The morning call., 1893-09-09
THE TOMB OF DANIEL.

Among the curious discoveries which the
Russians are making in building their
trans-Asiatic railroad, the latest is the
alleged find of the tomb of the Prophet
Daniel, which Is said to have been un-
earthed in cutting three miles northeast of
Samarcand. According 10 Jewish tradl-
ton. and 10 the book which bears his
name, Daniel was a Jew who was taken
captive in the reign OF Jehoiakim, and
carried to Babylon, where he acquired a
reputation for superhuman sagacity. His
adventure in the den of lions is also located
on the Tigris or Euphrates. Where be
died history fails to reveal But the peo-
pie OF Bokhara believe that he wandered
north in extreme old age, and finally
yielded up his spirit In the rough country
which the Russians are now annexinR.
How much legend is mixed up with their
historical recollections may be inferred
from their belief that the corpse grew
after death, and is growing still, so that at
the present moment the sarcophagus which
contains the prophets remains has been
enlarged TO eighty-one feet in length. 1t
was spared by Alexander the Great when
be destroyed the city in which 1t stood.
Egyptian travellers have seen tomb OF
Daniel at Cairo. Another exists in Mo-
rocco. and others are reported in Arabia
The tendency of the Orientals was to
erect shrInes to their famous men, and In
course of time legends declared that their
mortal remains reposed under the shrine
Thus our own Mark Twain dropped q
silent tear over the grave OF Adam, "be-
cause he was a relation; and the buried
ruins which ara supposed to be all that is
nj Of nd hrIo oti nd
by stories that the bones of patriarchs re-
pose in their midst The grave of Job,
of whom absolutely nothing is known but
that he must have been of the Hebrew
race, is pointed out TO all travellers in the
Orient. So bard-headed a man as Dean
Stanley spent much time and money in
visiting the vault in which the remains of
Abraham are said 10 rest in the cave of
Machpelah.
The dust to dust law of nature Is ex-
pressed in the words that as man is dust
to dust he must return. From the time
that man first appeared on the world the
death rate must have been nearly what it
is now, and the dead after period of dis
integratiOn must have assimilated with
the earth in which they were laid. After
given period of years bone and tissue,
flesh, blood and fiber must have ceased to
exist in their original form and must have
begun a new existence in another animal,
vegetable or mineral shape. OF ali the
| nations of the world one only resisted this
! natural law and declared that their dead
! should not return 10 dust That was the
! Egyptians. In the palmy days of Egypt
the bodies of the dead were never allo wed
10 decay. They were so skilifulIy en-
balmed that the tissues defied disiutegra-
ZION, and so far as we can judge were rem
dered immortal. To protect them from
the ravages of man and beast they were
buried in secret caves CT which the en-
trance was walled up after the interment
members of the reigning family were hid
den away In pyramids. The discovery of
mummies in carefully hidden crevices OF
the rocks used to be one of the most -four
ishing industries in Egypt until it was
discovered that Birmingham could dupli-
cate The mummies at infinitely less cos.
and supply them in any quantities which
the market demanded.
The Egyptian idea was that in their
country there should be no death, but tn al
the body in its primitive shape should pass
through period of suspended animation.
and should be ready for the reception OF
its spirit when it returned to earth. No
such notion has prevailed elsewhere. 10
China. which has been densely peopled for
a longer period of time than any other
part OF the world, the soil is so thickly
strewn with graves that it is impossible to
build railroad without tramplng some
dead Mong0lian's resting place and wax
ing his soul from Its rest.