Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1890-07-05
Old Legends Proved True.

1t has not infrequently been discov-
cred of late that some of the statements
of ancient writers, which we have re-
garded in our fancied wisdom as too
marvellous to be believed, are neverthe
less true. The geographer Ptolemy, for
instance, wrote that the source of the
Nile was in a mountain range known as
the Mountains of the Moon, because of the
snow upon them. Modern geographers
scoffed at the idea that there could be
such lofty mountains under the equator,
but Stanley, in his now famous march
to the sea, skirted the foot range of
snow-clad mountains, called by him Ru-
wenzori, from whose streams is formed
the newly discovered Lake Albert Ed
ward, the EXTREMIST source Of the Nile.
So Herodotus, the father of history,
repeatedly asserted that the Phonicians
thought they originally came from the
Erythraan sea or Persian gulf. This
statement modern scholars have found
very difficult to believe-the writers of
the article Phonicia in the latest edition
OF the Encyclopedia Britannica style it
"a mere blunder." An English traveller,
however, has very recently made discov-
cries in the Bahrein islands in the Per-
gulf which render it almost certain that
the great historian was right.
The islands are small group lying
about 20 miles off the Arabian coast,
and were formerly of great commercial
importance. The inhabitants, besides
possessing a pearl fishery which was
noted in the days of Alexander the Great,
and now produces the finest pearls in the
world, carried on an important trade
with Arabia and Persia. This they have
almost entirely lost, but with the con-
struction of the Euphrates railway it
will doubtless spring up again.
One of the two principal towns has
singular water-supply in spring which
at high water is 6 feet below the sur
face of the sea. "Water is brought up
either by divers who go down with skins,
OF by pushing a hollow bamboo down
into it. AT low tide there is very little
water over it, and women with large
amphora and goat-skins, which look
very real and life-hke though headless,
wade out and fetch what water they re.
quire. The Arabs believe that this and
several other similar springs on the coast
come from the Euphrates, which they
think flows beneath the Persian gulf
in an underground channel, Legend as
old as the days of Pliny.
In the northern part of the largest ISL
and, which is 27 miles long by 10 broad,
there is very remarkable collection of
sepulchral mounds, covering an area of
many miles. Some Of these are elevated
only a few feet above the level of the
desert. Others are more than 40 feet
high and about 400 feet in circumfer-
ence. Several of these have recently
been excavated by Mr.. j. Theodore Bent,
a well known English traveller, who has
given an account Of his discoveries to
the Royal Geographical Society.
lie says that they consist Of two cham
bers, the one above the other, as is the
case with some Phonician tombs Just I'M
covered in ancient Carthage. In the up
per chamber of one which he examined
were the bones of an animal, presum-
ably horse, and innumerable fragments
of ivory boxes, ornaments, bits of small
small statues. Ma. y of these fragments
were ornamented with patterns which
bear a close and unmistakable resem-
blance to ivories found in Phonician
tombs on the Mediterranean. Our read
ers will doubtless remember that King
Solomon got ivory by means of the ships
of Hiram, the Phonician king of Tyre
The lower chamber was more care
fully constructed tlan the upper, and
contained human bones together with the
remains of drapery which had been hung
around the walls, another Phonician GUS
tom. The ivory fragments have been
deposited in the British museum, and
an official has recently publicly said
that las far as the evidence went at pres
ent he thought the museum authorities
were prepared to admit that the Bahrein
islands probably represented primitive
site of the Phonician race.
This probable confirmation of the
statement of Herodotus is certainly more
satisfactory than the favorite occupation
of some modern writer's, the proving the
falsity of stories which have always
been confidently believed-such stories,
for instance, as that of the Swiss hero,
William Tell.