San Andreas independent., 1857-12-12
Ancient Assyria.

The discoveries of Layard at Ninevah
though curious and instructive in all re-
spects-is most important, perhaps, for
the light they throw on scripture In
reading the narrative of the bold explorer,
we seem to be transported back to the
days of the Hebrew prophets, for substan-
TALLY, the same manners and customs pre-
vail in Mesopotamia now as did three
thousand years ago. There are still the
lodges in the cucumber garden which
Isaiah describes; the oxen that still tread
out the corn; the vessels of bulrushes
may still be seen, and the wild asses of
the desert, SO POLITICALLY alluded to by Job
still watch the traveller at distance, pause
for him to draw near, and then gallep
away towards the shadowy horizon. To
realize the Old Testament, Layard should
be read. That portion of the Bible ceases
to be the dim, far off record it has here
tofore appeared; light CLEANS along all its
pages its actors live and move before us;
we become ourselves sharcrs in the story,
and the past, for the moment, is viyifed
into the present
The confirmation of the truth of scrip
ture, derived from the sculptures of Mn
evah, is not less remarkable The bas re-
liefs on the walls of the palaces, now Just
restored to light after being entombed
for nearly two thousand years, verify the
Hebrew Bible There still is to be seen
the wild bull in the net, mentioned in
Isaiah; the Babylonian princes in vermil-
lion, with dyed attire on their heads, de-
scribed by Ezekiel; and warriors bringing
the heads of their enemies in caskets, to
cast them down at the palace gates, as
was done with the heads of the seventy
sons of Ahab. There, too, are painted
shields hung on the walls of besieged
towns as weare told by the Jewish prophet
he beheld at Tyre There are the forts
built against the beleagued city; the king
placing his foot on the neck of captiyes;
the idols of the conquered carried away
by victors, precisely as described by Hosea
and other sacred authors. There, also,
are the Assyrian gods, still the same as
when their portraits were drawn by those
ancient writers five and twenty centuries
ago-cut from trees of the forest, decked
with silver and gold, fastened with nails
and in purple and blue The very star
to which Amos alludes is yet on these
palace walls, above the horned cap of the
idol though the worshipers have been dead
thousands of years, and though the wild
beasts, predicted, have LONG made their
lairs there.
Even the enormous circumference which
Jonah gives to the walls of Ninevah. is
fully corroborated. The three days' Jour
ney OF the prophet is still required to make
the circuit OF the great ruins on the east
bank of the Tigris. For the people of
Mesopotamia built their cities as the Hin
docs still construct theirs First, one king
erected palace, around which grew up
town; then new monarch built one for
fresh air on the verge of the open coun-
try, whittier soon followed another town
and this process was repeated till several
contiguous cities were dccaying and being
erected, all passing, however, under the
one general name, and covering, together,
an extent of ground that would otherwise
be incredible. The light thus thrown
upon Scripture, the confirmation afforded
to the Bible by those recent discoveries
at Ninevah, is so remarkable, that it
almost seems as if the ancient city, after
burial, had been allowed to be disinterred
solely to confound the folly of skepticism
49,
CAMPHENE.-A correspondent of the
alta California calls attention to the
fact that contact with fame is not neces-
sary to set camphene on fire. That fluid
is very volatile, and when warm, or hot,
vapor arises which may ignite at fire
several feet distant, and conduct the
flame ins.antaneously to the fluid cam
phene. Strictly speaking, camphene
never explodes, but it burns with such