Asiatic Breezes Part 32

"You have done exceedingly well, Mr. Gaskette, and I think the professor can ask for nothing better than you have given him," replied the commander.

"Certainly not," added the learned gentleman. "I can give the boundaries no more definitely than they are presented on this beautiful map. I am extremely delighted to have the a.s.sistance which it will afford me. The artist might have guessed at some of the division lines, as others have done. He has given us Mesopotamia, Susiana, and the region between them, and that is all I desire.

"Perhaps I shall disappoint you, Mr. Commander, by the meagreness of my description of these ancient countries; for these subjects in detail would be very tiresome to the company under present circ.u.mstances, and I propose to bring out only a few salient points in regard to them," said the professor.

"The only thing I feared, Professor, was that you would go into them too diffusely, forgetting that your audience are not savants, or even college students, such as you have been in the habit of addressing. I am very glad to find that you have just the right idea in regard to the situation," replied Captain Ringgold.

"It is fortunate that we agree," continued the instructor, as he took the pointer and turned to the map. "This map lays before you the region lying to the north-east of Arabia, on the port hand of the s.h.i.+p, as the commander would say; and with your imagination you can look over these mountains and sands and see it. You observe that Syria is on the west of the northern part of it, with Armenia just where it is now, on the north of it, though there was more of it then than now; for in ancient times it reached to the Caspian Sea. An old lady in the country at whose house I used to spend my vacation used to call things that could not be changed as fixed as the laws of the 'Medes and Parsicans.' She meant the Medes and Persians; and Media, now a part of Persia, was the eastern boundary of the region mapped out On the south-east is Susiana, now a large portion of Persia.

"This beautiful map tempts me to be more diffuse than I should have been without it; but it gives you a bit of ancient geography which will do you no harm. There are two great rivers which extend through this territory, the Euphrates and the Tigris, though both of them unite and flow into the Persian Gulf. Of the former of them the commander has spoken to you this morning. Scholars have not been able to locate Paradise, or the Garden of Eden, with anything like precision; but it is generally supposed to have been between these two great streams. Some think it was not a place at all, but only a location given to a moral idea; others place it in the mountains of Armenia or Northern Mesopotamia."

"The pesky Bible critics!" exclaimed Mrs. Blossom; but Mrs. Belgrave "hunched her" as the good lady expressed it.

"All this region has been in the possession of various masters, and even the countries themselves are very much mixed. a.s.syria was the eastern portion of the northern part," continued the professor, indicating the location with his wand. "In the British Museum and elsewhere you have seen ba.s.s-reliefs and figures brought from the ruins of a.s.syrian cities, and in these the country is called a.s.sur. In Genesis x. 11, we read: 'Out of that land [s.h.i.+nar] went forth a.s.shur, and builded Nineveh.'

This was said of Nimrod; s.h.i.+nar was a name of Babylonia.

"The history becomes complicated, and is a record of the achievements of the a.s.syrian kings, Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon, Sennacherib, and others. It would not be profitable to go over them. The Babylonian monarchy was before a.s.syria was founded. The government was a despotism with nothing to soften it, and the religion was the wors.h.i.+p of many G.o.ds. Its history dates back from 913 to 659 years before the birth of Christ, though there are tablets which carry it back to 2330 A.D. The empire began to decay in the reign of Sardanapalus, when the governor of Babylon and the king of Media conspired against it; and Nineveh was captured and destroyed a little more than 600 years before Christ."

The commander announced another recess at this time, though the party appeared to be very much interested in the story of these ancient countries, closely connected with Bible history. Half an hour was spent in walking the deck and gazing at the sh.o.r.es, which were still the same, for the s.h.i.+p was yet in the Gulf of Suez. After this rest the professor resumed his place on the rostrum.

"This is Babylonia, as it is now called to distinguish it from Babylon, the city," said the instructor, as he pointed to the region along the sh.o.r.es of the southern Euphrates, and to the city on both sides of it.

"In the Scripture it is called s.h.i.+nar, Babel, and 'the Land of the Chaldees.' It was and is a very rich and fertile country, extensively irrigated in modern times. Susiana is now a part of Persia, and the rest of the territory represented on the map is included in Turkey in Asia.

"The people were of the Semitic race; in other words, they were descended from Shem, the son of Noah; but Babylonia in the past and present is a land of many races and languages, and the readers of the inscriptions have been bothered by the variety of tongues. The British and the New York Museum have figures and tablets revealing the history of Babylonia. But it takes an archaeologist to translate their discoveries. The relations of the monuments indicate that the antiquity of Babylonia reaches back about as far as that of Egypt. A stone in the British Museum brought from this locality has the name of Sargon I., king of Akkad, is reliably vouched for as coming down from the year 3800 B.C.

