The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-08-21
The Garden OF Eden.

An English EgytOl0glSt, hr. W.
Marsham Adams, has been for some
time engaged in an endeavor TO solve
the structural enigma of the great
pyramid and to elicit from the ancient
religious books of the Nile land, and
especially from the so-called Book of
the Dead, clew to the creed Of early
Egypt. In the volumes embodying
the outcome of his researches he ar
rives at interesting conclusions re-
garding the simplicity and purity of
the oldest Egyptian faith, and discerns
it in a curious conformity, SO far as
the main lines are concerned, to
Christianity. That to which, how
ever, we would at this time invite
particular attention is the assertion
that his readings in the sacred books
of Egypt bear out the record of Gene
sis as to the seat of the earthly para
disc, and that, consequently, the era
die Of the human race must be looked
for in Africa at some point in the
watershed of the Nile.
Let us mark the ground for this at
tempt at new Identification of the
Garden of Eden. Adams points out
that in the region of the great lakes
there are, as in the places described
in Genesis, the "heads" Of four rivers
which ego forth to water the whole
country" There beyond the Zambesi,
lies the land of gold, with it's mines Of
unknown antiquity, and bearing an
oborous herb, Of which the hierogly-
phic name is betru, suggesting the
original Of the Hebrew word betelu,
converted by the Greeks into bdellium.
There is the fountain Of the winding
Niger, and there the source Of the in
undatine Nile. There, too, is the
Congo, the river Of "life," correspond
ing to the Hebrew Perth (fruitfuD,
transformed by the Greeks into the
Euphrates.
What Mr.. Adams deems more strik-
ing still is the fact that in the east
ward portion Of this great basin lies
the Garden Of Paradise, 5000 square
miles in area, described in glowing
terms by Stanley as full Of animal life,
the sceptre expressing dominion over
which was one of the insignia of the
Egyptian deity, Amen. From that
garden flows single river, the Shari,
exactly as in the scriptural account
the single river flowed in the midst to
water the garden, which was placed in
the eastward part of the immense
watershed of Eden. Thence, accord
ing to Mr.. Adams theory, the stream
of human emigration found its way
along the line Of least resistance to
the fertile plains of Egypt. Probably
the seat Of the most ancient civiliza'
tion in tie world, diffusing itself from
the delta of the Nile, or along the
shores Of the Mediterranean.
To certain extent the ground was
prepared for the effort to connect the
record Of Genesis primarily with old
Egyptian rather than with the Chal-
daic traditions. Since Egyptian mon
uments have been studied in the light
of astronomy there has been a ten.
dency to hold that civilization OF
Egypt was derived from two sources
of immigration, the one situated in the
Abyssinian highlands or elsewhere in
the watersheds of the Nile, the other in
Mestopotamia. tits taught, however,
that the northward stream Of eraigra-
tion was the earlier. Morever, many
Assyriologists concur in thinking that
ancient Chaldaa was principally IN
debted for civilizing agencies to emil
grants coming by way Of the Persian
Gulf, from Abyssinia or southwest
Arabia. It should be noted that sino'
logues are now disposed to trace the
origin of Chinese civilization to emf
grants from Chaldaa, whose own cul,
ture, as we have said, is believed by
many to be a derivative. So that
there is something like consensus
of conjecture pointing to the water;
shed Nile as the cradle Of civilized
man.-Ne,o York Sun.