From Berlin to Bagdad and Babylon

by J. A. Zahm

The river Indus which issues out of Paradise [he writes] flows among the plains through a certain province and it expands, embracing the whole province with its various windings. There are found emeralds, sapphires, topazes, chrysolites, onyx, beryl, sardius and many other precious stones. At the base of Mount Olympus, located in the dominions of Prester John, there is [the king continues] a marvelous fountain and from hour to hour and day to day the taste of this fountain varies and its source is hardly three days’ journey from Paradise from which Adam was expelled. If any man drinks thrice of this fountain he will from that day feel no infirmity and he will, as long as he lives, appear of the age of thirty.

Sir John Mandeville, the reputed author of a celebrated travel book, which, he assures us, was “proved for true” by the Pope’s councils, places Paradise “beyond the lands and isles and deserts of Prester John’s lordship.”...

Of Paradise [he tells us] I cannot speak properly, for I was not there.... I repent not going there, but I was not worthy. But [he continues] Terrestrial Paradise, as wise men say, is the highest place of the earth; and is so high that it nearly touches the circle of the moon there as the moon makes her turn.

You shall understand [he writes] that no mortal may approach to that Paradise; for by land no man may go, for wild beasts that are in the deserts and for the high mountains and great, huge rocks that no man may pass by for the dark places that are there; and by the rivers may no man go, for the water runs so roughly and so sharply, because it comes down so outrageously from the high places above, that it runs in so great waves that no ship may row or sail against it; and the water roars so and makes so huge a noise, and so great a tempest, that no man may hear another in the ship, though he cried with all the might he could. Many great lords have essayed with great will many times to pass by those rivers towards Paradise with full great companies, but they might not speed on their voyage; and many died for weariness of rowing against the strong waves; and many of them became blind and many deaf from the noise of the water; and some perished and were lost in the waves, so that no mortal man may approach to that place without the special grace of God.[464]

Columbus, as we learn from his letters, thought he had found the site of the Garden of Eden in the northern part of South America. True, he was not aware that he had discovered a new continent. He was under the impression that he was on the east coast of Asia, the ocean-laved shores of far-off Cathay. He accepted as true one of the traditional beliefs which located Paradise in farther India, or yet more to the eastward and was fully persuaded that he had, in the Orinoco, discovered one of the rivers that watered Eden.

Writing to his Royal patrons, Ferdinand and Isabella, of the region at the headwaters of the Orinoco, he says:

I have no doubt that, if I could pass below the equinoctial line, after reaching the highest point of which I have spoken, I should find a much milder temperature and a variation in the stars and in the water; not that I suppose that elevated point to be navigable, nor indeed that there is any water there; indeed I believe it impossible to ascend thither, because I am convinced that it is the spot of the Earthly Paradise whither no one can go but by God’s permission.

[Continuing, he adds] There are great indications of this being the Terrestrial Paradise, for its site coincides with the opinions of the holy and wise theologians whom I have mentioned; and moreover the other evidences agree with the supposition, for I have never either read or heard of fresh water coming in so large a quantity in close conjunction with the water of the sea; the idea is also corroborated by the blandness of the temperature; and, if the water of which I speak does not proceed from the Earthly Paradise, it appears to be more marvelous, for I do not believe that there is any river in the world so large and so deep.

The more I reason on the subject [he concludes] the more satisfied I become that the Terrestrial Paradise is situated on the spot I have described; and I ground my opinion upon the arguments and authorities already quoted. May it please the Lord to grant your Highnesses a long life and health and peace to follow out so noble an investigation in which I think our Lord will receive great service, Spain considerable increase of its greatness and all Christians much consolation and pleasure, because by this means the name of the Lord will be published abroad.[465]

But Columbus was not the only one to locate the original home of our race in South America. Only a few years ago a patriotic Bolivian scholar, Emeterio Villamil, maintained that the site of the Garden of Eden was on the eastern slope of the mighty Sorata, while the Argentine geologist, Dr. Ameghino, contended that the mother region of mankind was within the shadow of Monte Hermoso, in southern Argentina. There could be no doubt about it. For did he not here discover the skeleton of the first man? And did he not testify to the faith that was in him by giving to the Argentine Adam the imposing name of Tetraprothomo Argentinus?