Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1914-07-03
AIDES is built Just under the
Persian gulf, and keeps its wa
ters hot, Arabs will tell you.
To prove their claim they
HAIAA

ters hot, Arabs will tell you.
To prove their claim they
point to the luminous, phos-
phorescent balls which lazily float be-
meath the waters at night, and say they
are fragments of the everlasting
flames.
Maskat, the picturesque pirates re-
treat on the rocky Oman coast. Is
called the hottest place in the world
The sailors say a man who has spent
a summer in this blistering cove may
walk barefoot into Hades-and feel a
chill. 1t was 124 degrees Fahrenheit
In the shade Of our awnings when we
dropped anchor in Maskat harbor, FIVE
days out Of Bombay. Lord Curzon, who
visited Maskat, said: "In the heats be-
tween June and August the ordinary
thermometer bursts; those graded
high enough have placed the solar ra-
diation at 1S9 Fahrenheit. The rain
fall Is only three and one-half inches,
and this all comes within a period Of
two or three weeks"
A new American consul to Maskat
got In the same day did, writes Fred.
erlck Simpich in the Los Angeles
Times. In the silent, quivering heat
Of MONDAY the old muzzle-loading guns
Of the sultan's fortress, perched high
on the red rocks above the baking
town, crashed forth a salute. The
Stars and Stripes, in honor OF the new
consul, appeared for an instant above
the picturesque old fort, built by the
adventurous Portuguese when they
held this boiling inlet ages ago.
Aspect Is uneanny.
Gibraltar looks tame beside the
wild. scowling cliffs Of Maskat. Sharp,
splintered rocks rise hundreds of feet
high, straight up from the hot sea
From the north a narrow bay opens
into this mass Of peaks and crags. at
whose feet clings Maskat The whole
aspect Of the place is uncanny and
weird-like Dores pictures Of Dante's
Inferno" Not a trace Of vegetation
exists. Food is largely brought from
India.
Near the beach stands the sultan's
palace. a pretentious structure for thii
part OF the world. A huge lion from tn,
Arabian desert is kept In an iron cag'
near the entrance to the palace. Wher
Lord Curzon was In Maskat he saw {
woman. who was accused OF murder
confined In a similar cage very neal
the lion.
In the narrow. crowded bazaar
every Arab met carried long curvet
knife. and flrearm Of some pattern
Their rifles we're often inlald with sill
YER. and had the stocks wrapped witt
deerskin. Slavery was abollshed-onl
cially-by treaty with the British SOM
years ago. but so many blacks ha,
been previously brought in that the.
have left their impress on the peopl
OF Maskat, with whom they hav
mixed. The Maskat Arabs appea
much darker than those farther north
Scores Of thick-llpped, woolly-heade
blacks from Abyssinia and Zanziba
we're mingled with the market throng
many OF these were slaves belongin
to wealthy Arabs. The bazaar trad
itself. which seemed TO consist largel
Of guns and ammunition, besides O
course the usual articles OF clotl
skins and food. is in the hands OF Hir
du traders. Guns Of every description
wero for sale. and II is from this ira
&c that the sultan derives much OF hi
income. Camel caravans take the gun
inland from Baskat, and carry ther
around by land to Koweit. and eve
,, across TO Baluchistan. All the tribe
OF the interior OF Arabia secure arm
through this source, which they afte
ward use against one another. III
Turks or the English In BaluchlstaI
as the case may be.
; Maskat is above all city OF son
= and dance. of good times and high III
as Arabs know H. In all Arabia,
: IN said, no maids are so fair az thos
! Of Maskat Here. too. flourish IN
: black arts and superstitious sorcerit
. which are openly avowed and pra
D tised. "Baled- -es-S Soharah" the nativ,
: call Oman. which means The Ian
y OF the Enchanters." The water froi
In alive with weird yarns OF fanc
magic and occult mysteries. Half n
! fiction OF the Arabian Nights coul
have been lifted bodily from any OF n
same sort Of stories which are tol
and retoid in the coffee shops OF Ma
! kat any night. when the blazing sun
set
:. From Maskat north the heat by dl
D aboard the Kola became more intens
l.st.- ten o.ttar. .tapnoA .oo rt.t.