Grass Valley telegraph., 1857-02-21
Remarkable Discoveries in the East.


few years, in the vicinity of the seat of an
cient Babylon and NineVeh. None perhaps
have been read with greater interest, than
the last one announced, which is most un-
doubtedly the veritable ruins of the ancient
Flower of Babel" The discovery was made
by NJ Place, the French consul at Mosul.-
This gentleman has already amazed and de-
lighted the world by the monuments which
he he's brought to LIGHT from the rGins of the
long eutoubed cities Of NineVeh a1d Baoyl
aa- these added TO the new results Of his u
aa~iaas ane enthusiastic researches. VIII
tttsf @-ttt" iiigi,s'sb s,ss - - .seiii>
IS Sc aatiqUsraen explorer. Inc intelligence
is communicated to The world by the Beirut
correspondent of the Boston Traveller -
The locality of these ruins is the field Of Ar
bella, few days journey from Mos1l. NJ.
Place was engaged in exploring the field, or
plain, which is famous as having been the
scene of decisive battle fought between Da-
rius and Alexander. We copy the following
extract from the letter of the Travellers cor
respondent:
''The Tower of Bable was supposed to eX-
ist only as a Biblical sOuvenir-a thing of
memory and not of substance. And. indeed,
to many who contemplated it only in its
audacity and folly, it seemed myth or fan
cy only of Oriental imagnativeness or su
persttion. Besides, no locality was assigned
to the structure, except the great plain Of
Shinar, and no debris or ruins remained as
the proof of it's veritable reality.
How surprising. then, its discovery-if dis
covery it shall prove-that Titanic structure,
whose base was laid in the earth yet soaked
with the waters Of the food, and whose sum-
NIT was designed to pierce the very heavens! !!
And why not discovered Nineveh has yield
ed up its secrets after burial of long cen
turies. Babylon once the glory of the Chal
deans excellency, has opened her gates a
gain, if not to her Persian besiegers, at least
to the living generation, of all races, and in
her cylinder books offers her history to the
worlds inspection. What remained for dis
cOyery in the wreck and ruin of the old
world, but Babel, that mighty tower which
was designed to pierce the skies and defy a
| second deluge! If it seems too much for be-
lief what should be thought incredible. when
Nineveh and Babylon are brought back to
the land of the living by a sort of resurrec-
ton. and their monuments of art are travel
ing through the nations to amaze and delight
mankind?
! Besides. there is a providence to he traced
in these discoveries They serve not only to
arouse but to instruct they not only crafty
| the curiosity, but establish beyond all doubt
and controversy the veracity and inspiration
| of the Sacred Records. The light of pure
! Christianity begins to beam upon the early
seats of the human race; it is meet that it
| should be met by the light of the remotest
antiquity.
The substance of the information which
has just been circulated relating to the dis
covery of the Tower of Babel, | will give in
few words. expecting soon to receive fuller
details, at the same time remarking that the
French Consul General of Beirut, Mr.. Lis
seps, has received various curious articles
which were found in the Tower, which hope
isoon to see and describe I think my hand,
if not my heart, will fairly tremble if once it
takes hold of the shOvels, the trowels, and the
hods used by those old masons and builders.
This proud tower which was built in de-
| fance of Heaven and aimed to pierce the
! very skies, has lost in the course Of ages its
/ cloud reaching elevation. Six of its eight
stories have fallen and crumbled into dust :;
| but the two which remain are so high that
! they may be seen fifty or sixty miles around
! The base Of the tower is quadrangular, and
each side about six hundred feet long. The
| tower is made Of bricks of the purest clay
and Of white color, which is little shaded
with yellow tint. Under a clear sun. and
as whole, this ancient monument of human
skill and daring presents fine blending of
colors which set the painters pallet at de-
ianct. Before being baked, the bricks had
been covered with characters traced with the
accuracy of the hand of a writing MASTER
Near the top of the letter the straight strokes
were adorned with fourishes resembling the
heads of nails All was neat. regular and
severe and, indeed, those who saw these
specimens of ancient calIigraphy affirm that
the fathers of the human race wrote better
hand than their children.
Another curious fact arrested the attention
of the exploring party. The sacred record
runs thus: "And it came to pass as they
iourneyed from the East, that they found a
plain in the valley of Shinar, and they dwelt
there. And they said one to another-Go
to, let US make brick, and burn them thor
oughly and they had brick for stone, Cor
instead of stone and slime had they for
mortar Modern sceptics may ask-Where
could these builders obtain all this bitumen?
for vast quantity must have been demand
ed to meet the warts of so many trowelS.-
1t is singular coincidence that M. Place
discovered fountain at n small distance
from the tower, whose waters flow in such
abundance as almost to form a river The
stream would force it's way into river IN
the vicinity, did not the people hasten to
stop 1t by setting the bituminous flood on fire
when they TRANQUILITY wait till the fire is ex-
tinguished for want of aliment Thus the
old fountain still pours out inexbaustible
quantities of bitumen or slime, which sup
piled these old builders in their vast enter
prise. Bitumen also adds to the durability
of bricks, as well as firmly consolidates them
in masonry. Could anything be added to the
marvel of the coincidence Thus travels
and expeditions in Assyria become biblical
corrollaries, and new proofs are never want
ing of old truths"
Among the interesting discoveries of Mr.
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