Great Changes Taking Place
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(Copyright, 1907, by PYank O. Carpenter.)
XT TUB GERMAN EAST
AFRICAN STEAM EH FELD
J I MAKSIIALL,, Jan. 6. (Spocial
i.orrefiponnee 01 ine eee.j
I am on a German stcampr,
AI of 5,000 torn, Rallinir down tha
Red aea. We took ship three days aso at
Port Bald, aJid were eighteen hours going
through the Sup canal. We tarried a
whlle at Suez, and we are now off Port
Sudan, where the new railroad across
the Nubian desert begins. We are Just
opposite Jed J ah, where, aooordlng; to the
Mohammedans, Mother E"ve was burled,
and where the Pilgrims start out over
the desert to Mecca. With the ship's
glass one can almost see the place where
the greatest grandmother of all mankind
lies. She rests outside the wait In a tomb
tGO feet lonjr, and a mosque rises over
her dust. Tou have heard the Moham
medan story of how Adam fell. Eve gave
him the apple, and he ate It, and as a
punishment both he and ah were cast
out of the Garden of Erten. As they
dropped a strong west wind was blowing,
and this wafted the fairy form of Eve
to Arabia; while Adam, with his heavier
weight, foil down In Ceylon. There Is a
string f coral keys running from Ceylon
to Hindoostan, which Is still known as
Adam's bridge, and it was over them that
he started out on his long hunt for Eve.
It took him 200 years to And her, and
tha meeting was somewhere near Mecca.
What became of Adam's bones we do not
know, but those of Etve are supposed to
He at Jeddah.
Odd Fetres of the Red Sea.
Jeddah is 'just about half way down the
Red sea. It took us thlrty-slz hours to
come here, and we shall be fully that long
In steaming to the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb,
Where we enter the Indian ocean. The Red
sea is mighty small on the map. It looks
like a scratch between Asia and Africa;
but the scrateh is actually 200 miles wide
In many plaoes and so deep that the most
of the Bluj Ridge mountains could be
dropped down into it and only their higher
peaks would reach the surface. The Red
ea Is so long that If it began at Ireland
and extended westward across the Atlantic
tt would go half way to Canada. If It could
be lifted up and laid down upon the United
States, with Sues at Philadelphia, Bab-el-Mandeb
would be a hundred miles or so
beyond Omaha, and all the way between
Cosmopolitan Bunch of Devils
EW TORK, Jan. 4. The opera
Nl this year In ew nas gone
I to the devil as It never did be
I tnr Thani been Dllirt
devils than any preceding sea
son offered and they have been
more varied In character.
This abundanoe of satanln majesties Is
due to the fact that New Tork no longer
contents Itself with the Gallio spirit of evil
that used to strut through Gounod's opera.
In addition to this lyrio setting of Goethe's
play, there are the operas with the text
drawn from the same source by Bolto and
Berlioz.
The performance of these varied version
of the Faust legend was due to the pres
ence here of singers who have especially
distinguished themselves by their lmer
sonatlona of Meplii''.r)leo. Foremost
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would be a sea canal es wide as from
New Tork to Washington, or wide enough
to accommodate all the navies of the world
abreast, and leave a hundred miles or more
to spare.
Rival far the Sues Canal.
This mighty waterway narrows almost
to a point at each end. Where it leaves
the Indian ocean It Is no wider than the
English channel at Dover, and It Is lost
at the north, In. the Sue canal. Starting
at Bab-el-Mandeb, the coast broadens out
ar.d then runs almost straight to the upper
nd, where they fork into two gulfs and
Inclose the lower part of the Sinai penin
sula. These two gulfs are those of Suez
and Akubah. The gulf of Suez is 170 miles
long, and It has been Joined to the Medi
terranean by the Sues canal. The gulf ot
Akabah Is 110 miles long, and capitalists
are now talking of making a canal from
it to the Mediterranean. The Akabah canal
would be a considerable distance east of
the Sues canal, but it would practically
parallel it. It would run through Turkish
territory, and for this reason It can be
built without Infringing on the Suez canal
concession, which relate to Egypt alone.
