The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-04-29
LOCATION OF EDEN.
General aordon's Opinion Of It %
He Wrote 1t in the
Year 1882.

Year 1882.
There has been almost, if not quite,
as much diversity of opinion as to the
site of the Garden of Eden as there
has been in regard to the birthday Of
the world. AS to the latter, April II,
July 10 and October 26 seem to be the
dates resting upon the best authorities,
with q preference, perhaps, for April
a. at least the birth month-all this,
Of course, upon the Scriptural account
Of the creation. Science places that
event so far in the past that no con-
lecture even has been hazarded as to
when it occurred.
In regard to the site of the Garden
of Eden. that is matter about which
the modern scientists do not dispute.
It is only those who hold to the Biblical
account of the creation of man who
have seriously attempted to locate the
ate of the Paradise in which he was
placed. Among these there has been
q wide diversity of opinion, some place
ing it near the upper sources of the
Tigris and Euphrates; some, like Mill
ton in Paradise Lost" identifying Cey-
Ion as the lost Paradise of man; others
locating it in America, and, others still,
in Abyssinia.
New interest is added to this question
by an article in the Strand Magazine
entitled: THE Site of the Garden Of
Eden" by Gen. Gordon. A note by the
editor states that the article was writ
ten by Gen. Gordon in 1882 and now
sees the light for the first time. The
editor further suggests that Gen. Cor
don was probably the most capable per.
son in the world to deal with this fas-
cinating subject, as he combined deep
religious feeling and extensive research
on all matters pertaining to Biblical
and oriental history.
Gen. Gordon gives his reasons in this
brief article for believing that the
Garden of Eden is at or near the Sey-
chellcs. He says: II could even put
it at Praslin, small isle 90 miles north
of Mahe." The Seychelles are group
of islands in the Indian ocean 600 miles
northeast of Madagascar, Maize, the
larger, being only II miles long by z
broad, while Prasln is the next in size.
Gen. Gordon says: Eden is district,
the garden is q spot chosen in that dis
trict, the trees were actual trees, inn
bued for time with spiritual quali-
ties"
He goes further. He not only gives
reasons for believing the Garden Of
Eden was located on Praslin, but he
also attempts, fancifully enough to
most readers, perhaps, to distinguish
the tree of knowledge and the tree Of
life, Of these he says;
well, I thought there were two trees
actual trees-which had been sacramental,
and had ceased to be so: and in Praslin
near Seychelles, and only there in the
whole world. is magnificent tree, curious
beyond description, called the prince of the
vegetable kingdom; it is unique in it's
species and on earth. The Laodicean
Seychellarium, or Coco di Mir. This, l be-
lieve, was the tree of knowledge I then
thought If the one tree is to be found so is
the other, and this think is the Artocarpus
incisa, or bread fruit; it is a humble tree,
of no great distinction, yet to an observer
it is as unique in it's kind and among trees
as the other. This last tree is only found
in the Indian ocean 1t is DEMONSTRATING
tree, and, like the other, it is full of Scrip
tural types"
il Curiously enough, Gen. Gordon seems
to have started on his search for these
two trees first, and having found them
in Praslin, he next proceeds to show
how this island in it's location CORE.
spends to the Eden described in Gene.
sis. In doing this he adopts the transla-
ton of Genesis, 2-1o, that the four riv.
ers flowed into Eden instead of out of it..
Thence he takes the Euphrates and
the Tigris, which meet and flow into
the Persian gulf, and from the two
other rivers he takes Pison to be the
Nile and Gihon as the brook on the
southern side of Jerusalem, which
meets the Kedron and flows into the
Dead sea.
OF course, there are difficulties about
Gen. Gordon's supposition, difficulties
not only in the meaning of the verse
to which he gives different signifi-
canoe to the usual one, but geographi.
cal difficulties, especially as regards the
brook Gihon, which certainly is an in.
significant stream to be mentioned with
the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates. But
all the attempts to locate the lost Para
disc of the human race have their diff
fculties, and Gen. Gordon's theory is
at least ingenious and probably as near
the truth as any. The article is more
valuable as showing the deeply reli-
gious character of Gen. Gordon's mind
than as contribution to subject con.
corning which it is impossible to do
more than supply an ingenious conjec-
ture.-Chicago Tribune.
The Story of n Kiss.