MIOIDIEIRN II IPAQ
Fire Wood Is Scarce in Iraq.
Preyn'-'i hv National <ipoi*MiphIc 8oclttjr.
Wu-h.r.k" :i. L>. U. ? WNU S- rvlre.
IliAQ. where American explorers re- i
centl.v discovered a complete his
toric township, dating from the j
early fourth millennium, is the
modern name for the traditional Car- )
den of Kilen, historically known as j
Mesopotamia. Many historians hold
that somewhere in Iraq? In the valley
of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers ?
is to ho found the cradle of civilization.
Upon the break ins up of the
Turkish empire following the World
war Mesopotamia became a l.rit
Ish mandate which was erected
into the Arab kingdom of Iraq with a
Mohammedan prince from Mecea upon
the throne. Such is the latest form as
sumed bv the Phoenix among nations.
In the last six thousand years I la by -
Ionian. Assyrian. Chaldean. Persian.
(Jreek. Kotnan and Saracen civilian
tions have flourished in Mesopo
tamia. earh rising from the ashes of its
predecessor.
The great irrigation works which,
throughout the centuries, had kept the
Tigris-Kuphrates valley green, rich and
flourishing were destroyed by Invading
Mongols and allowed to decay by heed
less Turks. The Harden of Kden be I
came a treeless desert, except for a
fw date palms along the river hanks.
Cities like Baghdad nnd Basra fell
into decay and seemed fast approach
Ing the fate which had overtaken Ur '
and Ha by Ion. where Jackals howl
above a lonely waste.
Then followed a rebirth during 'be
throes of the great war. Once more
boats crowded the swift and treacher
ous reaches of the Tigris. Once more
the bazaars of Baghdad and Basra nnd
Mosul hummed with world traffic.
Marauding desert robber tribes were
kept In perpetual peace by airplanes
humming over their remote villages.
Sanitary regulations and electric light
lng made town nnd country both more
safe nnd more healthful. Ice fac
tories and soda water establishments
helped alleviate summer days of 120
degrees in the shade. Levees were
built to keep the flooding rivers within
their banks nnd slowly bit by bit work
was begun or? repairing Irrigation
works nnd building railroads. Thus
was modern Iraq bom.
The new kingdom under Br!tish man
date embraces the valley of the Tigris
Euphrates between the Arabian desert
on one side and the Persian uplands
on the other. To the northwest lies
the French mandate of Syria and to
the north the Kurdish highlands of
Turkey. Southward stretches the Per
sian gulf, the country's salt water
outlet to the wide world. Within this
strip of territory are barely 3.000.000
people where once flourished a popla
tlon denser than that of modern Bel
gium.
What Baghdad It Like.
4 There are three principal cities:
Mosul, of oil fame. Is In the north :
Baghdad, the capital In the central
part ; and the Important port of Basra
In the south. Of the three Baghdad
perhaps Is most famous.
From the deck of a Tigris steamer
Baghdad looms up boldly. Its splendid
skyline of domes and minarets remind
Ing one of some "Midway" of World's
fair memory. An odd pontoon bridge
connects the two parts of the c!ty.
separated by the yellow Tigris. On
the west hank Is the old town. Inclosed
by date snd orange groves. From
here the Baghdad-Mosul railway starts
on Its long ran across the trackless
desert. Bast of the river, on the Per
slan side. Is "new" Baghdad with Its
government offices, barracks, con
sulates, prisons, etc.
Beyond, as far as the eye can reach
In every direction, stretches the vast,
flat, treeless empty plain of Mesopo
tamia ? a region once more populous
than Belgium.
I he traveler is paddled ashore from
the steamer In a "goofah,*' a queer,
coradelike craft in use here since
Jonah's day. A goofah is woven from
willows ahout six fet In diameter. Is
circular and basket -shaped, ami is
coated outsire with hitumen. Some
say Moses was cut adrift in one of
these goofahs.
Old City Mostly in Ruins.
Another strange craft at Baghdad Is
the "kelek," a Kurdish invention. The
kelek is a r:ift made of inflated goat
ski us, held together by poles and cov
ered with a platform of straw mats.
These keleks come down to Baghdad
in hundreds from Mosul, bringing wool,
pottery, grain and skins.
