FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 2, 1908. 
706 
penetrated the unknown east, having every ad¬ 
vantage for the task, including a thorough 
knowledge of the language and the possession 
of “an eastern cast of countenance.” Through 
deserts “peopled only with echoes"—over moun¬ 
tains where the hidden murderer's long match¬ 
lock held death in its smoke and the brows of 
nature “scalped, flayed, discovered only her 
angular “anatomy to the gazer's eye. The 
horizon was a sea of mirage; gigantic sand 
columns whirled over the plain and on both 
sides of the road were huge piles of bare rock 
standing detached upon the surface of sand and 
clay.” 
Mecca was only fifty miles distant when the 
Utaybahs attacked from their breastworks of 
natural rock “and some camels dropped dead.” 
The Wahabee escort, “however, commenced 
scaling the rocks and very soon drove the 
robbers from their ambush. The caravan then 
hurried forward in great disorder, leaving the 
dead and severely wounded lying on the 
ground." Near Medina he had a similar ex-, 
perience. losing “twelve men besides camels and 
ofher beasts of burden,” all of whom had to be 
left behind, not only to die, but to bury them¬ 
selves. 
Arabian travel is not exempt from serious 
danger in our day, but attacks upon caravans 
are of rare occurrence now. The marked im¬ 
provement m small arms among Christians and 
stronger escorts are the main reasons which 
deter criminals in all lands. As the railways, 
have done more for civilization than the 
churches, so has the rifle and percussion cap 
revolutionized all old systems of robbery, dele¬ 
gating to “unions,” "trusts” and “banks” the 
privilege, once enjoyed only by pirates and high¬ 
waymen. of robbing the unprotected every¬ 
where! Joseph Halevy 11 traversed the east with¬ 
out molestation during his extended investiga¬ 
tions of the subjects relating to the past of 
vanished empires. French orientalist though 
he was. no special disguise was found necessary 
in his experience, although he made a closer 
study of men, conditions and ancient history 
than any one who preceded him. His investi¬ 
gations have yielded more facts, with but one 
probable exception, than any one man’s efforts 
in the same field. His education accounts for 
that to considerable extent. Hebrew verse of 
his composition first attracted attention, while 
he was a college student. The Academie des 
Inscriptions commissioned him to travel in 1869- 
70. Yensen inscriptions to the number of six 
hundred and eighty-six were the immediate re¬ 
sult of his work there. Most of them were 
Sabcean. Himy-aritic though a few recent ones 
were, his efforts proved that Arabic was the 
foundation of ancient literature. All of those 
inscriptions were published in his “Rapport 
Archeologique” during the year 1872. His 
“Voyage au Nedjan” especially contains much of 
interest for those at all curious respecting the 
civilization of cities long since buried in ob¬ 
livion. It appeared in 1873 His “Sabaen 
Studies” are as absorbing as any well written 
novel. They were first published in 1875. So 
strong a hold did these researches gain upon 
him that he established a journal, devoted ex¬ 
clusively to the exposition of Semitic writing 
and history, early in the year 1893. He has 
published many other works of a similar char¬ 
acter, and is known among scholars everywhere 
as one of the most authoritative investigators 
that ever traveled to prove the truth of our 
great dramatist’s criticism of the critics: 
“Travelers ne’er did lie, 
Though fools at home condemn them.’’ 
Eduard Glaser, Austrian, was born in 1855. 
Arabian cities of great antiquity, to which he 
has made repeated visits, have had his name so 
intimately associated with theirs, that scarcely 
one of them is now mentioned without his own. 
The patient and long continued investigations 
conducted by him have given his name a world¬ 
wide celebrity aside from that deservedly won 
through his literary works His “Geographic 
Arabiens” places him at the head of modern dis¬ 
coverers in that little known hut fallow land of 
“Born, Adrianople, Turkey, 1827. 
mystery. It appeared in 1889. “Die Abessinier 
in Arabien" is one of the most fascinating works 
ever published. It came out in 1895. Now mark! 