I am told that a new canal would pay
well. That of Suez Is already overcrowded,
and there Is enough business for two.
As to the Red sea Itself, it has deep
water throughout. Along the main chan
nel there Is a full half mile of salt sea
under the ships, and In some places it is
more than a mile and a half deep. The
average depth of the gulf of Suez Is greater
than the height of a twenty-story flat, and
two Washington monuments, one on top
of the other, could be sunken into the
strait of Bab-el-Mandeb for the deepest
ocean steamer to go over them.
Hot and Salty.
The Red sea is red hot. I have steamed
many miles along the equator, but this is
much hotter. The water here Is shut in
on both sides by deserts, which furnish
no streams to cool it, and the tropical sun
beats down from January to December,
As a result the surface of the wator Is
often 100 degrees above zero, and It forms
a great hot-water plant steaming the air.
The sun's rays are battled up also by the
deserts, which act as a second heat radi
ating plant. The result is that the air is
often suffocating and there seems to be
only a waving sheet of blue steel between
us and the lower regions. Indeed, were It
among these I Theodore Chaliaplne, who
owes his reputation abroad to his perform
ance of Mephlstopheles In Bolto's opera.
He has a very small repertoire for a
bass; no singer ever came to the Metro
politan equipped with so taw roles. Apart
from Mephlstopheles he sings Basllo, Don
Carlos and in Russian operas by Glinka,
Rubinstein and Rlmsky-Korsakoff. He will
sing Leporello In "Don Giovanni" hare for
the first time.
M. Chaliaplne will also sing before he
returns to Europe the Mephlstopheles of
Gounod. In that role h follows the con
ventional standard of opera, departing In
no particular from th type of devil shown
at the Grand Opera in Paris, whence the
best of the devils are supposed to come.
It was first In Russia that his Interpreta
tion of th Bolto sataa made him famous.
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not for tha electrlo fan In my cabin I
should bo unahls to write, and outside
upon deck we have double roofs of can
vas to temper the rays of tha sun. Last
nlcht many ot the passengers slept out
side their cabins on account of the heat.
We eat our meals fanned by electricity,
and yesterday we had a sandstorm, which
covered our ship with red dust, and even
entered the portholss and got Into the beds.
That storm came from Arabia, and It may
have swallowed up some of the pllgTlraa
now on their way to Mecca.
The air here la so salty that one can
almost eat eggs without seasoning. The
wator contains so much salt that if 100
pounds of it are boiled down, tour pounds
of salt will be found in the bottom of the
kettle. The evaporation is so great that
were It not for the Inflow of the Indian
ocesn, the sea would, within less than a
century, go Into the air and leave In Its
place one immense block of salt. In
deed, theso waters are mora salty than
tliose of the ocean, and they are saltier
than the Mediterranean and most other
salt seas.
$
Boos In 190T.
I had expected to find the Red sea
coasts more thickly populated. There are
no cities of any size and very few vil
lages. Even Sues has only about 18,000
people, and of thorn not more than 8,000
are Europeans. The town has large docks,
but Its trade Is small, and it has had
nothing like the growth which men thought
would follow the completion of the canal.
There Is direct railroad connection with
Cairo, and passengers on their way home
from India stop off there and Join their
ships at Alexandria, or take other steamers
from that port.
Have you ever heard of the town of
Kosler? It is a Red sea port that at on
Ufne had a great trade. It lies on the
west coast some distance south of Suez.
It was formerly the end of a caravan
route from the Nile, and the early Chris
tians crossed over that way and took
boats for the Blnal peninsula to reach the
mountain where Moses received the com
mandments. Egyptian pIlgTtms on their way to Jeddah.
