The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1888-01-07
Ubiquitous Israelites.

1t has frequently been remarked, says
the Jewish World, that the Jewish race has
wonderful power of adaptation to all
climates. Jews are found in all parts of
the globe, and seem to possess remarkable
faculty for acclimatization, even under the
most unfayorable circumstances. Mesopo-
tamia is considered the mother country of
the Abrahamic family, as well as the cradle
of the human race. Some years ago a
small colony of Jews we're found in the
ancient city of Seminar, in the south of Mes
opotamia, and in the vicinity of ancient
Babylon. of the seventy families COM
posing the colony, one claimed to be de-
scended from King Joachim, the rest from
the house of Levi. A colony of Jews ap-
pear to have settled in China about the be-
ginning ofthe third century of the Christian
era, under the dynasty of Han. In 17O4,
Father Gouzani, Roman Catholic mis-
sionary, found seven Jewish families near
Pekin.
In 1856 Portuguese Jew of Amster-
dam, named DePavia, discovered sect of
Jews in Cochin, China According to a
tradition preserved among them, they were
descended from tribe of Jews who had
Quilted Palestine on the destruction of the
second temple. From their long residence
in Cochin they had become completely
bronzed. These are not the same as the
Malabar Jews. The Jewish traveller, Ben
jamin, sometimes called Benjamin the
Second, discovered colony of Jews, evil
IDENTIFY of Persian origin, in Hindoostan.
They were known as "Babylonian Jews,
on account of their having migrated from
Babylonia. They observed the essential
rites of Judaism, and strictly avoided inter-
marriage with other sects. In the begin
ming of the seventeenth century Jewish
colony settled in Cayenne, in the West
Indies, Que of the most inhospitable climates
in South America.
Cayenne was subsequently conquered by
the French, who made it penal settle
ment, and the Jewish colony was forced to
retire to Surinam. Notwithstanding fire.
quent prosecutions Jews are still found in
Persia, more especially to the south of the
Caspian sea, where the soil is very fertile,
but the climate very unhealthy. The priR-
cipal city is Balprosh, where about $50
Jewish families reside In almost complete
isolatioa, They trade with their brethren
in Great Tartary, and are engaged in the
wool aud silk trade or in the sale of citrons.
They, too, trace their origin from the Baby
lonian captivity, for, according to tradi-
ton still possessed among them, their auces-
tors settled in Persia in the time of Nebuch-
adnezzar, and did not respond to the appeal
of Ezra to return to Palestine. Their mode
of life resembles that of the Persians in
general. They hold the beard in high es-
teem and wear long, flowing robes. They
have several synagogues and obtain scroltA
of the law from Bagdad. The celebrated
African traveller, Mungo Park, found q
colony of Jewish families in the heart of
Africa, about eight hundred miles from the
coast. It is, no doubt, this popularity Of
the Jewish race which induced French
writer on "Medical Geography" to express
the opinion that "it is questionable whether
the crossing of human varieties consers ON
the issue constant advantages in relation to
the species, for the Jewish race seems in
wonderful manner capable of adapting itself
to every change of climate, while others are
scarcely able to bear the least change"
The Jew is found in every part of the
worldI In Europe, from Norway to Gibral-
ter; in Africa, from Algiers to the Cape of
Good Hope; in Asia, from Cochin to the
Caucasus; from Jaffa to Pekin. He has
peopIed Australia, and has given proof of
his powers of acclimatisation under the
tropics, where people of European origin
have constantly failed to perpetuate them
selves.