In addition to the mention of the flood in the book by Nikolaas Witsen "Northern and Eastern Tartaria" there are also references to fossils. Evidence of some natural or man-made cataclysm that happened in the distant (or not far?) Past.
“There are rivers in Siberia that turn wood that falls into them into stones. I have a similar fossilized piece of wood that was sent to me from there. It is brownish-black in color, somewhat similar in color to mulberry stone or black marble, but veins and grains of wood and several gray stripes are still visible in it. It is lighter than ordinary stone, but heavier than wood.
Muscovites call this petrified tree - Adam's tree, believing that it is very ancient, especially since it is found not only in riverbeds, but mainly in the middle of the mountains, deep below the surface. It looks like a linden tree, judging by its fibers, weight and appearance.
It is curious that trustworthy witnesses who lived for several years in Siberia and near Astrakan say, although I would not dare to confirm this with an oath, since I myself did not see that behind the city of Azov, or somewhat deeper in Tartaria, there is a place where in the steppe, petrified people are seen in various poses, as if alive. One eyewitness counted 18 of them and with his own hands collected a heap of stones and put one of the petrified men on them, like a rider on a horse. I also mention here that on the map of Tartaria, published by Ortelius in 1562, one can read about these petrified people. In addition, one Persian writer clearly indicates where these fossilized bodies were seen: at the place where he laid the lake, which he called China, at the beginning of the Ob River. Here are (he says) stones in the form of people, camels, cattle and other objects,as if a whole grazing horde with cattle had turned to stone, surprisingly and incomprehensibly changed, quickly and instantly, without changing posture. These miracles, he says, took place 300 years before him, that is, about 1200 BC.
Map of Tartary, Jenkinson 1562.
The Consul General in Tripoli, Barbaria, informed me in letters that the area called Ogela lies 7 days' journey from Derna, which is halfway between Tripoli and Alexandria, completely petrified. So people, animals, trees and herbs can still be seen in petrified form. This is what other people told me, who lived in Algeria for a long time. When camels with their soft feet should step on such stone ground, they put on leather shoes with nails so as not to hurt their feet on the stone grass. Such a petrified person was brought from there to Venice, and you can see him there.
Libya, Tipoli.
Two other letters from Tripoli in Barbaria that follow, from the consul of that state and another person, confirm that this is true.
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Dear Highly respected sir, Mister, the French consul, going from here to Bengas to buy horses, sent, meanwhile, his vice-consul to the Ogelu region, turned into stone, which seemed incredible to us, but now we no longer have to doubt, since he brought from there large pieces of a date palm and olive tree, weighing over 200 pounds, looking like they had been cut down within a year. Among these rarities is a piece of a fig tree, in which milk, or leggebe, is still clearly visible. Around this place there are trees everywhere on the road, all of stone, pieces of them had to be beaten off with hammers. Houses and people are very densely covered with sand, only with great expense and difficulty it was possible to reach them. I have a few pieces from them that I would like to send to Your Honorable, etc.
With this I remain Your Highly Respected Emperor
humble servant NN
Tripoli,
June 20, 1691.
Your Majesty, Mister, the French consul, who traveled to Bengas to buy horses for his king, sent his vice-consul to Oghela, a 7-day journey east inland. This area has been turned into stone, which seemed incredible to us. He brought from there large pieces of date and olive trees, weighing up to 2 quintals. They look so natural that you can easily recognize the veins and color as if it were a living tree. There is no more doubt now. He gave me a large piece of fig tree and two pieces of olive tree. I keep them for you, to whom I respectfully kiss the hand, etc.
