The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-24
LEGENDS OF RARE RACES.
stories of AIysteriPus Whites hnhabit
 inE Lands Near the EquntOr'


 stories of Mysteripus Whites Inhabit-
 inw Lands Near the Equntor.
 Chicago Chronicle.
 The idea that in remote parts of the tropics, amid the dark-skinned races there exists mysterious Isolated white tribes bearing a strong resemblance to Europeans. has long possessed a cu- rious fascination for the old world.
 The isolated white peoples almost in- variabIy inhabit q mountainous region in A vague "lnterior'-always the just beyond;" they hold aloof from the sur rounding races; they are seldom seen, and yet are definitely stated to be more civilized and better educated than the darker masses, whom they avoid. Who they are, and whence they came, no one knows; native fables afford no explan- ation. Once it was thought that for gotten white explorers might have buiIt up unknown kingdoms in the wild places of the earth. But upon exami- nation these theories vanish as rap idly as do the white tribes themselves, and the ultimate explanation is almost prosaic.
 Yet so strong a hold has the idea gained that even at the beginning of fhe twentieth century the possibility of the existence of a genuine white race is not altogether scoffed at. It Is Ises than two years ago that an Ameri- can officer engaged in the operations against the Moros in the Philippines collected apparently substantial evil dence relating to a mysterious white tribe in the Island of Mindanao.
 The mountainous district in the cen ter of this Island has never been ex- nlored and even the coast is not well known. But along the seaboard many stories are told of the fierce white neople who have their home in the for est-clad mountains of the interior. | Eve witnesses depose to having seen n strange. fair-compl exioned girl lott erinR near a coast village, girl who fed toward the hills as soon as she was addressed Other men and women Of a light complexioned race are said to | have been seen by more venturesome notives who were bold enough to ap- | nroach the wild mountain district. The | Trrttad States officer was so impressed | that he determined to conduct an eX- | nIoring party across the centre of the isIand But apparently the mysterious
 white folk had vanished, for the world bas as vet heard nothing of his search beinK crowned with success.
 | Arabia, however, can with more req .or hoost of a white tribe. For years s.ories of such race have been told ta the Persian Gulf. and the Rev. s. M. | zwemer. an American missionary sta- tIoncI at Muscat. alluded some time e1o to 'coffee- house babble" In Eastern
 0S,an concerning a mysterious race of
 Hgbt-complexioned people. who live
 somewhere In the mountains. shun
 stranFers and speak a language of
 sSair own. Various theories have been nropounded ,%o,, to explain the fable. but probabiy the explanation is to be found
 ,n the narrative of journey made at n,ran in l876 by Colonel S. B. Miles. pubiished some time ago in the geo Colonel Miles. in the course of his ,.aye1s nearly thirty years ago, came across town named sheralzi in the t-noe nlace was perched like an 7 soeIa's nest on the top of great cliff and was inhabited by people of light,
 inter,or They rarely descended to the the plains I,i and refused to mix or inter 'i't Soionel Miles found they were the } s..oaOdants of portion of the Persian Xrmy which invaded Oman in the