The Coolidge examiner., 1937-07-15

DOn Antonio de OllOd QeSCrlDeS va
rious Inca bridges he found there.
One Of them, the tarabita, is much
like the greasy buttered bridge of
Tibet. THE tarabita is only a sin
gle rope made of bejuco," says Ul-
loa, 'or thongs of OK hide
This rope is fastened on each bank
to strong posts. On one side is a
kind Of wheel. or winch, to straight
en- or slacken the tarabita to the
degree required. From the tarabita
hangs leathern hammock capable
Of holding a man."
Using another rope, the passenger
pulls himself back and forth. Ulloa
saw mules moved the same way.
At Baghdad years ago. when the
Turks were still waging their long
war against desert tribes. their ar
tillery used to lumber noisily across
the Tigris on bridge of boats. on
its way to lombard some Arab mud
town that had not paid its taxes.
From a safe distance, when Turkish
guns opened fire on the mud-walls
guns opened fire on the mudwalled
village. observers could see dust
and timbers fly high into the air.
Sometimes the Turks came back
across the bridge of boats driving
long lines of camels confiscated
from delinquent nomads. One qui-
ct, very hot Sunday morning, the
Bedouins. shooting and shouting.
rushed suddenly over the bridge,
and stole their camels back again.
At Mosul on the Tigris, hard by
old Nineveh and in the shadow of
Jonah's tomb, is another such
bridge of boats. Millions of Shah
pilgrims have crossed these sway
ing structures, carrying their dried
and salted dead relatives and
friends to sacred burial grounds
around the desert holy cities of An
Najaf and Karbala.
In Arabic al Kantarah means
''The Bridge" That old Roman
bridge, the Alcantara. over the Ia
gus in Spain, stands today as proud
and stout as when its huge arches
were built. some 300 years ago.
Bridge Into the Sea.
Look at the mass, the heavy
weight of these ancient bridgesl
They were built in. and for, one
particular place. Today man cuts
his steel bridges to order, ships
them 5000 miles. 10000 miles, and
erects them. by standardized prac-
tice. wherever they may be needed.
The pieces are all shaped, num-
bered, and packed in a ships hold
like the pieces of child's construc-
tion toy in a Christmas box; blue
prints are the directions" for set
ting up!
Rocketing from rain clouds on an
air trip around Brazil. passengers
come suddenly upon an enormous
suspension bridge that seems to run
out into the Atlantic ocean. It does.
It connects the mainland state of
Santa Catharina with its capital.
Florianopolis. which stands on an
off-shore island. The American
Bridge company erected this struc-
ture. shipping all the parts ready
made.
No other field in American over
seas trade demands more ingenuity
than does the bridge mans calling.
Orders come in for new bridges
which may be wanted in any land
from Alaska to Ecuador. No facts
may be at hand about floods, river
traffic, health and food conditions,
or the nature of the river bed and
banks, whether rock, clay, sand, or
mud, at the spot where the new
bridge is to be built.
Since no tools, equipment, or
building supplies of any kind may
be available there. the American
builder must take everything with
him.
Problems of language, food, and
cnmate must De met. One Ameri-
can engineer arrived in Peru on
his first visit to Latin America to
build bridge. Anxious to gain a
Spanish vocabulary of bridge
words, he chose a personal helper
from among the workers and prac-
ticed diligently. Imagine his cha
grin when he finally discovered that
his bridge vocabulary could be used
only in India. for he had picked a
Hindu as teacheri On another
job food shipments were so delayed
that one American foreman was
found subsisting on popcorn fried
with bananas.