Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-11-28
AMERICAN DOCTOR
WINS OVER ARABS
|VPERS|AN DESERT
BY GEORGE c. BRIGGS

ChlcaRo Daily NeWS-CopyriSHt, Io%%'J
NEW YORK, Nov. 27.-"Ibu
Saoud, with his army of $4,000
fanatical Wahabis, could sweep the
king of the Hediaz from his throne
in a weeks campaign
why doesn't he?"
Because the British government
pays him $4,000 month not to-
These statements were made by
DR.. Paul Wilburforce Harrison,
American missionary physician,
who, with his wife, conducts a hos
pital on Bahrein island, in the Per-
sian gulf. DR.. Harrison, who is
home on a furlough after many
years Of selfeile in the xmysterious
east and is now with his wife and
children at Baltimore, has penetrated
farther into the Arabian desert than
any other white man since the fanat-
ical outburst of Mohammedans
against the Christians about the be-
ginning of the nineteenth century.
'Are the British now friendly to
both Saoud and his enemy?"
YES" was the reply. Britain also
pays the king of the Hedjas to pre-
serve peace"
And if Saoud should choose. to
make war;"
"Then, believe, the reign of King
Hussein, who is also the shereef of
Mecca, would end abruptly and
dreadfully. 1t would be terrible
slaughter, and what would follow
might be more horrible. You must
understand that the Wahabis, the
followers of Saud, are fanatical to
the last degree" continued DR.. Har-
rison. '"They are more puritanical
than the Puritan fathers ever dream
ed of being. Their religious beliefs
will not permit the use of tobacco.
1t prohibits drinking or the wearing
Of gold or silk. They do not allow
dancing. Music they consider I'M
holy"
Trip Into the Desert
DR.. Harrison's first trip into the
interior of Arabia from the Persian
gulf was in 1917-about the time
Pinoe Feisal, who had forced the
Turks to yield the Red sea region,
was advancing upon Damascus
ahead Of General Allenby. Feisal was
rewarded by receiving the throne Of
Irak, Great Britain's Mesopotamia
mandatory, while his father, Hus-
sein, the former emir, became king
of the Hedjaz.
only last WINTER said DIR. Harri-
son, "Ibn Saoud completed his in
vestment of the fortified city of Hail
after a siege lasting six months.
Hailsis in the heart Of the Arabian
desert. 1t had been the goal of
tribesmen from the southern part of
the peninsula for a hundred years.
So Saoud'S successful campaign, con-
cluded last December by the fall Of
Hail, was the decisive battle of a
war that had lasted century. And
it gave him absolute mastery over
an area covering about 400 miles
east and west and 1000 miles north
and south from the Hadramaut
coast to Hail, the whole peninsula,
except for the western part. This
came as a sequel to his conquest Of
the province of Hasa, which he
wrested froE. the Turks"
In DR.. Harrison's seven-day cam
el-back journey from the Persian
gulf coast to Riadh, the route from
Hasa lay across a tract of pulveriz-
ed rock interrupted only by a stretch
of the Little Nefed desert. That was
sand, he said, and resembled, in a
way, the sand dunes Of Indiana,
with hills that shift their positions
unexpectedly. Thirty-fve miles of
that desert had to be traversed.
Then the rock began again. About
200 miles inland they came upon the
city of Riadh, surrounded by a high
wall Of masonry.
First Automobile
This citadel in the very heart of
the desert was chosen by the sultan
of Nejd as his capital because of it's
inaccessibility. Its walls will with
stand such weapons as can be
brought against them, for heavy or
even light artillery cannot be hauled
over the deserts. The city has a
population of 10000 and has one au-
tomobile, which was hauled across
tho desert by camels at the behest of
Ibn Saoud. 1t created a sensation,
1t was the first the natives of the
interior had seen. The sultan had
it dragged thither so that his father,
who is very old and too feeble to
mount a camel, could use it to go
to prayer.
1.-The Arabs are very considerate
Of their old people," DR.. Harrison
observed. Zone of the ways they
have of taking care of their old wom-
en- is to marry them. By their laws
permitting polygamy, an Arab may
have not more than four legal wives
at ne time. The free divorce being
universal, the husband may win mar
ital freedom from any or all of his
wives by the mere formality of send
ing them back to their parents.
Then he may acquire new wives up
to four. The discarded wives may
expect to be remarked before long.
The wife whose husband ships her
off is always welcome at her par
ents' house.