Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1901-07-11

held consultation; that is, my wife
aud /, and 1t did not take us long ia
decide that this doctor either did not
know how to cure fever such as they
have III this part of the world, or that
We had not made our case PLAN, for he
would have aches tur eggs He was
as Stubhorn AS AOSolam on this point.
There was an English doctor among
our passengers so we decided to call
on him and ask his advice. This we
did but he said he could do nothing ss
he had no drugs and another thing it
would be unprofessional. lie tried to
make me believe that the boat doctor
was very clever aud it would only hurt
his feelings if he were to interfere and
he would not do il unless in case of
life and death. agreed with this
learned functionary that our doctor
must be clever indeed if he could m AXE
aches eggs or eggs aches, so we re-
turned to our cabin and resorted to
some cures our grandmothers talked
so much about and in q few hours we
could see change for the better and
in few days he was himself again. |
presume our worthy doctor has been
Ipattlng himself on the back ever since
and saying what q wonderful cure.
We arrived at Alden on the lst of May
without anything further happening
to mar our pleasure. This port is in
Arabia or Asia, but England holds a
mortgage on it and calls it an English
protectorate, the nature of which
have previously explained. Here we
had the opportunity of seeing one of
England's protectors being anchored
in the harbor. in the shape of a gun
boat. OF course it is just put there
for fun and to see that no one steals
the harbor and takes 1t home with
them. The port where We landed was
very pretty little town nesting on
the foot hills of the mountains which
lie just behind the town. This place
is called Alden, but Alden, ancient
Alden, lies back in the mountains tive
miles or more, to which place you can
go either by carriage or on camel back
Our time being limited to twelve
hours, we thought going by camel
rather slow although l think it would
have been much more pleasant on the
back of camel, but circumstances
would not permit so we took carriage
and drove out.
The mountains between the harbor
of Alden and the town are very high
and make a splendid back ground for
the harbor or port town, which l
should judge to have population of
about 1000. The majority of the
business houses IN the port town are
conducted by Jews and English, There
are plenty of Arab stores but they are
small, Insignificant places. There are
several nice hotels here and the town
has tlourishing appearance. Boats
going to Australia, India and East
Africa all stop here, which business
keeps up the town, but what keeps or
rather supports the town of Alden pro-
per l failed to learn but it must have
some great country around it because
the town itself has q popolation of
10000 judging from the number of
business houses and the number of
people it takes to run them. The
population of Alden proper is princi-
pally Arab. Its richest merchant is
an Arab and the business of the town
and country is conducted by Arabs.
The town is very pretty nesting
among the mountains. The English
church stands on little mount of its
own which is about 100 yards broad at
the base and about Is feet up to the
entrance. think it must have been
put up to look at or else the people
must like 70 go to church better than
people usually do. have listened to
the positive wall of the clergy in diff
ferent places because the people we're
so Indifferent about attending church
when there were no mountains to
climb. am sure that the people who
attend church here do not do so out of
curiosity. We went TO the Mohameden
church but were not allowed to enter
as services were then on, but we could
see through the doors and windows
what was going on inside. The build.
ing on the inside looked to be about
forty feet square. The people we're
sitting around the room on their
knees, their books lying on the floor
before them. The were making the
air blue with signs and smoke. We
also visited the law courts and Jail on
the outside, and took peep into the
large Arab stores which were curiosi-
ties to US. 1t was also novel sight
to see camels working in harness the
same as horses. There were few
horses all of which looked much
better than the horses used in South
Africa.
While riding down one of the streets
an incident occurred that carried our
minds away from Alden back to the
United States. An Arab running
along by our carriage In hopes that
when we stopped he might have the
good fortune to be our guide, started
to sing Ta-ra.boom-de.a. Perhaps he
did thio tn ehnu, u, th,. ~