"CRADLE OF MANKIND."

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 246, 18 October 1927, Page 18

"CRADLE OF MANKIND."

NEW LEASE OF LIFE.

-WHAT DISCOVERIES SHOW

IRAQ, BABYLON, AXD UR

A most interesting and instructive lecture entitle*! "The Cradle of Mankind" was given in the concert chamber of the Town Hall last evening by the Rev. W. Lawson Marsh, M.A., to a large audience. The lecture wag illustrated by a very large rdratber of lantern slides.

Mr. Marsh divided his lecture into three sections. The first dealt with what Great Britain is dolri£ in Iraq, as Mesopotamia is now called; the second with the revolutionary discoveries in Ur, Babylon, and Kish, carrying us back to the story of the civilisation of 7000 years ago; and the third with the ancient city of Babylon as it is to-day.

The lecturer first put a map on the screen to show the strategic importance of Mesopotamia. The British occupation of Iraq was one, he said, on which British people could congratulate themselves. The British forces had gone into the country not to conquer it, but to set its inhabitants free. A government was first set up in the Indian style. But British efficiency and British push proved a little too drastic for the Arabs, and the revolt of 1920. occurred. Then followed the framing of a new policy and the setting up of a king. With the aid of British troops and British advice, but always growing less, Arab government had been able to stand on its feet.

Basra and Bagdad. When the first troops arrived at Basra they were landed by means of lighters on to a sandy beach. In 1922 there were two miles of wharves, landing stages, and jetties built with British capital. Wherever there was water there was always luxuriant vegetation. After a few words about Mosul Mr. Marsh moved to Bagdad. There had at the outbreak of the war been only one street in Bagdad, and that so narrow that it was difficult for a loaded camel to pass along it. In order to be able to move their artillery easily the Turks drove a broad street clean through the town, taking no notice of any buildings save sacred ones. Rents were very much higher in Bagdad than in Auckland. The British had built there a power station, but the electric light was not the main benefit derived from it.* This was more the power which turns numerous fans to keep the flies and other such insects off the inhabitants.

Underground Discoveries. Coming to the second part of his lecture, Mr. Marsh said that even if exploration had ceased on the surface of the earth it had not ceased under the surface. Things were to-day being unearthed which were revolutionising our ideas of what the ancient world had been like. The story of the Bible was again and again being confirmed as history in most striking ways. The lecturer showed and explained slides of ancient maps, tablets, etc. One map dated to 3000 B.C. Another slide showed what is said to be the oldest writing so far discovered in the world. The tablet, which is 7000 years old, is known as the Hoffman Tablet, and is in the General Theological Seminary, New York. A further slide showed a code of laws dating back 5000 years, and including laws to govern the liquor traffic of those days.

The final portion of the lecture consisted of a short trip round Babylon. One saw the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's palace, the Hanging Gardens, which were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Tower of Babel and the entrance to the historic Den of Lions. There were what remains of the outer and the inner walls still showing part of the road which ran between them and along which four chariots could race abreast. There were the ruins of the underground city as well as those of the one which had been on the surface. It all gave some idea of the immense work which has been done by the excavators.