The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1897-01-29
AT AN ARABIAN COURT.
Ben. K. Miller Describes Visit that
He Paid TO tho Sultan
$ofLahej. 81

= ~ -T
one of the most interesting of the many
little empires that go to make up Arabia.
a spot where the influence of England is
of little effect. Label is but few miles
from the bounds Of the desert aud less
than "a days ride, from Alden.
Hundreds Of tourists stop regular
ly at Aden,- but nearly all Of
them go away again little knowing
that. theyehare been within a few Iiil..s
Of one Of the most Interesting places in
: On the return trip from South Af1ita.
B. X, Miller, .Jr., who arrived in Miiwau-
kee a few days ago. stopped at Alden and
visited Label. Of all the many places
visited in his tour, Mr. Miller says that
Label without doubt is one of the L,ost
attractive: and entertaining. III writing
Of Lahej Mr.. Miller says:
a Visit to Label.
MANY tourists touch at Alden: three
hours suffice to see the wonderful tanks
built to store the infrequent rains and
then the sooner the ship leaves for Egypt
or. perchancc, for India. SO much the
better. Few care to penetrate into
Arabia: the desert is distant scarcely ten
miles and it means hardship to travel
was most persuasive to my companion
and me. Both of us had some time to
kill in Alden: we had seen the tanks,
climbed the mountain and seen the temple
of silence where the Parscc leaves his
dead to be dcvourcd by yulturcs: even the
camels were commonplace and the vari-
GUS natives were no longer novel. Where
should we .go:;, Somewhere, surely. but
where: Finally it occurred to us that
we would pay !. visit to H. H.. the Sultan
of Label. We sent for our Arabian
guide and shortly he appeared. wearing
the green turban which indicates Il triI
to Mecca and entities him to TO- called
Hadji. In Difference to his fluency. We
always addressed him as IaIji Raba
He was most amusing liar. but as be
had never been to Lahcj we were unable
to put him in charge of our caravan. al
though he wollil have been most useful
as a composer Of Oriental fairy tales OF
us wherewith to impress the Sultan. W.
finally found a; 'Somali boy who spoke
English and Arabic and what was bette,
still had beer to Label and knew the
Way. To him we contided our plans and
most faithfully he executed them. BY
evening VIC hard procured our scanty sup
plies, chiefly soda. water, beer, bread and
tin of crackers
After q hasty breakfast ut :, 4. IN.
We took our carriage to drive to the deS-
ert. On account of the heat. hard travel
in The middle of the day is extremely
dangerous Soon the drive is over our
packs arc upon the camcls and We pre-
pare to mount. My camel not only lad Il
single rope around his nose and by which
light line tied through one nostriI
got on and both lines were hlndcd tt
ne. What tn" second was for | had Il,
idea. 1t occurred to III" that perhaps
he was viciUuS-;l bitter. kicker. or run
away. and that in sonH, mysterious wa!
this extra rein was to control his antics
Later l found cut. The signal to starr
is given and with two or three fore-and
aft motions my beast is UPON his feet
and more wonderful still am still
aboard and We are AWAY. Passing
through the little town. we are soon CIT
on the desert. But it would weary yc1
almost as much us it did us if should
attempt to describe the hot. dusty jour
ney through the dreary sand and waste
One" | tried the effect Of the lifeline
and gave it a sharp pull. twitci,ing tn,
camcls nose rather painfully. Is it /;
camel am riding. or a bolt of lightning
How shah | stop him? How many mile.
will he run before he is dead or l ain
That | am being run away with is clral
enough. but the stupid brute understand:
no English and pulling on the main lin.
does little COED. Finally he tires all.
slows up and we went on as before.
An Oasis.
''Everything. however, has an end
and we see Label in the distance. l:,ile
away but nevertheless it really exist
and we have been on the right road
The desert ceases and we have come t,
the oasis. Hundreds of green ft Ids
each surrounded by low mud wall ar
luxurant iii green showing that III iga
ton is necessary. In the distance can b.
seen the palace. high. irregular in Snap
and glistening whitr> 1t Is sufrjun,lc,
hy oddsllapcd. mud-colorcd buildings in
ttrsprrSrd with rude. thatcli-,ovcrt,
huts On one side is the mosque. viii
its tiny minaret and bcll-shaped ticmcS
all Of Il beautiful golden yellow. 1t i
+ extremely Oriental and picturesque
Threading our way between the field
we arrive ut the city and make our wa!
to the bungalow reserved for fistili
Suishel visitors. Hero we .outspan anl
| send our Samali boy (Achmetl with on
compliments andvisiling cards to the Sui
tan. Soon he returns and annDuncr
that the Sultan has heard with pleasure
of our arrival and sends salaam. $50
cook. sweeper. water carrier. guard an,
| what is more important still sonic egg
and chickens for lunch. After tittin W,
| determine to demand an audience Pre-
coded by 4Achmet: who is stripped to th,
waist and aecked out in all his fin"ry ",
approach the palace. Inside the mai,
door is Il rather dark guard room il
which are about a dozen retainers, hcav
lily armed with guns. spears. swords
daggers. ETC. Each one is a walkin.
arsenal and each looks at us with ap
parent suspicion. After waiting /. few
minutes we are notified that his !ighues.
will receive us and we ascend a marrow
staircase at each turn of which is
stand Of arms ready for instant use.
In the Audience Room.
"ln a moment we arc at the door of til,
audience chamber. The room is long
down the center is a Sort of bank upol
which are placed tnagnifi.ent hubble-bub
bcs which are hcing smoked by tn,
Sultan and his suite. On one side tn,
Sultan is seated ON the floor leaning 0,
pillows. On his right is the CRANE
vizier, shrcwd. cunning-l"ok Arab: fur
Arabs, presumably high officials. Til,
Sultan looks to he about 80 years of az,
and it is difficult to determine Just how
strong he is. We dof' our helmets an,
advance into the room. The Sultar
arises. steps Il foot or two forwards an,
says Sllaam. We reply ~Salaam ant
shake hands with him ana the CRANE
vizier. Pillows are brought. we sea
ourselves and as gracefully rs possible
accept the hubblc-bubbles brought fol-
our use. The interview lasted about a,
hour and was amusing. His Mghncss
was extremely interested in the war in
Egypt and the relations between Eng,
land and the Khedivc. 1t was difficult
to be entirely frank with him on ac
count of his very limited political and
geographical information, but we did ou1
hest and guessed freely. In answer to
his query we told him the Khcdive and
the EngliSl, were good friends. He then
asked us: Suppose the Khcdivc should
tell the English to leave Egypt. wha,
would they say?' This was a poser
We replied that probably they would
request repayment of the money lent t.
the Khcdivc. Suppose. he continues, tho
Russians or the French should repay this
money, would the. English then go!' We
had to confess that VIC doubtedsit, and
ut this everyone laughed approrinsly
But our chancc.waS to come.
Joll, ing tho Sultan.
I'VE were not authorities. on Eastern,
politics. but when he asked MS why We
came to Lahcj we let loose our imagina-
tjnnS and told hin, that thn fnmc nf his