But bronze found its natural sphere of use in the necessities of daily life, and afforded a first-class material wherefrom to fashion knives, tools, swords, and implements of all kinds; many of these have been brought to light by Layard and other excavators, while without doubt the innumerable spears, swords, shields and arrows depicted on the Assyrian bas-reliefs were made of this metal. It was used also in the manufacture of personal ornaments, such as finger rings and bracelets. Bronze was similarly used in Babylonia during the Neo-Babylonian dynasty, and was employed for building as well as for other purposes; doorsteps were sometimes made of bronze, and one such bronze step bearing an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II (cf. above, p. 131) is preserved in the British Museum. It is interesting to note the discovery of similar bronze doorsteps by the French excavators at Susa, especially bearing in mind the close relationship which existed between the two countries and peoples throughout their history, though unfortunately Mesopotamia has at present offered no parallel to the life-size statue in bronze of Napir-asu, the wife of Untash-gal king of Elam about 1600 B.C. A small bronze plaque bearing in relief the four-winged demon of the south-west winds was discovered by Layard, and is now preserved in the British Museum (No. 86262), while a statuette of the same picturesque creature and made of the same material now adorns the galleries of the Louvre. The demon in question is of a highly composite character like so many of the Babylonian and Assyrian genii. His body resembles that of a dog, his arms find their natural or unnatural termination in lion’s claws, his head is a caricature of a human skeleton, which is in its turn crowned with the horns of a goat, his tail is that of a scorpion, and his back is protected with four huge wings, which in their extended position form a grim and fitting background to the whole. But this demon, hideous as it is, was constructed for distinctly beneficent purposes, and was used as a talisman. One perhaps might not have at once conjectured that this fascinating personage was really the embodiment of the south-west wind, but fortunately he bears an inscription on his back which removes all doubt on the point. He was destined to be suspended from the door or window of a house in order to scare away any spirits of evil or doubtful intentions. The figure is unnatural in its conception, but it is grimly realistic and full of life, if not life-like, and in some ways recalls the hideous wicker-work and feather-covered war-gods of the Hawaiians.