The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1906-1908, 1908-04-11
AT JOsIIUA'S TOMB
CITY OF 5AeDAo CLAIMS Rzsr
ING PLACE OF LEADER
Moslem Women Gather There ana
Pray for All Kinds of FaVors-Has
Been Taken from Custody
Of the Jews.

OF the Jews.
Bagdad, once city of 5000, 900 peo-
pie, and 1000 years ago the WORLDS
center of all which civilization means
boasts only two graves of its great
characters. The tomb of the Calinh
Alansur and of Zobeide. the wife al
Earun-el-Rashid, alone stand among
it's ruins, says the Sunday School
Times Where the long list of caliuhs
the grand vizers and the poets who
made Bagdad famous were buried
I none can say. The tombs have prob.
ably deem demolished by the ruthless
/ hunters OF bricks.
/ However, among the ruins of the
old city of BagGad to the left Of the
I Tigris. stands a large square brick
( structure in which the Moslem keen.
ers sOlemnly assert the body Of Josh.
ua Is buried. Ii is useless to test their
4 statements by the apparent age Of the
( building, for the small square bricks
OF its walls, gathered from the ruins OF
the Arabic period, may indicate only
a tO-A1Nl uNtlCA LIZ plE6Cul QQliu-
ing is moi ancient. The entrance, pro.
tected by portIco, leads into large
open court. which is surrounded by
chambers. In seine of the chambers
are tGmbs of The recent dead; in
others the attendants live and in one
is housed rough board coffin, which
renders service at every funeral in
the community 1t is used to trans.
port the body to the cemetery and
is then returned to the mosque to
await the next burial. A single date
palm now grows in the court, raising
its head above the fiat roof to which
a brick stairway leads.
At the farther end of the court, oc.
cupying the entire rear of the build
ing, is the shrine, spacious, window.
less chamber, lighted only by the door
way, and entirely destitute of furni.
ture save for the coarse reed mats
which cover the brick floor It's cen
ter is capped by a large dome, and the
walls have recently been white.
washed, yet in places beneath the
thin white coat appear the more an.
cient Hebrew inscriptions which were
once the interior decorations.
The tomb beneath the center of the
dome is protected by large rectangu.
lar paneled case of dark wood, and
excepting in one place, where a panel
is missing. it is invisible. At the head
of the case are two tin projections,
about which are tied a number of
strings or rags torn from the gar
ments of the visiting pilgrims. One
day, while was standing at the head
of the sacred tomb, young Moslem
woman entered, and with eyes wet
~t'h weeping she tore a small rag
ic1n her garment and tied it
about one of the projections, while
.'he numbled a prayer to God that be-
lore a year hence, when she should
come to unite the rag, she might pre-.
sent her husband with a child. 1t
was but repetition of the picture of
hannah, the mother Of Samuel, while
ne was at the temple, weeping and
praying before Eli the priest. In the
shfines OF the east, the picture is still
common. Before the government
buildings at Bagdad stands a big
annon which the ignorant Arab won
IN, aware of its tremendous power
believe can answer prayer.
TIE old gun is half hidden with the
strings and rags tied about it, each tc
represent a prayer, and could 1t speal
i might tell strange stories of the
confessions which the confiding won
en- have poured out to it. So with the
tomb of Joshua. There the women
gather and pray for all kinds d
favors, firm in the belief that the
! prophet will in some way cause then
! TO be granted
Less than half century ago the
tomb of Joshua was in Jewish hands
but the Turkish officials caused 8
number of them to be arrested as
they were bearing the body of a noted
rabbi there for burial. They were i'm
: prisoned for attempting to bury a Jew
/ at the shrine of the great prophet
: They were finally released upon the
payment of large sums of money but
tho care of the tomb was taken from
! them. Since then the tomb has been
forbidden to the Jews, and like most
Moslem things, 1t now shows sad neg
lect. Yet should we follow the Jewish
woman as she crosses the old boat
bridge, We M see her turn toward
the tomb, ard from a distance look
longingly at the doorway which she Is
; forbidden to enter, while her lips ut
ter a prayer with the hope that the
long-buried leader, even so far away
may hear and answer 1t.