The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1919-12-18


ming to show the beneficial ef-
fects of British control. is Its
geographical situation. Mosul Is the
meeting point Of roads and caravan
routes from everywhere. They wind
In through the mountain passes and
over the rocky highland from Dlar-
bekr and Bitlis, across the great des-
ert from Aleppo and over the sands
from Persia and Bagdad. Its very
name, indeed. from the Arabic Al
Mousil, "the place Of connection" tells
It's story. And as with roads and car
avan routes, so It will be, some time
again In the future In the matter of
railways, when the famous Bagdad
line is completed. says the Christian
Science Monitor. At present Ger
many's great effort falls short Of Mo
sui by many miles In the west and
In tho south, and the 'ramshackle
city," as 1t has been irreverently
called, still depencJ for Its communi-
cations on the ROAD and the caravan
route as It has done throggh the ages.
OF all the cities In The Turkish EN-
pire, as one writer has well said Of 1t.
perhaps Mosul is the one that has
been least touched by western civili-
cation. Built on ground that once was
q suburb Of Nineveh. 1t stands on the
western bank of the Tigris, looking
across Mt the mounds which are all
that remain of the glories Of the capi-
tai Of ancient Assyria. Nineveh has
a history that stretches throughout a
period nearly two thousand years
Yong. ending with the fall Of the en-
pre- Of Sennacherib about the year
600 B. @. From that time until Lay
ard unveiled the palaces Of Ashur-
banipal and Sennacherib. and un-
earthed the literary chamber contain
ing the famous deluge tablet the ru-
ins Of Nineveh for $500 long years
have slept undisturbed. As for Mosul
itself. It Is particularly mentioned In
all history since the Arab conquest,
and It is a checkered history indeed,
for II suffered pillage at the hands of
Tamerlane, was besieged by Nadir
Shah, and endured host Of other vi.
cissitudes.
MosuI's Many etorks.
The old town, with Its strangely
narrow streets, even for the east, is
surrounded by half-rulned wall, built
In modern times as protection
against the Shammar Arabs. Every
one remarks on the narrow streets of
Mosul, on its white. crumbling houses,
on the gypsum dust which falls con-
stently from the walls over everything
and upon the storks. Indeed the
storks Of Mosul are apparently its
most remarkable feature.
Discussing the matter one authority
tells how, In the cool Of the evening
the citizens Of Mosul share their
housetops with innumerable storks,
who build their ragged nests on the
highest places "ln utter disregard OF
the laws Of gravity" Four great, pre-
posterous specimens of the species
stood. In the early morning, on a wall
beside the room where he was, he con.
tinues, and he dimly realized that
they were performing their morning
toilet. They took no notice of him.
But loud noise like someone rattling
a stick In a wooden bucket attracted
his attention. Then somebody else
with another bucket made a similar
noise In a different key, and he won.
dered what In the world could they be
doing to the buckets. Then It dawned
upon him that half the population OF
Mosul must be rattling buckets. for
the sound came from far and near
faint or loud according to distance
and In hundred different keys. Then
came a loud rattle close beside him
"Within nine feet Of him." he says
"stood a solemn stork. the toilet over
his attitude Of graceful balance on one