Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-09-09
IN MODERN BAGDAD.
A Voyage Down the Tigris and Past
the Garden of Eden.

The Bagdad of the imagination is
builded of gold and precious stones and
tapestry. Princes and princesses in
gorgeous dress ride along it's streets
The romance of the Arabian Nights
and of Haroun al Raschid breathes
over its walls. But that city is not
Could it ever have been? No
ruins Of marble and gold remain to tell
Of it. Poverty, dirt, ignorance, the
prosaic picturesqueness of the east
mud streets, mud walls, thatch, with
a thick sprinkling of Turkish uniforms
among the Arabs, Persians, Jews. Ar
menians and Chaldeans of the popula-
ton make an interesting scene, but
the glory of the city of the Caliphs is
gene, if it ever was Even the bazars
which were filled once with the rich
est products of the east, when the
austere influence of the prophets
teaching and example regarding world
ly luxury had died away, are devoid
now OF such splendid treasures. The
little open front shops stretch for
miles and miles and contain as many
Of the tawdry trinkets of Germany o.
birmingham as of the beautiful pro-
ducts of the Orient. Almost nothing
The remnants of the palace of the
Caliphs have just been acquired by the
custom-house and the great open court
in which the princcly successors of
MOhammed received the embassies
which brought wealth and obedience
from afar was full of iron from Eng
land, with great bales of Manchester
| cottons, oil from Russia, spirits from
| Marseilles and all the imported ar
ticles which in a steadily increasing
stream are pouring into Mesopotamia
| and over the ZagrOs mountains into
Persia
All this country suffers from the
| strangling grasp of the Turk. He
| blocks trade and growth as effectively
| as he can. Only two English steamers
| are allowed to ply between Bagdad and
Basra, the port at the head of the
| Persian gulf, though there is business
| for dozen. But two are a source of
| enough fear of British aggression. The
custom-houses, of which there is one
at eaCE important place, are like
| leeches; the duties high and the neces-
slty of bribery imperative. The bust
ness houses must all have their special
men to oil the palm of the inspectors
| in order to save endless worry and
| less, while in the domestic revenues.
l n q Cf rr1n tSx Ia
| everything. The water carrier must
pay on his water skin, the farmer on
each tree, or animal and on all pro-
| duce. The shepherd lives in the assur-
ance of pillage under the forms Of
Turkish government. In one week the
Arabs could sweep the oppressors out
If they would, but fear and tribal dis
sensions and jealousy fasten on the
| Bedouins the rule of the corrupt and
unprincipled, but by no means inca
| pable Turk. And yet of one thing he
is incapable, that is of real progress
and of honest government.
The church missionary society has
had a mission in Bagdad for II years.
But the city presents a hard field
Of the 100000 population, about one
third are Jews, and Jews are scarcely
less difficult to reach than Moslems
From the outset, also, political in
| fluence has been hostile Each Mos
lem baptism has led to trouble. Seven
years ago a number were banished.
Once the government imprisoned all
the people found in DIR. Sutton's dis
| pensary, 40 in number. This has for
tilted the natural bigotry of the people.
The Mollah who taught the mission
aries Arabic would not even touch the
gospels with his hand The medical
work has done much to soften the
opposition. This same Mollah after
wards bought a copy Of the gospel of
Luke and gave it to a son whom he
loved and whose life the medical mis-
sionary had saved On the whole
Moslem work here seems less encour-
aging and hopeful than among our
| Persia stations. Bagdad is near the
very heart of Shah Mohammedanism
however. What great shrines are at
kerbela, and but a few days south
west of Bagdad, and the tide of fanat-
icism is full and strong among the
Shiahs while the Turks, who are Sun
nees, have no love for missionaries.
The native boats on the Tigris are
round wicker baskets, called guffas
which will hold a dozen people. The
current is too swift for boats which
might be caught sideways. In one of
with it's head cut off, we padded out to
a little river steamer for the voyage
down the Tigris. 1t is a FAST muddy
stream, so tortuous that the pilgrims
on board who would begin their prayer
toward Mecca, would find themselves
at the close facing Pekin, while in the
interval they had prayed both toward
Russia and toward Madagascar. At one
place the river turns back sharply
parallel to itself. The sailors call it
"The Devils Elbow" The ship must
be stopped and slowly beaten around
Poor Turkey will not allow any cutting
through the neck or any dredging
Some dreadful foreign power might go
up and hurt Bagdad if this were al
lowed.
A few hours below Bagdad the river
passes between the ruins of Ctesiphon
on the east bank and of Seleucia on
the west. Of Seleucia only great !
mounds marking it's walls remain,
while the great arch of Ctesiphon still |
stands telling what the palace may |
have been. But is it possible in the |