“And it came to pass that as they journeyed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar: and they dwelt there.” Here was great Babel built, and here occurred the confusion of tongues, and from here the nations were scattered over all the world. After this scattering to east, west and south, there was left a large body of people of different nations, in Chaldea. The great monuments and inscriptions, which are the only remaining books of early history, tell us of two great nations called the Sumir and Accad. Of the descent of these peoples, it can be said with certainty only that there were Hamites among them. The Shemites are the founders of the Assyrian kingdom, the Hamites of the Babylonian. These and some other scattered tribes of other nations, were worshipers of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon and stars. Hence came the extraordinary development of astronomy in these lands. Their strange and imperfect civilization had an immense influence over a great part of Asia, for over 1500 years. [Illustration: STAR WORSHIPERS.] The peoples of Chaldea did not at first intermingle with each other, but maintained a separate existence as tribes. Here was, however, the first organized government of the world. “Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the streets of the city, and Calah and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.” Asshur was of the Semitic race, while Nimrod was a Cushite. These two people lived long together, and this explains how they came to have the same language and civilization in spite of their being of different origin. The four great cities mentioned above gave to their king, the title “king of the four regions.” The founding of this great empire occurred only a little later than the beginning of the great Egyptian kingdom. We know almost nothing of the history of the Chaldean kings who succeeded Nimrod, except that which a few traditions tell us. THE GREAT CHALDEAN HISTORIAN.