Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-11

The railroad which the Sultan of Tur-
key is building from Damascus south to
Mecca for the transportation of pilgrims
to the holy city of Mohammed and at the
same time. for the transportation of
troops to suppress the revolutions or
ganized, by the Wahabites. who refuse
to acknowledge the spiritual as we'll as
the temporal authority of the sultan. Is
progressing rapidly. German and French
engineers are in charge of the work and
the labor is done by soldiers of the Turk
ish army, who are paid no wages and
are very poorly cared for. Most of the
material comes from France and Belgium.
but a little has been imported from the
United States
The sultan has recently issued an order
requiring the road to be completed to
Mecca, a distance of $50 miles. before the
next pilgrimage. which will take place in
the winter of 19O8-9. He has also ordered
the construction of the branch line. a dis
tance of eleven miles. from Mecca to
Mount Arafat, where important religious
ceremonies occur annually during each
pilgrimage.
ting Mecca. according to the official re-
ports. was 2SO, 600: this year the number
is estimated at 100000. although those
figures are believed to be greatly exag-
gerated. About two-thirds of these pill
grims are expected to patronize the rail-
way. and trains will be run especially
for their accommodation.
AS usual. cholera has broken out among
the pilgrims, who fall easy victims to the
disease because of insufficient nourish-
ment. fatigue and the privations. discom-
forts and exposure to which they have
been subjected during their journeys.
When these plaques occur the pilgrims
die like the locusts Of Egypt, and so
straight TO the presence of the prophet.
Therefore they do not dread death or take
sanitary precautions to protect them
selves. as they otherwise would.
Water and Light for Medina.
Consul General Ravndal of Beirut, who
is the best posted American in all that
country. wrote the Secretary of State not
long ago that an English firm had been
given contract to light the great
Islamic sanctuary at Medina with cleo
tricity. and also that the sultan has is
sued an trade to furnish a pure and suf-
ficient water supply for the city of Medi-
because of it's effect on the plaques that
recur every day.
Extraordinary efforts are being made to
protect Egypt, Palestine and other sec
tons in that neighborhood from the chol-
era. For years every plague that has
occurred could be traced directly to re-
turning pilgrims, who brought the disease
with them from Mecca.
This railroad from Damascus. when
completed, may enable the sultan to sup
press the chronic rebellion in Arabia by
furnishing means of transportation for
troops and military supplies. Hitherto
he has been compelled to rely on ships
which have landed his men, his munitions
of war and provisions on hostile shores
where means of interior transpc rtation
were very difficult to obtain and to ope-
rate. Thousands of men have been sac
rificed every year in attempts to put
down these rebellions. Shiploads of con-
scripts have been sent from various ports
on the Mediterranean. but few of them
have ever returned. Their bones lie
bleaching on the deserts of southern
Arabia.