At Marib alone he found eight hundred inscrip¬ 
tions—neither Coptic nor cuneiform—four hun¬ 
dred of which he immedately copied and trans¬ 
lated. These marvelous discoveries, although 
long anticipated, have set at rest for ever all 
doubts of their great antiquity and have opened 
the eyes of blinded investigators throughout the 
world, none of whom deny the claim of Arabian 
as the first written language in existence. A 
civilization that surpassed our own in many ways 
is one of the varied surprises that takes us aback 
at the risk of capsizing to windward. Think of 
nations without tramps, beggars or intoxication ! 
Read how splendid cities flourished without gin 
mills, buffets or wine shops! “The cup that 
cneers without inebriating” was the only bever¬ 
age commonly known except water which flowed 
in abundance then. At what date, do you ask? 
Repeat that question to the winds, the sands, or 
the iconoclastic sons of a “prophet” who died. 
True prophets never die. Their excellence in 
good works immortalizes them. 
As we approach the last declining stage of 
commercial antiquity relatively accurate dates 
began to appear. Strangely enough, however, 
as these became more and more reliable a cor¬ 
responding diminution of extended voyaging is 
noticeable. In the time of the early caliphs 
sailors were less courageous, ships of the seas 
decreased in numbers and were less than half 
the size of “ophiers.” Tarsish great ships were 
already little more than legendary. The oppres¬ 
sor s hand was felt in foreign ports as well as 
at home in the happy lands of Aribi, wherever, 
indeed, adventurous sails had been unfurling. 
No man’s goods were safe afloat, for islamic 
corsairs ravaged every frequented coast, and 
caravans had to be protected with small armies 
while traversing mountains and deserts. The 
timber, of the hills was shorn by those reckless 
vandals, the springs of sweet water ran dry and 
rivers ceased to flow, their wady beds becoming 
sun-dried mucl^ vales or torrential channels for 
increasingly frequent floods. Storms of unusual 
violence added to the dangers of travel and 
small valley residence until lofty castles perched 
on inaccessible crags, became a necessity of the 
time. Throughout this transition period of a 
hard and savage lapse into barbarism, during 
which art and science perished, one great city 
concentrated within itself every vestige of in¬ 
tellectual activity and moral progress known to 
us. Carthage survived. Founded so long ago 
that no two authorities can agree upon a fixed 
date (about 850 B. C.). She flourished, 
while all about her wreck and ruin held 
sway. “It is difficult to tell the story 
of that great people,” says a recent au¬ 
thority, “because one has to tell it without 
sympathy from the standpoint of their enemies.” 
Exactly what the “prophet” perpetrated at the 
expense of the Arabs "immortal Romans” re¬ 
peated in their wanton destruction of the Car¬ 
thaginian history. Rome should have heeded the 
prophets who declared, “It will go ill with thee 
if thou hinderest the founding of that which 
shall be the most fortunate city in the whole 
world.” _ The date of its foundation is likely 
to be misleading because it was long more im¬ 
portant than its inveterate enemy, and for the 
additional reason that its actual history for three 
hundred years is practically unknown. It was 
always, however, an important maritime and 
commercial city. Mediterranean ports always 
traded with it, and its inland commerce extended 
to the great rivers of the Eastern hemisphere. 
West Africa, Northern Europe, Azores. Britania 
herself, and other remote coasts were regularly 
visited by its ships, for its foreign trade was a 
monopoly which its treaties show a determinar- 
tion to maintain. Rome stands accused of hav¬ 
ing destroyed the punic archives of three cen¬ 
turies. leaving the people no literature, no monu¬ 
ments, no inscriptions and no culture in the 
languages. A few coins that escaped the gen¬ 
eral ruin bear suggestive mottoes. Plautus lef| 
a scant record in verse bearing the literary as¬ 
pect of comedies. That is all. 
[to be continued.] 
Mr. Spencer Aldrich is having a new boat 
built at the Greenwich Yacht Yard from designs 
by Morgan Barney, for use in Great South Bay, 
where Mr. Spencer summers, at Bay Shore. 
