The Savannah morning news., 1902-09-21

emma Academy nlIeO out the eApeult4oA
of a philologist, the Rev. DIR. Alois
Musil. and the painter, Hans Mielich,
TO explore the land of Edom in north
western Arabia. In their first trip
they discovered the famous, but, until
then, never-seen ghost palace OF Amra,
which the Arab caravans had made
known TO Europeans generations ago
by their marvellous tales. According
to them, it was beautiful and deadly.
Its walls were decorated by magnif1-
cent paintings that were guarded by
DjinnS and other evil spirits of the
desert. No man ever had approached
it and lived. according to the tradition.
The Viennese expedition found 1t,
thanks to the friendship of an Arab
chief, who turned out to be quite the
Arab of romance-lion-hearte hand
some, loyal,and the soul of hospital
ity and truthfulness. So enticing were
the results of this tour that the two
explorers tried another trip to the I'M
known desert country. But this time
they were not so fortunate with the
Arab chiefs. In Wadi- al-Butum de-
pressingly different kind of an Arab
pounced on them with armed men and
robbed them of all they had. Not bit
discouraged, they refitted as best they
could and explored the Damascene des-
ert, with good results. But they found
no more ghost palaces.
Wilhelm III and Alexander the Great
The Emperor of Germany is busy
with a unique project that will be of
value to the historical as we'll as the
military world Some time ago he dis
patched Col. Janke and the Captains
Won Bismarck, Won Plessen and Won
Mares to Asia Minor to make topo-
graphical and photographed studies
and to draw up complete charts of the
famous battlefields of Alexander the
Great. The expedition was even more
successful than had been hoped for
and returned with so much material
that important results are expected
from the work, which now is nearing
its completion in Berlin under person.
al superintendent of the Emperor.
Especially good charts and pictures
have been obtained of the field of the
Issus, where Alexander conquered Da-
RUS 1885 years ago, and the battle OF
the Cranikos, where he beat the Per-
slams a year before that.
Laws of Persia 1000 ID. G.
The French explorer, De Morgan,
who has been excavating in Susiana,
in Persia, has found not one buried
city, but half dozen of them, one on
top of the other. The conuuerors as
they succeeded each other there had
the amiable habit of destroying every
thing and building their own city, ac-
cording to their own tastes, on the
ruins. So it happens that, as the De
Morgan expedition excavated it I'M
earthed one city below the other. Grad
ually the entire lost history of Persia
was laid bare. The Dominican Father
She'll. who accompanies this party as
Lector, now has an occupation that will
make the mouths of archaeologists and
historians all over the world water.
He discovered q stone column that is
covered with cuneiform writings. He
has deciphered enough already to know
that these writings represent laws and
statutes that were promulgated in Per-
STA one thousand years before Christ
was born. This will make a prize for
the world when the work is finished.
On the Track of the Queen of Sheba.
Even the stolid and not easily i'm
pressed or curious Turks have joined
the explorers. In Yemen, which is a
part of Arabia where their rule really
is more than nominal, so that they can
dig without danger of being swooped
on by obnoxious desert Kings, the
Turks have come on the tracks of no
less a parsonage than the Queen of
Sheba, the delightful lady of fashion
who visited Solomon. The Turks have
unearthed fine marble tablets, uncom-
monty well preserved, with vast
amount of inscription dating back so
far that the excavators are encouraged
to hope that some of them really will
prove to be edicts of the famous queen
herself.
Many ancient figures of marble and
bronze were found, and these and, old
coins that were found were transport
ed to Sana. where the Governor Cen
eral has formed a commission to ex-
anime the finds and report on them,
which will, no doubt, be done in the
regular course of placid Turkish
events.
Is the Great Aepyornis AIivee
In Madagascar a local French acad-
envy has been organized under the au-
thority of the government. 1t is to
consist of thirty members. At present
it has sixteen-F'renchmen, Scandi-
navians, Germans, and English, with
three natives. 1t is named the Acad-
envy of Tanarivo, and the members
propose to study the mysterious and
practically unknown island from end
to end for everything from the folk
lore to the creatures that inhabit it,
The romantic side of their efforts will
be the opportunity that they will have