The Nome daily nugget., 1935-02-02

Prepared by National Geographic Society.
 Washington. D. C.-wNU Service. |"HREE cities of Asia that
 have figured prominently in
 former England to- Australia flights will be on the route of the London-Melbourne race which will take place in October. They are Baghdad, Allahabad and Singapore.
 Baghdad is near the Persian from tier. hard by the traditional site of old Eden, mans birthplace. Here on the classic soil of Babylon, Nineveh, and Opis once fiourished the pick of the human race; here was the cen ter of the worlds wealth, power, and civilization. And back to this ancient region modern men are turn ing. to reclaim It's lost areas. open its mines and oil dep0sits-to re- store the Garden of Edenl
 From the deck of Tigris steam CT Baghdad looms up boldly, It's splendid skyline of domes and min arets reminding one of some mid way" of Worlds fair memory. An odd pontoon bridge connects the two parts of the city, separated by the yellow Tigris. On the west bank is the old town, enclosed by date and orange groves. From here the new Baghdad-Mosul railway starts on its long run across the trackless desert. East of the river, on the Persian side, is thew" Baghdad; 1; with its government offices, bar. racks. consulates, prisons, etc.
 Beyond, as far as the eye can reach in every direction. stretches the vast, fiat, treeless, empty plain of Mesopotamia-a region once more populous than Belgium.
 To "go' native" one must paddle ashore from the steamer in e "goofah." a queer, coraclelike craft in use here since Jonah's day. A goofah Is woven from willows about 6 feet in diameter, is perfectly cir cular and basket-shaped, and is coated outside with bltumen. Some say Moses was cut adrift in one of these go0fahs.
 Another strange craft at Baghdad Is the "kelek," Kurdish Invention. The 'kelek" Is a raft made of in- Hated goatskins, held together by poles and covered with platform of straw mats. These keleks come down to the city in hundreds, from Mosul, bringing wool, grain and skins.
 Not the Baohdad of All Saba.
 A great wall encircles Baghdad. Flat-roofed, huddled Moorish houses, many almost windowless and each surrounding its own open court, are asdistinct feature of the older parts of the city. On these flat roofs Arabs spend the summer nights with tom-toms, flutes, water-pipes, and dancing women. Facing the river, removed from the Arab town. are built the imposing foreign consul ates, mercantile offices, and the sumptuous homes of rich Jews, Ar menians, Greeks and Syrians. the men who made New Baghdad.
 But the Baghdad of Ali Baba's day, with the splendor of Aladdin's enchanted age, is gone forever. The palaces, the mosques, and minarets are mostly in ruins Even the tomb of lovely Lady Zobeido, favorite wife of Harun-al-Rashid. is tum- bled down and decaying. It is into modern monuments to New Baghdad Into roads, bridges. public build ings, irrigation works, army organ ization, dredging the Tigris, ete.- that the prominent citizens put their money.
 Modern Baghdad is in safe hands now: no dissipated royalty guards its gates. Sober. clear-headed men, drilled in the best schools of mod ern Europe, able to hold their own anywhere, administer its affairs. Az late as 1880 the Tigris overfiowed It's banks. swept through Baghdad. and drowned 15.OOO people in one night.
 AIIahabad Attracts Millions.
 Normally, Allahabad. India, is . city of 175.O00 people. It lies in the v-shaped region between the Jumna and Ganges rivers. at the meeting place of the two streams It is this location that draws huge crowds to the town annually; and at twelve-year intervals. tremen dous hordes. Both the Jumna ant nc Canges are sacred streams. and