Evening star., 1920-03-07
MECCA IS NO MORE
! ANIS0lA1ED
Revised Map to Show It as
i zee Where Christians
T May Travel.

Jldda, reputed burial place Of Eve
and forty-five miles from Islam's re-
ligious Broadway. the holy city OF
Mecca. has been selected for the meet
ing place or Lord Allenby and the
King Of the Hedjaz.
Frederick Simpich. in = communica- l.
tion to the National Geographic So
ciety. writes OF Jidda and Mecca as
follows: THE port Of Jidda. Red Sea
gateway to hidden Mecca. spra~is
over hot, treele8 hills--whitewashea
sinister and forbidding. es II loatn 10
give up her long guardianship OF Ara
bias secret And isolation.
"A cables length on shore our Pill
grim ship swunG at anchor, clustering
and silent, for cholera had come
among the white-robed, praying PHI,
grims and the Tigris was quarant.ned
against this dread disease. For days
we rolled on the oily swells OF the
RED Sea, waiting for the hateful yell
low flag to be pulled down.
'Tdling at the foul, sticky rail. l
gaSed down into, the clear. deep wa
ters. seeking in whimsical fancy TO
make out rusty old chariot wheels or
the white bones of men and horses.
relics of Pharaoh's hosts engulfed SO
lsng ago.
Claim Ewes Grave Lies There.
sHefe in Jidda the Arabs will show
you a long stone tomb shaped like an
airship's hangar; here they claim. Eve
is buried Adam and Eve were big
people, the Arabs say. Eve was so
tall she could hold a grown lion in her
lap and stroke 1t as We stroke KIT
ten. When you note the size OF her
tomb, you can readily believe she was
yxoIx
"Eorty-five miles east of Jidda,
poured into the canyons and valleys
OF mass Of rough hills. lies Mecca
itself, the famous holy city of Islam.
In spite Of its vast political and re-
lieious importance. the town Is mean
and small. with less than 100000 No
hammedan souls. 1t has almost no
But 1t has the largest tourist trafhc
Of any city on earth. and. like other
tourist towns. 1t lives on the traveller.
'@The Meccans peddle food and
clothing to the pilgrims. rent them
houses, act as their guides. make con-
tracts for transporting pilgrims by
land and sea, al in a hundred other
ways they eraft.ly exploit Ito their
own personal benefi) the vast bene-
factions that flow to the holy city.
Thrive on Bounty Of Pilgrim.
anu Tue GUILTY. VI
likewise thrive on the bounty of the
pilgrim. either by outright robbery
ana pillage Of the caravans or by i'm
posjhg taxes for protection on those
who pass through their tribal regions.
"But even among the Bedouins the
Meccans have bad reputation. They
say the worst birth certificate an Arab
cA1 have is the Tashrift, three paral-
lei Gashee, distinguishing the bearer
ab one born in Mecca
Ever since Mohammed purged the
KAaba Of early Arab idols and made it
The chief sanctuary Of Islam, adapt
inG this heather temple to Moslem
worship by the fiction that Gabriel
threw the black stone down from
hoaven to Abraham. the unspeakable
veco0 Of Mecca have been a scandal to
Al islam and constant source of
W0ader to pious pilgrims
All we know Of Mecca, as yet. has
coWe mostly from Moslem writers and
photographers, and from the meager
reoopts pf the few Christians, like
Blston. Hefonje and others. who
bt4ved the dangers Of discovery and
eNeoeeded in visiting the hidden city.
Bqk WftA the RI 81 the new nation,
4ecea an1 Medina will 70 on the re-
viSed map as places to which Chris
tians mat travel. if they wish, either
as merchants or tourists.
TT Is not likely. judging from it's
location. climate and surroundings,
that many non- Moslem Globe trotters
Wnl get the Mecca habit. but it's days
of complete isolation probably are
gahe forever"