The new boat is a shallow draft, centerboard 
boat, jib and mainsail rigged, with 860 sq. ft. of 
sail. Her dimensions are 36ft. over all, 26ft. 
load waterline, 12ft. 6in. beam and 2ft. 3 in. 
draft. She will have full headroom, with three 
berths in the cabin; two to starboard and one 
to port, with a toilet forward of this latter, and 
space aft of the starboard bunks for a coal 
store, as she is to be used for hunting in winter, 
as well as cruising in summer. A large ice-box 
is fitted in cockpit. 
*, * *, 
The ninth annual Block Island race of the 
New York Athletic Club will be one of the 
great attractions this year for both sail boat 
and motor boat men. Over forty entries in 
the sail boat class alone have been received, and 
more are promised. This event was a very 
popular one last year, and good boa(s and jolly 
fellows make this one of the red letter events of 
the year. The race will start from off New 
Rochelle on June 20, late in the day, so that 
those who want to can take in the race at 
Larchmont that day before starting for Block 
Island. Full particulars will be published next 
week. 
t» v *» 
The new Illinois A. C. Lipton cup 21-footer, 
designed by Morgan Barney and building at 
the Jacob yard at City Island, is rapidly nearing 
completion, being all planked up. Mr. C. T. 
Bailey will sail her in the races, for which there 
are already seventeen entries. 
r *, tt 
The raceabout Una (ex-Persimmon) has been 
sold to Mr. Leonard H. Dyer, of Greenwhich, 
owner of the Huntress, bv Morgan Barney; 
through the agency of F. B. Jones. Mr. Dyer 
will race Una in the handicap class of raceabouts 
on Long Island Sound this summer. 
* *»„ ae 
Henry Doscher’s schooner yacht Zurah had 
a trial trip with her new heavier spars and a new 
suit of Ratsey sails on the Sound on Saturday, 
April 25. 
* * « 
The first of the Shinnecock Bay one-design 
class boats, of which ten are being built, will be 
tried out this week by designer Morgan Barney. 
Canoeing. 
A. C. A. Fixtures, 
May 16-17. Atlantic . Division Cruise.—Hackensack 
Kiver. 
May 29-31.—Eastern Division Racing Meet.—Horn Pond 
Woburn. Mass. 
May 30-31.—Atlantic Division Cruise.—Delaware River. 
T 11 ] 16 T 4 ' - .Atomic Division Cruise.—Rancocas Creek. 
July 10-24.—Western Division Camp.—Spring Lake, 
Grand Haven. Mich. 
July 11-19.—Atlantic Division Camp. — Plum Point 
Cornwall-on-Hudson, N. Y. 
,- —.—Central Division Cruise and Camp.—Alle¬ 
gheny River. 
A U R- ”'21. A. C. A. Camp. Sugar Island, St. Lawrence 
River. 
Sept. 5-7.—Atlantic Division Camp.—Hermit Point Hud¬ 
son River. 
“—— —-—Central Division Cruise and Camp.— 
Allegheny River. 
HOW TO JOIN THE A. C. A. 
Article III of Constitution.—Membership.—Any gen¬ 
tleman over the age of eighteen, and a competent swim¬ 
mer may become an active member of this Association 
fourteen (14) days after his application has been an¬ 
nounced by the treasurer in one of the official organs 
ot the Association, and approved, as provided 
(Note: Forest and Stream is the official organ) 
Chapter I. of By-Laws—Membership.—Sec. 1. Applica¬ 
tion for membership shall be made to the treasurer and 
shall be accompanied by the recommendation of an 
active member and by the sum of two dollars, one dollar 
as entrance fee and one dollar as dues for the current 
year, to be refunded in case of non-election of the ai> 
phcant. 
Treasurer— S. B. Burnham, Box 23, Providence, R. I. 
Officers of the Divisions and secretaries of the various 
clubs are requested to forward dates chosen for camps 
cruises, club openings, regattas, and other items of 
interest for publication. The selection of dates well in 
advance may prevent clashing at times. 
