Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-01-22
FACTS ABOUT ARABIA
Twelve Per Cent of Worlds Population
il Governed from Mecca

Twelve per cent Of all the people in
the world take their rules of conduct and
laws of life from Mecca, and take a
keen. personal interest in all that hap
pens in Arabia. and to Arabia" states a
bulletin of the National Geographic
society.
"In physical character. fora and fauna,
In shape, it is almost triangle. and it
runs from northwest to southeast. 1t is
bounded on the east, south and west by
the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea and
the Red Sea respectively: on the north
it joins Syria As Josephus of old wrote.
Arabia Is a country that joins on Judea'
And Roman geographers drew a map OF
Arabia that included Mesopotamia and
the Syrian desert back Of Palestine.
"The length of the peninsula from the
head of the Gulf of Akabah to the Straits
of Bab-e Mandeb, near Alden, is about
1900 miles; its greatest breadth. in lati-
tude q degrees north. from the Red Sea
coast on the west to Ras-al-Hadd on the
cast, is about 100 miles.
"As one sails along the Red Sea coast
of Arabia, with the low-200O feet high
dry and barren mountains lying just back
of sandy, empty strips OF country he Is
reminded of the Pacific side Of Lower
California above Cape San Lucas. Many
small islands, hot and dry and unin-
habited except for half-wiId bands OF
tramp fishermen, dot the map along this
| coast. One Of these. called Perrin, near
the mouth OF Bab-el-Mandeb Straits. is
occupied by British garrison.
| 1.-THE southeastern coast, similarly
empty and marked by sharp Jagged rocks
thrust up from glistening sand beds. is
broken by several good harbors like that
at Alden. This latter port is a British
possession. not unlike Gibraltar. 1t is
| heavily fortified and is the entrepot Of
commerce between India and Europe.
The Persian Gulf coast country 10
somewhat more cheerful. cultivated here
and there. and sloping down to salt water
from the high. slightly forested Jebel
| Akdar or Green Mountains.
| Famous old Maskat, once the haunt
Of Sinbad the Sailor and later the strong
hold Of the Portuguese buccaneers. cllngs
to the hot rocks inside Maskat harbor,
and is the romantic capital Of old Oman,
an Independent principally with a sui
tan all it's own.
| "Oman has been practically under Brit
| ish protection for many years. and.
though an integral part OF the Arabian
peninsula, can hardly be called a part
| of Arabia.
!
provinces. the most important in Arabia
Yemen, the most southerly and most
popuous. has many arabic valleys. pro-
ducing coffee. figs. spices. hides and dates.
1t has two port cities, Mocha and Hodeida.
Aseer province lies north Of Yemen, and
north Of Aseer and extending to the Sues
canal stretches the province of Hejaz,
wherein lie the famous Mosem lcties
of Mecca and Medina
"The ancients. for convenience. or from
lack Of geographic knowledge, divided
Arabia into three PARASITIC stony the
desert and the happy. Our knowledge
of it's map shows most of its high in
terror plateau occupied Except for Nejd
province) by four great deserts. the
Syrian, the Nefud. the Ahkaf and the
Dehna.
1.-THE Mahrah and Hadramaut provinces,
stretching for hundreds Of miles above
Alden, are unmapped and practically I'M
known.
"Nejd, the great interior province. is
, declared by Arabs to be the birthplace
Of their most cherished Institutions and
; traditions.
Hasa province. at the head of the Per-
/ sian Gulf, and Koweit. its busy port.
from which many cargoes Of dates,
[ sponges and wealth of pearls are
shipped. is no doubt destined to see great
commercial development in connection
f with Great Britains activities In Meso-
potamia.
, THE Germans had selected Koweit as
the salt water terminus of their famous
Bagdad railway, but the British, by a
r clever coup a decade ago, made a treaty
with the Sheik Of Koweit and blocked the
Kaiser's plan for a railway port on the
Persian Gulf"