Note 2 — Chapter XVII · OUR SOJOURN IN THE CRATER OF NIMRUD

Nor is the imagination disappointed when the interior of the crater is seen for the first time. I have already described the impression which that view produced upon us, entering it from the east. The lake fills almost the whole of the western half of its area, at a level of 7656 feet. The remaining portion consists of older lava streams, covered with pumice, and of some more recent, which bristle with sharp crags. The eastern shore of the lake is deeply indented, and the volcanic matter has cooled in the form of high banks. The figure described by the walls of the crater is almost exactly circular, the diameter being greatest along an east-north-east line, or between the fork, where we first entered the basin, and the passage in on the west (c and m on plan). The distance between these points is nearly 5 miles (8500 yards). Nimrud is therefore one of the largest perfect craters in the world.2 The period during which it seethed with a lake of molten matter, which overflowed into the lower levels on every side, must date far beyond the limits of history. At the present day not a wreath of smoke ascends from the volcano; though at times a little landslip sends the fine sand into the air, with much the same appearance as a cloud.