The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-07-15

NailpHNNH VI Ctululles. Akcfc TOO, are
the bellies of three thousand years aVo
gay creatures, who coquetted with Mem
non aud kissed their fingers to Scsostris:
the bloom that belongs to bellies has given
place 90 a dusky bimminous hue, and
they ar, ell brunettes together the once
soft hair, is stiff and lus,rcless as With
cred grass, the armlets have cQrroded on
their brown shiny arms, vet they still
keep the look they wore in life, and con-
iinue 20 welcome all visitors with the cx-
precision Of suaye self possession acquired
by a long residence at court.
In Egypt there was no imprisonment
for debt, aud good securities were there
fore in great demand; but both borrowers
and lenders had an iuexhaustible resource
IN thc catacombs fast men, who lived a
little beyond their income, pawncd thc
munmies of their ances ors. and went
into pledge themselves after death. for The
benefit OF eXtrayagant sons. Time has
hardly changed the features OF many of
these embalmed bodies the outer btu
minous shell is perfect, but brown and
brittle as glass. BelzOni says that once.
after pushing bis way through a narrow
passage several hundred feet long. cx-
hausted with his efforts, aud sick with
the constant contact with dead mems
bones, and the dust of crumblcd humanity.
he vcntured 10 sit down for u moments
rest upon a mummy, but il went crashing
through with him like q bandbox.
There has been a good deal Of inquiry
as TO the source from which the Egyptians.
derived such quantities of spices and biz
luminous substances Bs were necessarily
used in embalming their own country
may have furnished a large amount Of the
Former but OF The latter there appears as
yet, no trace in Egypt. They may have
received them from the shores of the Dead
Sea, or perhaps from the distant region of
Bakoo, on the borders OF tbc Caspian ses,
whose springs of Petroleum are among
the most profuse in the world; even The
hollOws OF the surface there, are full of
oil, and the shallowest excavation be-
comes a perpetual fountain. 1t is, how
ever, more probable that the Egyptians
were supplied from the Island of Zante,
on the west coast of Greece, Of whose
wonderful oil springs we have a record
more than two thousand years old. Her
odotus himself visited them, and after
wards described their wonders. This
island too, is supposed to have furnished
the ingredients for the notable Greek
Fire, a compound invented by Syrian,
in the seventh century, and used in the
defence Of C~onstantinople during two
sieges against it, by the Saracens. The
horrors Of this missile, in those early
times, can hardly be conceived by men
accustomed to the thunder and lightning
OF modern warfare, or by women, who
live through one Fourth of July celebra-
ton annually. Sometimes the mixture
was rolled into flro-balls, and projected
through copper tubes o%ftener, bands Of
flax were dipped in it, wound about ar
rows and javelins, and discharged flaming.
The scimitar Of the Saracen might flash
through and through the burning mass,
without stopping its course and the lum-
bering, medieval b~attering-rams were
helpless to resist the fiery flying dragon,
that came Kissing through the air above
them. The Saracens looked upon it rs
an invention Of the Evil one, il indeed.
it was not a yeritable discharge of live
imps, and whole ~phalanxes OF heroes
quailed and fed at the sight OF it. The
secret OF its composition was long kept
inyiolable, transmitted from father to son
as an heirloom, or sold 10 princes at a
great price, but itsis now considered 20
have been a simple compound of bitumen,
pitch and sulphur.
There is another place as famous for It's
profuse supplies Of Petroleum and Nap
tina, as Hante or Bakoo. Like them too
its age ia unknown, its origin goes back
beyond the beginning of history, and the
earliest accounts of it speak as if it had
always existed. This il in Birmah, ia
the Rangoon district. Five hundred and
twenty wells, sunk in beds of sandy clay
and c.ayey slate, yield every wear more
than four hundred thousand hogshcad,
of oil. The huge supply has not only
employ ed hundreds Of persons I'm collect.
ing and refining it, but has given rise e
o race and a city of pOtters. The ncibh.
boring town of ~Rainanghong is ch c1y
inhabited by them the soil affords The
greatest facilities for their trade, and the
oil demands an enormous quantity O
vessels. The city is beltcd and buttresseC
with great pyramids Of earlhen lars
waiting to be filed, and large boats ar,
always coming up the lrrawaddy, stow.
ing In and carrying away fat cargocs 0
the pots Of oil. All through Birmah ant
many other parts Of India, il has beer
used for centuries for purposes Of illumi
r nation, rs well as for medicine, and 70
rendering timber weather-proof.
, Ia the north of Italy, Amiano an,
other places have long furnished a pro
fusion of Napths, and the cities Of Geno.
t and Parma are lighted with il. South O
Vesuvius, a spring Of Petroleum bubble
up through the sea, and il Ms, indeed, verl
generally found floating on the waite
! near volcanoes, or about volcanic islands
In the Island Of Trinidad, in the Yves
Indies, Petroleum exhibits q strange freak
Besides eXudiBg from rocks and springs
4 in the usual way, it has formed a lax
between two and three miles in circuml
ference warm and liquid in the centre
% where il is always slowly boiling bu
O. t~hickeniug as il reced5s from this poiu.
till at the margin it ia cold and solid
e. Persons may walk upon 10 al plcasur,
n when the weather is cool, and when il
hot, they have the opportunity Of ]learuin
D by experience how flies feel ia m0lssse0
e Masses Of hitumen are scattered over "a
a ground in the vicinity of Tho Lake, an
% stand out among the foliage like rocks {
= brilliant jet. Ii has been said By som
g travellers, that this Lake Of Tar, as IN
( Inhabitants call IL, is underlaid by a be
n OF coal an assertion not to be receive
without further aud more scientific ca
o animation, as this would render 10 a DC
p culiar exception 10 all other l%ocalitiC
producing Petroleum in any quantity.
8 In our own land before lis colonization
3 and perhaps before its discovery by Co
G lumbus, tue Indians Of the Six Nation
8 enjoyed the knowledge and the use