Great Railway System
(Copyright, 1910, by Frank O. Carpenter.)
kEIRUT (Special Correspondence to Tin
Deo.) The Turkish empire is on the
edge of a railway development. More
than 4,000 miles of road have already
been built, and' lines are planned which
will eventually connect ConstantlnoDla
j with Mecca and Medina, which will open up the rich
plains of Asia Minor, and, going down to Bagdad,
make the valley of the Euphrates equal as a wealth
producer to the valley of the Nile. Since I landed In
Syria I have traveled over much of Its railroads. My
first trip was from the port of Jaffa up the mountains
' of Judea to the city of Jerusalem. My second was on
the Mecca road from the lower end of the Sea of Gall
' lee through the great plains of the Hauran to Da
mascus, and my last was from Damascus over the
j mountains of Lebanon to this port of Beirut on the
Mediterranean sea. During the latter trip I went from
Kayak, in the valley of Lebanon between the two
ranges of mountains, along the road which has been
built northward through Coele-Syria to Aleppo, which
will probably connect with the Bagdad line.
The Railway to Mecca.
. -AH of these roads are comparatively new and
onie are still building. The Mecca line now runs as
far south as Medina, where Mohammed came after his
flight from Mecca, and where his tomb Is. Medina has
something like 40,000 people, and it is one of the
most fanatical of the Moslem centers. It will be the
chief stopping place on the way to Mecca.
' Mecca lies about 250 miles BtiU farther south and
the track la being laid toward that point. There are
two Christian civil engineers In the surveying party,
but the people are bo Intolerant that the engineers
are kept hidden the greater part f the time and do
their work Inside the tents. They are not allowed to
spy out the land, lo see or be seen.
The Bedouins are now causing the contractors
considerable trouble. The road will take a large part
of the pilgrimage trade, and this, It has been esti
mated. Is worth to, Arabia something like $10,000,000
a year. Much of the money goes to the owners of the
camels and the leaders of the caravans. These men
are Bedouins, many of whom have been employed In
the construction and In supplying the other laborers
with food. (Now that the line Is nearlng its completion
the Bedouins have lost their Jobs. They are objecting
to. the railway and have torn up the tracks in many
places. They are opposed to the soldiers of the Turk
ish government and the result Is a great unrest which
may cause a revolution.
Pilgrim Cars
The traffic on the Constantinople-Damascus -and
Mecca railways will largely be made up. of pilgrims on
their way to worship at Mecca and Medina. As it is
now, with nothing but camels to carry them, It Is
estimated that something like, 400,000 go there every
year, and It is believed that the railway. will Increase
the traffic from 60 to 100 per cent. Christians and
other unbelievers will not be carried to the holy cities,
although they may make tours to Petra and otlwr
parts of Arabia.
This Mecca railway will have special accommoda
tions for Mohammedans. Certain of the carriages will
be fitted up as mosques, so that the travelers may per
form their devotions during the Journey. The praying
carriages will be luxuriously furnished. The floors will
be covered with Persian carpets and around the sides
will be painted verses from the Koran in letters of
gold. A chart will indicate the direction of Mecca so
that one can always turn his head the right way when
he prays, and there will also be a minaret on the top
of the car six and a half feet high. These cars, I am
told, are being built at Constantinople.
The Mecca road is a narrow gauge, with French
rolling stock. The material has been Imported from
Europe, the ties being of iron to withstand the white
ants, which eat anything wooden. One of the great
difficulties of construction haa been the lack of water,
i The road goes for long stretches through the desert
j and many of the trains carry tanks to supply the
engine. '
Tiy Rail to Taiuarns
j I traveled over a part of ttls Mecca road on my
j way from the holy land north to Tjamascu. Leaving
Tiberias in the early morning, 1 was rowed by four
lusty Syrians across the Sea of Galilee to Samach.
which Is the station on the lower end of that sea and
the place where a branch line runs off to Haifa. From
there northward we skirted the east side of the S-a
of Galilee, passing the bills upon which our Savior
preached and where He drove the devils Into the
wine. We rode up the valley of the Yarmuk. a stream
almost as large a the Jordan, which loses itself In
the Jordan farther south. We climbed the foothills
of Lebanon, and at about 3.000 feet above the surface
of the Sea of Galilee reached the rich plarn of Hauran,
the great bread basket of the Bedouins. It ro
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wheat and other grain, and the land near the track
waa covered with popples, golden daisies and wild red
hollyhocks. We could see Bedouin camps everywhere.
