The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-07-26
Water and Light for Medina.


Consul General Rayndal 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
ISlanic 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 Med
ina. The latter is extremely important
because of its 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 transportation
were very difficult to obtain and to oper-
ate. 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. IN,
There is a good deal of railway build
ing in northern Africa and the Egyptian
trunk line. following the valley OF the
Nile, also, is being pushed rapidly south
ward, so that very shortly IL VIII be
possible to cover the entire distance be-
| tween Khartum and Cairo on the cars
The Railway to Mecca.
| 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 well 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 ana
| 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
| recurring the road to be completed TO
| Mecca. a distance of $50 miles, before the
next pilgrimage, which will take place In
| the winter of 1868. He has also ordered
| the construction of the branch line. DIS
| lance of eleven miles, from Mecca TO
| Mount Ararat. where important religious
| ceremonies occur annually during each
| pilgrimage.
| Last wear the number of pilgrims Wis
| iting Mecca. according to the offlclal re-
| ports. was $4,000; this year the number
| is estimated at 100000, although those
| fieures are believed to be greatly eXag-
| eerated About two-thirds of these Pill
| erims are expected to patroniZe the rail-
| WaV and trains will be run especially
for their accommodation