Tripoli, Barbary, Gracious Sovereign, June 16, 1691 from your, highly indebted to you, servants NN"
The region of the new Oghela, which borders on the old Oghela, is obliged to pay tribute to the Tripoli Administration. It is fertile and inhabited, a few days' journey. The petrified trees in the abandoned Ogel lie in whole alleys, all in the same direction, as if blown down by a strong wind, they are hidden by a layer of sand. Sometimes, however, they open when the wind blows the sand. There are no animals there, apart from very nasty snakes. There are petrified fig trees, on which fruits and milk are still visible, as if alive. Wood, fruits and trees have completely retained their natural color. The terrain of the old, petrified, and new Ogela, flat, lying about seven days' journey from the sea.
The aforementioned former consul of state in Tripoli, upon his arrival here, told me about this in more detail after asking eyewitnesses. He also informed me that in the desert, inland, behind Tripoli, fossilized objects, such as various fruits, are often found. He saw petrified bread, still very similar to real bread, on which one could still clearly see the blackness of the oven from below.
I do not undertake to explain the reason for the appearance of these fossils. But just as a tree placed in water becomes petrified due to the fact that stony particles floating in the water penetrate inside the tree, remain there and cover the wooden parts, so it may be rain or a tornado of rocky water rising from the ground, covered these people and things, strangled, numbed and petrified them. Likewise, with the rain, millions of locusts in Africa rush into the fields and devour everything. Entire fields and areas in Suriname are littered with caterpillars. In Norway, they saw how during the rain or dew some mice fell, which harmed the fields, as Wormius and Bartholinus write about it.
It is also possible that this happened during a hurricane or storm, just as many trees are found underground around Amsterdam, blown down to one side by the wind, subsequently covered with sand and earth. This land may have contained a substance from which they petrify (just as petrification sometimes occurs in the surrounding areas), which then turned to stone all these trees, as well as the people and livestock that were on this earth, for I was told what they found petrified people on their knees, in such a position as if they were praying. But since there are not so many fossilized people, then, probably, most people, when the wind knocked down the trees, and the fertile land was covered with sand and stony earth, fled to the fertile new Oghela.
From there they sent me several rather large pieces of wood, branches and roots, which in this petrified land, in ancient Ogel, turned into stone. The largest piece is a part of a date tree, which has preserved the external and internal appearance of the tree so well that the difference is only in the weight of a living tree and this petrified one.
Other pieces are the roots of the date or olive tree, which also look like the still growing roots, both in color and appearance, in all but weight. The date tree has many round holes, like wormholes, it is somewhat spongy and whitish, not very heavy. The olive tree is brownish-green in color, strong, heavy and dense, like the petrified branches. And, in order to give a more accurate proof of this phenomenon, the roots of these two trees were sent to me from the neighboring regions, which in everything are similar to fossilized pieces, if they are not weighed. I also have the bark of the tree, also petrified, on which all the signs of real bark are visible. The olive stone is so hard that it can produce fire. One of the fossilized roots, part of which I have kept, was so large and heavy that the camel could hardly carry it. They also added a petrified human bone, which was also found there. It is as hard as stone, while retaining the color and appearance of bone. The Moors do not want Christians to talk about or learn about this area, as they believe that God punished this area with petrification for the sins of the ancient inhabitants. They are trying to hide this phenomenon and do not want to give Christians the opportunity to argue that the sins of the people who lived there before (who were supposedly Mohammedans) were heavier than the sins of Christians.that the sins of the people who lived there before (who were supposedly Mohammedans) were heavier than the sins of Christians.that the sins of the people who lived there before (who were supposedly Mohammedans) were heavier than the sins of Christians.
That the petrification of this region of Ogela is a fact, I was also confirmed by one young man named Robert Theunis, who was taken into slavery in Tunisia and was a valet to Ali Bey, the exiled king, deep in the country very far to the south, in the mentioned area. He studied the area more closely than any European. He wandered around this petrified land. He saw pieces of petrified wood brought from this area and kept by me, and told me how one of his comrades, named Cornelis, a native of Vlieland, also a slave, once traveled with his master to Mecca, and passed through this the petrified edge, and he told him how he saw that the trees, fruits and everything there turned to stone.
