Middletown transcript. [volume] (Middletown, Del.) 1868-current, 1918-07-20

"0O THE world the PERSIAN gun
is an unknown water, land.
locked arm of the sea where
slave trading, gun-running
and piracy survive as legitimate occu-
Qations, with a coast of towering cliffs
and desert wastes where yellow sands
rise in waves and float in sitting
clouds of heat-a region whose OBJ
scurity and perils guard and screen
mysteries and romances that date
back to the beginning Of mankind
writes Louis A. Springer in Asia. To
the European statesman, however, the
Persian gulf is an issue fraught with
deep significance in the struggle fol
world commerce and power In Eastern
politics.
The traveller after leaving Alden and
rounding the Ras-el-Hadd feels that
he is truly departing from the beaten
lanes and entering land that lies
buried In a world of its own. The un-
friendly coast, range upon range OF
high hills without sign Of vegetation
or life. seems to raise barrier against
the mysterious Arabia beyond. In q
recess Of the cliffs, and so securely
hidden that you do not catch glimpse
Of it until the ship suddenly points
its prov to the narrow entrance Of its
harbor, lies Muscat, the first port
Two towering rocks, crowned by the
ruins Of old Portuguese forts, stand
sentry on either side, and below, built
close to the sea wall, Is the town.
Few places have a more picturesque
situation and none could present a
more enticing picture than Muscat's
compact mass of little white houses set
IN the azure of an eastern sky and re-
flecting in the shimmering waters OF
its harbor. But unfortunately for the
foreigners who try to live there few
places have such an appalling heat, a
heat which a Dutch traveller described
as $50 intense that it burned the mar
row in the bones, the sword In Its
scabbard melted like wax, and the
gems which adorned the scabbard
were reduced to GOALS"
Muscat Once Held by Portugal.
Muscat was one of the first towns
of this region to fall to the western
conqueror. In 1905, Alphonse d'Albu-
querque began here the peculiar sys-
TEN Of domination. religious persecu-
ton and colonization undertaken by
the Portuguese in the time of their
naval supremacy. They held Muscat
against all attempts at capture by
Arabs and Turks until the middle Of
the sixteenth century. The forts
above the town, a line of Notifications,
and a cathedral remain as evidences
Of their occupation.
As the capital of Oman. Muscat is
supposed to belong to the Ottoman en-
pire; but, like other gulf provinces,
it is necessary for the Turk to come
and get it if he is to hold it. AS he
has failed to do this, Muscat is in
reality ruled by its own sultan. While
Muscat is not political dependency
Of the British empire as is Alden, it is
practically under the suzerainty of the
Indian government. This was brought
about early in the last century, when
1t was believed that Napoleon was
about to seize Muscat as a base for
attack upon India, through a treaty
Of which one Of the stipulations was
''that the friendship Of the two states
may remain unshook to the end Of
time, and until the sun and moon have
finished their revolving careers
Muscat has, however, proved for
years a constant source of trouble to
the British, by being the headquarters
Of supplies for the persistent and
cunning gun-runner. Through the pro-
visions of an old treaty certain Euro
pean nations have the right to ship
arms and munitions to Muscat. There
they are purchased by INSCRIPTIONS
dealers, loaded upon dhOws and land
ed upon the coasts of Persia or Balu-
chistan to be transported by caravan
into the interior of Asia. Through