Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-06-20
The bonneville Trolley That Meets All the Trains BY FOnaine Fox. mr.
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
Faces New Rebellion

aCcS new ftcDtD1On
Does another rebellion impend IN
the Garden OF Eden?
News that King Feisal has de-
clined to obey recent orders of Great
Britain respecting her Mesopotamia
mandate may well cause surprise"
says a bulletin from the Washing
ton, ID. c., headquarters of the Ma
tional Geographic Society.
1T would seem that the tradi-
tional land of Eden and Ararat, the
manager of the religions of Christ
and Mohammed, the vicinity of the
Aryan peoples birth place, might be
Mesopotamia of 1922 suffers from
being almost completely over-shad-
owed by its historic setting.
Have Strange Religion
Many a school child who a re-
late the nocturnal adventures of
Harun-al-Rashid in ancient Bagdad
never heard of Star Worshipers of
the present-day kingdom of Irak.
And vet this strange people. who
turn TO the North Star to pray, who
must be baptised every Sunday. and
have a sacred book where they mas
begin at either end and read toward
the middle, are Just Is picturesque.
III he were shown a picture of
shipping on the Tigris River this
child would think the rhyme OF
Three men in a tub had come true.
The small boats are gooffas, hugo
round baskets, from five TO ten feet
in diameter, with their wickerwork
tarred to make them water-tight.
Then there are the RATS with blown
up goatskins attached TO give them
buoyancy.
Modern Bagdad would cause even
the man who knew what TO expect
70 u his eyes. A city is o city all
over Europe and America, with GER
tain features that may be relied
upon. With one major variation,
such as canals instead of streets, a
venice may stand out as a shining
exception But when you enter
Bagdad you must accustom yourself
TO 1nterminable mud walls more
monotonous than any standardized
row of houses you have seen, mar
row and deserted thoroughfares.
logs always under foot and. ny
night, only the star light to guide
your way.
A Land or Dates
"Mesopotamia is a land of dates.
both of the historical and edible va
rieties. Dates trees rise above the
c~ourtyards where Bagdad family
lie is shut from your view. and
these trees. along with cupolas and
minarets. form a skyline that typi-
mes the religion and the economic
HE OF thousands of present-day ma
itVes. For the valleys of the Tigris
and the Euphrates. and the aud
banks of Shat ell Arab, into which
they merge, supply the four
Oh the earth with dates. The Arabs
OF this region pick and pack and
practically live on dates.
About a million and a half of
lrak's population are Arabs. The
rest are Persians, Kurds, Indians
and Turks. Now the offhand opin-
ION might well be that the Arabs
because they are dominant, would
De a nucleus around which a stable
government might form. The diff-
Gulty SO lar is that these Arabs are
dlvided into diverse groups, effect
uaiy separated by a wide variety
OF religious beliefs. 1t has been
SAID thai there are more roads to
HeaVen, as well as the opposite way
tnan anywhere else n tbe
United States. The Moslem sects are
a less HARMONIOUS than the de-
nominations of our Christian church
and many of the latter are renre-
sented. Beside these are found grad
uatlons of Oriental philosophic
schools and pagan beliefs. raneinp
from Buddhism to Star Worship
ana Devil Worship" f