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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



and the people. Except for the Pirate 

 Coast, the Arabs of Oman are remarka- 

 bly free from fanaticism, simple in their 

 habits, and wonderful in their hospi- 

 tality. Most of them belong to the 

 Abadhi sect, which has many beliefs in 



common with Christianity, and the ex- 

 perience of our missionaries has been 

 that the peopb are not only accessible, 

 but willing to learn, and many of them 

 eager not only for medical help, but for 

 teaching. 



PROTECTING OUR FORESTS FROM FIRE 



By Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture 



URING the past season there 

 were unusually severe forest 



_M ^ fires in nearly every part of the 

 country. The national forests suffered 

 to a greater extent than at any time since 

 their establishment. 



The fires of 1910 were primarily due 

 to a severe drought, which extended 



* From Secretary Wilson's Report for 1910. 



throughout the country and which in the 

 Northwest was the most severe ever 

 known, so far as official records show. 

 The spring was very dry, and in the 

 summer, when there are usually abun- 

 dant rains in the mountains, the rainfall 

 was exceedingly small and very local- 

 ized. The region most affected was the 

 area drained by the Columbia River, ex- 



A FAVORABLE CONDITION FOR BURNING PIIy^D BRUSH 



