Evening star., 1941-11-02

have to wear a toppee in British
SOmaliland
Port Sudan Is on . natural inlet
from the Red Sea. 1t stands on
coral soil. The harbOr Is named
after a traditional character. Sheihk
Barghout. This man, so the story
goes, was too poor to pay for his
passage on a steamship after a
pilgrimage to Mecca. so he set out in
q rowboat from Jetta. but forgot to
take drinking water with him and
died Of thirst on the Red Sea. almost
at the end of his journey. Now,
when boat manned by Moham-
medan crew puts into Port Sudan,
the first mate empties pail of
fresh water into the sea for Sheihk
Barghout to drink.
Forty miles east of Port Sudan is
the cleaning town of Suakin, once
a chief center of the African slave
trade. The Red Sea mountain range
lies westward. In the mountains
and foothills roam wild beasts. such
as leopards. tigers, ibexes, gazelles
and monkeys.
During the fall season millions of
sardines come inshore and keep the
natives very busy catching them.
There are lots of other fish in the
harbor, including bayards and giant
crabs and crayfish. The crabs are
very dangerous and so strong that
they can tear man to pieces.
Our steamer stayed in Port Sudan
just one day, but we saw many places
in that short time. We went ashore
after breakfast and stopped while
on the pier. There many dirty Arabs
tried to get us to 60 for camel
ride in the desert, but we did not
want to go camel riding.
All along the pier and the roads
leading to town were merchants SELL
ing native goods, most Of them Arabs
in white burnous. We also saw
Hindu peddlers selling silver jewelry
and belts and huge knives with finely
worked handles One peddler had
nothing but swords and queer curved
knives that were made Che said) Of
genuine Damascus steel. I asked
the man what the knives were for
and he told me they were used by
the chieftains who own caravans,
not because they were beautiful
knives but because they were good
for killing people.
English Money.
Unlike the natives of the Far East.
the Arabs do not have bazaars.
They are nomad race and carry
their goods in canvas cloths. They
spread their wares on the canvas
cloths on the hot sand, wherever
they chance to be, and sit on their
legs waiting for customers. The
Arab peddlers sell mostly leather
goods made Of rhinoceros hide, in
Guiding wide belts. whips, canes,
bracelets that reached the elbows
and sandals. All these leather goods
had a strongly fishy smell-like cod
liver oil-and I could not wait to
get away from them.
We bought pair Of sandals and
gave the man some English money,
but he refused it, saying that only
Egyptian money was worth any,
thing to him. We stood there argu-
ing for while when suddenly the
man dropped to the ground and
bent his body In a praying attitude
and then kissed the ground again
and again. I thought he had gone
crazy. I asked mother if the man
ocl - ~. IL
money for him, and then, looking
around, I discovered that all the
other natives were also with their
knees and hands on the ground.
Mother said that they were prob
ably Bedouin Arabs, and when they
hear the call of the mosque they
drop everything and pray to Allah.
We went back on board ship for
lunch. On deck were more peddlers
with coral ornaments. beautiful sea
shells and seed pearls. You could
buy the seed pearls by the pound.
After lunch we went downtown.
Port Sudan is big town. the popu-
lation being about 10000, mostly
Sudanese. The houses are OF
Moorish style with fiat roofs and
lots of palm and date trees outside.
Everything is white and the town
looks like fairy tale city.
Glass Bottom Boat.
We asked q policeman to show us
the way to the Marine Gardens, and
he answered us in perfect English.
He was black and handsome, with
thick black lips, kinky hair and
very long ears. He wore Just one
earring, q white turban, . white
uniform, thick leather sandals and
no socks.
asked him where he came from
and he told me that his home was
In Dongola Province. He belonged
to the provincial police force. He
carried whip in the right hand
and asked him If it was to use
on the camels. He laughed and
said, mo. It is to use on the Su-
danese."
We returned to the ship about
5 pm. and I stayed on deck watt
ing for the dinner gong to ring
and watching native porters un-
loading the cargo. These porters
are very unusual in appearance.
They are supposed to be the orig
inal "golliwoggs," q mixture of Arabs,
Danagla, Shaigi and many other
strains. Their skin Is not black,
but . fne mahogany brown. Their
bodies shine Ike oilcloth. They