New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-08-06

whose inscriptions We cannot read, ana
whose art is clumsy and incompetent
copy Of the Assyrian, apparently.
The Assyrians had the better of the
Hittitcs and seem 10 have looted their
pretty things, if they had any pretty
things No golden or agate or ivory or
crystal sword hits. or elaborate silver
boards for playing some such game as
BACKGAMMON are found at Carchemish.
IL photographs il looks a kind Of fossil
sea of sandy breakers, with huge stair
cases, and a few large ugly reliefs of
human beings and heraldic beasts. Yet
il was a great capital of fertile land on
the wide Euphrates, with an empire
stretching from the Black Sea south
ward through Asia Minor. Homer APP
pears to have heard of it, and to have
called its people Keteians. Many or
them fell in a battle-that Is all we know
about them from him. They went to
the wars, but they always fell though
they were stoutly built persons. Ladies.
in their art have very thick ankles.
Conceive an empire which, as far as
| know. has left. of all its wealth. only
one big. ugly royal seal ring now in the
Ashmolean Museum at oxford Remem-
Der it. when inclined to think i'm
perially'!
Ireland and Scotland were much richer
IN goa HldHN ttIlui ltS Dfl'lt ilIt NJ
mans heard of these countries, if we
can Judge only by what has been found
IN the dust: found usually by quite I'M
scientific explorers.
At MOuntficld, in Sussex. we read, a
ploughshare turned golden things weigh
ing eleven pounds avoirdupois. and the
ploughman sold them as old brass for
five shllings and siXpence. In Dublin.
al Trinity College. you see in abundance
huge collars Of gold. such as Malachi
wore, and enormous bracelets, all of the
purest metal. There is a farm called
The Law" in the shire of Moray, the
name being derived from a conical
mound about hundred and fifty feet
across and fifteen feet high. Not in the
mound, but forty feet apart from il, the
ploughman turned up. I'm 1857. about
forty great golden arm rings. | fancy
that he was born too far north TO sell
them for five-and siXpence. Only four
Of them were rescued for a museum.
The popular belief, says DR.. Anderson,
is that golden cradle lies buried in the
Law, or large mound; but somebody dug
into it. and found only human bones in
"A cist. and an urn of clay. Had some
body robbed the mound long ago. taken
the bracelets, buried them hard by, and
never dug them up again? In the burial
mounds. for reasons unknown. only small
objects are usually discovered with the
dead in Scotland-never, or almost
never. even "A sword Of bronze. Were
the living too canny 10 bury an object
so valuable as a sword?
II is thrown I'm my teeth by the learned
who do not share my views that no.
where I'm Greece have been found I'm
burial mounds just such things as Ho-
mer describes-an urn or box of gold
with the ashes Of the dead. and, perhaps
mixture Of iron and bronze tools and
weapons. often. no doubt. they were
stolen long ago; everybody knew where
To dig for them. and I'm our days. no.
body has dug much. or dug carefully. I'm
these cairns. II does not follow that
there were no such burials as Homer
describes. for certainly there must have
been time when iron was only coming
In and bronze had not gone out But
traces OF that period. which could NOT
but exist, In the nature of things have
not been discovered There T.. | learn
from Or. Anderson. nothing unusual In
this absence of evidence There are
other periods during which the neople
must have been buried I'm large num-
hers, and yet there is hardly trace left
OF their sepulchrsl rema aims" There was
long time between the age when iron
came IN, m our islands. and the time
when the Romans occupied the country
and vet the buri4is which can he at
trlhuted TO that period are but few-and
ther not very satisfactory There Is
plenty to he fond. dare say!