"The Arabs, therefore, have, manifestly, some other means of
rapid communication at their command. One is inclined to the
presumption that they, like the learned Pundits of Northern
India, have a knowledge of the forces of Nature that are yet
hidden from our most eminent scientists."
Can it be that the Arabs are acquainted with the very recently
discovered scientific principle, that it is possible to transmit
telegraphic communications without wires, and simply by means of
magnetic currents in earth and water?
Nor is this remarkable skill confined to the "barbarians of the
Old World." A correspondent from the far West to the New York
Press wrote that long before the news of the Custer massacre
reached Fort Abraham Lincoln the Sioux had communicated it to
their brethren. The scouts in Crook's column to the south knew
of it almost immediately, as did those with Gibbon farther
northwest. The same writer says that several years ago a naval
lieutenant ran short of provisions. He pushed on to a settlement
as rapidly as possible and upon arriving there found that the
inhabitants had provided for his coming and had a bounteous store
awaiting him. The people in the village were of a different
tribe from those whose domain he had passed, and so far as could
be learned were not in communication with them.
The earliest accounts which we have of Egypt and Chaldea reveal
the fact that at a very remote period they were old and powerful
civilizations, that they had a settled government, a pure and
philosophical religion, and a profound knowledge of science and
art; yet, notwithstanding the great antiquity of these
civilizations, that of the people which created them must have
been infinitely more remote.
The earliest historic nations recognized the greatness of these
ancient people and the extent of their dominion. In the oldest
geographical writings of the Sanskrit people, the ancient
Ethiopia, or land of Cush of Greek and Hebrew antiquity, is
clearly described. Stephanus of Byzantium, who is said to
represent the opinions of the most ancient Greeks, says:
"Ethiopia was the first established country on the earth, and the
Ethiopians were the first who introduced the worship of the Gods
and who established laws."[65]
[65] Quoted by John D. Baldwin, Prehistoric Nations, p. 62.
Heeren in his researches says:
"From the remotest times to the present, the Ethiopians have been