They are made up of brown tents five or six feet high
and are so low that the. people have to stoop to get in.
Outside each little settlement was an lnclosure for the
stock, and on the lands nearby cattle and camels were
grazing. As we traveled we could see great flocks
of black goats feeding on the sides of the Labanon
mountains. They hung to the cliffs and looked much
like flies on the wall. There were also droves of black
cattle and many flocks of white sheep, each carrying
a tall of the size of a sofa pillow, which hung down
like an apron, half hiding its legs.
The cars were crowded with Turks, Syrians and
Bedouins, but on the advice of a friend I gave the
conductor a dollar, and In return had a compartment
all to myself. Baksheesh will do anything in Syria.
As Shammas, my guide, put it: "The franc is the
wheel upon which the world goes round."
Steaming Over Holy Places
It seems almost sacrilegious to travel by rail in
the footsteps of the Bible. The iron tracks now cover
the pathways of the prophets, and the ghosts of the
saints may be roused by the shriek of the locomotive,.
This road to Damascus, beginning with the branch line
, to Haifa, skirts the edge of Mount Carmel, where
Elijah lived in a cave and where he contended with
the 450 prophets of Baal and caused their destruction.
It goes up the plain of Esdraelon, where the fair
Jezebel lived, and where Jehu galloped to Jezreel on
his race for the throne. It takes you In plain sight of
Mount Tabor and under the hills of Nazareth, where
the Savior's boyhood and young manhood were spent.
It crosses the spot, where Jael was camping when
Slsera came and she lulled him to sleep to drive the
tent pc; his forehead, and it then goes on up to
Damascus over a route 'which was probably traveled
by Abraham, David and Solomon. and by St. Paul when
he was blinded by the great light and warned
not to kick against the pricks.
The road to Jerusalem goes over the plains where
the Israelites fought with the Philistines, through the
country of Samson, which 1 have already described,
and near the place where David with hla little stone '
the great Goliath slew.
A New Story of Cain and Abel
i . The railway from Damascus to Beirut shows you
Mount Hermon, so famed in the Psalms, and passes
numerous places which,' according to the Moham
medans, were the homes and tombs of the prophets.
Take, for instance, Suk Wadi Baroda, a little valley
oasis made up of flat-roofed mud houses, surrounded
by crchards and vineyards, on the way to Baalbek. It
is mentioned by Josephus and Is referred to in St.
Luke as the home of the tetrarde Lysanlas. The Mo
hammedans nay that Adam lived in the mountain
which looks down upon It and that It was near the
casts Itself that ("aln became Jealous of Abel and slew
him. I have always thought that Abel was killed with
a club, although I see now that the Bible does not
mention the weapon used in the murder. According
to the Moslem tradition it was a stone. The story is
that Adam had divided the world into two sections
and had given one of them to each of his boys. They
had marked out their respective possessions with
stpnss, when a dispute arose concerning the boundary
line. Cain , claimed that Abel was Inching on him.
whereupon high words sprang up, and Cain threw a
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.rock which struck Abel In the temple and killed him.
According to the Moslem tradition Cain was
thereupon filled with remorse. He did not know what
to do with his dead brother,' and he took the body on
his back and carried it with him over the world for
600 years. At the end of that time he returned to this
mountain, where be saw two birds fighting. At last
one killed the other and it then washed and buried
the one slain. Cain did likewise with Abel and straight-
way there sprang up seven oak trees, which are pointed
out to this day.
.. According to the same authorities Seth Adam's
son, who took the place of Abel, lived on the western
elope of the Lebanon range; and his tomb Is still
there. A mosque is built over It and the tomb may be
seen through an iron grating. It is eighty feet long,
but the people living in the village nearby say that it
was too ebort, notwithstanding, and that Seth's legs
, bad to be doubled up lb order to fit. Not far away
la the tomb of Noah, which is forty feet longer. It
also baa a mosque connected with it.
High Passenger Rates
The distance from Damascus to Beirut is ninety
one miles and the first-class rare is Just under 5, or
more than 5 cents per mile. By second-class It costs
over 3 cents, and on the third-class or the mixed
trains' it is less. Travelers are recommended not to
take the third-class and women should always go
first. The first-class has compartments eight feet wide
Maligned and
E OFTEN say a man is as brave as a. lion. ' countries of Europe pigs are trained to do the, most r Opening Up of the Turkish Empire.
