THE RISE OF THE NEW ARAB NATION 



379 



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A NEGRO FAMILY OUTSIDE THE WALLS OE JIDDA 



Negroes are treated with full respect by the Arabs and intermarriage is not unusual. 

 The Bisharin of upper Egypt and the Wahabees of the Nejd region are Hamitic peoples, so 

 closely intermarried with African slaves that they are often mistaken for Negroes. 



of Bab-el-Mandeb, near Aden, is about 

 1,300 miles; its greatest breadth, in lati- 

 tude 23 ° north, from the Red Sea coast 

 on the west to Ras-al-Hadd on the east, 

 is about 1,500 miles. 



As one sails along the Red Sea coast 

 of Arabia, with the low — 2,000 feet high — 

 dry and barren mountains lying just back 

 of sandy, empty strips of country, he is 

 reminded of the Pacific side of Lower 

 California above Cape San Lucas. Many 

 small islands, hot and dry and uninhab- 

 ited except for half-wild bands of tramp 

 fishermen, dot the map along this coast. 

 One of these, called Perim, near the 

 mouth of Bab-el-Mandeb Straits, is oc- 

 cupied by a British garrison. 



The southeastern coast, similarly empty 

 and marked by sharp, jagged rocks thrust 

 up from glistening sand beds, is broken 

 by several good harbors, like that at 

 Aden. This latter port is a British pos- 

 session, not unlike Gibraltar. It is heav- 



ily fortified and is the entrepot of com- 

 merce between India and Europe. 



THE CRUISING GROUND OE SINBAD THE 

 SAILOR 



The Persian Gulf coast country is 

 somewhat more cheerful, cultivated here 

 and there, and sloping down to salt water 

 from the high, slightly forested Jebel 

 Akdar or Green Mountains. 



Famous old Maskat, once the haunt of 

 Sinbad the Sailor and later the strong- 

 hold of the Portuguese buccaneers, clings 

 to the hot rocks inside Maskat harbor, 

 and is the romantic capital of old Oman, 

 an independent principality with a sultan 

 all its own. 



Oman has been practically under Brit- 

 ish protection for many years, and, 

 though an integral part of the Arabian 

 peninsula, can hardly be called a part of 

 Arabia. "Whether this region will be in- 



