Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1911-07-06
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The Recent Uprising in Arabia-At-
tacks on the Mecca Railway lndi-
cate. New Unrest-Fresh Hostility
to Christians.
On Mt. Nebo, Land of Moab.-Try-
ing to get to the inwardness of nation
al currents, which may be seen only
specifically in the cities, ( have been
owe in Arabia. Here, on the spot
where Moses was given his glimpse of
the Land of Promise, I encamped with
a company of Bedouins, beneath whose
black tents l expected to find the ira
ditional Arabian hospitality, if re-
ceived at all. Instead, I have met with
scant courtesy, and that this has not
beer open hospility is due to the unit
settled state of mind which does not
know quite how to take the new siren
uosities of the Young Turk govern
ment.. :.
l did not know, at the moment, the
AA0h l loAS ~ SAC 111SAk W11Cu !
found was but the beginning of open,
armed antagonism to the government
on the part of of the Arabs, who at
tackled the Hejaz railway, despoiled a
station and a train, robbing the pas
sengers, killing some of the crew, cut
ting the telegraph wires, and general
ly bidding defiance to the authorities.
A no r&vy 0f A ~, ~ - ~oI1r;~- -:o
going over the same route as myself,
and only two days later, were de-
spoiled of all their money and posses
sions, and saved their lives almost by
a miracle.
The Arabs are out in strength, and
this seems to be more than a raid, in
dications pointing to a concerted
movement among the tribes, against
whom the government has since SEM
out an expedition of large proportions.
The Arabs r still "out," and Con-
stantinople seems to be afraid of a
general rising of all the Bedouins in
Arabia.
Anti-Christian, Anti-Progress.
A key to the situation was given me
on Mt. Nebo, when a handsome, black
bearded sheikh asked, naively, yet in
no pleasant spirit, why don't all
these Christians go to America, or
somewhere else? We don't want them
here" The man had not the remotest
idea that the Christians held this re-
gion before Mohammed was born; he
spoke out of the common Moslem ig-
norance and bigotry. The immediate
cause of his remarks was the fact that
Christians are now being enlisted in
the Turkish army, which used to be
entirely 1slamic. He was also dis
turbed by the fact that the government
is gathering conscripts from the Arabs,
a hitherto unknown procedure.
With more reason than they them
selves discern, the conservative ele-
ments in Turkeys population are lay
ing the responsibility for all this re.
cent awakening and progress upon the
Christians. They think that somehow
the infdel dogs are back of this dis
%turbance of the good old days of in
action.
For constitutionally, or rather, theo-
logically, the Moslem is a foe of prog
ress. He is under the sway of a fatal.
ism which says, "The old ways are
best" Yet under his rule the civiliza-
ton of this land has not only stood
still, but it has decidedly refrigerated.
There is a d,ep element of truth in the
charge of the faithful, that the pro.
gressive Young Turks are not good
Moslems.
Changes for the ChangeIess Desert.
The Arab has never been able to
reason in the abstract or in the large;
he thinks only in terms of the indi-
a civilization, although he has lived
longer, as a distinct people, than any
other on earth. So he feels only vague.
ly the economic and social changes
that are touching his land, along with
the rest of the old world. He knows
that he has had to discard, of late, his
traditional spear, and even his flint.
lock musket, with the long barrel, is
not equal to his present needs, so that
he must buy an expensive rifle, which
can be had only with difficulty, and fol
which it is not easy to secure cart
ridges. Likewise his tent must now
be lighted with kerosene, rather thar
with a tallow dip, and his wife is sug
costing other radical household i'm
provements, all of which threaten the
old order.
The noble Bedouin cannot grasp tho
larger meaning Of the railway tina
runs down through the desert from
Damascus to Medina, with Mecca fol
its ultimate goal; but he can see tina.
it has deprived him of the profitable
employment of transporting and prey
ing upon the pilgrim caravans. TIL
lack of a sale for camels, for instance
touches him. / met a string of NOR
than one hundred and thirty camels
going south, unladen. The answer
got when l inquired the reason was
"The railroad has taken our business
Now, for most Of the year, the ami
mails eat out of our pockets, so we ar
taking them down to Egypt to sci