The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1917-01-12

sItIon Is by no means prlmltiyel The date of this
book Is $500 Il. @.
Geography taught. astronomy and
history In the collection il the oldest history yet
found tablet giving the list of Babyonlan kings
going back to the flood. The cl0im Is that II Is a
record OF $4,000 years; but this may be disputed,
since the names Of the monarchs, which seem TO
be those of men who r-,gned successfully, may be
of men who ruled simultaneously, in Kingdoms
that were adjacent A conservative estimate Is
that this history covers 1000 Jears.
There Is book on botany, teaching the people
how to rnise the date palm an important crop Of
the times Agricultural books abound for the
temple had collegiate department just as have
Cornell and other American universities, where
scientific farming vas taught The BahSlOnans,
rs Is well known. remarkable engineers and
past masters In the field Of Irrigation. II Is not
surprising that Doctor Laugdon has found many
records Of this In the museums Bahyloninn coll
lection. We learn, again OF cannls being dug
and of a tablet that chronicles the opening of a
great waterway. like the Panama canal-thc cele-
hration over H. the presence Of the king, and the
pride felt in the great skin Of its engineers,
Further documents are reported verifying previ-
Gus assertions that the Bahyonlan woman re-
ceivcd nm education equal To mans. took her place
With him In certain lines. and compensated
with the same wage as he.
Books" had no cases and when found are often
crumhlcd, broken. cracked badly Chlpprd
TINT parts Of the translation must be guessed AT
omitted entirely. Others. fortunately. are found
intart,
Letters on the other hand. were sent In en-
velopeS also 81 clNy. When the tablet letter had
h'cn duly inscribed and signed. Il was rolled in
fine clay powder and slipped into q hollow clay
pocket More crv dust was then shaken in So
thut layers ~ powder were packed about the con
teurS If the pocket and the letter could not get
rubbed or scratched The clay opening was then
scaled and stamped With the scuder's ring.
Aftcrvnrd the address was added aud slave
dispatched with H. Later. we know that Baby.
lon'nn and Sum"riun governments supported rcgu-
lar postal systems. II is quite possible that that
regime WIS In existence In 22OO Il. c.
Many letters ARE found with seals uuhroken.
ant these ryellu'fSy preserved In their soft
powdered pads We Gun only surmlSe the reason
for their seated state. Perhaps man kept sealed
cnrt,s Of the most Important letters he had to
write. Duplicate copies ~ records and tranSac-
unu~ have been ungarthpd. sometimes miles apart
und The same practice could have held urronuIly.
of letters,
sS"rnr ~ these letters may never have been
delivered thanks 10 an inefficient postal service
IN Sopc particular locultty: or. and this is more
plausible the breaking out ~ frequent revolutions
could have couCvlvuhly crippled the Rahylonan
post offices and left many letters forever uude-
llyergd,
Individually the oldest undclivered letter IN the
world Is I'm the RahyIoOInn collection ~ the Uni.
NTF~ltt Nl lFWl>NlNAhlA museum. It's U3te would
be go n e. and Doctor LanEtlon opened and
read Il only last week
Il is from master "a his slave or ~ some un.
drrltng or employee. obviously, II Is only Of
several letters since Il refers To previous CORE
sponhvncc and to 4 previous transaction over
which the writer Is pcrturhed. Its archaic Su,
merriam Is dtctatorial. ovcrheariug and pcevISh
and rants ot some unsatisfactory -four deal that
the UNDERLYING has undertaken. one wonders
whatever became % that dourl
other tablets now being cataog1fcd have pic,
lures on them. one. hunting scene rrrinds
Of the prehistoric cave drawings found in
France, There is another ~ a battle scene vezS
much broken but rare and interesting
The coming % Doctor Iaugdon To the Universe
~ ~ Pennsylvania museum is timely and for
tunate The Bahylouian division has had no Gu