Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-10-03
Old Legends Proved True.

! 1t has not infrequcntly been discoy.
cred of late that some of tho state
i ments of ancient writer's, which we
have regarded in our fancied wisdom
as too marvellous to he believed, are
nevertheless true. The geographer
! Ptolemy; for iustanos, wrote that tho
| source of the Nile was in mountain
rauge, known as the Mountains of tho
Moon, because of the snow upon thcm.
Modern geographcrs scoffed at the
idea that there conld be such lofty
mountains under the equator, but
I Stanley, i'll his row famous march to
the sea, skirted the foot of range of
snow-clad mountains, called by him
/ Ruwenzori, from whose streams il
formed the newly discovered Lake AL
merit Edward, the EXTREMIST source of
the Nile.
So licrodotus, tho Father OF History.
! repeatedly asserted that the Phuni-
cians thought that they originally camo
/ from the Erythriran Sea or Persian
Euli. This statement modern sclhol-
! airs have found very di licult TO believe
: tho writer's of the article Ph,rnicia
! IN the last edition OF the Encyclopndia
Britannica style it n mere blundcr."
An English Traveller, however. has very
! recently made discoveries in the BAH
rein Islands in the Persian Gull which
, render it almost certain that the great
historian was right,
These islands are small group w.
ing about twenty miles off the Arabian
const and were formerly of great COM
, mcrcial Importance. The inhabitants,
besides possessing pearl fishery
which was noted in the DAYS of Alex.
nndcr the Great, and now produces
. the finest pearls i'll the world. Carried
on an important trade with Arnb;n and
! Persia. This they have almost entirely
lost, but with the construction of tho
| Euphra,cs halfway i. will doubtless
spring up again,
One Of the two principal towns has
n singular watcr-supply in II spring
winch ut high water is six feet below
i the surface of the sea. water is
brought up either by divers WHO go
down wit TIA skins, or by pushing IL hol-
/ low bamboo down into it. At low tide
there Is very little water over il. and
women with large amphor;c and goat
SKINS, which look very real aud life
| Ike, though hcadless, wnde ont and
fetch what water they require" The
Arabs believe that this and several
other similar springso on the coast come
from The Eupilrntcs which they think
! flows beneath the Persian Gulf in mn
underground channel, IL legend ms old
rs the days OF pliny
! In he northern part of the largest
, island, which is iwcnty-scvcn miles
long hy ten broad thcrc is very re-.
markahlo collection of scpulchrnl
mounds, covering an area OF many
miles. Some Of these nrc elevated
only II few foct above the level OF the
| desert. Others are more thnm fogty
| feet high, and abou, iuur hundred feet
IN circumference. Several of thc.o
have recently hccn cxcava,cd bv Mr.
j. Theodore Bent, II wcllknown Eng
lish Traveller, who has given nh account
oi ms discoveries to tho Royal Geo
graphical Society.
He says that they consist of tyo
, chnnhcrs, the one above the other. as
Is he case with some phuhicinn toml,s
. Just uncovered in ancient Carthnrpc
In the upper clinmhcr of one which he
examined were the bones Of an animal.
| presumably II horse, and innumcrablc
fragments of Nory-boAcS, ornaments,
bits OF small statues. Many of these
fragments were Ornamcntcd with pat
terms which b mr. II close and unmis-
R 'blc resemblance 10 worries inumu
L.. ,'hwnician tomls on The Mcdiicr.
rancan. Orr readers will doubtless
rcmcinber ihat King Solomon got ivory
by means of the ships of Hiram, the
l'hnnician king OF Tyre.
The lower cltmhc. wns more care
fully constructed than Tie upper, and
aimed hnmmm loacs together with
the rcImains of d.apcry which had been
hung around the walls. another Plu-
|; mrian custom. The ivory fragments
have been deposited in the British
Museum, and one Of the officials has
recently publicly said Tint "ns far rs
The evidence went at present, he
thought the Museum authorities were
prepared 10 admit tina, tho i,alrciA Isl
nnds probably represented primitive
site OF the phnnicim race
This probable confirmation of the
statement OF !Icrodo:us il certainly
more satisfactory than TIE favoritc oc
cupation OF some modern writers. Tho
proving :hc falsity Of stories which
have always been confidently believed
such stories for instance. as that ol