of art were found, representing men and animals of a highly artistic design and exquisite finish, and also several cylinders. Both these and the backs of the statues are covered with cuneiform inscriptions in the old Accadian characters, which furnish valuable historical information. The name of one of the _patesi_ whose statues were found was Gud-Ea, and his date is computed by some of the best authorities at from 4000 to 4500 B.C., probably earlier, and certainly not later than 4000 B.C. This makes the _patesi_ of Sirgalla contemporary with the earliest Egyptian kings, or even earlier, and it shows a state of the arts and civilization then prevailing in Chaldæa very similar to those of the fourth dynasty in Egypt, and in both cases as advanced as those of 2000 or 3000 years later date. [Illustration: HEAD OF ANCIENT CHALDÆAN. FROM TELL-LOH (SIRGALLA). SARZEC COLLECTION. (Perrot and Chipiez.)] Before such a temple as that of Sirgalla could have been built and such statues and works of art made, there must have been older and smaller temples and ruder works, just as in Egypt the brick pyramids of Sakkarah and the oldest temples of Heliopolis and Denderah preceded the great pyramids of Gizeh, the temple of Pthah at Memphis, and the diorite statues, wooden statuettes, and other finished works of art of the fourth dynasty. [Illustration: STATUE OF GUD-EA, WITH INSCRIPTION; FROM TELL-LOH (SIRBURLA OR SIRGALLA) SARZEC COLLECTION. (Hommel.)] It is important to remark that in those earliest monuments both the language and art are primitive Accadian, with no trace of Semitic influences, which must have long prevailed before Sargon I. could have established a Semitic dynasty over an united population of Accads and Semites living together on friendly terms. The normal Semites must have settled gradually in Chaldæa, and adopted to a great extent the higher civilization of the Accadians, much as the Tartars in later times did that of the Chinese. It is remarkable also that this pre-Semitic Accadian people must have had extensive intercourse with foreign regions, for the diorite of which the statues of Sirgalla are formed is exactly similar to that of the statue of the Egyptian Chephren, and in both cases is only found in the peninsula of Sinai. In fact, an inscription on one of the statues tells us that the stone was brought from the land of Magan, which was the Accadian name for that peninsula. This implies a trade by sea, between Eridhu, the sea-port of Chaldæa in early times, and the Red Sea, as such blocks of diorite could hardly have been transported such a distance over such mountains and deserts by land; and this is confirmed by references in old geographical tablets to Magan as the land of bronze from the copper mines of Wady-Maghera, and to "ships of Magan" trading from Eridhu.