Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-17
REVOLT OF THE ARABS
Nearly All the Tribes Have
Joined Sheik Mahmud Yohia.
SULTAN'S TROOPS MUTINY
Turkish Forces Unable to Accomplish
Anything
MANY SOLDIERS SACRIFICED
Insurgents Are Descendants of the
Followers of Wahab-Known as
the Puritans of Arabia.
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.


Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
The recent reports from southern Ara
bia show that the revolt of the Arabs in
the province of Yemen, which has been 60
Ing on for nearly year, has become al
most universal and nearly all the tribes in
southern Arabia have Joined Sheik NAH
mud Yohia, the rebel leader. The sultan
has sent nearly 10000 troops to the scene
Of the rebellion, but they have been power
less. Many of them mutinied on the trans
ports In the Red sea and refused to land
until they had reeeir I'd their pay, which
was in arrears for seven or eight months.
Their officers had no money to meet the
demands and We're compelled to communi
cate with Constantinople Funds were for
warded to meet part of the arrears but
the soldiers refused to fight until they were
paid to date.
The Mutinous Soldiers.
Nearly all of the mutinous soldiers were
from Syria and Palestine. The remainder
of the sultan's force is made up of Kurds
and Bashi-bazouks who cannot endure the
climate. The Kurds come from the Arme-
MAN highland, and they are quickly over
come by the terrible heat of southern Ara
bia- The Bashi- ba zouks from European
Turkey are also accustomed to higher lands
and colder weather, and are of no service
in desert warfare. A representative of one
of the Armenian societies in Boston, who
was sent down into Arabia to see how the
rebellion was getting on, has just returned.
he says: THE refusal of the troops I'd
light is most natural. That portion of the
army which was gathered from around Da-
mascus, Aleppo and the southern part of
Mesopotamia are in sympathy with the
Wahab1tes The Kurds from Armenia,
which make up the bulk of the troops, can
not fight even If they were inclined to- on
account of the climate, while the Bashi-
bazouks are of no service In the warfare
as conducted by the Arabs The Arabs
really do not have to fight, although well
supplied with modern arms and ammuni-
ton. All they have to do is to get the sui
tan's troops to follow them as far south
as they can be drawn, when the latter die
like diseased rats on the march. Since
January last the money raised by Arab
sympathfzers in Europe has been used TO
purchase horses and camels for them which
gives them the greatest advantage over the
Turks, whose supply of horses and camels
has been entirely cut off,
The people of the United States and the
outside world generally have very little con-
ception of the intelligence and ability of
the Arabs We look upon Arabia hope
less desert with few wandering barpa-
rians, forgetting the marvellous history OF
the race and the fact that they like the
Chinese have preserved their individuality
their flIIHty anu the strength or BODY and
mind which characterized their ancestors
during the crusades. The descendants of
1shmael are mastery race and although
In this generation they have fallen Behind
the more progressive Europeans for sew
eral centuries they played the most impor-
tant role In the worlds history and their
monuments are found in Spain, Africa IN
dia and other parts of Asia. They were
the worlds greatest teachers of the arts
and sciences; they established the first COL
leges and universities; many of their public
libraries were as large as those of rnodcrn
times, and they were the inventors of
arithmetic. algebra. geometry, as tronoIny
and philosophy.
The Present Rebellion.
The present rebellion against the author
ity of the sultan is the result of a schism
in the Mohammedan faith. The tribes of
Arabia, the direct descendants OF Moham-
med. do not consider Abdul Hamid the
legitimate successor of the prophet They
regard him as an fmpostor and interloper
whose ancestors supplanted the real Padi-
shah (Father of all the Sovereigns of the
EARTH, and they will not recognize his au-
thority even under force The schism be-
gan In 1905 under Sheik Abdul Wahab
who, next to Mohammed and Abu- Bekir, is
the most reVered of all the sons of Ish-
mael. There have been nine wars similar
to the present since 1907, led by the Waha-
bites, who are called the "Moslem Puri-
tans." Whenever they could get money
arms, ammunition, camels and horses they