The present custom house nt Bagh
dad is a wing of the old palace of
I lurum-al-Bashid ; yards of scrawling
Arabic characters, cut in marble pan
els. still adorn its historic walls.
i'aghdad arteries of traffic are mere
alleys, often so narrow that two don
keys cannot pass, once Turkish sol
diers tried to move artillery through
Baghdad. The streets were so narrow
the horses had to be unhitched, and
men moved the guns ahout by ham).
A great wall encircles Baghdad, with
guarded gateways, as in medieval
days. Flat-roofed, huddled Moorish
houses, many almost wimlowless and
each surrounding its own open court,
are a distinct feature of the older
parts of Baghdad. On these flat roofs
Arabs spend the summer nights with
tom-toms. Mutes, water-pipes, and
dancing women, racing the river, re
moved from the Arab town, are built
the imposing foreign consulates, mer
cantile offices, and the sumptuous
homes of rich Jews. Armenians.
Creeks nnd Syrians ? the men who
make New Baghdad.
But the Baghdad of Ali Baba's day.
with the splendor of Aladdin's en
chanted age. Is gone forever. The pal
aces. the mosques, and minarets are
mostly in ruins. Even the tomb of
lovely Lady Zoheida, favorite wife of
Harun-al-ltashid, is tumbled down and
decayed. It Is into modern monuments
to New Baghdad ? Into roads, bridges,
public buildings, irrigation works,
army organization, dredging the Tigris,
etc. ? that the Young Turks put their
money.
Modern Baghdad is in safer hands;
no dissipated royalty guards Its gates.
Sober, clear-headed men. drilled in the
best schools of modern Europe, able to
hold their own anywhere, administer
Its affairs. As late as 1830 the Tigris
overflowed its banks, swept through
Baghdad, and drowned 15,000 people
in one night.
Till lately Baghdad, more than any
other city in the Near East, has been
slow to yield to Europe's influence.
For centuries Baghdad kept close to
the Bedouin life, under the sway of
nomad customs. Even now Baghdad's
famous bazaars, despite her evolution
in other ways, are conducted as they
were a thousands years ago. These
Arab trading places have changed not
one whit since Abraham's time. Here
is barter and sale as Marco Polo
found It. as It was In the days of the
Three Wise Men who bought gifts for
Bethlehem.
Basra is situated on the Shatt-el
Arab. a river formed by the union of
the Tigris and Euphrates. Smaller cen
ters of Importance, such as Kut and
Amarn, follow each other at Intervals
the entire length of the valley. Most
of the Inhabitants are Mohammedan
Arabs, th??ugh In the cities are many
Jews, while In the mountainous north
are settlements of NestorJan Chris
tians dating from very early times.
City Arabs have taken readily to the
ways of civilization and seem glad for
the chance to work In Ice and cotton
cloth factories, and upon engineering
and public work*
"Shower" m Philippines
Holds World's Record
The heaviest 24-hour rainfall ever
measure*! occurred :it Ilairuio. the I
"summer capital** of the Philippines, j
in Julv, 1011.
Only brief account* of it have ?
l?een published until this year, when J
a detailed story of the shower ami ;
its effects was Issue*] l?v Ilev. Miguel I
SelgJi. director of i Ii?? Philippine j
weather bureau, says Charles Fit as- j
liugh Talman in his Science Service
feature, "Why the Weather?'*
"This torrential ilown|n?ur atten<l I
e<l the passage of a typh??on. More .
than SS inches of rain fell during
the four days. July 1 1-17. inclusive. ,
the maximum fall in a 21-liour 1
/?eriod being 4?? inches from noon of
the fourteenth to noun of the fif
teenth.
"Two inches less than four feet
of rain in 24 hours! This is more
than falls iti the whole of an aver
t.ge year at most plaees in the north
eastern United States and Canada.**!
? Literary Digest.
Train-Spcedt
The fastest time ever made by n
railroad train depends upon how j
performance is r?*ckoncd. Tilt.- fast- |
est train run on record was made |
over the Plant system between
Fleming and Jacksonville, Fla., in
1001, when a train covered five
miles at an average of 120 miles per
hour. The London Cheltenham fly
er of the Great Western railway in
England recently covered the TT'i
miles between Swindon and Pad
dington in r??? minutes and 47 sec
onds. from start to stop. averagtng
MJ5 miles |K?r hour. The highest
s|?eed reached was !?U miles i>er
li??tir. This is claimed as a world
mark for sjh_hh1 on a start to stop
j computation.
