Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-05-22
LEGENDS PROVED TRUE.
Statements of Ancient Writers CorrObo-
rated by Modern Investigations.

| Statements of Ancient Writers Corrobo-
| rated by Modern Investigations.
Ithas not infrequently been discover
| ed of late that some of the statements OF
ancient writer's, which we have regard
| ed in our fancied wisdom as too marvel
| Gus to be believed, are nevertheless
true. The geographer Ptolemy, for in
stance, wrote that the source OF the
Nile, was in mountain range, knows as
the Mountains of the Moon, because of
the snow on them. Modern geographers
scoffed at the idea that there could be
such lofty mountains under the equa-
tor, but Stanley, in his now famous
march to the sea- skirted the foot of
a range of snow-clad mountains. called
by him Ruwenzori, from whose streams
is formed the newly-discovered Lake
Albert Edward, the EXTREMIST source OF
the Nile.
So Herodotus, the Father of History,
repeatedly asserted that the Phenicians
thought that they originally came from
the ErYthraan sea or Persian gulf.
This statement modern scholars have
found very difficult to believe-the
writer's of the article Phenicia in the
last edition of the Encyclopaedia Britain
MICA style it "a mere blunder." An En-
glish traveller, however, has very re-
Gently made discoveries in the Bahrein
islands in the Persian gulf which render
it almost certain that the great historian
was right
These islands are small group lying
about twenty miles off the Arabian
coast, and were formerly of great COM
mercial Importance. The inhabitants,
besides possessing pearl fishery which
was noted in the days of Alexander the
Great, and now produces the finest
pearls in the world, carried on an i'm
portant trade with Arabia and Persia.
This they have almost entirely lost, but
with the construction of the Euphrates
railway it will doubtless spring up
again.
One of the two principal towns has a
singular water-supply in spring which
at high water is six feet below the sur
face of the sea. Water is brought up
either by divers who go down with
skins, or by pushing hollow bamboo
down into it. At low tide there is very
little water over it, and women with
large amphore and goat-skins, which
look very real and life-like, though
headless wade out and fetch what wa
ter they require" The Arabs believe
that this and several other similar
springs on the coast come from the
Euphrates, which they think flows be-
meath the Persian gulf in an UNDER
ground channel, legend as old as the
days of Pliny.
In the northern part of the largest
island, which is twenty-seven miles
long by ten broad, there is a very re-
markable collection of sepulchral
mounds, covering an area of many
miles. Some of these are elevated only
few feet above the level of the desert.
Others are more than forty feet high,
and about four hundred feet in circum-
ference. Several of these have recent
ly been excavated by Mr.. j. Theodore
Bent, well-known English traveller,
who has given an account of his discov-J
cries to the Royal Geographical Society.
He says that they consist of two cham
bers, the one above the other, as is the
case with some Phenician tombs just
uncovered in ancient Carthage. In thu
upper chamber of one which he exam
med were the bones of an animal, pre-
sumably horse, and innumera bic frag-
ments of ivory boxes, ornaments, bits of
SLldll Sud MANY VI bHcSc lItHbS
were ornamented with patterns which
bear a close and unmistakable resem-
blance to worries found in Phmnician
tombs on the Mediterranean. Our read
ers will doubtless remember that King
solomon got ivory by means of the
ships of Hiram, the Ph9nician King Of
Tyre.
The lower chamber was more care.
fully constructed than the upper, and
contained human bones, together with
the remains of drapery which had been
hung around the walls, another Phnni-
clan custom. The ivory fragments have
been deposited in the British Museum,
and one of it's officials has recently pub
licly said that ''as far as the evidence
went at present, he thought the Museum
authorities were prepared to admit that
the Bahrein Islands probably repre-
scented primitive site of the Pheni-
clan race"
This probable confirmation of the
statement of Herodotus is certainly
more satisfactory than the favcrite oc-
cupation of some modern writers, the
proving the falsity of stories which
have always been confidently believed
such stories, for instance, as that of
the Swiss hero, William Teli.-Youth's
MI