The Washington times., 1936-10-08


an effort to be the first back in
NeaO York after a 0lobe-girdling
trip of three tUeeES or less. All
are using only regular pGSSen-
ger-cGrrytng transportation.
BY DOROTHY KILGALLEN
Copyright. 1886. by International News
Service and New York Evening journal.
BEHREIN ISLAND, Arabia, Oct.
8 QN.S0 With a wiStful wish
this was treaSure-hunt instead Of
a record-breaking round-the-world
tour, your tranSplanted CORE
,Spondent dropped down on this
island at lunch-time today to lind
herself Immediately surrounded by
a lot of energetic people trying to
sell me-of all things-pearls
Behrein. it seems, is chief head
quarters for the lucrative pearl
trade of the Persian gulf. The
business office will be glad to
know resisted the temptation to
buy.
We lunched beneath a tent on
the shore of Behrein Island after
a two-stop flight from Bagdad,
which we left at a. m. today
only 10 o'clock last night in New
York.
Talks Way Aboard Plane
Some representative of the Brit
iSh embassy got the idea I was
going to pilot our Imperial Airways
plane, or thought was flying my
own machine or something. In
any case, he politely but firmly
forbade me to take off and it took
a little explaining to make it clear
to him I'm just a commercial traV-
eler on commercial air lines trying
to get around the world a little
quicker than anyone has done it
before.
We passed over the Arch of
Ctesiphon and the famous battle
field of Kut Ell Amara, where Gen.
eral Townsend's troops were sur.
rounded by Turks during the World
War, and got to BaSrah in time
for breakfast.
We made a refueling stop in the
Arab town of Koweit and then
le1C lot baQEelu.
To Swim in Persian Gulf
The plane got us here at 1:2O
n m. local time and we left an
hour and a half later for Sherjah.
I'm looking forward to a swim in
the Persian Gulf off that town be-
fore supper tonight, provided the
sharks that travellers say thrive in
those waters don't keep getting In
my hair.
we are scheduled to leave Sher-
Iah for Karachi, India, tomorrow
morning at what will be 9 p. m.
in New York tonight.
No Time for Sleep
Star-studded skies hung low over
Raehdad when we landed last
night, and from behind the tower
ing minarets there rose a crescent
moon.
No time for sleep! I took Leo
Kieran in tow and we played the
part of the Caliph Harun until
Baghdad folded in the well-known
Arabian fashion. Leo was broke
as usual. Handling the eighth
variety of money already, am
greatly confused over the foreign
exchange situation. Leo has given
up entirely.
I'll have to get my dad to
straighten this out for me when
I get back. He travelled over the
Near East with Sam insult, and
knows a drachma from a piastre.
We dined outdoors on the edge
of the Tigris, and while flutes and
oboes walled their rasping oriental
music, we watched natives crossing
the stream in their round boats,
baskets covered with skins.
Sees Real Sheiks
Then-momentary thrill-Six
real live sheiks came in, their long
robes flowing from their head
dresses, they looked like man
getting a hot towel in barber
shop.
There went all my illusions
about sheikS!
So we concentrated on the ma
tive food set before uS-SheeSh.
kebab, the inevitable and ubiquit-
GUS alternate slices of tomatoes
and mutton roasted on spitS, and
strange chopped meats and vege-
tables rolled up in grape leaves,
and then sweet, thick coffee,
scented with rose water, with half
an inch of sediment on the bot
tom of the tiny cup, topped off
with pistachio nuts.
Shops stay open late in Baghdad
so we went looking for big pith
helmet for me. The shops are
crowded, and from almost every
building there comes inceSSant
music of the snake-charming
school, A queer mixture of the
Occident and the Orient, is Bagh-
dad!
Officers Companions
Most of our fellow travellers are
British officers, returning to their
posts in India after furloughS. I
was relieved to have these stall
warts along, especially when the
pilot kept climbing higher and
higher over Palestine. When I
asked why, he said:
"Arabs down there like to
take pOt-shOts at planes. 1t
amuSes them"
But the only shooting I saw
occurred at Rutbah Wells, out in