Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-07-07


The town is surrounded with beautiful
gardens and groves. which occupy tbs
entire plair. an area of several mile.
between the mountains and the sea.
Upon hill that projects into tn,
sea is a castle of St Louis built by
the Crusaders and II is a picturesque
land mark. At the southern end oi
the town is an extensive Metropolis
which offers the most remarkable evi
| ienee of the ancient wealth and i'm
portance of the town that can be i'm
agined. Rectangular chambers abou,
zen or twelve feet square are exca
waited in the solid rock and were Used
rs vaults for the burial of rich citi
sens. Some of them were succeed
with cement and decorated in Pom
peian style; others show evidence OF
having been faced with mosaics. and
all formerly contained sarcophag OF
marble, porphyry, lead clay and other
material highly decorated with cary
ings. paintings and other enrich
| ments.
These tomb chambers. however.
have been looted of everything of val
| III ny NdlttlS he TCDDpTN DTODdDlN
| began at the time of the crusaders.
Here We're found the sarcophagus of
Alexander the Great which is now ex-
| nibited in the museum of Constanti-
| lCple. and other burial urns and cases
Of great artistic beauty have been
shipped to museums in almost every
| great city. In 1855 was discovered
he basalt sarcophagus of the Sidon-
an king. Eshmunazar, now in the
Louvre at Paris. and the lid bears a
lolg Phoenician inscription This
1eathen king, like Shakespeare, in
Yoked curse upon the vandal who
should disturb his bones. In 1887
seventeen fine Greek and Phoenician
marble tombs were discovered and
'ent to Constantinople. and, although
10 systematic excavation has been
made here. it is certain that many
treasures still remain buried. Peo-
pie are constantly finding rare things
Not long ago a party of workmen.
while digging for the foundation of a
house in grove of mulberry trees,
lnearthed several copper pots CON
aiming about $4,000 worth of gold
"on issued by Alexander the Great
and Philip of Macedon. They ap-
peared to be fresh from the mint, and
some of them were coined. 1t is evil
lent that they were buried by some
body who had access to the royal
trcaesure chest and was unable
to recover them. The workmen went
wild with excitemnt and establishment.
The news of their discovery soon
spread through the city. and hundreds
of people brought shovels and spades
to dig up the rest of the grove. More
energy was displayed in Sidon than
at any time since the crusaders, but
nothing of value was unearthed. The
governor of the city calmly took pos
session of the coin. and is said to have
forwarded it to the sultan. but if he
did so his imperial master must have
melted up the gold. for only few of
the coins ever got into the hands of
the dealers. and those were pilfered.
As soon as the facts were published
there was a great demand for them.
The general impression is that the
governor was the sole beneficiary of
the find.
Sidon must have been much larger
han at present, for evidences of its
extent are found everywhere in the
gardens and groves that surround it.
Columns of marble, broken statuary,
carved stone and other building ma
terial are discovered deep in the soil
You must remember that Sidon was
very old city even at the time of Solo
non having been founded, according
TO Josephus. by Sidon, the eldest son
of Canaan, and the grandson of Noah.
At the time of the invasion of Canaan
by the Israelities under Joshua it was
the chief city of the Phoenicians.
Phoencia means the land of palms"
and was applied to this country by the
Greeks. The Hebrew name was
Canaan. and wherever the latter is
used in the Bible ii refers to the ter
ritory occupied by the descendants of
Noah's grandson Canaan. who were
known as Phoenicians by other for
egners.
They were the most remarkable peo-
| pie of their age, and the limited ter
ritory they occupied bore no proportion
| to the wealth they possessed and the
| influence they eXerted. Beginning i'm
mcdiately after the flood, they became
| the pioneers of all the earth in com
| merce. art and industry, and for twen-
ty-five centuries practically monopol-
| lied the trade of the world. The Is
raelties in those days eXerted no in
| liuence in the development and pro-
| gress of the human race. they con
tributed nothing to its wealth or com
merce or knowledge. They did not
seek distinction in art, science, litera-
ture or trade. They were content to
| rest upon their historic traditions
| their sacred claims as the chosen peo
pie of God. while the Canaanites OF
| Phoenicians, whom they displace. en-
| gagged with eagerness and zeal in all
| the pursuits that attracted the enter
prise of men. They cxcelled all other
nations in shipbuilding navigation
and the useful arts; they carried tc
Europe the superior accomplishments
of east and brought back the tin oi
England, the copper of Spain. the am
ber of the Baltic. iron of Sweden and
exchanged them for the spices. gems
and costly fabrics of India, Arabia