El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-03-13
GREAT STRUGGLE
0HF0RHASTERY.
OF 5UEZ CANAL
Turks Are Giving British a
Hard Battle on Sands
of the Desert.
IS SCENE OF BIG
ANCIENT CONTESTS
w TAsHNGToN, D. C. March Is

w WASHINGTON, D. c.. March Is.-
Wv Among the sands. boulder
strewn fields, and great bar
rem mountains Of rock Of the Sinai pc
ninsula- the British and the Turks are
struggling for the mastery Of a water
way OF first Importance. the Suez canal,
whose safeguarding at the present time
IS Of vital concern 10 Great Britain. Re
ports coming b. way Of Italy tell that
the Turks, reinforced by the wild Be
douin natives, are giving the British a
hard battle in these world buried con-
tests in the desert Even Alexandria
FAR across the canal. IS said 10 be grow
ing anxious. Describing this country.
the National Geographic society says:
Is COmfOrtless Country.
mere are ll,ZOO square miles OF
comfOrtless country in the Sinai PENN
sula' which forms @Asia's juncture with
Africa II was over this bridge and
through the Sinai desert that the Israel
ties wandered 40 years toward their
Promised Land and IL is here that
the sacred Mountain of Law lifts its
head Some Of IsraeTs greatest battles
were fought here, physical battles with
opposing neighbOrs and spiritual ones,
with the recurring hunger for the old
time service to idols and to nature
Is Link in World Empire.
The SueZ canal divides Sinai from
Africa The canal is one of the earth's
greatest commercial and political water
avenues, and is at present one Of the
most important links I'm the British
world empire. The bordering Sinai is
230 miles long and $50 miles wide, or it
IS about the size Of Ireland Its whole
population does not exceed 5000, and
pra ctically all Of the these are BedOu1ns,
who tent along the intermittent streams
and pasture their docks Of goats and
sheep in the deserts grudgins cases
The 'Wady Firan' is the most fertile
and the best known of these cases II
is called the Pearl Of Sinai and here
alone. It is said, has earth enough OF
paradise TO make the Persian bulbul-
sweetest of bird singers. forget MS
roses, content without them, sing his
once Haunt Of Hermits.
IN the early years Of Christianity
the Sinai region was sought by many OF
the sterner nurpOsed hermits, who filled
the numerous caves Of its honeycombed
hills. and mountains Aonasteries,
churches and converts were built here
in districts cOmmemOrated by sacred
story. Among these buildings, St Cath
crimes monastery stands foremost IN
fame 1t was bgilded as monument
upon the Mountain Of the Law pul as
the location OF the Mountain or the
Law is matter of dispute, the claim
Of St GATHERINGS is debatable- The
monastery is in the control Of Greek
orthodox monks, and 1t Is visited once
or twice a year by some stray pilgrim
from the lands Of western Europe CT
America
BEST of Deserts
sinai has been called 'the best desert
in the world by one Of its enthusiastic
friends However, with its fearful
scarcity Of water, with It's enoless,
burning stretches Of yellow and gray
sands. with its bare and brownish rock
masses. and with the night songs OF
those children of the desert, the jackal
and the hyena, as the klndesI Dreak IN
s. -.oro+onv- If is certain that those
ffgbtiuz in SinaTs waste will find their
fheater fittingly grim stage for the
work they have TO do