Lending for Protection
Hollywood thought a certain mo
tion picture star had gone crazy
when 1h? began to lend money to
certain of his friends. To he sure.
The amounts wore small, hut the
fart that he lent any at all was
cause for consternation among the
people who knew him real well.
"I>on't you worry.** grinned the
star, when it was pointedly suggested
that lie needed a vacation and men
tal relaxation. "1 haven't loaned a
dollar more than I'm willing to pay
to feel certain that I'll he loft strirt
ly alone. No one comes noar you
when they owe you money.**
The African G:ote
Nothing doHnlte is known of the
origin of geese, according to the
leading writers on poultry. It is j
said that they were held sacred in
Kgypt. 4.0sm? years ago. They were i
domestical od many centuries before 1
the Christian era. Italy Is said
to l?e the home of domestic geese.
Scientists claim that the ?'graying**
Is the ancestor of all domestic geose.
This prol?ah1\ arises from the fact
that all of tin* oarlier geese were
gray or gray and white.
ili.Mt' ri!\ POPULAR BRANDS, car
ton f 1 ; ? i :.?rs. ' ix ?>f in. j i . ? o Kavoritf
DIM. Co.. Box 71X2. W. Tampa. Florida. I
SOimiKRN LAU m . Athna, CJa..
two jrcai # cour 1. 1.. B diploma tdniul
CcorKla ??nr. 0|h>ii S?-|?t. 21. ? 'atat<>g.
MercolizedWax
Keeps Skin Young
Oat an ouae* and dm aa <!ireet?d. Fin* D?rn4., 0,
?kin pevl off until all defncta auch a, piuisUe LW?
? put*. t*n and frerkUs diuppwr. Skin it thrn
and relve'jr. Your face looks years yo'ia^-r MareoliMd
W al brim out the hidden beauty of your akin Te
rarr?ove wrinkle* us* oon ounco Powder*!
diaaol*ad in on a- half pint witch h&sel. At drc? .tor*/
The Right Soap for
Baby's Tender Skin
Is Culicnra Soap. It U usually
i ?uQicicnt to allay minor irritaiionsand
; remove redness, roughness and chaf
ing, while, assisted by Culicura
Ointment, it is most valuable in
the treatment of eczcmaa,
rashes and other infantile
eruptions.
S??P 2Se. Ointment 23 sad Mt.
Propn*lor? ? Potter lira, A
Chemical Corp., Maiden. M.^
St. Jo s eph's
G E N <J .1 N E
P U RE A S P I RIN
l.nrRr S?untl Equipped Thnitrr. npw mo.l
.rii <H|ul|?. ?tnly nn.. ,,, count v
H.BOft In *! yr*. $1,500 ?l??pos!t \ ,n liot^la
Kara**.*. elr. Il0x 3S7. Klsslmnw. KlS
1
M* - SL . , . V-N^l ?
a million motlver*
/fiatl *oin?ikUuj to tell ijxyil
ta/^% ? ? ? ?"*- - -
WOULD YOU LISTEN ?
A MOTHER who hu watched over her
baby . . ? day after day . . . thrilling to his
every little gain . . . anxious about his
smallest distress . . . Who can talk to you
more understanding^ than she? If a mil
lion such mothers could sit down with
you now and tell you of their experience
with a rrmarkable baby food? would you
be interested?
Today, there are more than a million
mothers who could tell you gladly, con
vincingly, of the wonderful things that
Eagle Brand has done.
Year after year? by hundreds, by thou
sands?they write to The Borden Com
pany, to tell their dramatic human stories.
They tell of babies who grew and gained
and flourished on Eagie Brand, with never
a set-back. They tell of babies who have
won blue ribbons and silver cups. They
tell of babies? once failing, starving, be
cause they could not digest other foods
brought back to full health by Eagle Brand.
And often, they tell of handsome, healthy
grown-up sons and daughters raised on
Eagle Brand, and now giving this food to
their babies.
FREE ? helpful baby book for you. If you
cannot curse your baby, try Eagle Brand.
See feeding directions on label. Send for
"Baby's Welfare," containing feeding in
structions, general information on baby
care. We will gladly send your physician
a report of the recent scientific feeding
test of Eagle Brand.
THE BORDEN COMPANY.
Dept. WN-7 Borden Building,
350 Madison Are, New York, N.Y.
Please send me new edition
"Baby's Welfare."
AJJrm
City State
(Please prist mime and address plainly-)