The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1913-07-17
BIBLICAL PROOF IN TREES.
Curves in Sequoias Show Famine In
Time of Prophet Elijah.

pamphlet it has just issued on the
giant trees of California. The tree
scientists have discovered in the
grains of the California trees what
they claim to be unmistakable proof
that the great drought and famine in
Palestine, in the days of the prophet
Elijah, $40 years before Christ, was
equally felt on the Pacific coast of
the United States However, the press
agent of the bureau of forestry tells
his own story in the following Ian
guage:
I'm the days of the Prophet Elijah
sore famine afflicted the land of Pal
estine. No rain fell, the brooks ran
dry and dire disaster prevailed. Go
through the land" said King Ahab to
the prophet, Obadiah, unto all the
fountains of water and unto all the
brooks; peradventure we may find
grass and save the horses and mules
alive, that We lose not all the beasts.
eWhen Obadiah went forth insearch
of forage he fell in with his chief,
Elijah, and brought him to Ahab,
who greeted him as the troubler of
Israel. Then Elijah prayed for rain,
according to the Bible story, and the
famine was stayed. From this fam
inc in Palestine, some $40 years be-
fore Christ, to the forests of the
Sierra Nevadas, in the twentieth cen
tury, is a far cry, but the connecting
link between the past and the pre-
sent between the ancient east and
the modern west, is found in the big
trees of California, the huge species
known as Sequoia Washingtonia.
"In a pamphlet entitled The Sc
cret of the Big Trees by Ellsworth
Huntington, just placed On sale by
the Superintendent of Documents,
Washington, D. c., it is shown that
the growth rings in the big trees of
California indicate that in general
the same sequence of climatic chang
es took place in California and Asia
Minor. Curves indicating climatic
conditions in California and Asia Mi
nor show a remarkable resemblance
between the two regions.
The curves begin with the epoch
of the Trojan War, about 1900 B. c..
There both curves dip very low, indi-
eating an epoch of sudden and severe
dessication. That particular period,
historians tell us, was one of the most
chaotic in all history.
''The famine in the days of Elijah
appears in both curves. Apparently
at that time the climate did not be-
come extremely dry, nothing like so
bad as it had been a few hundred
years earlier during the twelfth CEN
tury, but there was rather a distinct
falling off in the amount of rainfall
as compared with the uncommonly
good conditions of the preceding CEN
tury. About 700 years before Christ
both curves stand high in the day
when the Greeks were laying founda-
ton of their future greatness and the
empires of Mesopotamia were at their
height. Then comes a pronounced
falling off, With recovery of 800 or
400 years before Christ, another de-
cline eliminating about 200 B. c.,
and a recovery reaching high point
about 500 B. C.
''The time of Christ, egreat era of
universal peace under the sway of
Rome, was apparently an epoch of
favorable climate, a time of abundant
rain and consequently good crops in
all the countries around the Mediter-
ranean sea and eastward in Asia, as
we'll as in California. Next comes a
long period of decline eliminating 6
six or seven centuries after the time
of Christ. No period in all history,
save that which centers about 1900
B. c., was more chaotic, and that
early period also appears to have
been a time of greatly diminished
rainfall"
This publication, which may be
purchased from the superintendent
of documents, government printing
office, for cents, gives detailed ac-
count of the reasons and work that
led to the conclusions given above.
1t also contains thirteen illustrations,
showing the big trees in the Yose-
mite, Sequoia and General Grant ma
tional parks.-Washington Cor. Chi
cago News.
ATLANTA MAN a SI~TCTDE