The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-08-02

with them from Feldudjah on the
Euphrates. For weeks / have heard
no English words, and seen no white
men, By day we ride the plodding
camels, and sleep at night on the
warm sand, in the small tents of
goats hair. Our food is camefs
milk, cheese and dried dates; once
a week the Sheik orders a camel
killed. and we eat meat. At first the
course Beduoin fare sickened me and
lay down each night gripped by the
pangs of hunger. Now / eat the
Arab food and am happy in the No
mad life.
Today we sighted the foothills of
Kurdstan, and there was much re-
joicing in the tribe; the women have
been singing merrily all day, and
| beating the tom toms as the pack
camels plod along. All the folk are
glad to reach the summer grazing
grounds, in the fresh foothills of the
| north country. Each year all the
Beduoin folk of Mesopotamia work
toward these northern hills, for in
the scorching days of mid-sumer the
desert is uninhabitable, even for
hardened Arabs. Eggs cooked in the
sun, water in the goatskin evapor-
ates completely in few hours.
Tomorrow the Sheik will put his
son on the tribes swiftest dromedary
and send him to Mossul with a mess
age of peace to the Turkish Vail.
For there is always fighting between
| Turkish soldiers and the Nomad folk
and it is well to advise the OsmanllS
| in advance that moving tribe Is
peaceable-that no maraudlng is
contemplated Then the tribe may
sleep at night and fear no harm. SO
when Abdul Sidoon, the eldest son of
the Sheik Ibn Sidoon, land heir to a
thousand camels, departs for Mossul
with his fathers message, he will
cary my letter with him too. He will
mail it at the Turkish postoffice, in
distant Mosul, hard on the foamlng
Tigris. Bye and bye other camel
caravans will carry my letter to
Constantinople-if they are not rob-
bed or slain-and then, month or
more from now my letter will reach
Wenatchee.
Often desert providers waylay the
camel post, and the brave drivers are
hard pressed for their lives. 1t is
told in Bagdad that once the desert
mail carrier was held up, when the
robbers had reason to think the bags
contained rich treasure. When the
thieves found only letters and not the
money they had sought, they manned
the camel and then cruelty cut OF
the hands of the camel rider, leav-
ing man and beast to perish mlser-
ably on the hot and friendleGs desert
These Arabs live much the same as
our Indians did before we took away
their lands and swept them from the
path of progress. In woodcratt they
excel. and in warfare their aim is al
WAYS plumber rather than the taking
of life-except of course in blood
fueds. And their daily life has not
changed one whit since the Old DAYS
when Father Abraham was the big
Sheik, and ranged all this country
with his tribe and their countless
herds. Their food, clothes, customs,
habits, virtues and vices are the same
now as in the old Biblical times
with the possible exceptions that in
stead of scimetars many Arabs carry
rifles. and have discarded the mar
gkelie or water pipe for the festive
cigaret. They still make sacrlf1ces OF
sheep to consecrate VOW. The old
tradition of Abraham and the son
whom he was about to STAY when the
angel flew down and showed the good
man a ram caught in the camel
thorn is current to this day among
the desert Arabs They call Abra-
| ham "Ibrihim".
Five Days Later.
Abdul Sidoon is dead: the Aenezen
tribe, fuedal enemies Of the JeDoel
Shammar, raided our camp lou
nights ago, and Abdul Sidoon, son OF
the Sheik and heir to thousand
camels. died fighting as brave ARAB
should. The women are crying IN the