But lions, in proportion to their size and ' arduous work, for eight St nine hours a day, truffle- - The Importance of these railway schemes cannot '
strength and weight and natural fighting ' hunting. "As lazy as a cat" would be far moie ap- be overestimated. The new government has planned
abilities, are by no means so brave," as, ' propriate. for cats really are lazy. thd development of Aslatlo Turkey, a country which
aay, pigs or foxes, or even the humble ; Donkeys, also, are supposed to be stupid, whereas, is ten times as big as New England and as well popu
sheep. A good ram of the common do-' In fact, they are usually a good deal more intelligent lated as Minnesota. In addition to the projects abova
w
n,etie. uneciAH will riv hattl to anr llvin thin he
meets. He will attack a full grown bull without the
slightest hesitation, sometimes charging the bull off its
feet at the first onslaught, and not uncommonly killing
It outright, cays a writer In the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The ram Is always ready to defend, not only him- ,
self, but tbe flock of which he la in charge, against
the largest and most ferocious dog, or even against .
human beings. A fight between two . well-matched -
rams is one of the most terrifying sights in the world.
and, as a rule, only ends in the death of one of the
combatants.
it is common knowledge that the wild pig is the
only animal that dares to drink at the snme pool with
a tiger
Pigs are, perhaps, the most maligned of all ani
mals. We en y "as .wsAy as a pig;" but a pig is not
nearly so greedy as e vanary, that has been known to
cousume its own weight in food in a single day, or
even as a seal, that will gorge iUelf on fish until it
cannot move fast enough to escape from an enemy.
To say to anyone that he is "as stupid as a pig,"
Is merely to slander in the most gross way an animal
whose intelligence is only a very little Inferior to that
of the ape or the dog. Whilst to talk of pigs being
superlatively lazy la to lgnoro the fact that In various
lull.
mnning across - the car. . at right angles -with . the
engine. Each compartment has two cushioned benches
facing each other, ita sides are walled with windows
and there' is a'door at each 'end. The conductor does
not go through the cars, but collects the tickets from
the outside, walking, along' a step running the full
lennth of each car and hnldine'onto an ir
is fastened to the outside some distance above thi Btn
The road. is. picturesque anq gives magniflcerit
views of the Lebanon mountains... The track winds its
way up and down the hills, and the western side of
the range is so steep that the cars are taken up on
cogs, after the same manner as on Pike's peak. Mount
Washington and the Rigi, There are twenty-flyo sta
tions,, mostly two-story buildings of stone.
The passengers are made up of the conglomerate
mixture of humanity found In this part of the orient.
There are scores of Syrians in long coats and trousers,
some wearing red fez caps, and others having turbans
or handkerchiefs wrapped around their heads. There
are Turkish officers In uniform, with swords at their
sides, fez-capped boysjn silk gowns, and other Mos
lems In turbans and gowns. There are Mohammedan
women clad all in black and wearing black. veils.
There are pretty Greek girls, with bare faces, brown
skinned women from the mountains, and Bedouins,
wno have r0,es tled about tne kerchiefs which half
shroud their fierce features. There are also Persians,
Druses and Christians of all sorts and conditions.
.The trains go slowly in climbing the mountain.
The average express makes less than sixteen miles an
hour, and the mixed train takes twelve hours for the
ninety-one miles. ' ' .. '
By Rail to Bagdad
One of the chief subjects of , discussion in the
Turkish empire at present is the opening . up of the
rich valley of the Euphrates. This Is, the region In
which Babylon and Nlnevah flourished, and it has
some of the best lands on the face of the globe. It
has been suggested that it was the original site of the
Garden of Eden. It lo now reached only by the rivers
and the Persian gulf, and there are no connections
with the rest of the world except by caravan. Tbe
caravan trade now takes -goods to Damascus, . from
where they go to the Mediterranean sea over the road
I have Just mentioned.
One of the ' newest schemes is a railway from
Misrepresented
' than horses. When a horse Is attacked by wild beasts,
It takes to the open plain and runs at full speed until
' It Crops down dead. But when a donkey is attacked it
makes for the nearest cover, thrusts its head and body
' Into a bush or a bed of nettles or thorns or brambles,
or some aense unaergrowin, ana mere suinai us
ground presenting only a pair of formidable heels to
its assailant. And most animals find this means of
defense more than they bargained for.
