Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-03-24

river. Is It possible that the Hebrew
narrator, in making his geographical
calculations. followed the line OF
thought expressed by Alexander who
believed that the African River Nile
had its source in the northwestern part
of East India? Was the mythical Gihon
river the imaginary Nile Of India?
"rhe First Pnrndisc River,
The Pison is furthest removed to the
east. The river, as well as the land
through which II flows is well desCrlb-
ed In the Bible. Bdellium is the
equivalent for myrrh, transpar-
ent gum resin. The onyx mentioned
in the Bible translation however ia
not found in the original Scriptures,
which speaks Of schoham' as n product
Of the land clrcumpassed by the Pison.
'Schoham' IL the Hebrew for samtu,
meaning the gray jewel: that Is, our
pearls of today. We learn this from
the cunniform manuscripts. dating
from the Inhabitants of Babylon in
pre-semitics times. Martin Luther Is
responsible for the mistake. Onyx Is
first mentioned In his TRANSLATION, and
has been retained In spite OF many
Bible revlsions.
Where is Havilah, the land OF Sand?
Geographists and scientists agree that
Arabia is meant-not the whole OF
Arabia, but the Arabian peninsula,
with the exception of Northern Arabia.
Wherever in the old Scriptures Havilah
Othe Land of Sand Is mentioned. South
Arabia Is meant; II nothing else, it's
natural product-gold myrrh and
penrls-would Indicate that.
"The word Pison means high. wavy
stream, and that, in my opinion, per-
mits Of the construction that the Per-
( sian Gulf and the Red Sea are referred
10. / am astonished that nobody has
] thought OF this solution before The
1 Hebrew narrator evidently thought the
| Persian Gulf and the Rcd Sea formed
= an immense river, that flowed all
| around Southern Arabia and had a
/ source common with the Euphrates and
| Tigris. and the imaginary Asiauc Nile.
/ to which have referred. 1t will be
| said: We can wen imagine that some
/ body may mistake the narrow Red Sea
for broad river, but the Persian Gulf,
| never
ITO these critics I make answer: The
/ question must not be considered from
the present standpoint of geography
Maps constructed In the middle ages
show that such mistakes happened as
late as that.
Another point: The AssyrIans al
ways called the Persian Gulf the Bit
ter r. 1er,' or the Salt River and the
old Hebrews made no distinction he
u
same word that stands for Mediterra.
mean is also used to indicate the En-
pirates, and on all the old maps Fu-
pirates and Nile are made as promi-
nent as the Mediterranean.
Evidently, the Hebrew writer had
no clear conception as to the mouth oi
the Euphrates and Tlgrls He aid MOI
know that they flowed into the Per.
sian Gulf. but assumed they We're LOST
In the swamps OF Southern Babylon 4
conception popular In Arabia, as a mar
Of the world by an Arabian geogra,
phist OF the year 1000 A. ID. proves
He may also have assumed that tn,
Gulf OF Suez and the Gulf OF Akaba
ON the north end Of the Red Sen wher,
much larger than they actually are
and that the Plson had emptied itsel
In the Gulf Of Suez. Maps which shov
the actual situation OF these seas an,
rivers are of very modern origin
Taking the Biblical story, togethe
with the above correction, into consld
; GRAFTON, We must conclude that Para
disc was situated ON the youth OF tn
caueasus--that is. IN an eastward di
reetion from the standpoint OF the lie
brew narrator. In the nelRhborhood Q