Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-17
BY JOHN GUNTHER.

DAMASCUS, Syria.-Twice a week
Romance rides out Into the blue" from
Damascus to Bagdad, and conveys OF
six-wheel motor cars carry freight ana
passengers-and romance-acroSs the
great blanket of desert between the TWO
eastern cities.
Some wears ago two brothers had an
idea. They were Australians, Jerry ana
Norman Marin. and they ran little
! garage in Beirut They began Jitney
bus service in a battered Ford from
Beirut up to Aleih, Summer resort
in the hills.
Now the Nairns are an industry.
They are practically a railroad, without
| rails. They have the great majority
of cross-desert traffic between the
Mediterranean and the Euphrates. and
with a corps of young British chau1 :
feurs they keep open one of the most
| remarkable lines of communication III
the world.
Consider the route. From Beirut to
Damascus is an easy run. on good
roads Yet it is through bad country.
While I was in Damascus on this trip,
the wife of the British consul was nreo
on as she drove the route, not by BAN
dts, but by gendarmerie!
y y y x
ward Bagdad. There is no road. Only
desert The cars run in tracks on the
hard-packed dirt floor. On some trips
the tracks are visible; more often desert
! winds or desert rains lin Winter OBJ
Iiterate the route 10 minutes after the
| heavy six-wheelers roar across.
The Six-wheelers are American made,
coming from Philadelphia. These de-
tails have their necessity, because one
of the remarkable things about the
Marin conveys is that, except once
briefly, they do not stop en- route. 80
| The Journey something under 8OO
| miles is done in about 80 hours. Inc
cars line up outside the Damascus ga
raoes the luggage is strapped aboard
and covered with heavy canvas TO Keep
ont the bitter red dust; passengers look
eft thei: water bottles; the chauneur
| and his mechanic step in B-rr-brr!
| THE engines start--the convoy cnugs
off Sometimes there are TWO SIX
uheeIers. sometimes three. A second
class service uses ordinary touring cars
Six a m. is the starting hour. After
nerhaps an hours run, external lie
! ceases The cars enter the blue -
the great Syrian desert. There Is only
desert There is lava rock to see. AND
sometimes a mirage. Nothing more
| The cars run tandem, about mlle
apart: never parallel, although, since
| there are no roads, only desert par
alleI formation Is practlcaole' But
drivers might get lost.
All dav the cars nose their way
through the whirling dust; late that
night a stop is made for an hour at a
most called Rutbah Wells. This Is the
| iondliest Mace, without doubt, in the
vorld It is midway between DamaS-
Gus and Bagdad. and to either side Tor
hundreds of miles there exists--noth-
ing. only desert At Rutbah the Marin
track intersects the Imperial Anyways
India mail route, and pilots and chaui /.
feurs stop for hurried gresCa,sS Sosto "a.
Rutbah a family liveS-ahd restau-
rant man has an American ice ma
chinel Ten thousand miles from any
where lSeemingly) one may have cold
whisky and soda or frosted lemonade
Also at Rutbah is wireless operator
and YOU may send telegrams-from this
remoteness!-- any city in the world
Il x
The run continues after Rutbah al
night. There is no other stop. And
no gas stations or hot-dog stands! Tho
drivers are trained to make the 3O-noui
trip--a grueling Job, handling such q
heavy car in Sand--entirely without
sleep; the drivers in the touring cal
are alone. Bagdad is reached about
noon the second day.
The caravans run on scheduled time
and tickets are on sale for places in the
cars Just as on ordinary trains. Tht
route is fairly dangerous, bat the chic
danger is of getting lost in the trackles
blue: wherefore no car in any cir
cumstances Is allowed ever to cross thu
7 desert alone. Always there must be
= convoy. Another danger IS that thu
chauffeur may fall asleep; this l.
checked by the tandem procession ant