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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



DISEMBARKING A CAMEL FROM A RED-SEA BARGE AT AX ARABIAN PORT 



The ludicrously gawky camel is the most useful beast in the whole of Arabia, and even 

 the prancing stallion has to make way for the long file of patient, plodding desert carriers, 

 each chewing a reflective cud while accomplishing the work of the day. 



cat), and Bahrein has been enormous; 

 in fact, so strong is the British impress 

 that a sheik once asked me if America 

 was not a part of London ! And whether 

 I came to Arabia from America via the 

 Egyptian railway system ! 



'J' III; CITY OF EVE'S GIANT TOMB 



The port of Jidda, Red Sea gateway to 

 hidden Mecca, sprawls over hot, treeless 

 hills — whitewashed, sinister, and forbid- 

 ding, as if loath to give up her long 

 guardianship of Arabia's secrets and iso- 

 lation. 



A cable's length offshore our pilgrim 

 ship swung at anchor blistering and 

 silent, for cholera had come among the 

 white-robed, praying pilgrims, and the 

 Tigris was quarantined against this dread 

 disease. For days we rolled on the oily 

 swells of the Red Sea, waiting for the 

 hateful yellow flag to be pulled down. 



Idling at the foul, sticky rail, I gazed 



down into the clear, deep waters, seeking 

 in whimsical fancy to make out rusty old 

 chariot wheels or the white bones of men 

 and horses, relics of Pharaoh's hosts en- 

 gulfed so long ago. 



Here in Jidda the Arabs willshow you 

 a long stone tomb, shaped like an air- 

 ship's hangar ; here, they claim, Eve is 

 buried. Adam and Eve were big people, 

 the Arabs say ; Eve was so tall she could 

 hold a grown lion in her lap, and stroke 

 it as we stroke a kitten. When you note 

 the size of her tomb, you can readily 

 believe she was rather a stalwart dame. 



THE WORLD'S GREATEST TOURIST TOWN 



Forty-five miles east of Jidda, poured 

 into the canyons and valleys of a mass of 

 rough hills, lies Mecca itself, the famous 

 holy city of Islam. In spite of its vast 

 political and religious importance, the 

 town is mean and small, with less than 

 100,000 Mohammedan souls. It has al- 



