Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1921-04-14

about Mosul, which is begin
ming to show the beneficial eff
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 Diar.
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
its 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 the south, and the ''ramshackle
city," as it has been irreverently
called, still depends for its commune
cations on the road and the caravan
route as it has done through the ages.
OF all the cities in the Turkish en-
pire, as one writer has well said of it,
perhaps Mosul is the one that has
been least touched by western civili-
cation. Built on ground that once was
a suburb of Nineveh, it stands on the
western bank of the Tigris, looking
across at the mounds which are all
that remain of the glories of the capt.
tai of ancient Assyria. Nineveh has
a history that stretches throughout a
period nearly two thousand years
long, ending with the fall Of the en-
pire OF Sennacherib about the year
600 B. c. From that time until Lay
ard unveiled the palaces of Ashur-
banipal and Sennacherib, and I'M
earthed the literary chamber contain
ing the famous deluge tablet the ru-
ms of Nfneveh 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 it suffered pillage at the hands of
Tamerlane, was besieged by Nadir
Shah, and endured a host of other Vi
cissitudes.
MosuYs Many storks.
The old town, with its strangely |
narrow streets, even for the east, is
surrounded by a half-ruined wall, built !
in modern times as a protection /
against the Shammar Arabs. Every /
one remarks on tine narrow streets of +
Slosul, on its white, crumbling houses, /
On the gypsum dust which falls con-
stantly from the walls over everything, |
and upon the storks. Indeed the |
,torks OF Mosul are apparently its
most remarkable feature.
Discussing the matter one authority (
ellis how, in the cool of the evening,
he citizens of Mosul share their
with innumerable storks,
Who build their ragged nests on the
highest places sin utter disregard of
he laws of gravity" Four great, pre-
,osterous specimens of the species
;tood. in the early morning, on wall
)eSlQG the IOOlI WiANlC was, liz III
inues, and he dimly realized that
hey were performing their morning
oilet. They took no notice Of him.. l
But a loud noise like someone rafting
stick in a wooden bucket attracted
Ifs attention. Then somebody else
With another bucket made a similar
Ioise in a different key, and he won
erred what in the world could they be
oing to the buckets. Then it dawned
. on him that half the population OF
fosul must be. rafting buckets, for
he sound cameAfrom far and near
amt or loud according to distance,
nd In a hundred different keys. Then
anne a loud rattle close beside him.
Within nine feet of him." he says,
stood a solemn stork, the toilet over,
IS attitude of graceful balance on one