The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1911-12-14

are covered with soft wool, white,
black, or fawn color, and they scam
per about the desert as If they had
been trained to cut capers in a cir
Gus. Arabs watch them, each armed
with a gun or bludgeon.
Arbitration treaties and doctrines
Of peace do not reach down here.
Every man must be his own police
man. The traveller who went un-
armed or unescorted might fare bad.
~. Outside of each Of the villages is
a high, rectangular tower, built of
mud bricks, and resembling the pic
lures Of the Tower of Babel in the
old family Bibles. This is both watch
tower and fortress. Here sentinel
is ever on the lookout for the APP
proach of marauding bands. or war
parties of enemies, and into this the
people are gathered when there is
danger of attack. The petty wars that
are life and death to these people are,
of course, unknown to the world.
An American Among the Arabs.
learned of an adventurous Ameri.
can who has cast in his lot with one
Of these tribes, and has become an
assistant sheikh, or adviser to the
tribe. His name is williamson, but
he refuses to talk very much about
himself to the few foreigners who
have met him. He is an educated man,
and says that his one regret at liv-
ing among the Arabs-for he dresses
and lives exactly as other members
of the tribe-is the lack of books. He
made periodical viists to the Ameri-
can missionaries in Bosra to secure
literature, but they have not seen him
now for a considerable time, and they
fear he has persisted in one of the af-
trays of which he told them such in
teresting tales. A man would have
to be fonder of the simple life than
most of us, and thirstier for adven-
ture, to cast in his lot with these
poor, dirty and lazy Arabs.
Treasures Dug Up by the Arabs.
AS near as the average Arab ever
comes to work in this part of the
world is when he sets to digging for
"antikas," as the antiquities which he
| unearths from the sand are called
The advent of archaeologists has
meant a new era for Bedouin. The
University of Pennsylvania expedition
at Niffur found a pot of gold, and as
| the Arabs avarice overmasters his
laziness he Is forever seeking for the
hidden treasures of the ancient Baby
lonian civilization which hourished
here. Even the statues and bronzes
and clay tablets which he digs up are
marketable, when taken to Bagdad.
So anybody who wants to collect a
modest library of writings from four
to seven thousand years old may
ert places, after deal of bargaining
with the Bedouin. The latter have
lately uncovered at Jokka, several
miles south of Niffur, library Of
| about twenty thousand tablets. That
these should be lost or scattered, in.
stead of going into the possession Of
the archaeologists, is matter for
real regret Any one of them may con-
tain information that will necessitate
the rewriting of the books of early
history.
The great excavations of the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania, now neglect
| ed, are an impressive ruin. They are
by no means exhausted, for the Ar
abs themselves are constantly making
finds there. The controversy between
Professor Hilprecht and Professor Pc
tiers seems to have stayed the work.
It Is perhaps late sidelight upon
that fracas, which was rather unintel-
ligible to the average man, that the
one name which seems to be best
known to the Arabs, and to the neigh.
boring Turkish officials, as we'll as to
the people of Bagdad, is that of Pro-
fessor Hilprecht. The German ar
chaeologists at Babylon also gave him
high praise and wondered who knew
enough to call his findings into ques.
ton. The two houses, or forts, of
this University of Pennsylvania ex.
petition are rapidly falling into com.
plete ruin.
Unearthing Nebuchadnezzar's Palace.
It is no. news to the world that Bah.
i ylon is fallen, but now complete is her
decline can be understood only by
those who have visited the ruins which
the German archaeological expedition
has unearthed. This work is largely
supported by the German government,
partly from scientific zeal, and partly,
one suspects, in order to have stake
in Mesopotamia. It is a notable bit
of archaeological enterprise, charac'
terized by German thoroughness. The
| palace of ACKNOWLEDGMENT has been
| 1o;l 1>ovo IN ;+c fo,,Ydo+;opc opd Cpc