Wo. aaiv ' nrlv a a ttenr with a anr heuA " hut
, Jt u f wM km)wa M except the poUr
, mogt good..numored eren-tempered and
playful of the larger brutes. There Is no animal more
friendly to man, or more easily tamed. If it is treated
with kindness.
"Blind as a bat" 1b another common expression.
But a bat has such unusually acute powers of vision
that it may almost be said to see wit: its skin. Even
when it is deprived of its sight and placed in total
darknesa, it can find Its way about unerringly among
the most complicated arrangements of obstacles that
scientific experts have been able to devise, without
faltering or blundering an Instant in its flight. And
' on the blackest night it can espy and follow and seize
tbe most minute Insects insects Invisible to the naked
eye of man with the most absolute certainty and
precision, and with a truly amazing swiftnesa,
I)
Asia Minor
Damascus to Hit, a town on the Euphrates river, and
another is one which connects, with ,the railroads of
SmTrna and Constantinople at Adana. The latter
,CroS8e8 the runtry above Aleppo and strikes the
Tl8TlS &t Mc,8u1, ""m'" down that river t0 Bagdad,
Th rad fr0m Dam8SCU8 to would be only about
one-third as long. It Is. backed by the British., who
hflve a great lrrlSatln acheme for the plains of Meso-
potamia. It is headed by Sir William Wlllcocks; who
has gone over the ground, and is pushing the matter
in London. Sir William Wlllcocks is the engineer who
built . the. great Nile dam at , Assouan, which has re
deemed about 7,000,000 acres In Egypt.
His scheme includes irrigation works, in the
plains of Mesopotamia and also a navigable canal from
Bagdad on the Tigris to a point on the Euphrates Just
below Hit. ..This would save seventy-flve miles of
railroad and would make Hit the terminus with the
rivers of the Tigris and Euphrates to draw from as
water transportation routes. . It is claimed that this
road . would pay largely from the freight traffic and
that it would have also a large pilgrimage business
through. the Mohammedans who annually go from
Persia to Mecca. It would get many passengers who
now travel by the Sues canal to India. When the
present system is completed they could go from Paris
to Constantinople by rail and thence by this route to
Hlt and Bagda(i from where they could nteam on to
the Persian gulf. and across to India.
It la claimed that the line will not cost more than
120,000 per mile, or about $8,000,000 from Damascus
to Hit. V
The German Road to the Tigris.
The other road which is planned to' go to Bag
dad itself is the one backed by the Germans. A con
cession for It was granted by the sultan in 1902 and
a part of the line has already been built. The head
quarters of the road is in Switzerland and bonds for
a part of it have already been Issued. The Idea now
is to begin the work at several different points. The
route has been divided up into sections of 124 miles
each; one of these will be started at Bagdad and mora
eastward; another will begin at Bulgurlu, the end of
the present line In Asia Minor, and will go to Adana
and then on toward the east. The climate of the
Adana plains is such that the construction can be con
tinued this winter, and the same is true of the Eu-.
phrates valley. This syndicate vis managed by the
Deutsche Bank of Berlin, the Imperial Ottoman Bank
of Parlsvthe WMener bank and the Societe du Credit
Suisse of ( Zurich. Loans to the amount of about
$44,000,000 will be Issued. They will be guaranteed
by the Imperial Ottoman government.
. .
mentioned Is the Cheater railway concession, which
has been granted to Admiral Chester, a retired officer
of our navy, and which now only awalU the ratlflca-
tlon of Parliament. This Involves the building of
1,500 miles of new lines covering the richest parts of
Ariucma, nmumnu uu aiobui, ana embracing the
upper portions of Mesopotamia. The road will begin
at the Mediterranean and will run across Asia Minor
to Persia, with numerous branches, tt Includes, also,
the development of the count rv Ihrnnrh shlrh It onam
and tne openlng up of . Hch mlnera, reglon
As to the resources to be developed by these new
roads tcey are beyond description enormous; they In-
ciuae the coal fields or the Black sea, and mineral
lands which have not yet been prospected. Asia
Minor is rich agriculturally. The plains of Mesopo
tamia will raise anything that can be grown in Egypt,
and the new irrigation schemes will make them as
productive as they were when Nebuchadnezzar was
reigning at Babylon. In ancient tiroes that country
had a population of over 6,000,000; It has not one
fourth as many today. I am told that cotton will
grow not only there, but also throughout Asia Minor,
and it may be that one of tbe chief competitors of our
southern plantations will eventually be found In this
now almost waste but exceeding rich part of the
-world. FRANK O. CARPENTER.
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