Travels in Arabia and Along Persian Gulf 143 



from the ordinary masks seen in Egypt 

 and Algiers. 



The next stop of the steamer was the 

 little more than open roadstead of Jask, 

 which has no further significance than 

 that it is the station for the Persian- 

 European Cable Company, and that 

 through this station are passing at the 

 present time a large portion of the cable- 

 grams from the Orient. A visit to one 

 of these out-of-the-world telegraph sta- 

 tions makes one realize how many men 

 there are who are willing to bury them- 

 selves for a petty salary in a region 

 where there are absolutely no trees or 

 green things in sight except the few 

 that are planted and carefully watered 

 by hand, when they might be living 

 lives of comfort elsewhere. 



Nearly opposite Task lies the har- 

 bor of Bander Abbas, regarding which 

 it is probable we will hear much more 

 should Russia attempt, as it is hinted 

 she intends doing, to make of this port 

 a naval harbor. Wigham has pointed 

 out, in his interesting book on this part 

 of the world, that the harbor of Bander 

 Abbas can be made into a first-class 

 naval harbor, and this opinion seems to 

 be shared by the captains of merchant 

 vessels who for 3'ears have passed up 

 and down the Gulf. Whichever power 

 secures this harbor is believed by the 

 European residents to hold the key of 

 the Gulf. While a short stop there and 

 a call upon the British consular agent 

 were not sufficient to give the writer 

 anything but the most superficial view 

 of the situation, such a view would sup- 

 port the standpoint taken by Wigham 

 in his work on the region. 



Crossing the Gulf, a short stop was 

 made at the pearl islands of Bahrein, from 

 which such quantities of valuable pearls 

 are shipped every year. These islands 

 form a gateway to the interesting region 

 of El Hasa, which has been so little mod- 

 ified by the rapid developments of other 

 parts of the world that there is in use 

 today, in the markets of El-Hofuf, a 



small coin worth a fraction of a penny 

 originating in the 6th century, called 

 the ' ' toweela, ' ' and shaped like a short, 

 bent piece of telegraph wire, upon which 

 is stamped the Cufic characters of one 

 of the Carmathian princes. As an ag- 

 ricultural explorer, I was disappointed 

 not to be able to visit El Hasa for the 

 reason that the most noted date of the 

 Persian Gulf region, the so-called Kha- 

 lass of Hassa, is cultivated in the plan- 

 tations around the town of El-Hofuf. 



Bushire, the next point touched, is 

 the Persian Gulf port for Shiraz, but the 

 heavy weather, which often makes land- 

 ing difficult at most of these ports along 

 the Gulf, prevented more than a few 

 hours' visit to this comparatively unin- 

 teresting Persian town. 



It would seem hard enough to the 

 traveler to undergo the discomforts of a 

 long voyage on an old-fashioned steamer 

 of small tonnage in order to visit Meso- 

 potamia, but the Turkish government 

 demands, in addition, ten days quaran- 

 tine at Busra, and, to any one who has 

 seen the inside of a Turkish lazarette, 

 seven days of imprisonment in such 

 quarters might easily deter him from 

 making the trip. 



Busra, on the Shat-el-Arab, is sur- 

 rounded by great date forests, which 

 stretch for 70 miles up and down this 

 great river. It is made up of the town 

 lying on the river, in which the hand- 

 ful of Europeans live who carry on 

 the date shipping business, and the 

 old town of Busra itself, some dis- 

 tance inland, but connected with the 

 river by the old Busra Canal. It has 

 been called the Venice of the Orient 

 because of its numerous canals, on 

 which, in long, slender boats like gon- 

 dolas, the inhabitants move from place 

 to place. These boats, or belhuns, are 

 poled along by picturesquely clad na- 

 tives, who, in their way, in quickness 

 and skillfulness, resemble the gondoliers 

 of Venice. The gay colors of these 

 boats and their men, the bright cano- 