"The ancient tablets inform us that Narbona.s.sar ascended his throne in 747 (all these dates are B.C.). He reigned fourteen years, which were taken up in wars with a.s.syria, in which the latter got the best of it in the end. Then, in 625, invasions from the east afforded the Babylonians the opportunity of throwing off the yoke of a.s.syria, and Nabopola.s.sar became king. In 604 he was succeeded by his son Nebuchadnezzar, who was accounted one of the greatest monarchs that ever ruled the empire.

"In the forty-three years of his reign he recovered the lost provinces of the kingdom, and made his country the queen of the nations of his time. He rebuilt the city of Babylon, and restored all the temples and public edifices. It is said that not a single mound has been opened in this territory in which were not found bricks, cylinders, or tablets on which his name was inscribed. He captured Jerusalem, and a year later destroyed it, sending most of its people to Chaldea. He died in 561, and was succeeded by his son.

"This son was murdered; and there was confusion again till 556, when the throne was usurped by Nabonidus, the son of a soothsayer, who became a wise and active prince, and his reign ranks next in importance to that of Nebuchadnezzar. His name is found in almost all the temples unearthed. After he had ruled seventeen years, all Babylonia revolted against him because he neglected his religious duties, as well as those of the court, leaving all the business to be done by his son Belshazzar.

"At this point the historians get mixed again. Some say that Belshazzar was the last king of Babylonia. In Daniel v. 30, we read: 'In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom.' Xenophon informs us that Babylon was taken in the night while the inhabitants were engaged in feasting and revelry, and that the king was killed. To this extent sacred and profane history agree. The country became a Persian province. Then it was conquered by Alexander the Great, who died in Babylon in 323. It was also a part of the Roman Empire at two different times.

"In 650 the successors of Mohammed overthrew the Persian monarchy, and the province was the seat of the caliphs till A.D. 1258. On the Tigris in this region is the city of Bagdad, the capital of a province of the same name. Here lived and reigned the Caliph Haroun al-Raschid, or Haroun 'the Orthodox,' who is more famous in story than in history, though he was a wise ruler, a poet, and a scholar, and built up his domain. I have disposed of the two princ.i.p.al empires of this region, pictured on the map; and the next in order is Persia."

"You haven't told us about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, said to be one of the great wonders of the world," suggested Mrs. Belgrave.

"They are hardly historical; but I will give you what I recall in relation to them. One writer says they were built by Queen Semiramis, the wife of Ninus, an alleged founder of Nineveh. She was a beautiful girl, brought up by Simmas, a shepherd, from whom her name is derived.

One of the king's generals fell in love with her and married her. Then he himself was smitten by her beauty, and wanted her himself; the husband was good-natured enough to commit suicide, and she became queen.

Ninus soon died in a very accommodating manner, and Semiramis reigned alone for over forty years.

"Others regard the wonderful gardens as the work of Nebuchadnezzar.

Diodorus Siculus and Strabo have described them. They are said to have covered about four acres, built on terraces, supported by arches of brick or stone, and were seventy-five feet high. They were watered from a reservoir at the top, to which water was forced from the Euphrates.

Fountains and banquet halls were placed on the various terraces, as well as gardens of flowers. Trees, groves, and avenues gave a variety to the scene, and the view of the vast city was magnificent."

The professor retired; and another recess followed at the word of the commander, who thought his school was doing admirably, and he was anxious not to overdo the matter.

"I am afraid it will take all day for me to dispose of the subjects a.s.signed to me," said the professor, as he took his place again.

"I hope it will," replied Mr. Woolridge. "Very much to my surprise, I have become deeply interested in the subjects you present, Professor."

"It is better than the theatre," added Miss Blanche in a low tone to Louis.

"I shall give you only a few fragments in regard to Persia, and leave Syria to be considered when the Guardian-Mother makes her trip to Palestine. Persia is called Iran by the natives, and it is the largest and most powerful native kingdom of Western Asia. It includes the provinces of Susiana, Persis, and Media on the map, and extends from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, with Afghanistan and Beloochistan on the east, and Asia Minor on the west.

"A considerable portion of the country is mountainous, and between the Elburz range and the Caspian Sea is an extinct volcano 18,600 feet high.

