IMPORTANT CHALDEAN DISCOVERIES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 689, 2 July 1875, Page 4

IMPORTANT CHALDEAN DISCOVERIES.

Mr. Goergo Smith has communicated a series of important discoveries relating to the Book of Genesis, which he has made among the collection of tables excavated by him at Kouymjik, and presented by the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph to the British Museum. One of these tablets, the importance of which was not at the time noticed, turns out to be to the general public the most interesting and remarkable Cuneiform tablet yet discovered. It contains the Temptation, and the Fall. Mr Smith has found several smaller pieces in the old Museum collection, and all join or form parts of a continuous series of legends, giving the history of the world from the Creation down to some period after the Fall of Man. Linked with these, he found also other series of legends on primitive history including the story of the building of the Tower of Babel and of the confusion of tongues. Mr Smith gives the following descripti onof these new disco vei-ies:—“The first series which I may call, ‘ The Story of Creation and the Fall,’when complete must have consisted of nine or ten tablets at the least, and the history upon it is much larger and fuller than the corresponding account in the Book of Genesis. With respect to these Genesis narratives a furious strife has e risted for many years ; every word has been scanned by eager scholars, and every possible meaning which the various passages could bear has been suggested ; while the age and authenticity of the narratives have been discussed on all sides. In particular it may be said that on account of the fall •of man, the heritage of all Christian countries has been the centre of this controversy, for it is one of the pivots on which the Christian religion turns. The world-wide importance of these subjects will therefore give the newly discovered inoriptions, and especially the one relating to the Fall, an unparallelled value. Whatever the primitive account may have been from which the earlier part of the Book of Genesis was copied, it is evident that the brief narration given in the Pentateuch omits a number of incidents and explanations—for instance, as to the origin of evil, the fall of the angels the wickedness of the serpent, &c. Such points as those are included in the Cuniform narrative ; but of course I can say little about them until I prepare full translations of the legends. The narrative on the Assyrian tablets commences with a description of the period before the world was created, when there existed chaos or confusion. The desolate and empty state of the universe and the generations by chaos of monsters are vividly given. The chaos is presided over by a female power named Tisalat and Tiamat, corresponding to the Thalatth of Borosus ; but as it proceeds the Assyrian account agrees rather with the Bible than with the short account from Berosus. We are told in the inscriptions of the fall of tho celestial being who appears to correspond to Satan. In his ambition ho, raised his hand against the sanctuary of the God of Heaven and tho description of him is rca'ly magnificent. He is represented riding in a chariot through celestial space surrounded by storms, with the lightning playing before him and wielding a thunderbolt as a weapon. This rebellion leads to war in heaven and the conquest of tho powers of evil, tho gods in due course creating the universe in stages, as in the Mosaic narrative, surveying each step of tho work and pronouncing it good. The divine work elurainatos in the creation of man, who is made upright and free from evil, and ■endowed by the gods with the faculty of speech. Tho Deity then delivers a long address to the newly-created being, instructing him in all his duties and privileges and pointing out the glory of his state. But this condition of blessing does not last long before him, yielding to temptation, falls ; and tho Deity then pronounces upon him a terrible curse, invoking on his head all the evils which have since afflicted humanity. These last details arc, as I have before stated, upon the fragment which I excavated during my first journey to Assyria. I have at present recovered no more of tho story, and am not yet in a position to give tho full translation of tho details ; hut I hope during the spring to find time to search over tho collection of smaller fragments of tablets, and to light up any smaller parts of the legends which may have escaped me. There will arise, besides, a number of important questions as to tho date and origin of tho legends, their comparison with the Bible narrative, and ns to how far they may supplement tho Mosaic account. It will probably bo some few months before my researches are sufficiently advanced to publish them in full. When my investigations are completed I will publish a'full account and translation of those Genesis legends, all of which I have now boon fortunate enough to find, some in the old museum collection, others by excavation in Assyria.”

A writer says of the ballot girl : “ Like every other inhabitant of the Realms of Joy she is wonderfully serious and uniformly grumbles. The smile you see at night is just stereotyped to the occasion, and one warranted to appear before the public only. Watch the stage-door at night and you will see her go in the earliest and come out the last. The dressing account elation is along narrow room like a loft, furnished with broken looking-glasses and ledges adorned with rouge and powder puffs—wretched enough. In nob a few theatres during the late severe cold not a vestige of fire was allowed, and the sufferings of this thinly-clad girl must have been intense. Her cleanliness is proverbial. Nobody can compete with the ballet girl in the matter of putting cn a stage die s. From Lady Macbeth with her pasteboard coronet to the chambermaid there is not one actress who is not glad to get a wrinkle from the ballet girl as to the folding of a scarf, adjusting a rose, pinning a ribbon or making up a face ; and, to do hexjustice, nobody knows better than she. This is her especial pride—everything is done by herself. She would as soon think of allowing anybody to v ahj her face as wash, darn, or pink ler stocking, iron her skirts or trim ler wreaths. Mod of these odds and end-! she haste find out of her scanty earnings, exclusive of fines for absence at r hear, al or stage waits at night. So she is wonderfully economic. She seems invulnerable to fatigue. A change of dress from a fairy to an Amazon, to a sailor, to a maid-servant —five, six, seven, or'even eight times in a pantomine is she metamorphosed, and not more than a few minutes is allowed for a change—inclusive of some four or five flights of stairs. On these occasions she rates everybody, but notwithstanding, fevv ever see her really out of temper. Out of the whole of the members of the company she is the most obliging. If Othella wants a pin, or his Desdemona has forgotten to put a button on his shirt, if Pauline bursts a staylaco, or Jack tire Giant Killer weeps over the loss of toffee, to the ballet girl they respectively fly for succour-. In fact, from the ‘ star’ who patronisingly addresses her as my ‘ dear,’ to the carpenter who winds her up through the trap-door into eternal joy in the cvystalised waters, the ballet girl is the favorite —always bright and beaming.