The reason they passed through wild Africa was that Ali Bey, or the prince of Tunis, whose slave he was, had lost the battle to his brother Mohammed, and many hundreds were killed. He had to flee to save his life, and with three hundred people he reached the borders of the pagan kingdom of Borno, where people are black and go naked. This flight lasted six months, during which he rarely rested more than four days. At first, after the battle, he had several thousand more people, but they fled from him and died on the way from hardship. His army faded to 300 people. He met many rarities there. At first, walking south, he saw a very fertile land, where there were many lions, tigers and other predatory animals. The land is quite densely populated by people of the Mohammedan faith, dressed in a piece of cloth or a blanket thrown over them. The farther south, the darker the people were. Then he reached the desert, without people and without animals, where there is not enough water and nothing grows. There he saw a lake, covered with layers of salt, several feet thick. They crossed this lake southward for the whole day. The lake stretches far east and west. The Moors call it a frozen or closed salt lake - the Faro Sea. The water beneath this hardened or thickened salt was very salty and green. With a stick two spears long, they could not reach the bottom. In the middle of the lake, on the island, there were date trees that could not be reached, since the thickened salt around the island was fragile. The Mauritanian princes and lords are of the Mohammedan faith, but they are very ignorant of the teachings. Those whom he met here and there received the escaped exiled prince kindly,offered him food made from mutton and grains unknown here, similar to barley. Almost all people live there in tents. There are ancient local Moorish and Arab families who lead a nomadic way of life. To the south lies an uninhabited desert, and then naked negros appear. There, they say, there are elephants and gold. The inhabitants of Borno are at war with them [the negroes] and the captives are sold into slavery to Tripoli merchants. They sometimes come to Borno to exchange gold, ivory and slaves. Then there are, obviously, those blacks who live near Guinea. Bartholinus tells how in the vicinity of Tripoli in a short time one city turned into stone, from where they brought a petrified child to France and where, he said, he saw a petrified tree. The aforementioned gentleman undoubtedly meant by the name "the petrified city" this region of Ogel. In 1691, on October 19,wrote from Paris regarding fossilization in new lakes the following:
"They say that in Africa they found a city completely turned into stone, that from there they brought men and women to the king, and that they intend to bring some more of them from there to decorate the gardens at Versailles."
The late, very learned Hendrik Franken, who for many years served as a pastor of the Reformed Church in Smyrna, told me that the petrified Ogel region is very famous there, and that he saw a lot of bones, trees, dates, melons, lemons and other fruits and petrified objects. brought from there through Tunisia.
From the island of Sumatra, where the Netherlands East India Company owns, a heavy piece of wood was brought to me, which turned to stone from a long lying in the swampy ground. It weighs about 100 pounds and looks like a regular tree. It clearly shows that it seems to have been chopped off by an ax below, and the remains of branches are also visible. It is similar in color to oak. The outer bark is grayer than the inner trunk. The veins and stripes of the tree are clearly visible. It is as hard as marble and fire can be cut out of it. You can see the circles, the course and the convolutions of the tree, yes, even a few cracks are visible. It is 21/2 or almost 3 feet long and about 4 spans thick in a circle. It is chopped off from both sides, that is, from the bottom and from one side, since this is a piece of the trunk. When I showed it to connoisseurs of stone and wood, they confirmed that it has all the signs of wood, both inside and out.
When I ordered to open, to split this petrified tree, there were pieces and debris inside, blacker than the outer bark, and very similar to the old tree, but hard as stone.
Sumatra.
