The Coolidge examiner., 1934-10-26
rFeearea y national osographlo society.

Prepared by National Geographic Society.
Washington. - C.--W%u Service.
DROBABLY no people OF Asia
Thought harder against the In
IL vaslon of western customs
than the Afghans. Not many years
ago few were the foreigners who
crossed their borders and lived to
tell the tale. In recent years, how
ever. many visitors have given in
print flrst-hand descriptions OF the
kingdom that reposes among the
mountains northwest OF India
In Asia. where headgear Is sign
OF rank or race. the Afghan has re-
fused TO "go high hat"
To the Durani leaders and Shin
wari trIbesmen. the threat Of
parliamentary procedure was bad
enough. for Afghanistan was more
mountain-sa -sandwlched mass Of ag-
gressively independent tribes than
united kingdom. But edlcts pre-
scribing shorn boards. frock coats,
and top hats were last straws on
their tolerance OF hasty centraliza-
ton. They felt that high-speed
dawn from the west was false
/ dawn. And so they proved 1t.
/ Amanuliah-the Peace OF G0d-fled.
After six years the turban re-
mains. sign that. even In Asia,
haste makes waste.
To induce European thoughts In
Turkish heads. Mustapha Kemal
Pasha tucked the Latin alphabet in
below European hats. Amanullah
I hoped 10 accomplish even more rad
/ teal changes. But the patient At
CHAN mountalneer. a staggering
"he.m man" II there ever was one.
persisted In sticking TO his broad
turban or dressy astrakhan cap.
/ And thereby hangs tale.
Afghanlstan was long isolated by
| political jealousy as Mecca and
f.hasa are by prayer niche and pray
pr wheel. The Afghans cherished
4 isolation as had their predecessors,
/ the Parthlans. who held u as
maxim to accord no passage over
their country 10 any stranger"
| In 1917, when traveller rode
southwark from Merv. Kushka was
the end OF a blind alley. In 1921
when he went northwest through
the Khyber pass and faced that fa-
nous sign reading: at Is Absolute
Iy Forbidden to Cross This Border
Into Afghanistan Territory" there
was Gurkha guard TO emphasize
the absolutely"
Couldn't Hustle the East.
BY 1917 not only was Afghani-
stan open TO visitors but current
events speeded up. Before the end
OF that medieval year King Aman-
ullah and Queen Souriya, monoga-
mist rulers of polygamous land,
had boarded their first steamship
and were at the threshold OF west
ern culture. its permanent values
then reinforced by Industrial ac-
tlvIty and bull markets.
The next six months were amaZ-
Ing. The vacatitolng rulers rode
from triumph to triumph. enjoying
such European thrills as few Eu-
proneans know because westerners
have had decades 10 become accns-
toned to what the Afghan rulers
personally encountered during
few weeks Of western hospitality.
Rome. Monte Carlo. Paris, Bel
GUM. Switzerland. Berlin. Leipzig,
London. Warsaw. Moscow, Ankara.
lstanbul. Teheran-theirs was no
commonplace trip. Nations. hoping
for commercial or political advan-
tage. outdid one another in honor
ing these rulers Of a newly opened
buffer state between the native re-
publics OF Soviet Turkestan and
that "No-man's Land" bristling
with manhood.
Across the northwest frontier,
India's Chinese wall. many con-
queror entered Hindustan. treas
ure house OF gold and jewels. The
presence of poverty-stlcken and
nomadic rribesmen so close to III.
guarded riches often proved disas-
trous 10 India. II Is no wonder that
the British rulers invited the Af-
CHAN king to be the first royal Wis
ltor ever TO fly over London. and
staged a mock Dattle for his ben
eft