The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1919-01-30
THE PERSIAN GULF
In Solitude of Obscure Wonders Lies Broodng With the
Ages. Awaiting Exploration


avOcatiOns with all the guile tradi-
tional of his breed-and often it is
guile quite fantastic to the occi-
dental mind.
The coast has long been refuge
for outlawed characters from wes-
tern Europe. They partake readily
in the robberies and piracies of the
natives. which in spite of English
gunboats flourish exceedingly.
Slave trading and gun running are
lucrative professions, and the war
riors of central Asia are enabled to
make large amounts of trouble,
thanks to the rifles placed in their
hands by these hardy rascals of the
gulf littoral
All along the sandy waste lie
treasure stores of ruins. Travellers
have described half-buried stone
formations, the relics of man long
before the early civilization of the
region. There is q resemblance to
the famous stone age work at
Stonehenge and other remains of
prehistoric man in Europe. South
ern Arabia holds the remains of
what seems very early and quite
unknown civilization. Excavation
may add a new and revolutionary
page to the history of culture.
Large parts of Arabia have new
er been explored by the outsider,
some not even by the Arabs them
selves, it would seem. The natives
will tell you that certain sections
are impossible. Some of this may
be taken with a trifle of reserve,
for willy desert merchants have
been known to spread horrifying
reports as to the fatal characteris-
tics of this section or that-that
the very air is poisoned-thereby
frightening away thieving trades
men from the right of way of we'll
laden caravans.
The Persian side shows a rugged
beach formation with bristling
cliffs and rocks. There lie Bushire
and Basra-from this latter Sind
bad, a historical character, sailed
on his never.to-be-forgotten voy-
ages. To the interior lie Shiraz
and Ispahan, of poetico-romantic
glory. 1t is land as strange as
Araby itself. Take the punish
ment of slaves. When a slave has
misbehaved himself seriously
enough he is punished by being
freed and left to earn his own liv-
ing, which virtually consigns him
to a lingering death.
Across the Straits of Ormuz, op-
posite the tip of the Pirate coast,
is the once great trading city of
Ormuz, now a ruin, showing evil
dences of vanished magni6cence.
Western travellers who visited the
city in the days of it's splendor FIVE
hundred years ago used extrava-
CANT language in describing the
wealth and luxury which prevailed
there. But Ormuz after undergo
ing spectacular ups and downs
finally decayed and fell into dust.
and is now an object of philosophic
ruminations of the tourists. cada-
yer for the dissecting picks and
shovels of the archeologist.
There are few ports in this rough
coast and the interior is harried by
robbers and fractious tribesmen.
There are sites and cities untouched
by the ravages of tourists, al
though they have been drummed
into the head of the western world
by the great Persian poets in their
latter-day occidental vogue.
At the narrow northern shore of
the Persian gulf lies the ancient land
of the Chaldeans. It is here that
the storied rivers. the Euphrates
and the Mgris. unite and flow into
the gulf. On the Tigris is Bagdad,
the city of the Arabian Nights.
The ruins of Babylon are near the
Euphrates.