In 1702, they sent me from the East Indies another piece of wood, turned into stone, as they are found in rivers in the upper Palembang. This piece is over 6 feet high and about 5 spans thick at the bottom. On it one can see cracks and torn off chips, most of which have turned into stone, although inside they look like wood, and partly are still wood; yes, it is found among the pieces of stone decayed or rather rotten wood, which, obviously, could not undergo changes. It can be split in different places, as can be done with an ordinary tree. The color of the tree is still clearly visible. In some places, the stone is hard, like cobblestone, so that fire can be produced from it, and in other places, petrified wood is softer and different in color. In some places it is snow-white, shiny, and in others it is brown-yellow, and in the middle it is close to black,even completely black, which, obviously, is the natural color of the tree. It weighs just under 800 pounds. This large piece shows that outside there is an outgrowth of a very hard stone, white like marble, which, in addition to petrification, was deposited on an old tree and adhered to it. The bark is still visible on it, although the color has changed, and this piece deserves special attention for its singularity.
In the mountains of Italy, called Russidi, in the lands of Tuscany, there is a stone that is cut like a tree, which looks like it, as can be seen from several of its pieces that I have kept. But maybe, and it seems to me, this is actually so, this is an underground tree, solidified like a stone, very similar in color, weight and appearance to the tree that is found in Holland, in low swampy or peat fields underground, which the peasants dig up and use as planks to cover their houses. I also have a piece of charcoal that was dug up in Etruria, very deep underground.
Tuscany, Italy.
Fish found between shale stones deep in the Tuscan mountains.
I have a very large petrified lemon of a special kind. You can perfectly distinguish between the outer and inner skin, as well as the pulp of the fruit, inner membranes, fibers and juice inside. All this can be very well discerned, since it is split, and even the ledge, or the place with which it was attached to the tree.
I still have a large number of olives, strong as cobblestones, and when split, they show an olive color on the inside and a skin on the outside. I also have pistachios, on which the wrinkled skin is still visible, in color and appearance they are so natural, as if they had just been plucked from a tree.
I also have several other petrified oysters, open and closed, hard as cobblestones, and so similar to fresh, living oyster shells that they cannot be distinguished by their appearance. In addition, there are many other beautiful seashells.
There are also several white, brown and black fossilized mushrooms that have retained their color and appearance, so natural that there is no difference between those that grow in the fields and these fossilized. But they are hard and heavy to the touch.
It is worth considering a few pieces of stones - slate and other types, sent to me from the region of Tuscany. It is clearly seen that fish are hidden or included in them, and that they, too, are petrified. Scales, fins, heads and tails can be distinguished. They were dug from the depths of the mountains. Two of them are shown here and are larger than one span.
In the land of Hesse, seashells are sometimes found in the mountains, as well as life-size images of many species of fish, or the fish themselves.
On the island of Cyprus, not far from Famagusta, there is a place where many bones of people and animals are found near one rock, fused together and turned into stone. According to eyewitnesses, a fossilized brain was also found among these bones. On the same island, in a place called Nicosia, a small hill is visible, completely consisting of fossilized oysters in their shells, also turned into stone and retaining to this day all the external signs of oysters and shells.
Cyprus island.
In Tripoli di Soria, there are also fossilized fish deep in the mountains, as can be seen from the description of de Bruijn's journey.
I am told, as reliable, that in Chile, on a high mountain or between the mountains, they found three Spanish soldiers lying on their sides, who had stayed there for a long time, that is, they were outwardly petrified, but when the stone layer was removed from them, they also found meat there. and blood. Who knows if this happened from the flight of a cloud carrying stone dust, or, perhaps, from the long-term rest of the bodies lying in contact so closely that they petrified. Maybe the soft parts have decayed, and the largest and coarse parts from the long contact hardened, as it were, into one body and turned into stone, while retaining their former appearance.
Chile.
In the books of Mr. Tevenot, we read that similar fossils were found in Mongolia.
In the vicinity of the aforementioned Ogeli, towards the sea, there are the remains of almost the entire ancient city covered with earth, which, apparently, was decorated with marble houses and buildings, since there are many heavy, worked pieces of white marble at a depth of one or one and a half feet, covered with earth. and many large pillars and carved stones. It is believed that this was the city of Leptis.
Modern view of the city of Lepsis.
Reconstruction of the city of Lepsis, Libya.
Author: i_mar_a