Omaha daily bee., 1902-10-05

which, tire inhsbiting Berbers had sworn.
never should be 30 visited. This man. whose
name is Count r. dc Borden de segonzsc,
decided differently. So he worked his way
~ near the unknown land a. he could, and
then, obtaining DISCUSSES. he wandered on
ne an Arab. Despite his excellent knowl-
edge Of the manners. speech and customs
Of the Mcroccans and the Inhabitants OF
the Atlas mountains. he feared that they
might penetrate his disguise ~ they be
came inuuisltive as to his business. So he
took advantage Of the fact that Mohamme-
dams believe that insane persons are under
the especial care Of Allah and pretended
to be insane. This assured him Of respect
and good treatment everywhere, and, al
though he had many narrow escapes, he
managed to play his role to the end and
make his way back to civilization with his
valuable head still on his shoulders.
He saw the land Of the Djabala. then
crossed the Atlas mountain home Of the
| Berbers, and, to end his trip pleasantly,
he wandered Through the country Of the
famous and savage Rim pirates. There he
spoiled the Egyptians" for he gathered
money in company with a begging pilgrim,
in whose party he iourneyed from tribe to
tribe.
In Asia Minor the Imperial German
Archaeological institute has paid for ex-
cavations on the site of the famous old
temple Of Gordium, and enough finds have
been made to prove that the workers are
digging out an ancient settlement that was
great and hourishing 1900 years before
Christ.
other excavations in the peninsula Of
Miletus, on the Aegean sea, have produced
results 30 tempting that private German
capital has been furnished. with which the
greater part OF the peninsula has been
purchased outright to assure successful
prosecution OF the work. The territory
thus acquired comprises the site Of the
great Metropolis and the Sacred Way, lead
ing to the famous temple OF Apollo Of
Didyma, the greatest holy place OF Asia
Minor In its day. =
This purchase. 1t is said now, will make
a far more wonderful place to visit than
even Pompeii. for when the excavations
are completed a perfect dream city will
have been unearthed. The entire hill in
front OF the city, crowned by the famous
theater, belongs to the excavators. also
the ancient harbor basin. with its en-
trance marked with two colossal marble
lions. and with a port city with halls in
it more than 800 feet long.
Included In the purchase, also, are the
recently unearthed forum, the market place
with a Roman fountain of rare beauty, the
baths and a mass of ruins that have not
yet been examined or cleaned out.
In the wonderful Mesopolamian valley, the
scene OF the most intensely interesting his
tory Of all mankind. there has been digging
in many places. Places that were held
against all study and even entry by the
powerful. unbeaten Bedouin tribes, who sue
cessfully deied exploration party after
party in the last twenty years, have yielded
at last to the railroad engineer. The val
legs Of the Euphrates and the Tigris are
being crossed and recrossed by Americans
and Germans with surveyors rods and
theodolites. Their steel measuring tapes
CLEAN on the tawny sands where once the
queen Of Sheba trod. They are laying out
the route Of the Bagdad railroad. where
once the Assyrians came down like the
wolf on the fold"
Engineering troops have been climbing
around and delving in the ruins of Urfa on
a branch Of the Euphrates-old Ur, the city
OF Nimrod. the hunter, son of Ham, FIRST
ruler of Shinar. The engineers have been
planning a railroad station on the very
site. perhaps, Of the place where he used
to entertain the great hunters of-the Baby
lonian kingdom that he is said In old east
/. ern tales to have founded. Prosaic mathe-
maticians have been drawing up long sta
tistics on the stone tables that remain in
tact on the rocks in front Of Urfa and that
still are pointed out as the tables at which
Nimrod himself used to sit to drink his
wine and tell. no doubt, OF his narrow es.
, capes and the big game that he had killed
When the steel rails are laid they may
, lead over those very stone benches and
tables. They will pass by the holy Laks
~ liz n IA.
banks. according to the local Mohammedar
= tradition Of today, Abraham, the Patriarch
designed to sacrifice his son Jacob.
r The engineers have found that the ancien
5 tales Of the Euphrates as a mighty anC
n terrible river were based on good grounds
C They acknowledge In their report that thei
= modern science is going to meet With al
most as great a problem there as did tn
W science OF the Babylonians, for In tn,
time Of the annual thaws far up in tn
n mountains Of Kurdistan and Armenia tn
a river rises as much as eighteen feet an,
tears away everything that is in it's path
So the o.den troubles of the vanished bridg
Ie builders may be experienced again by tn
lie present ones.
II These railroad engineers also have enable
L the world to learn something at last abou
lie the mysterious and notorious devil wor
- nv u . INV a"NAA a Al
y hills OF Mosul on the Tigris, near tn
Is ruins OF Nineveh. The Turks call ther
Extinguisher Of Lights. They are Kurds
b and recognize two forces only in the worl
10 the good and the bad. Arguing that tn
y good can not do any one harm. they wor
ship the bad, in order to keep solid" wit
J. II. They dare not even mention the devi
70 by name. II they refer to him at all the
call him Til Mighty King or 18th
ic King Peacock"
+ The German explorers are making ne'
Iu finds continually In the Black Hills beyon
n Babylon. A recent excavation has un
earthed a temple OF a god of physicians
The chemical examination of Babylonia
a. copper and bronze articles has convince
In the explorers that the Babylonians under
ls stood the art OF making bronze out Of a
alloy OF copper and antimony at leas
ne 5000 years before Christ.
DR.. William Helm, assistant curator
the Museum OF National History
a. Vienna. and his wife. have returned fro
a daring and adventurous trip throus
ne southern Arabia, the land OF the indepent
OF emit kings, who have never recognized II
ne rnl. - Tarkavy "a vuhaza nau,la . m,