Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-02

the only port on the coast or SYRIA aAO
Palestine where steamers can load ana ui'-
load with safety and convenience. ihe'o
is a fine bay at Haifa, but very little water
1t is now proposed to dredge II OUT anu
build docks. so that the trafnc OF the nc"
railroad can be handled easny an ~ nil
nomically It is also expected that pil-
grims from the interior will pc heleti te.
brought to Haifa by raiiroad ana senl W
steamers to Mecca, and Will De retuin eu
in the same way until the truah l,e aonn-
Damascus to the holy city has been COM
pleted. = .,o 1Jolv
There are now nVe rdt"ag9 III ~
Land: >r,,,
From Damascus to Baalbek, HONS ana
Hama. English)
From Haifa to Mezerib. (Turkish;)
From Jaffa to Jerusalem. tffehch'
Constant Disturbance in Arabia.
There is always more or less disturb
ance and rebellion in Arabia, for. while all
that territory is subject to the ouitah VI
Turkey there is no central authority there
The cities along the coast are controheo
by governors and military commandments,
but the interior has very few centers OIL
nopula ton. The inhabitants are nomadic
Redouius, divided into bands or tribes each
having its own chief or sheik, whose au-
thority is absolute over his followers, AFTER
the patriarchal system or blpie alnea
Each chief is supposed to pay certain
amount of tribute to the sultan, out inc
amounts and the payments depend entlre-
" upon his amiability. There has peen no
way of exacting tribute that Is not solun
tary Sometimes the tribes are at war
against each other; sometimes seferai
tribes unite to control the entire territory.
There is always more or less commotioii
throughout Arabia. On several oGcas .',a :,
made break away
from the sultan and establish a separate
government but the religious ophsation VI
all MohammedanS to him as the kHdiilae
the visible head of Islam, the successor Oh
the prophet, has been too strong. Such a
movement is going on at present in south
ern Arabia. powerful sheik named lVu-
il-IsSoud, has organized sort OF lndepend-
ent government and united several OF the
neighboring sheiks who are willing to sub
NIT to his authority. 1t is the most serious
revolution that has occurred during the
present reign.
Attempt to Suppress the Revolt.
To suppress 1t the sultan sent Tewfik
Pasha as wall or governor with an army of
1000 or 5000 men and ample authority to
punish the leaders. Instead Of quelling the
disturbance, however. the arrival of Tewfik
Pasha and the harsh means employed by
him have tended to increase the discomfort
and drive more Bedouin chiefs into the
combination. In December they attacked
him. killed over 600 of his soldiers. and it
Is reported that the wall was captured and
killed at Sana, the capital of southern
Arabia. At least nothing has been heard
from him for a long time, and all reports
agree that Sana is in the hands of the
rebels and that Tewfik has disappeared.
Wall Tewfik Pasha was formerly private
secretary to the sultan at Yildez Kiosk,
Constantinople, and is familiar with the
tactics as we'll as the policy of his master.
He was governor of Salonica. Macedonia,
for several years, and his tyrannical treat
ment of the Christian population was one
of the chief causes of the disturbances
cessful negotiations for the release of Miss
Stone After that fiasco he was made
governor of Jerusalem, and remained there
until last summer when he was sent to
Sana to suppress the Bedouin rebellion.
So serious is the difficulty in southern
Arabia that the Turkish government has
called out 10000 reserves and is organic
ing and equpping them as rapidly as pos
sible. They are mostly young men seized
in their homes and their farms by con-
script squads. brought to Damascus, Jeru-
salem and other cities under conapulsion,
and locked up in mosques because there
are no barracks to accommodate them.
Each is allowed be cents per day for
food. In the meantime they ire being
provided with uniforms and drilled in the
use of arms, and as fast as organ zed they
are shipped by sea to southern Arabia.
The Turks blame the English for this
outbreak. They claim that the rebellious
sheiks have been encouraged by English
influence from Alden.