The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20

1 button, and spread pail of silence over all; nature, not humanity, was now its victim and under that pail 1t lay as gazed upon It's stricken sublimity and palsied energies.
 Since the English took possession of Alden they have restored thirteen of the most picturesque of these tanks; and a herculaan task 1t was. Eight cen years were spent in the work of restoration and hundreds of thousands of dollars were expended. They have n combined capacity of 30,000,000 im- perial gallons. and three of them have depth of more than 100 feet each.
 England did for Alden what she did and Is still doing for Egypt In the con struetion of the great barage at the first cataract of the Nile at Assouan and It's further heightening In which she is at present engaged. But the great mystery is that this desiccated city has been permitted to exist for several thousand years in its anhydrous condition when but seventy miles re- moved, and visible from here in clear weather, are the highlands of the Yemen Province which abound in un- stinted streams and are 5000 feet above the level of the sea. No attempt has been made to utilize these highland streams and the brackish water which supplies Alden comes q journey of ten miles through a ruined acqueduct. It Is not notable and is passed through lgoYernment condensers after which 1t is furnished at so much the gallon. Alden possesses quite a pretty mosque, architecture. Like most of the city's public buildings it is white. a natural development arising from the intense heat, and 1t Is approached In size only ty the camel market. The houses of natives, however. are as l have said mostly yellow and blue.
 In the moonlight that mosque was etherealy beautiful and 1t seemed as q fitting scenic touch to the great pallid silver vein filled by the tanks that came swinging down the sombre mountain side as warp or wool from the celestial loom of a mighty archan- gel.
 l spent three days in Alden waiting for steamer and that in that time nearly became deliquescent is not a mere figure of speech. The hotels were by no means desirable and as the heat compelled me to remain indoors most l of the day. I spent the entire nights under the moon. Here I observed quite an anomoly--the hotter the place and weather the cooler the water, for the liquid is kept In earthen caraffes which cool by evaporation. The hotter the weather, the moro rapid Is the evapo- ration, and the greater the evaporation the cooler the vessel. In the after moons, when tho mercury almost. over flowed it's tube I noted that often earaffe holding about a quartet water would empty itself entirely 'pora- ton in less than three hours. |. 2but- ter which is imported to the place is also brought in earthen firkins and wrapped in mulberry leaves as well. When kept in the house the small firkins are placed in bowls of water. At one of my meals I had quite an odd Experience with my butter. had placed l it upon a porcelain plate for use, but temporarily left the table to view d camel fight and whom l returned in q l brief time to my meal the butter had all melted to sauce. I was told that even the candles in tho mosque grew soft In the intense heat of the after moons, but while I did not see this transformation I am prepared to be- lieve it implicitly.
 I, however. never regretted my ex- perience during that detention for 1 am not traveller who looks for a Del monico or a Waldorf-Astoria in foreign lands. especially when those lands are semi-barbaric. Knowledge and experi-