About three-fourths of Persia is practically a desert for want of rain or artificial irrigation. In California, Colorado, and other States, our people have transformed just such regions into fertile districts. But in spite of the fact that such a large portion of the country is a desert, some parts are exceedingly fertile and beautiful. Some immense valleys, even a hundred miles wide, are of this character, and the productions of the country are varied and valuable. It has no navigable rivers, though many of large size and volume, some of which are beginning to be used for purposes of irrigation. There are many salt lakes.

"The climate is varied; as Cyrus said to Xenophon, 'The people perish with cold at one extremity, and are suffocated with heat at the other.'

The population has been estimated from forty down to eight millions; and the latter is probably about correct. Roads are utterly neglected, and the people live in mean houses, generally of earth or mud, and the wealthy are not much better housed than the poorer cla.s.s. The trade is of little importance. There are silk manufactures in nearly every province. Cotton and woollen fabrics, carpets, shawls, and felt goods are largely produced; and the trade is carried on between the chief towns of Persia with the interior of Asia by caravans. They exchange these goods for cloth, printed calico, tea, coffee, and fancy goods.

Teheran in the north is the capital and the most important place; Ispahan is in the centre, s.h.i.+raz in the south, and Bus.h.i.+re is the princ.i.p.al seaport on the gulf.

"The government is an absolute monarchy of the most p.r.o.nounced kind, though somewhat influenced by the priests, the dread of private vengeance, and insurrection. Taxation is heavy, and very burdensome to the subjects. Persia has a standing army of 200,000, but it is said to exist largely on paper. Incidentally you have learned considerable about the history of the country, and I shall not go over it. The present shah, as he is called, is Nasr ed-din, born in 1831. He ought to be a progressive monarch, for he has visited England and France several times."

The professor retired, and the conference adjourned till afternoon.

CHAPTER XXIX

VIEW OF MOUNT SINAI IN THE DISTANCE

When the professor concluded his lecture for the forenoon, the audience scattered, some of them feeling the need of more exercise; but Captain Ringgold went to the pilot-house. Like the cabin pa.s.sengers, he immediately gave his attention to the mountains of the peninsula; for the African sh.o.r.e was little better than a blank, with nothing there worthy of notice. The pilot was an intelligent man, and he proceeded to question him in regard to the peaks in sight.

Just then there was nothing difficult in the navigation; and Twist, the quartermaster, was at the wheel, steering the course which had been given out, south south-west half west. The pilot knew the mountains as though they had been old friends of his for a lifetime. It did not take the commander long to learn his lesson; and he returned to the deck, where the pa.s.sengers were gazing at the lofty points, thirty to forty miles distant, but still very distinctly seen in the clear air of the day. As soon as the captain appeared they gathered around him. He had ordered all the spy-gla.s.ses on board to be brought out, and those who had opera or field gla.s.ses had been to their staterooms for them.

"Isn't it time to see something, Captain Ringgold?" asked Mrs. Belgrave, to whom he had directed his steps.

"There is always something to be seen in a narrow gulf like this, though we shall be out of sight of land to-morrow morning when you come on deck. We are now abreast of a plateau 1,600 feet high, which extends for about thirty miles along the coast. It is a part of the desert of Kaa, which extends to the southern point of the peninsula, over which you would have had to travel first by camel for nearly twenty miles, if we had gone to Mount Sinai by the only route open to us.

"We have seen about deserts enough," added the lady.

"Then you are the better prepared for the immense contrast between plains of sand and the rich lands of India, covered with the most luxuriant foliage. Now we have it at its best!" exclaimed the commander.

"What do we have? I don't see anything."

"We have Mount Serbal, which some believe is the genuine Mount Sinai,"

continued the commander, as he pointed out the loftiest peak in sight, and which was readily distinguished from all others.

All the pa.s.sengers had by this time gathered near him; for all of them were antic.i.p.ating a sight at the lofty height which had given a name to the peninsula, though its real name is Arabia Petraea, as we used to read about it in "Stephens's Travels" sixty years ago.

"That mountain is the highest on the peninsula; and if it is not the real Mount Sinai, where the law was delivered to Moses, some insist that it ought to be, for they say it is loftier, grander, n.o.bler, and more worthy the great event than the one which is generally a.s.signed as its location," said the captain. "As you have been informed before, Serbal is 8,712 feet high."

Mrs. Blossom did not appear to be satisfied. Evidently she desired to "gush" over the Holy Mountain; but the doubt as to "which was which," as she stated it, bothered her very seriously, and she was not at all friendly to the "pesky Bible critics," who had raised the doubt as to its ident.i.ty.

"Jebel Musa!" shouted the commander a couple of hours later; and the party gathered around him again.