The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-09-07
RUINS OF ANCIENT RACE
ax1GAHNABLE nIscovERIEs OF
 AARON VOW OPPENHEIM.
n Upper Mesopotrnaia Supposed Desert Was Found Tesming
 With Archaeological Remains
 --Racs After 1aes had There Built Cities.

Inefe buht CdIloss
 Newport Special to New York World.
 Baron Max yon oppenheim. the Ger man diplomat and traveller, Is spending the summer here. resting after arduous }abcre and exciting adventures. and mel dentaiiy revising the proofs of forthcom- Ing volumes of travels.
 Baron Oppepheim's fame as an ex- pIcrer has been won in four or fve ex- pedittpps into Africa and Arabia. Con- cerning vast regions in Syria and Meso- potsmia n psTticuiar, he ts the sole who has penetrated them since the decay of the cities and states that once covered parucuiariy fruitful in results of human and archaeological interest. A prelimi- nary .report upon them has been made 10 the Gefman Royal Geographical So- ciety, but the full account is not yet ready for publication. l have, however, by the courtesy of Baron won Oppenheim. been acquainted with many most inter- estins hitherto unpnblished facts concern ing it-one of the most important expior-
 Seven Months Expedition.
 This joarney. which occupied seven months travel in a country hitherto ab- soluteiy unknown to the civilized world, was made especially to throw light upon the character of the eastern Syrian desert and upper Mesopotamia, never. before touched by exploration but supposed to consist merely of uninteresting extensions of the great Arabian desert and to be region from the beginning of time unpop- uiated and uncuitivable.
 So far from the truth was this pre- sumption that Baron Oppenheims expe- dition found itself raversing the seat of a once mighty civilization, a country crowded with majestic ruins of hundreds of towns, cities castles and towers. be- n ha diverse DHriOdS time, and witnessing to the fact that hereffor many centuries, for some mil lenta human fife had teemed, and dynas- ties, states, societies and religions had risen and fallen.
 Wonderful architectural remains, rem- nants of ancient art numberless inscrip- ory of a long history which until this moment had been forgotten by the race of men. now scattered over all the earth but in primitive times making this one
 The monuments it was impossible to lring back to civilization. but the explorer made photographs of over 2,0o0 objects of interest, together with the memoranda, measurements and ali possible data re- garding the main features brought to light. Among the chief trophies AQB the expedition are rubbings of a thousand in: soriptions, over 800 of which have proved to be new, and of the greatest interest. Some of these are religious. some are the ancient equivalent of State documents U, throwing a vivid light upaf fyNIA Sife
 Wiped Out by Tartar Hordes,
 The regions explored by Barpps Oppan- helm appear to have been inhabited up 1t was then that the Tartar hordes from the North came down upon the land, overwhelming the nations that occupied 1t and extinguishad all life. before Europe. leaving this now desolate area to the wolf and the piowling Bedouin.
 Before the Tartar came, the land had been under the dominion of local Sultans owing suzerainty to the Abbaside caiiphs descendants of Haroun al Raschid, Of Ragdad; for period. the Crusader knights had held sway over 1t; before Islam had appeared. Byzantine and RO- man EmpenoTs Nere the masters here; still earlier, the land was held by Greeks descendants of Alexander the Great; and prior to the Greeian era, its history byiapfo-AssYrian culture to that of the dittites-that primitive race whose seat and the character of whose civilization but undoubted traces of whom have now at last been brought to light
 There is, therefore to be found here of history. superimposed one upon an- s'A Baron @ Fitted fo for A the Re'rpssI Task
 Baron Oppenhein was peculiarly fitted to the hazardous plunge into this region 6y sesepts Of mnss Xca rassns and Asia a and among the Arabs. HeA had explored the far interior of Morocco, had crossed from Damascus to Bagdad by a route never before taken by a European traveller. Baron Oppenheim's great work From the Mediterranean to wAe PerSian Gulf" is indeed the standard de- scriptton of the Syrian Desert and Mes
 The Baron has been very popular at Newport this season. He has been enter tna by M the Leaders Ss;, of the. ths e0ttags his company has been universally sought.
 He was intimately familiar with the Arabic dialects and customs, having iiv- ed for months in Cairo in house in the tercourse with Europeans, and again for months in the desert, cultiyating friend ships among the Bedouin tribes. The Baron's last and culminating expedition was, in fact, made in direct consequence of hints given by Bedouin friends in Sy- ria that a country of monuments lay north of the Euphrates.
 The caravan consisted of twelve horse men, all Yell-equipped and well-armed; two Europeans besides the Baron, a stenographer and photographer. and Tn certain portions of the journey an es- cort of Bedouins was also taken.
 \ The journey was marked by very great aahorg and fatigues in some stages by great sufferings from lack of water, and by almost constant danger from Arab marauders It was only by means here Of a show of force. coupled with threats and there of diplomacy that the travellers were able to proceed. They had frequent Iy to repel attack, at one stage being assaulted eight times in the course of three days
 victim of Bedouin Treachery.
 while in the Tektek Mountains. a re- zion never before touched by European feet. Baron Oppenheim's pack animals we're poisoned by professedly friendly srhe Baron .thersupon divided ahis caravan detefEnining to push on swiftly with a few horsennen through country he was especially anxious to explore.
 fIis party was treaeherously misguided and soon found itself far from the ren- dezvous and out of food. The Baron and ais companions were compelled to exist