The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-07-21
Ancient Relies.

We NAV not perhaps ne surprised MIeh
told thut the red earth from winch Ada1h
was made is still pointed out both at Hebron
and Jerusalem but it is somewhat start
ling TO be assured by Sir John Maundrell
that his skull was found Mt Golgotha. vi
tho way to Baalbcc, Maundrcll mentions
tho tomb OF Abel, said to have given the
adjacent country in old times the name OF
Abilene. The tomb is thirty yards long,
and vet il is believed to have been just
oroportioned to the stature of him who was
hurled in it. The men in those days, and
the women, too, must have been giants IN
deed, The tomb of Eve, at Jedda, Burton
tells US, is two hundred PAGES long. That
of Seth, on the slopes of Antihbanus, is
sixty feet in length. 1t would have been
twenty feet longer, but the prophet, Seth,
who came here preaching to the people who
worshipped COWS, was killed by them. and
was hastily buried, with his knees doubled
up under his legs Noah'S tomb, on the
oppositc side of the valley, is ono hundred
and twenty feet long. By the time OF
Joshua the human race had begun to de-
generate. His tomb, near Constantlnorlc.
is only thirty feet long.
OF course Sir John Maundrcll has some
thing marvellous to tell us about Noah's
ark. lie speaks of a mountain called Ara
rat, but the Jews call it Taneez, where
Noah's ship rested, and still is upon that
mountain; and men may see it aiar in clear
weather. That mountain is full seven
miles high, and some men say that they
have seen and touched the ship, and put
their fingers on the part where the devil
went out when Noah said Benadicite."
But they that say so speak without know
ledge; for no one can 90 UP the mountain
for the great abundance of snow that is
ALWAYS on that mountain, both summer and
winter. so that no man ever went up since
the time of Noah, except ii monk, who, by
Gods grace, brought one OF the planks
down, which is yet in the monastery at the
foot of the mountain. This must have been
the plank afterward carried off to Constan-
tinoplc, for three of the doors of st. Sophia
were vcneered with the wood from the ark.
There arc few places OF such antiquity
the site of which is so salts actorily deter
mined as that Of the Cave of Machpc!ah.
It is by no means improbable that the bones
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are rcposing
there, though Calvin assures us they we're
i'm his time in the church of st. Maria So
pro Minerva, at Rome; and portions: at
least, are still to be seen in the Cathedral
of Prague. Bcrtrandon dc In Brochure
was shown in Constantinoplc in 1892 "a
large stone, in the shape OF washstand,
on which they say Abraham gave the an
gcls to cat when they were going TO destroy
Solom and Gomorrah." Another relic OF
Abraham il preserved in the Caaha Of
Mecca. The original Caaba was OF radiant
clouds, sent down from Heaven at Adam
request rs representation OF the Para
,lisc he had lost. On Adams death tins
was removed, whilst another OF the same
form. built of stone by Seth, WAS destroyed
in the Dclugc. Ishmael, by the command
of God, rebuilt the Caaha, assisted by
Abraham. a miraculous stone served
Abraham as Il scatiold, rising and sinking
with him MS he built the walls of the sacred
cdihcc. 1t still remains there, an inesti-
mablc relic, and the print OF the patriarch's
foot is clearly to he perceived on 1t by all
true believers
In corner of the exterior wall OF the
raaba is q stone held i'll great vcncration
by tho Mohammedans. Some say it WAS
ono of the precious stones Of Paradise
others that ii was Adams guardian angel,
changed to stone for not being more watch
full. Anyhow, it was brought to Abraham
and lshmacl by the Angel Gabricl-a ja-
cinth of dazzling whiteness then, but now
black us ink, from the touch OF sinful men,
and only to recover its purity at the Day OF
Judgment.
II we are to believe the Mohammedans,
they arc in possession, likewise, of the
stone of jacobs rillow-thc rock Of the
Sakrah, in the Mosque of Omar, at Jerusa-
lcm-but the real stone, rs everybody
knows, is in Westminster Abbey.-CornhlH
lLyUuziup