SYRIA: THE LAND LINK OF HISTORY'S CHAIN 



441 



ing song, tuned, like the chant of the 

 Vikings, to the rolling rhythm of the 

 dashing waves. Our bow would sink into 

 a trough of the sea arid the leader would 

 sing one line of the song. Then a huge 

 wave would crash against the boat and 

 nine lusty voices would answer the chal- 

 lenge of Neptune. The effect was dra- 

 matic, if not exciting. 



A NAUTICAL STAGER MANAGES SCENIC 



EFFECTS 



When the leader saw the pale faces .of 

 his passengers, he proceeded to amass the 

 evidence why he should be accorded a 

 negotiable substitute for a Carnegie 

 medal. He went out of his way to meet 

 waves at their mightiest, so that the thud 

 of the water would inspire a correspond- 

 ing thud in our hearts, which would in 

 turn result in a heavier thud at the base 

 of his coin pocket. He ignored ten-cent 

 waves and bucked dollar ones. 



As we came alongside, but before we 

 could catch the gangplank, a wave lifted 

 and hurled our boat against the side of 

 the ship, leaving us just in time to have 

 the boat rail catch against the plating on 

 the ship's side and almost upset us. That 

 settled it. The boatman received a 

 mejidie from each of his eleven passen- 

 gers in return for his skill as a stage man- 

 ager, although he had to wait to make his 

 collection from the Syrian monk until 

 that worthy had completed a little private 

 Thanksgiving service. 



Out there in Haifa is a boatman who 

 is getting rich on account of the sea 

 breeze that springs up each evening in the 

 broad Bay of Acre. He is a sturdy, 

 good-looking fellow, with his moustaches 

 neatly waxed and his red tarboosh worn 

 at a rakish angle, like the cap of a certain 

 British admiral. His baggy Turkish 

 trousers are held up by a broad sash of 

 the finest silk and his heelless slippers, 

 with their upturned points, are of the 

 softest leather. His stroke oarsman has 

 strangely bent toes where his naked foot 

 braces against the seat for the thrust of 

 the boom-like oar, and with a moving 

 voice he leads a most dramatic rowing 

 chorus, with Neptune's choir for anti- 

 phonal effects. 



Those lovable pirates are going to re- 



Drawn by A. II. Hum stead 



A SKETCH MAP OF SYRIA 



For the geographic relationship between this 

 historic region and contiguous Mesopotamia, 

 Arabia, and Armenia, see the map on page 374. 



sent the building of a sea wall that will 

 transform their surging deep into a peace- 

 ful millpond, where huge liners can tie 

 up to the docks and discharge prosaic 

 cargoes for the poetic East. 



They will regret, as others will, the 

 dehumanizing processes of modern com- 

 merce when applied to the most human 

 of lands. But their days, like those of 

 the camel-driver and the philosophical 

 cabbie, are numbered. The unchanging 

 East is yawning before a great awakening 

 to its commercial value in a workaday 

 world. 



