabutânu, _ana pûḫi_. Dated the twenty-ninth of Elul, B.C. 686. And we find also:(674) Ṣabutânu and Latubashâni-ilu repay each one homer. Nabû-nûr-nammir does not repay. Dated Iyyar, B.C. 685.