ARABIA 



311 



ARABIAN SEA 



and happenings have occurred in the history 

 of the peninsula. So much of the territory is 

 practically worthless that there has never been 

 the fierce contention over it that there is over 

 more favored spots. 



Other Items of Interest. Arabia was the 

 first country outside of Abyssinia to adopt 

 coffee drinking. 



During the War of the Nations in 1915, 

 Arabia, under the leadership of the Shereef of 

 Mecca, declared its independence of Turkey. 

 There had been ill feeling ever since the com- 

 ing into power of the Young Turks, who at- 

 tempted to supplant the Arabian language by 

 their own. 



The sacred pilgrimage to the tomb of Mo- 

 hammed at Medina is easier than ever before, 

 for a railroad has been built from Damascus 

 to Medina. The line was to be continued to 

 Mecca, but the rails which were intended for 

 this part are said to have been used during the 

 War of the Nations on a Turkish railroad of 

 greater strategic importance. 



The southwestern corner of the country is 

 known as Arabia Felix, which is Latin for 

 Fortunate Arabia. Behind it rise mountains to 

 a height of perhaps 8,000 feet, cutting off from 

 the interior the rain-laden winds which give 

 Arabia Felix ample rainfall during the whole 

 summer. 



Agrippa, in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleo- 

 patra, exclaims: 



"0 Antony! O thou Arabian bird!" 

 By Arabian bird he means the phoenix (which 

 see). 



Herodotus wrote, in the fifth century B.C.: 

 "The Arabs keep pledges more religiously than 

 almost any other people." This virtue has 

 been noted by travelers in all times, including 

 tin present day. 



Herodotus is also responsible for the state- 

 ment that in Arabia there were sheep whose 

 tails \vi n three cubits (about five feet) long, 

 so that all the shepherds made little trucks 

 and fastened one to each tail, to prevent it 

 trailing on the ground. 



in an English word frequently 

 v.s that it is of Arabian origin, for a/, hk<> 

 tin I and the Spanish el, means the. 



We find it in many familiar proper names, 

 like Allan, Aladdin, Algeria; in names of 

 Arabian sciences like algebra and alchemy; in 

 alcove, alfalfa and alkali; in the names of 

 stars, as Aldebaran and Algol; and in a large 

 number of Spanish words, such as Alcazar and 



If we did not have Arabic numbers arith- 

 metic would be very difficult for us. O.B. 



ARA'BIAN NIGHTS, or THE THOUSAND 

 AND ONE NIGHTS, one of the most famous 

 collections of stories in the world, loved by 

 children for the charm and wonder of the old 

 tales, and consulted by scholars for their pic- 

 tures of the customs and manners of the 

 Orient. It is supposed that the stories had 

 their origin in India, that Persia adopted them, 

 and that it was from the latter country that 

 the Arabs received them. To-day they are 

 printed in many languages probably more 

 than any other book except the Bible. It was 

 early in the eighteenth century that they were 

 introduced into Europe. 



There are over two hundred tales in the 

 complete editions of the Arabian Nights, and 

 these are woven into one story by the follow- 

 ing device: 



According to the first story, the Sultan 

 Shahriyar has made a law that every one of 

 his future wives is to be put to death the 

 morning after her marriage, and one beautiful 

 girl after another has met that cruel fate. At 

 length Shahrazad, the daughter of the grand 

 vizier, offers to become the sultan's bride, but 

 begs her sister to visit her on the morning 

 after her wedding and request that she be 

 allowed to tell one last story before she dies. 

 The scheme is carried out, the request is 

 granted, and the sultan becomes so interested 

 in the tale that he declares she mus\, live until 

 he has heard the end of it. Thus by breaking 

 off each night in the middle of a thrilling 

 narrative she keeps the sultan interested and 

 saves her own life; for by the time she has 

 entertained him for one thousand nights he 

 has fallen in love with her and decided that 

 she is as good as she is clever. 



So well known are some of these stories 

 that people anywhere will understand \ 

 ences to Aladdin, to Ali Baba and the Forty 

 Tim \< . to the Old Man of the Sea, or to the 

 Magnetic Mountain which drew the nails out 

 of the ship that came near it. 



ARA'BIAN SEA, the part of the 

 Ocean between Arabia. India and Beloo.-hi- 

 stan, north of a lm- drawn from Cape Conionn 

 at the southern extremity of India to < 

 Guardafui on the east coast of Africa. Tin- 

 Red Sea and the shallow iYrsian Gulf are 

 properly arms of the Arabian Sea. In ancient 

 times the Arabian Sea was of great importance 

 as a commercial route, goods from the Far 

 East being brought by ship to its shores and 