T"day Kosler Is a stopping place for
It used to be much more Important In that
respect than now. It had many inns and
hotel tents outside. It was well supplied
with dancing girls and the other surround
ings of a true pilgrimage center. Then the
Sues canal came and killed It, The port
His peculiarities of dress have already
been sufficiently described. Striking a
they are, the basso makes his devil differ
from all others chiefly In his dramatic ac
tion. He is an elemental creature, roaring and
champing like a bull, charging the poor
sinners of this world with the fuss and
energy ef a sixty-horse power motor and
leaving a trail of steam and brimstone be
hind him. This Is the Satan resulting from
the union of the Italian creator and th
Russian interpreter.
His frame, gigantic as it Is, cannot con
tain his nature. He writhes with the emo
tions that convulse him. His face Is drawn
into expressions of the profsundest agony.
He is not a contemplative spirit that ever
more denies, but a militant fiend, storming
ever the failure f hi efforts to harass
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SUNDAY BEE: JANTJAnY 5, 1903.
Along- the
s
OIKL8 OF KA8IEB. k
Is now nothing. Its big houses have fallen
to ruins and It has beooma a village of
one-story huts. There are emerald mines
near It, however, and the desert region
about shows evldenots of having been once
worked for gold.
& .
Part ludaa,
The two chief ports on the west coast of
the Red sea are Port Sudan and Buakim.
They were nothing a few years ago, but
they promise to grow Into cities since the
oomplatlon of the Red Sea road. There
has always been something of a town at
Buakim, and the original Intention was to
use that place as the terminus of the rail
way. The English surveyors, however,
found a much better harbor at Port Sudan,
and they haw extended the railroad to that
point. The town, whloh was absolutely
nothing two years ago, haa now several
thousand people, and It grows like on of
the mushroom settlements of the Canadian
west. The British government Is erecting
great dooks and harbor buildings. It has
put up lighthouses and bunt a postofflce,
quarters for .the government official and
school. Many lots are being sold and
resldenoes are going up. The settler are
chiefly European, the most of whom come
from Italy and Greece.
The harbor of Port Sudan Is shaped like
a leaf. It Is 200 feet deep and well pro
tected from the sea outside. There are
now steamers twice a week from there to
Suez and Aden. The ships start at Sues,
go to Port Sudan, and then south around
the west coast of the Red sea, and return,
calling at some of the ports on the east
coast. The ship are of the Egyptian
Khedevlal line. They are laid to be com
fortable. Accommodations.
At present one of the great need of that
port I a hotel. There are no accommoda
tion for traveler, and some of the steam
ship companies will .not sell tickets to
Khartum via the Red sea on thl aooount
It take twenty-six hour to go by rail
from Port Sudan to Khartum. Sleeping
car will be put on the railroad thl year
and there will probably be considerable
travel as soon as the proper hotel accom
modations are furnished at the port.
Already many freight steamer are calling
at the port, and In a short time the hulk
of the freight for central Africa and the
upper Nile will go that way.
I have been making some Inquiries about
the Italian possessions on the west coast
Infest New York's Grand Opera Season
and distress mankind a he would like to.
All the dramatlo aotlon tending to estab
lish hi conception of Bolto' sataa is
accompanied with every helpful aid of
light, scenery and mechanical Ingenuity,
M. aliaptne takes the utmost pains with
hi makeup, which combines In an effective
way the use of fieshlings and bare skin.
The skin is covered with a shiny, metallo
powder whloh sparkles In the calcium.
The other new devil Is a less spectacular
person. Tha expression on the face of M.
Reraud gives the keynote to his concep
tion of the devil In the text of Berlioz, and
his two collaborators. M. Gerard and Gar
donnlerd. They wrote the text for a cantata. Just
as Berlio did th music, and this explains
the loose dramatic form of the text. When
th soarolty of new opera turned the
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of the Rod sea. They have a colony known
a Eritrea, whloh begin about 150 miles
south of Buakim and runs down almost
tb the Strait of Bab-1-Mandeb. It Is not
wide and It terminates a little back of
the coast where tb Abyssinian hill begin.
