Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1918-08-03

1T-%O THE world the Persian gulf
is an unknown water, a land
locked arm of the sea where
slave trading, gun-running
ufN piracy survive as legitimate Occu-
DafionN. with a coast of towering cliffs
and desert wastes where yellow sands
rise in waves and float in sitting
cIouds of heat-a region whose OBJ
eehrty and perils guard and screen
ny stcres 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
deem significance in the struggle for
learld commerce and power in Eastern
poItcs.
The traveller after leaving Alden and
landing the Ras-el-Hadd feels that
he is truly departing from the beaten
lafes and entering a land that lies
bEfied in a world of it's own. The I'M
ffiRndly coast, range upon range of
hIgh hills without sign of vegetation
or life, seems to raise a barrier against
the mysterious Arabia beyond. In
Races of the cliffs, and so securely
hidden that you do not catch a glimpse
of 1T until the ship suddenly points
ita prov to the narrow entrance Of its
harb0r 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
simation and none could present
moro enticing picture than Muscat's
conpact mass of little white houses set
int azure of an eastern sky and re-
heetng in the shimmering waters Of
It's harbor. But unfortunately for the
fore gners who try to live there few
rlaees have such an appalling heat,
haHt which Dutch traveller described
~ ESQ intense that it burned the mar
row in the bones, the sword in its
seahbard melted like wax, and the
gems which adorned the scabbard
vert reduced to GOALS"
Nuscat Once Held by Portugal.
Muscat was one of the first towns
Of fhiS region to fail to the western
coa0ueror In 1906, Alphonse d'Albu-
aaerque began here the peculiar sys-
tem OF domination, religious persecu-
non and colonization undertaken by
we Portuguese in the time of their
nayb supremacy. They held Muscat
Ak8nst all attempts at capture by
ArabS and Turks until the middle of
WE sixteenth century. The forts
aaoFe the town, line of Notifications,
aha a cathedral remain as evidences
Of fher occupation.
III the capital of Oman, Muscat IS
sapfoSed to belong to the Ottoman en-
(H but, like other gulf provinces,
necessary for the Turk to come
ana get II If he is TO hold it. AS he
Aas tailed to do this, Muscat is in
.sah " ruled by its own sultan. While
1ans caf is not political dependency
VII e British empire as is Alden, it is
pkaf lcaiiy under the suzerainty of the
s.'si'f government. This was brought
na'oet early in the last century, when
8 Nas believed that Napoleon was
SOY 70 seize Muscat as a base for
$50 npon India, through a treaty
n, h.en enc of the stipulations was
~ The friendship of the two states
remain unshook to the end of
: s.'s.F and until the sun and moon have
their revolving careers"
'at has, however, proved for
~. q constant source of trouble to
s. Irish, by being the headquarters
,s 'npiles for the persistent and
. sun-runner. Through the pro-
-. 81 an old treaty certain Euro
49, nations have the right to ship
o. ara munitions to Muscat. There
re- purchased by INSCRIPTIONS
i - loaded upon dhows and land
Ia the coasts of Persia or Balu-
20 be transported by caravan
- - ne Interior of Asia. Through
- source arms and ammunition
49,, 49, ~ the Africans of the Red sea
- me Afghan army and every
49, win money enough to buy a
X. '"e Hilt tribes Of India and Per
'.ll Arabian revolutionists.
@ions the Arabian Coast.
No.. q our steamship -e catch a
s 49,, now and then on TIE Arabian
49, - low white-walled, dle-roofed
e clustered around a ninaret.
49,. opposite coast Is 10 be dis
e. d forlorn little town built upon
1&ss US Of the great trading city of
mere was the site Of the first