The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-08-26
Transjordania: Where. tie Desert
is Friend.

nsjordania: Where tie Desert
is a Friend.
Where is rfrarsjordania, and what
is it?
These questions arise as Trans
jordania appears more frequently
in date lines since Great Britain
confirmed Ernir Abdullah nominal
ruler of the province.
Another name for Transfer
dania is the Emirate of Kerak,"
says bulletin from the Washing
ton, D. c., headquarters Of the Ma
tional Geographic Society. Geo
graphically it is easy to locate-it
is an area. almost as large as the
state of Maryland. lying between
the Rriver Jordan and the Syrian
desert.
A Political Enigma
Politically, Transjordania's af-
fairs have been highly complicated
since the arnaistice. On the bor-
derland of French and British IN
fuence, feeling the native pull Of
Syria, Hedjaz, Palestine, and Meso-
potamia, and now a center of Ara
bian nationalists, she has awaken
ed with a jolt from her age-long
tranquility.
a small river, like hundreds
across which modern trains dash
with scarcely a rumble TO mark
their passage. has separated Trans
iordania and Western Palestine
from the time of Moses till today.
.rTransjordania IS the home OF
paradoxes. where Arab tents. long
symbols of transitory residence,
have persisted while rich Roman
ruins. once the gathering places
Of cultured crowds, have disap-
peared; where the desert. which to
SO many signifies death, has fur
nished welcome haven to many
to whom the narrow Jordan seems
an impossible gulf. 49,,
Why Jordan is Barrier
'aTo. civilization. the deepest and
swiftest river. is only an incident.
But the trackless desert is a bar
rier, not easily passed. Not so in
Transjordania. Up on its high
plateau. swept by refreshing
breezes, the desert is a neighbor
SO near that none can say Just
where it's boundary lies. With the
changing seasons. the boundary
moves with the population and
the crops and focks. But the deep
depression of the Jordan IS a per-
nanent barrier across which the
commerce of the ages has flowed
but which has turned back the
shepherd to his cooler hills and
open plains
.Sheep and cameEs can easily
venture out into the desert. fol-
lowing the changing fodder line
according to the season. But few
traverse the great cash which
yawns between the Mount Of Olives
and the heights of Pisgah.
r. ..The city has its traffic rules. en-
forced by agents Of the law. Not
so the desert village in the land OF
Gilead or the Amn1onites. There
the traffic shifts in keeping with
the movements of the sun. Shep-
herd and camel-driyer seek the
shifting shadows of the scanty shell
ters.
Thriyes on Changes; Remains
Changelcss
..Transiordania is the land OF
the impermanent. It thrives on
changes which change it not.
Cities have risen and fallen, high
ways been laboriously constructed
only to fall into disrepair more
impossible than the surrounding
fields.
..Nomad tents. long since the
poetic symbol of transitory resi-
dence, continue to. dot the plain
while rich ruins crumble away be-
lore the Careless dLldSeS VI - - -
or Circassian, to whom, beautiful
carving is only quarried stone. The
theater Of Amman and the Nau-
maelia of Jerash. once the gath
ering places Of nultitudes OF leis-
urely folk who boasted in Their
civilization, are being ruthlessly
destroyed by those whose main de-
mand Of dwelling is. that. it shall
outlast its builders immediate
need.
"Gilead is there, with its oaks.
The Haruan with It's rich fields OF
grain, unshaded by single tree
except those few semi-sacred
monarchs which shelter she tiny
tombs of long-dead saints. There,
too. is the land of the. ANN onites,
whittier David sent Uriah.
----s--sp--...-----r------ -r-----.
soath Carolina Changing.