The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-03-23
Zonara. November Is. 1911.

ter OF q vast network OF patrols, pick
cts, outposts, and scouting parties and
not one solitary cameldriver can
traverse the desert. nor a single Arab
fishing boat pass within sight of the
shore for ninety miles round, without
his knowing it,
He is in constant telegraphic com
Imunication with the Turkish com
manderiu-chief; his scouts bring him
reports from the utmost corners of
the area under his control; he organ.
ICES q regular supply of barley, rice,
/ -four, dates, and fresh water for the
troops further inland; he never seems
to sleep, for he spends the greater
part of the night in visitingrounds,
and he is a soldier and a disciplinar.
ian to the tips of his fingers.
A soldier, a disciplinarian-and an
Arab! For Musa Mehemet Bimbashi
is a pure-blooded Arab, from Yemen,
speaking no languages save Turkish
and his native Arabic.
This is new and portentious mill
tary type and Europe will do well to
profit by the discovery which the Tur-
co-1talian War has brought to light.
There was similar portent in Japan
a generation ago, and Russia paid
dearly because she failed to realize
it's importance.
No one who knows anything of the
Arab character will readily believe
that it could produce a soldier of the
European type. The heroically brave
Fuzzy-Wuzzy hymned by Mr.. Kipling;
the reckless dervish who charged
again and again in the face of the
leaden hail that Kitchner showered
on him at Khartoum-thesea are types
we know well enough. But a disci-
plined Arab soldier! The thing seems
positively unbelievable. Our own
Tommies have thanked their stars, and
with good reason, that method, disci-
pine, and organization were just what
the Arab lacked Even without them,
even though armed only with gaspipe
gun and shovel-headed spear, the des-
ert warriors have always been the
most terrible of foes.
Now like the Japanese before them,
they have learned the lesson of mod
ern scientific warfare. Here, in the
military district of which Zonara is
the center, is small Turkish force q
may not give numbers), reinforced by
a much larger number of Arabs, clad
in uniform, armed with the latest
magazine rifles, we'll drilled and dis
ciplined, and the entire body com
manded by an Arab! No wonder, if
all the Turkish forces are like this
sample, that the Italians remain
cooped up in a part of the town of
Tripoli.
If it were not for the Italian ships;
| if only the Turkish and Italian armies
could meet on level terms, l think
there would be a derisive end to
Italy's pretensions in Northern Africa.
| entered Musa Mehemet Bibashi' s
zone yesterday, after having spent two
.shelterless nights in the desolate strip
of desert that forms the borderland
between Tripoli and Tunis. The camel
drivers with whom | travelled had
pointed out to me early in the morn
ing a dim fringe of palms on the no.
rizon, and towards this the leisuVely
caravan made its way, the ungainly
beasts browsing at will upon the
scanty tufts of bent as they moved
along.
Towards midday we entered the
belt of palms, and presently came on
a small fort, wherein were gathered
old men, women and children from
Zonara They had been brought here
during the bOmbardment of the town,
and since Italian vessels frequently
cruise about the coast here they still
remained, guarded by a small force of
soldiers.
The officer in charge questioned me
at once, saw my papers, fitted me out
with a horse to ride and beasts of bur
den for my baggage, and sent me of
at once to the Bimbashie at Zonara,
l was taken to him with none of the
delay which a previous acquaintance
with Arab methods led me to expect
T. He telegraphed news of my arrival tc
the Turkish commandments, put
me into Turkish uniform (lest l be
mistaken for an Italian), and assigned
me quarters without any loss of time
And then, having ordered coffee and
cigarettes wherewith l might amuse
myself tin dinner, he was gone, leaY
ing me astonished at his prOmptness
and his method.
And there are more men like this
some say about two thousand Of
them!
They are desert Arabs, trained in
the military college at Constantinople
and though many of them speak nc