It I only a few year slno the Italian
tried to lnolude In Eritrea a large part of
Abyssinia and tailed, owing to the bravery
of King Menellk. Tn land they now have
I of small value. There are only a few
tract that can be Irrigated, and the ex
port are nothing. The atrip I Inhabited
by nomads, who raise oamels, oxen, sheep
and goat. The pasturage la scanty and
the shepherds move about from place to
plaoe with their stock. Bom ot tha tribes
live In tent made of matting and their
want are simple to an extreme.
Massawa,
Tha chief Italian port I Massawa, It Is
a little town situated on a ooral Island
Jollied to the mainland by a causeway. It
haa two short railways which conneot with
the Abyssinian hills and whloh comprise
altogether about, forty-eight mile of track.
The road I to be oontlnued to the town of
Asmara, near whloh some gold mines have
been opened.
I am told that the Italian have recently
built a telegraph line from their port to
the capital of Abyssinia and that they are
trying to Increase their trade with that
country? They are shipping considerable
alt, whloh, strange to say. Is so' relished
by the Abysslnlans that It brings more
than sugar and take much the same place
among them a candy and tobacco with
us. Tha average Abyssinian carries a
tick of rook salt with him and takes a
suok of It between whiles. It he meets a
friend he asks him to take a lick of his
alt stick and his friend brings nut his
own Individual stick and they take lick
about, tl Is Just as it was with snuff in
the day of our forefathers when everyone
offered his friends a pinch of his choioe
Macaboy.
Port of Mecca.
I regTet that I shall not be able to stop
at Jeddah, the port of Mecca, to which I
have already referred. It Is one of the
most interesting places on the Red sea
and 100,000 or more pilgrims pass through
It every year. While at Omdurman, a few
weeks ago, I saw something like 1,000 Ma
hammendana who were going by the new
thought of Impresario toward must by
such a master, Rooul Gunbourg was the
first to arrange the material for operatic
use. It was sung first In his opera house at
Monte Carlo, and later at the series of
peolal performance given at th Theater
Sarah Bernhardt In Paris.
In both of these production Maurice
Ronaud embodied his Idea of the Goethe
devil, and in th opinion of many experts
the pessimistic, contemptuous, pitying
Mephlstopheles who feels too sorry for the
poor creatures of thl world to plague
them Is the most striking of the lot. When
he looks in on the reveling1 crowd at th
Auerbach cellar M. Renaud's glance Indi
cates his melancholy and disgust with the
world.
He Is the Incarnation of Weltschers. Th
nor he see of this world and the poor
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MOHAMMEDAN PILGRIMS AT TRAIER,
railroad across the Nubian dese'l to Port
Sudan, where they expected to get ship for
Jeddah. Some of them had been ten years
on the way and their religious enthusiasm
had not waned. They started out upon
camels from the borders of Timbuktu and
hadbeen forced to sell their camels for
food. After that they had walked from
oasis to oasis working fur money to carry
them onward. In that party there were so
many that the English government officials
had to divide them up Into batches and
send on a tralnload or so at a time. The
road saved them several hundred miles of
camel riding or walking, and it probably
will be a grert pilgrimage route In the
future.
At present the pilgrims come to Jeddah
from all part of North Africa and from
the eastern coast of the Mediterranean
sea. They also come from India and south
ern Arabia, and Jeddah takes Its toll from
each of them. The people live by fleecing
the devotees.' The town Is full of hotels
and it Is noted tor It discomforts. It has
a bad water supply and after each big
rain there Is an epidemic of fever. All
who land In Jeddah go on foot from thero
to Mecca. The distance Is sixty-five miles
and a guide I required
Nrn Mecca Railroad.
The British are now talking of building
a railroad from Jeddah to Mecca. If they
do it probably will pay well, for the travel
Is enormous. Twenty-five years ago there
were more than 60,000 Mohammedans, who
came annually by sea to make their way
over the sands to Mecca and Medina.
There are probably half again as many
more today and the railroad will so re
duce the cost of the trip that the number
of worshiper will be greatly lnoreosed.
