The Russellville Democrat., 1881-11-24
GENERAL ASIAN SCENES.
Fruits and Vegetables Growing. and
 Dangers the Traveller Meets.
A>S, e lfzlsE SsNA


 lLsSa1ea Daily SeHsI
 The following is from letter written pn the ccrzsson of his firss visit 10 Meshe-d hy OUT special correspondent. lstey st Mery. It would b. cifh .zllt 10 select line of country better sJapfed for the nznsc 0i a numerous army than that from kuehan Meshei, terminating too. al city eminently adapted asa base fsr further operations and great cen tTal depot, with water supplies of g most eopious nature reaching away in the most desirable directions Within q day E march 0f Meshed the cornfeloshe gin to give place to vast expznses O. melon and cacumber cultivation of which enormous quantities are con sumed during the hot weather. Here and there the isndrils Of the pants are trained over slight frame works 70 that ihe great, bread leaves form arbors fa protect The watchmen from the sun Nothing could be preitier than be sa- peaTance of these fresh green bowers. with their great broad staring yellUz flowers, after the dusty plain and soorche5 ssubbls fields. At intervals too. are orchards. Peaches. rlums, arr1- cots. and grapes. 2ll of delicious quality sre brought to market in grsas 9Gsnii- ties The dark purple piums are verx remarkable, some being ss large as goo sizsd peaches. The ground IS every where inundated with pools of water. and irrigation trenches cross and recrosS each other in complex msze. This surface vs-er is. siouii ibinz. mostly derived fsom the Ksshef Rood. the rlveT which formerly wztered Toos, the sn- cienr capital. Besides this surface water there Is also large subierrazean amouni being conveyed in underground chan neisTo more distan; fields, situated as 8 sEer level.
 These subterTsnean water coEFses haEs0s<l are. especially in the case of ibe more ancient one. 2 source of c0ntiDr4l and terrible danger 10 the trsvelers. When they are Delng formed shafts are sunk al intervals of thirty ioforsy yards and the sand and gravel brought fo tine surface by means Of bucket and Tude wooden windiass. The material brought up Is thrown in an aunuiar heap like the den of an ant lion. These heaps mark the line Of the faEsoSs often for miles across the plain, just as mole hills do the track of the animal. ! turing rainy weather these circular heaps. with their central shafts, act ike So many tundishes, and gradually the earth t washed of into the channel below and swept away by the current The mound thus gone. there IS no mark whstevef zs to fhe whereabouts of the shaft, which yearly grows wider and wider. l have seen them from ten to fifteen feet across and going down sheer 10 deDth of SIX " or seventy feet, yswning on ihe edse, or even n the midst of much freoGen n'- ei tboroughfsres. Sometimes they Esre naked and 1ndisguise3 in the arid plsln. sometimes their mouth xas completely hidden by undergr0wth. and luxuriauf growth of s species of creeping oerbeFis which affects such localities Over and over again. but fsr the instinct of ms horse should have been preclp5iaie9 into them. IL j. frighfful to see these pits, often half way across freQnenie6 track, where thousands of men and ani- m2ls, travelling 100 st night, and some Oi the nights none of the dearest, are con iinally passinE. On horsebaek one ls2s the advantage of the double l0okout kep; by himself and by the animal, bu. l fancy that many 3 score Of pcor fool sore. half blind old hadjis must annUaslN find external rest from their earthly pilgrimage al the bottom of these dread fnl pits. l have over and over agzln seen the skeletons and hanging fragments of camel wedged ten feet down in cne of these spertureS. They had doubtless stumbled in some dark night and were psrioree lett there 10 perish"