The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-08-02
LIFE AMONG THE
BEDU0|kS
Continued on page 81.

(COulluueu Oh page o..
hardy, vigorous men, physically
much superior to the weak-lunged
habitues of the Bagdad coffee houses
and music halls, etc. The town
Arab, ashamed of his origin and his
wild, long-haired desert cousins. pre-
fers to pose as a Turk, a Chaldean
or an Armenian.
Most loose tales like those in the
Arabian Nights sprang from the fill
thy minds of the town dwelling
Arabs. Desert men are fanciful and
imaginative, but their talk runs to
tales of adventure, robbery and bur-
| led treasure. l have heard the Tt
girls Arabs (Beni LAM tell of lost
Ctesiphon (Diogeres' early home and
where he hunted in midday with his
lantern for an honest mani, the
walls of which are tiled with solid
gold plates. A stone pot full of
ancient gold coins, found lately be-
tween Bagdad and CtesiphOn, help
ed to circulate this story of the gold
lined palace, left by the early Seleu-
clans.
Weeks among these folk have
shown me what a gulf still exists be-
tween the East and the West. They
live in an age of ignorance here.
trammeled by superstition and as
sailed by strange fears. To eat a
raw camel liver, they think, will cure
consumption. For certain diseases
they take camels urine internally,
and it is widely used among women
as a hair restorative. Evil spirits
in woman's form steal the hearts of
dead men, Arabs say, and use them
in their orgies. If dead mans
name is spoken, they murmur AL
lab, have mercy on him. Storms,
robbers, sickness and death are all
Min Allah from God. A common
greeting is allah Yetowil Omra-
hu.''-God grant you long life. Men
in meeting kiss each other on the
cheeks, like Russians.
Arabs study how to speak in few
words they salt their speech with
proverbs, and make free use of ale
CORY Though few read, all sharpen
their wits in the close study of HUI
man nature. With Pope they be-
llieve mankind the proper study Of
man.
So strong = their belief in the
Evil Eye, that when travelling in
Arabia it is sheer folly to call atten-
ton to any object by pointing at 1t.
Once near Babylon l saw an English
engineers point thoughtlessly at a
passing camel train. The drivers
swore furiously. Now they are &C
cursed, and one of them must go
lame or de-" he shouted. Arabs say
a man possessed Of this strange pow
er may look at bird flying, and
that the bird will cry out and fall
dead to the earth; that he may look
on a date tree, and that it will with
er away, etc. They really believe
all these things, and many more
some of them not fit to print.
Today the Sheik's council met
again; now it is decided that no at
tack on the Aenezeh, to avenge Abb
dull Sidoon's death, shall be made
|till fall. In the autumn both the
Aenezeh and the Jebbel Shammar
will again move south. towards Nejd
1.-THE Happy, and then the debt will
be paid off.
And Ishtar. lest she grieve too
much, will be betrothed to Razook
Hussein, son of tribal elder, and
the wedding will take place next
week when we have reached the
summer camp, hard on the Kurdish
hills. The rider is leaving for Mos
sui, and my letter goes with him.
FRED SIMPICH.
Kurdish Frontier-Some time in