American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1919-01-03
is a bit of seashore OF
such vital Importance to our
world today that thitherward

- I1LhE is IL Dll VI SSaoliphN
such vital Importance to our
world today that thitherward
is directed the anxious gaze
of all the leaders of the nations. 1t
figures prominently as n OF the ques-
lions involved in the great war, Is the
territory of an important campaign,
and was, in fact, n of the prime rae
tors in the causation of h war. IL
has been q region of high importance
since the first morning of II civlll-
cation, rich alike in history n fable
probably the cradle of western culture,
the playground of many empires gone
(and perhaps of others yet to GOMEZ,
whose undulating sands and hills hold
| the ruins of sixty centuries. 1t Is a
haunt of ~tranceful dreams and Infinite
| fascination, a latitude which can lay
most plausible claim to the c%onsidera-
ton of all of us.
And yet, in our time of knowledge
these coast lands, famous for ages
are scarcely known-no more probably
than they were to the curious Greeks
of Herodotus' time or to the Chaldeans
who studied the stars n the sea u
dozen centuries enthusiastically no
more thar they were to the geogra-
pliers of Bagdad or the merchants OF
Ispahan In the days of the good Ha-
roun al Raschid, writes Proyer Bura-
nelli in the New York World. The Per
sian gulf lies %brooding with the ages.
Around its ancient waters are set the
luster-shorn crown jewels of Islam. 1t
is a solitude of obscure wonders await
ing exploration.
The Persian gulf is a landlocked
body of water of oblong shape lying
between Arabia and Persia. 1t Is about
five hundred miles long by an average
of two hundred miles wide, extending
from northwest to southeast. It's out
let to the Indian ocean, the Straits oil
Ormuz, is less than three hundred
miles from the outpost frontier of In
dia, so that a power controlling the
gulf, say by holding a fortress at the
tip of the Pirate coast, the Arabian
side of the narrow strait, would have
an immediate sally port for excursions
against the empire of the east. Indeed
with proper railroad facilities In ASH
attic Turkey, the Persian gulf becomes
the logical route to India.
So It is not astonishing that wher
the heavy spectacles of German schol
arship formed an alliance with kaiser
Itch %mustachios the idea of the North
ea-to-Persian-gulf railroad cropped VI
Immediately and showed extreme per
tinacity. The center of equilibrium
in the Orient lies in the control Of tn
Persian gulf.
AS in the Days of the Prophet.
To one side is Persia, TO the othe
Arabia, with crumbled Babylon look
ing down from the north. Where
fairer setting for the romancer? Aloni
the low, sandy and forblddlng ives
shore lie the provinces of Ell Hasa ant
Oman, the latter with that preciou
territory known as the Pirate coast
Here the various touches of moderl
culture are perfectly unknown. TIL
Arab holds forth much as he did wheI
the prophet was raising the first rue
lions of the Islamitic storm. And tn
Arab is a person of wide and deserves
reputation. On this coast he Is see
In his most characteristic guises-an
also in roles comparatively unknown
to the outside world. Camels, san
storms and the desert are the usua
settings for the b%urnoused follower o
the prophet. But on the Persian gul
coast the Arab has become an exper
sailOr-and pirate. He follows bot
of these worthy avocations with all tn
guile traditional of his breed-an
often it is guile quite fantastic to tn
. occidental mind.
The coast has long been a refug
for Outlawed characters from wester
Europe. They paftake readily I'm tn
, robberies and p~Iracies of the natives
which in spite of English gunboat
flourish exceedingly. Slave tradin
and gun running are lucrative prOfei
sions, and the warriors of central Ash
are enabled to make large amounts G
trouble, thanks to the rifles placed
: their hands by these hardy rascals c
the gulf llttoral.
All along the sandy waste lie treal
ure stores Of ruins Travellers hay
0 described half-buried stone formation
: the relics Of man long before the earl
Z civilization of the region. There is
resemblance TO the famous stone az
work at S~tonebenge and other remain