The Coolidge examiner., 1931-07-03
prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington. d. c.

prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington. d. c.
TIME newest nation to be extend
ed formal recognition by the
United States is the kingdom
of Hejaz and Nejd. 1t might almost
be called the kingdom of Arabia,
for it embraces the greater portion
of that huge peninsula, including
the vast sweep of the interior.
parts of which have never been
penetrated by white men. ImpOr-
tance is lent TO the dual kingdom,
too, by the fact that it includes the
two holiest cities of holy cities of
the MOSlem world-Mecca and Me
dina. Mecca is the chief capital of
Heiaz and Nejd
The port of Jidda. Red Sea gate
way 10 hidden Mecca. sprawls over
hot. treeless hills-whitewashed
sinister and forbidding, as if 10th to
give up her long guardianship of
Arabia's secrets and isolation.
In Jidda the Arabs will show you
a long stone tomb, shaped like an
airship's hangar: here. they claim
Eve is buried. Adam and Eve were
big people, the Arabs say; Eve was
so tall she could hold a grown lion
in her lap and stroke ii as we
stroke a kitten. When you note the
size of her tomb you can readily
believe she was rather a stalwart
dame.
FOrty-fve miles east Of Jidda
poured into the canyons and valleys
of mass of rough hills. lies Nee
ca itself, the famous holy city of
Islam. In spite of its vast political
and religious importance. the town
is mean and small. with less than
100000 Mohammedan souls. II has
almost no trade. and it manufac-
lures nothing. But it has the larg-
est tourist traffic of any city on
earth, and. like other tourist towns.
it lives on the traveller.
The Meccans peddle food and
clothing to the pilgrims. rent them
houses. act as guides. make con
tracts for Transporting pilgrims by
land and sea. and in a hundred 9th
er ways they ,craftily exploit ito
their personal benefiD the vast
benefactiOns that flow to the holy
city. Even temporary marriages
are arranged for the visiting pill
grimS
And the country Arabs, or Bed
ouins, likewise thrive on the bounty
of the pilgrim. either by outright
robbery and pillage of the caravans
or by imposing taxes. for ''protec-
tion." on those who pass through
their tribal regions.
Meccans of Evil Repute.
But even among the Bedouins
the Meccans have bad reputation.
They say the worst birth certificate
an Arab can have is the Tashrift.
three parallel gashes. distinguish
ing the bearer as one born in
Mecca.
Ever since Mohammed purged the
Kaaba of early Arab idols and
made it the chief sanctuary of
Islam, adapting this heather temple
to Moslem worship by the fiction
that Gabriel threw the black stone
down from heaven to Abraham.
"the unSpeakable vices of Mecca
have been scandal to all Islam
and constant source of wonder to
pious pilgrims"
The modern Arab has so lost his
place in the world that we forget
his race once ruled from the Indus
to the Atlantic. and that his schools
of philosophy. medicine and other
sciences were world famous.
In appearance the Arab is singu-
larly handsome. tall and 1.-the. with
beautifully nodded limbs. dark
eyed and dark-haired. Dwarfs.
hunchbacks, and misshapen persons
are seldom seen in Arabia. Heredi-
tary disease. too. is almost un-
known. and the race is generally
strong and healthy. The Arabs
personal habits are simple and
clean, the careers of those born in
Mecca being apparently an excep-
ton.
Bedouins Are Rovers.
Few races excel the Arabs. either
physically or morally. And mental
ly they are perhaps second to none.
especially in alertness of percep
tion, deductive powers. and feats of
memory. Like some other people
of the East. however, they seem
to lack the powers of organized eff
fort and combined action. a defect
which may have tended to keep
them so long a subject race
The origin of the race is a matter
of conjecture. but the Arabs were