The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-01-24
THE EARTHLY PARADISE,
Nm THE FRUIT FORBIDDEN TO
ADAM AND EVE.


Eve ate as the Cocoanut.
From. the London Standard
IT,. orticIe on the Forbidden Fruit,
,,bt,h appears in the new number of the
yr,i,srsal ReuieU, is safe to give rise to
- deal Of criticism and speculation.
6,tansiblv. the article is by Mr.. Britten of
~ british museum. But in reality it is
ehiaav from the pen and pencil of Gen.
Ca.5or whose drawings and notes are Jdc
e,,niJsd MIR. Brtten merely supplying a
e.ienti6c commentary on the actual authors
notes.
I,yarv one who know Gordon was aware
that On many points he entertained original,
II not always acceptable, views. But it
will be novelty to many that he had long
sneculated regarding the site Of the Garden
- Eden and had formed strong opinions,
uot only as to the original home Of man,
Int concerning the identity OF the forbid
dan fruit. the eating Of which led to his ex-
,,,,Isiou from Paradise. It will prove al
aven more s artling revelation to learn that
according to the views of Gordon, Eden
yasin the Seychelles islands-a coral-clrcled
archipelago north of Madag that
tba fruit which Eve found it impossible to
double cocoanut peculiar to that group.
On w. hat ground Gen. Gordon came to
this extraordinary conclusion we are not
told In the many volumes and essays Of
which his career is the theme, scarcely an
allusion is made to the subject, aud beyond
series of desig S, only one Of which-a
serpent CT mbiug palm tree-has the re-
mOtest bearing on the question, not word
is said in Mr.. Brittens article on the subject
- o. Nav,f ~
friends that he had thought much on the
theme. a, d had formed the most unalter-
able opinions regarding the soundness
of what the editor of the ReUietU char
acterizes as his great discovery The
chart Of the islands was supposed to prove
their identity with Eden, while the four
rivers mentioned were considered to corre-
spond with those of the Seychelles" This
being the case, there was no alternative
but 10 accept the coco-de-met for the "for-
hidden fruit" as it is, perhaps t only
edible one indigenous to the soil, though we
confess it gives US fresh insight iuto the
waywardnesS of woman and to learn that
the mother of our race could go so far out
Of her way as to climb the tall stem of a
lodolcea for the sake of anything SO dys-
Ieptic as its uncouth-looking nuts.
Unfortunately. however, Gen. Gordon
seems to have left no materials behind him
which induced him TO come to an opinion
which, to most people, may seem to possess
50 little to 7 commend it, We are, there
fore, compelled to take his ipSe DIGIT, or
tue assurance that 1t was SO of the friend
who has supplied the rough sketches now
for the first time engraved, and to examine
how far fact, legend and holy writ, i'll the
fpsiSsmd Uerbd of which he was 50 devout
a believer, bear him out in this latest theory
Of the site of Paradise.
1t will strike every one that the primary
difficulty in accepting Gordon Pasha's die
tum is that the only description on which
we have to come and go does not agree
with the geographical facts of the Sey-
chelles. A geOlogist might possibly raise
the initial objection that the Seychelles did
not exist in the boyhood of the world. aud
it is certain that the inspired writers of
the Pentateuch. who were very particular
to localize the Garden OF Eden, could have
had no idea of the geography of the
Indian ocean, a thousand miles to the
east Of Zanzibar. Leaving, however, these
difficulties out of the discussion, it is by 10
means clear that even the present area of
The Islands 81 900 acres in all, of which no
more than 81, 900 are contained in any one
would be equal to the recognized limits of
Eden, while the granite nucleus of the
group has, in course of time, been largely
which enClrcle them. The Hiddekel and The
Euphrates, the Pison and the Gihon, are
expressly mentioned as the -four riversn
winch watered the terrestrial paradise
But though there are numerous pretty
brooks and mountain torrents in the Sey-
chees, there are no water courses at all
corresponding TO the four mentioned, nor
any which could by the most elastic geo.
graphical conscience be described as rivers.
" oAt E,r,, ,k,. -
Investigation stopped by what seems an
unsurmountable barrier. Again, the gar
Gen III which Adam and Eve first lived is
described as eastward, -" that is, of course,
10 the east OF the place where the narrative
was wutten-but we are not aware that
any even Of the heterodox commentators
Oh me Book Of Genesis has ventured to de-
Scfloe the compiler Of that narrative as
resident on the Zanzibar coast.
4hen we are met with another objection
70 Hen. Gordon's Identification The gar
aen, we are told, contained all kinds of
fruits good to eat--the coco-de-mer being
1u7 only one which was forbidden Now,
az HlVoIous person. especially if he had
''Atured t. partake freely of that vepe-
lAhe, might think that this circum stance is
,elner III favor of Gordon's theory, since
cue prohibition might have been ordained
l IHe soundest of sanitary reasons But
4He Neychelles have. no doubt, plenty
vegetable products, but they are
n,,a all, with the exception of the coca
II hportatlons Of the last century and
uA'I "nlle the climate is by no means so
4uaole That any save tropical crops can
t. a''e Oh the group. 1t is, therefore. we
- -, GUY OIL the question to accept either the
dye1eHeS as the Biblical Eden, or the
a,uN'e Coco-de-mer-round the origin and
1p9,'eQ VIRTUES Of which so many lege ds
do s IL Grand still attach-as the forbid.
uulV. In the days when It was wasb ed
tIo, vi Instant shores, without the most
il Vu seanen having ever seen it grow,
- 40 40 oeHeVed to be mysterious product
ers;n o ocean. 1t was regarded as a SOW
VIZ" aHUdote to poiSons, a use for it to
tho Calhoens refers in the 10th book of
~ '"N.au, and enormous sums we're given
E,ra ot". mems. 1t is still imported for the
pr,.1t's' u the Indian princes, though. since
.hal,,." auu Curleuse are known to be its
rIvsto.s' anything in the shape Of botanical
Ill., y mas vanished from il.
s,1al Nsrde OF Eden has been "localizedn
Gso ~ times, but never with ANYTHING
L.t,yao oa' :, certainty All the region
a,s,.,,ol the 'tanges and the Nile has been
fetle'aos1 10 10 by Josephus and the christian
cor,r "ulle Calvin and n host of other
fact" .aUors settled to their own salts.
sor1o,t 'ua1 u was kornah, in Babvlon-
mn. G ere near the Persian Gulf Ar
Ba,na.."as also had its adherents. so has
hsvaDIs' ana some OF the South sea isles
AM. tow aNd then been lnooted as claim
mir b.'ne instruction. Bactria and Kash-
r,. ~ peen put forward snd tba +ra,,s