The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-12
The NIoabite stone.

covery of the Moabite Stone we take from
an English paper. The writer, Mr.. Keim, is
a Prussian clergyman, who has been for
many years missionary at Jerusalem
1t was on the 10Th of August, 1868, that in
the course of journey l undertook to Jebl
Ajloon and the Bellxa, / arrived at Diban
(ancient Dibon), about one hour to the north
of the Wadi Mojeb (Arnon) For the sake
of my friend and protector Zattam, the son
of the famous Fendi--Faiz, Scheich of the
Benz Sachr, who accompanied me, was re-
ceived in most friendly way by tribe of
the Beni-Hamide, encamped near Diban.
Carpets and cushions were spread in the tent
of the Scheich, and coffee prepared with all
the ceremonial of Bedouin etiquette.
Before the operation of preparing and
drinking coffee had been terminated, my
friend Zattam, who was always most anxious
to make my tour as pleasant and interesting
as possible, had informed me that there was
among the ruins of Diban, scarcely ten
minutes from our encampment, most in
terestlng stone with an ancient inscription on
it which no one had ever been able to deci-
pher, which he would take me to see. As
sunset was drawing near / was anxious to be
off at once, but Zattam was not to be per-
suaded to get up from his soft couch and
leave off smoking his narghilee; while was
burning with desire to see the inscription,
which the Scheich of the Beni-Hamide also
described to me as one of the wonders of this
region, which no Frank had yet seen, and
which he now had offered to show me as a
work of honor to his friend Zattam and to me
who was travelling under his protection. 1,
of course, took this for what it was in general
meant to be-a Bedouin compliment calcu-
lated to bring out a nice bakshsh. Still I
afterwards ascertained that his assertion as to
no European having before me seen the stone
was perfectly true; none of the distinguished
travellers in those parts had ever seen or
heard of it, or they would not have Stunned
trouble and expense to secure this treasure.
/ am sorry to find I was also the last Euro
pean who had the privilege of seeing this
monument of Hebrew antiquity in its perfect
state of preservation; and it is for this reason
l think the few observations am able to offer
on the subject may be welcome to those who
take an interest in this important discovery.
When l came to the spot where this precious
relic of antiquity was lying on the ground
was delighted at the sight, and at the same
time greatly vexed that L did not come earlier,
in order to have an opportunity of copying at
least good part of the inscription, which
might then, under the protection of Zattam,
have done without the least molestation. 1,
however, had time enough to examine the
stone and its inscription at leisure, and to
copy few words from several lines at ran
uOul, Cll6uy Will u Wow, OH my T6UuTu 10
| Jerusalem, to ascertain the language of the
inscription, and prevail on some friends of
| science to obtain either a complete copy of
the inscription, or, better, the monument
itself.
The stone was lying among the ruins of
| Diban perfectly free and exposed to view,
the inscription uppermost. l got four men
| to turn it around Gt was basaltic stone, ex-
ceedingly heavy in order to ascertain whether
there was no inscription on the other side,
and found that it was perfectly smooth and
without any inscription or other marks. What
time was left me before sunset 1 now en-
ployed in examining, measuring, and making
correct sketch of the stone besides endea-
voring to collect perfect alphabet from the
inscription. What have 1 now enclose, and
vouch for the perfect correctness of what
give, having taken it down on the spot. The
Itone is rounded ON both sides, not only at the
upper end, as mentioned by Monsieur Gan
neau, who says:-''La forme de la stele
etait celle dun car1e long, termine en- haut
par une psrtie arrondie, rangle inferieur de
droite etait deja casse depuisfort longtemps
From his sketch also of the stone he admits
it not to have been rounded, but square al
the bottom; but the fact of this being so can
not but be of importance to him, as it will
give him the comfortable assurance that in
the lower corner sides there are not as many
words OF the inscription missing as would DE
the case if it were square at the bottom, as
he was wrongly Informed by his authority;
for, as in the upper part so also in the lower
in exactly the same way, the lines become
smaller by degrees. Possibly in the length OF
the several lines there may be more letters tc
supply, as now supposed as in this respect
the information received by M. Ganneau ii
not quite correct. He says of the stone:-
''D'apres les estampages ellie aurait eu metre
de hauteur ct eco centimetres de largeul
avec une epasseur egale.
According to my correct measurement OF
the spot the stone had
l metre 13 centimetres in height,
{" 20 centimetres in breadth, and
60 35 centimetres in thickness,
and, according to my calculation, had thirty
four lines; for the two or three upper line
were very mech obliterated. The stone itsel
was in most perfect state of preseroatiOn-
not one single piece being broken off, and
, was only from great age and exposure to tn
rain and sun that certain parts, especially tn
, upper and lower lines, had somewhat suffered
On nv return to Jerusalem showed m
I sketch and parts of the inscription to Dl
: Petermann, of Berlin who knew took gres
interest in archaeological researches, and
was delighted at the information, and imm'
diately took the necessary steps to acquir
the Moabite monument for the Berlin MI
scum. A Young q ,yer Arab at Salt was eI