The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1914-05-21

SI4Ao ID DuA1L JubL oabS4 AAS
Persian gulf. and keeps its wa
tiers hot Arabs will tell you.
To prove their claim they
point to tho luminous. phos-
ph~orescent balls which laxily float be-
meath the waters at night. and say they
are fragments of the everlasting
fAmsa-
Maskat, the picturesque pirates re
treat ON the rocky Oman coast. II
called the hottest place In the world
The sailors say a man who has spent
a summer in this b~lister1ng cove may
walk barefoot into Hades-eud feel a
chill. 1t was LEA degrees Fahrenheit
I'm the shade Of our awnings when W.
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 rar
diktion at 1S9 Fahrenheit. The rain
fall Ia only three and one-half inches,
and this all oomes within q period Of
two or three weeks"
A new American consul to Maskat
got In the same day ! did. writes Fred
srick Simpich IN the Los Angeles
Times. In the silent. Quiverins heat
OF MONDAY the old muxzls-loading guns
OF the suitan's fortress. perched high
on the red rocks above the baking
town. crashed forth q 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 10 uneanny.
Gibraltar looks tame beside the
wild, scowing cliffs of Maskat. Sharp,
spintered rocks rise hundreds Of feet
high, straight up from the hot sea.
from the north a narrow bay opens
into this a Of peaks and crags, at
whose feet clings Maskat. The whole
aspect of the place Is uncanny and
weird-like Dore's 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 this
part of the world. A huge lion from the
Arabian desert is kept in an iron cage
nea the entrance to the palace. When
Lord CurZon was in Maskat he saw a
confined in a similar cage very lei
the lion.
In the narrow, crowded bazaar,
every Arab l met carried a long curved
knife, and a firearm of some pattern.
Their rifles were often tnlaid with sill
yer. and had the stocks wrapped with
deerskin. Slavery was abolished-ofi-
cially-by treaty with the British some
years ago, but SO many blacks had
been previously brought in that they
have left their impress on the people
OF Maskat, with whom they have
mixed. The Maskat Arabs appear
much darker than those farther north.
Scores Of thickIipped, wo~olly-headed
blacks from Abyssinia and Zanzibar
were mingled with the market throng;
man. of these were slaves belonging
to wealthy Arabs. The bazaar trade
itself, which seemed to consist largely
of guns and ammunition, besides of
course the usual articles Of cloth.
skins and food, is In the hands of Hin
du traders. Guns of every description
were for sale. and 1t is from this traf-
fc that the sultan derives much Of his
income. Camel caravans take the guns
inland from Maskat, and carry them
around by land to Koweit, and even
across to Bafuchistan. All the tribes
OF the interior Of Arabia secure arms
through this source. which they after
ward use against ono another. the
Turns or the English IN Bafuchistan.
rs the case may b..
Maakat 10 above an q city Of song
and dance. Of good times and high hfe
-As Anbs know Il. In an Arabia, It
y saad. no maids ara 70 fair - those
q Aaskat Here, too. flourish the
HACK arts and supsrst1t3oos soreerfes
which are -openly avowsd and Hao-
s3scd. .BaAaA1o9oAAR1h" tAs natives
ean Oman. vh1cA means Tho Land
OF the DDchAnAscs.. Ths vaAar front
- olive vtA vsfA yWss q fancy
~ste and occult nyslaEbsa- AAk he
nceoa Of he AreAAnA Nlghes coald
Aavs been ffted hod1y fson any of ne
ssms sovt q AoESss Witch p tnsd
anA rstoad n tAs eo4ss aAops a Mas
mt sny nigAt WIN he AAaaAng I'm b
Prom NaaAat Ao&A - Asak - ~
1AoASd ths Kn1A besaGs nnss nesnsA
ssaGhAng - oAnnsS sAsQpsd - va1nP