Evening star., 1907-10-26

| is governed by them The country "a
visited by travellers by means OF cam Is
ana Bedouin eu!d $ and & is possible 20
I go up the mountains where Moses slw
ne Lord IN burning bush, and whore
! II" received the Ten Commandments n
/ gravod on blocks OF stone yhl!r lilo
| IsT9cltes were WOrShiping the gu'I N
| calf in the foothills
The peninsula Of Sinai is one of .ls
most mountainous deserts of the WOl'l
! 1t has no tIllabie soil but il is said 20 10
well mineralized. and To have deposits "
copper which were worked as far back -
800 Is. {. These deposits are now he.re
! again prospccted. and a concession or
mining them has been given to one Of tao
exploration companies The Cairo sya r.
cate Is Investigating in the northern Illf
OF the peninsula, and their engineers hive
| reported the discovery OF coal In snail
quantities. Petroleum IS believed 70 exist
| there and also turQuoises and also ,ul-
liable stones
The government. however IS an'.,.- Il
difficult to administer the country and
Just before Lord Cromer left he aircc'cd
that the whole peninsula be put under lc
war department. British officer of ne
| Egyptian army is to BE- the governor i.d
commandant. His headquarters will no
at Nekhl. the chief town of the peuius -,
which Is about It's center: and there VIII
be other Egyptian officers stationed at
various points The intention Is TO make
the country safe for tourists ana trJv-
elers, as well as for prospectors. and IL
wiz soon be possible to visit all parts Of
the peninsula.
The Queer Natives of Sinai.
In the past 1t has been difficult to con-
troll the natives OF Sinai The country 10
so large and 30 rough and the population
so sparse that 1t is almost impossible to
capture criminals and bring them TO JUS
tice. A camel corps has been organiz ID,
and a telegraph line and possibly road
for motor cars will be built to Nekhl al
though this may not be until at some time
in the future.
At present there are about 10000 inhab-
itants in the peninsula. They are all OF
Arab origin, save one little tribe, who are
believed to be the descendants OF some
Roman troops sent to the peninsula In the
sixth century.
These Sinai people have their own sys-
TENS of Justice, and they resent the laws
which the Egyptians are trying to force
upon them They believe in the vendetta
and in blood money as payment for muir
der. If man kills another in time Of
peace the relations Of the dead have he
right to revenge or to pardon IL the blood
money be paid. The blood money for an
ordinary murder is fixed at forty
camels, and II may be paid on inst IL
ments, the payments running for a month
or year or more. If a man kills another
secretly and denies the crime. but 10 found
the murdered mans relations may take
revenge by killing one of the family Of
the murderer and still have the right to
three blood moneys.
How the Judges Detect Crime.
Shortly before he left Egypt Lord
Cromer made some Investigations of jus
tice in the Sinai peninsula. and In one Of
his reports described how a Justice de-
tected whether criminals were guilty or
not. He had three methods-by water by
fire and by dream. The test by dream
was made by his honor going TO sleep and
dreaming whether the accused was guilty
or not. If the dream showed the man
guilty, 1t was looked upon as a judgment
of God and he was punished. The water
test was made with copper jug filled
with that fluid. The Judge, the ao-
cused and the spectators sat In q cir
Gle. and the jug, In some way or other
was made to move around through the
group. and If it stopped opposite the ao-
cused he was guilty
The fire test was severe. 1t was often
used to convict men of stealing. In this
case the Judge heated an iron pan over
the Goals until it was red hot, and then
made the accused touch It three times
with his tongue. If the tongue showed
marks of burning he was guilty and, II
ways sat with the Judge to witness
whether the tongues of the accused were
burnt or not.
All such methods are now to be done
away with, and the British and EEyptian
officials are to see that justice is admin.
istered according to the laws Of the land
. FRANK G. CARPENTER.