Indeed, the day may come when some Mo
hammedan tourist agent will bo selling
to pilgrims Tom all parts of the Moham
medan world round trip tickets to the
birthplace of the prophet. Including admis
sion to the Kaaba and also to Medina,
where Mohammed died. The sultan I al
ready building a line southward from Dam
ascus to Mecca, 600 mile ef th rood being
already completed, and it is expected that
it will reach Medina in 1309 and Mecca early
In 1910. There is now a line from Beirut
to Damascus, and one will be able to start
In at that port In the western Mediter
ranean and go to Damascus, Jerusalem and
Mecoa without change of cars. The Mecca
line is being built by Turkish soldiers, uiy
creature the more he pltle and scorns It
and them,
M. Renaud dresses In black but ornament
his face with a very long, pointed nose and
his cap with a long pointed feather. The
pictorial features of his devil, who rarely
unwraps the cloak which falls about him
came out ot his own Imagination, Just as
did his conception of the world weary
Satan of the Goethe prologue.
M. Chaliaplne, on th other hand, copied
his makeup from the work ot a Russian
sculptor. That was effected by the ele
mental, writhing, fighting conception that
M. Chaliaplne ha transferred to th oper
atic stag.
The only other role that the Russian
basso has sung here Is Bastllo, and that
proves him to be Just a unconventional
a to makeup and conoeptlon In all his
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dor the upervislon of a German civil en
gineer, and the cost is being In part de
frayed by the voluntary contributions of
Mohammedans In all parts of the world.
When theso railroads are completed
there may be a chance for Christiana to
visit the holy city. All who have been
there In the past have had to go In dis
guise, and the man who would attempt It
today, takes his life In his hands. Th
railroad will be officered by Mohammed
ans, and It Is doubtful whether they will
take Christians as passengers. They will
have to cater to the pilgrims, as It is
from them that tholr traffic must come.
In the meantime, without wishing to
art as did the fox who called the grape
sour, I do not bolleve there Is much to
see in Mecca after all. The town lie In
a hot sandy valley watered for the most
of the year by a few brackish well and
some cisterns. The best water come In
from Arafat through a little aqueduct,
and it is sold at hUh prices by a water
trust at the head of which Is the gov
ernor of the city.
Mecca, all told, has only about (0,000
Inhabitants. It fills the valley and run
up the sides of the hills. The house
are of dark stone, built In one, two and
three stories. They stand close to the
streets. There are no pavements; It Is
often dusty and it takes all the holiness
of the surroundings to make life agree
able. Tha Kaaba.
The most important place In Mecca la
the sarred mosque, and the most Im
portant thing In the mosque I the Kaaba,
a cube-shaped stone building which lie
in Its center. In the southeast corner of
this building at about five feet from the
ground, is the black meteorite which the
Mohammedans say was once a part of the
Gates of Paradise. When Adam was cast
out, this stone fell with him and It
dropped down near Mecca. At that time
It was of a beautiful white oolor, but it
Is now turned to Jet, having been black
ened by the kisses of sinners. Every pil
grim who come to Meoca presses hi lip
to It again and again, Imagining that a
he does so his sins go out of htm Into
the stone, and his soul become a pur
as It was when he was a baby. There are
several hundred thousand pilgrims who
perform this kissing act every season,
so that the holy stone of the Kaaba get
its millions ot kisses every year. What a
load of sin It must carry!
FRANK G. CARPENTER.
ports as In the Bolto opera.
In spite of the critical attention that th
Interpreters of these unconventional
prlnoca of darkness have attracted, the
public has not shown nearly so much ex
citement about them a was expected. New
York opera audience are not given to ex
pressions of emotions over bassos or bary
tones. They prefer tenor or oprano. It I for
that reason that they are much more In
terested in the personalities of their Fausts '
and their Marguerites. As New York audi
ences also like their old friends best, they
still refuse to devote their Interest to other
characters in the legend than th levers
of Gounod's opera.
There is no dearth of the Gounod devil
(Continued on ("age four.)
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