The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-13

"O most persons there is nothing so
enthralling as the fascination of
4 the sea, be that sea an expanse of
water or stretch of sand. Each di-
vision or the deep has its specific charac-
teistics and the divers wastes of the
earth POSSESS distinct features that Inn
press them with a special individuality
1t has been my good fortune to behold
the three great deserts of the globe and
to enjoy their respective charms. The
sands of Sahara are as red as Guinea
gold and their Incompatible beauty at
the setting OF the sun when the angled
rays of the declining orb of day cause
them to take on the hue of the blood
red orange and glisten in aureate splen-
dor can only be comprehended by an
actual vision thereof. At this hour one
day far above Assouan, when my soft
footed camel was bearing me over a
traclsless plain 1 felt as though I were
ploughing through dunes or powdered
gold and was so impressed with my en-
yironment that I made my dragoman
gather me kerohief full OF sand which
] later placed in bottle and have pre-
served to this day.
The Arabian desert is decidedly yellow
and its sands have the tinge of Etruscan
gold. There is peculiar to that country,
especially In the evening, a strange pur-
pie glow IN the atmosphere; a purple that
is known nowhere else save In Brazil,
and this purple softens the yellow of the
sands of the desert to an intense saffron
hue that is as beautiful as it is indescrib-
able. Then again there is this difference
to be noted between the two deserts. The
sand of Sahara Is comparatively heavy
a temporary impress so That the trail of
the animal for a short while may be fol-
lowed, but SO light In weight is the
Arabian sand that 1t falls into the hoof
print of the camel as soon as it is made
and that 1t falls into the hoof print of the
camel as soon as IT is made and there
Is not the slightest trace of a path left
behind the traveller.
In parts of the Sahara species of
buggy with tires two feet broad is often
employed for the transportation of deli
cate women or elderly men who are un-
able to endure the fatigue of camel rid
ing. but on the Arabian desert the use
of such vehicle would be an utter inn
possibility.
In the great Persian desert the sand
Is white and glltters with unsullied
brightness. At a distance 1t becomes
positively incandescent and appears as
though the surface were strewn with
snow or alkaline deposits. This is in
tensely beautiful but it is dangerous to
the eyes and deep blue goggles or dark
green glasses must be continually worn.
But there is fourth desert which few
modern travellers know and its sands are
asnen In hue, dreary, barren waste
void of human habitation or blade OF
green and broken only here and there by
low mounds and wind-ravishe1 configura
tion whose innumerabe fragments of yell
low pottery and shattered glass spark
ling in the sunlight breathe silent epic
of glory that is gone. This is the
desert of Mesopotamia, once the garden
spot of the world, rich in luXuriousness
and fertility, now an abandoned highway
fiequented only by the fanatic pilgrim,
the marauding Bedouin and an occasional
traveller from the Occident.
1t is just $40 miles from Damascus to
the site of ancient Babylon yet through
fear of the Bedouin and the hardshps
of an overland journey nearly all vis-
itors to the razed city of King Nebuchad-
llezzer make a roundabout tour. They
go through the Suez to Bombay; thence
through the Persian gulf and up the
Tigris river to Bagdad and from the latter
place across country TO Babylon
But as have always been susceptible
to the lure Of the primitive and roman
tic, l selected the shorter. more arduous
and more dangerous route and in traNers-
ing the Mesopotamian desert | enjoyed
several new experiences of desert lie,
though they were uncanny and uncom-
Portable. I'm Egypt and Arabia used the
camel as a medium of transportation,
mode of travel to which | eventually be-
came greatly attached. In Persia en-
ployed the dromedary and this beast was
at the same time a. luxury, a wonder and
a revelation to me. He is swiftness per-
sonified; in fact, the very name of the
animal signifies swiftness. Our word hip-
podrome is from the Greek, meaning
horse course, or race course. and drome-
Diary Is from the same root designating
racer or courser. lie is not distinct