Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, OCT. 15, 1898. Syria.

Manawatu Herald, 15 October 1898, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, OCT. 15, 1898. Syria.

To most newspaper readers this country is little known and the maps in our Atlases give bat meagre in* formation. As the German Emperor is about . to visit that country on, at present, a friendly visit, but possibly also with a view to annexation in the future, some facts are bound to prove interesting. Our text book? inform us that Syria is a country of western Asia forming part of Turkey-in-Aaia. What perhaps is more to the point is that Syria is the northern portion of the peninsula of Arabia, which is bounded on the west by the Bed Sea, on the south by the Gulf of Aden, and on the east by the Persian Gulf. The maps also show a fringe of the coast

lines as being partitioned out amongst certain tribes of Arabs, and one is left; to look upon the centre, as till lately we looked upon Africa as a terra incognito. We take from an authority the following information : — •• Before the rise of Mohammed the history of the peninsula is obscure and confused ; one bond of union amongst the tribes, constantly at war with each other, was the Eaaba, a small rude temple of unknown antiquity, where the idols of the tribes, over 850 in number, were kept. The grand epoch in Arabian history, the Hegira, is Mohammed's flight in 622 A.D., from Mecca to Medina, where he gathered his first body of adherents, and commenced actively the establishment of his doctrines by the sword and otherwise. Now for the first time the Arabian tribes became united under one sceptre, and were powerful enough to erect new empires in three-quarters in the world in Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Persia ; in Egypt and the north of Africa, and in Spain. Tht dominion of the Arabs, from the time of Mohammed till the fall of the dalifate of Bagdad in 1258, or even to the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, is an important period in the history of civilisation. The Arabian literature became the vehicle of a characteristic culture, and Arabic scholars were the main cultivators of philosophy and science, including mathematics, astronomy, &c, in the middle ages. But the movements that had so much effect on the destines of other nations left Arabia itself iv a neglected and exhausted condition, and the penin Bula wa3 broken up into several distinct and unimportant principalities. In the 16th and 17th centuries the Turks, Persians, Dutch, and Portuguese took possession of parts of the country." Pyria was the scene of the Hittite, Phoenician and Jewish states, and of the Armenian principalities of Damascus, Zobah, &l\ In the 8;h and 9th centuries, 8.C., it was the battle-ground of the Egyptian and Hittite armies, and then became a province of Assyria. Towards the 6th century, 8.C., it fell under the dominion of Persia, and two centuries later it was conquered by Alexander of Macedon. It then passed into other hands until .the Romans in 64, 8.C., secured it. Oa the division of the Roman world, Syria became part of the Byzantine empire and remained a province until the conquest of the Mohammedan Arabs in 686. The M >ns?nls struck a severe blow at it in 1260, and its ruin was completed when In 1516 it passed to the Turks. Syria embraces the regions that lie between the Levant and the Euphrates from Mount Taurus in the north to the southern border of Palestine. A range of mountains split in the north into two parallel chains — Libanus and Anti-Libanus —fronts the Mediterranean, ranging in height from 6000 feet in the north, up to 10,000 feet in Hhe c-nlxal part.", but falling again to he south to 3500 feet. Behind these mountains lies a tableland that gradually falls away eastwards to r,he desert. The prevailing winds being westerly, the slopes of the mountains next the Mediterranean, together with the immediate seaboard, get a, tolerable plentiful supply of moisture during the rainy half of the year ; snow even falls on the highest sammitg. The valley of the J >rdan is remarkably hot. The soil is in many parts possessed of good fertility, and in ancient times when irrigation was more extensively practised, yielded a much greater return than it does now. The names of the places recall Biblical history and to-day we find Damascus noted for its gardens and orchards, Huaran produces excellent wheat, and northern Syria is the home of the olive. Oranges are cultivated on the coast pains and vines grow everywhere. We know that the German Empiror is a student of his Bible, and be has thus located the land mentioned by the Israelites as flowing with milk and honey, and probably hopes with German capital that the wealth produced prior to the Turkish conquest, may be again brought forth. The Emperor goes as a guest I of the Sultan, who heaps most valuable presents upon him, yet it is extremely likely that the dismemberment of Turkey must soon take place and thus, he may argue, why should not Germany have some olaim upon this territory. The cablegrams informs us that the Emperor goes in great state so as to impress the tribes with the might and majesty of the German Empire, and peculiar as is at times the behaviour of this Emperor it has been found everything he does is to secure a certain purpose. At one time France not only claimed a .right to have the chief voice in the doings in Egypt, bat also considered she had prior claims to Syria. Her selfish action in the former country, with her want of faith in British aotion has not only caused her to lose a portion of Egypt, but will have been the cause, of Germany getting the first show in a valuable slice of the " Sick Man's " territory. We shall again refer to advantage that this shuffliag of the continental cards is likely to be to the British Empire.

The show of Xmas cards in Mr Fraser's window is a novelty for Foxton as it is, without doubt, the largest selecti >n were offered for sale in this town. There was a crowd admiring the show last night when the window was li up, and there is bound to be one to- light. Tho c who predicted potatoes would rule hi^h towards the end of the season have v A been far out in the belief, as the pri ;e in Wellington for potatoes is now quoted at £8 per ton. A small parclc was sold here yesterday at £j ios per ton. In r >ply to a letter from the Foxion Borough Council, asking for a form under which the property made over to Herbert Saville can be vested in trustees, the Palmerston Hospital and Charitable Aid Board resolved that the property be vested in the Board for charitable aid purposes in Foxton. Saville and his wife to have a life interest in the property. We have received from the PostMaster the "Post and Telegraph Monthly Bulletin." The note to this number is rs follows : — The " Post and Telegraph Monthly Bulletin, of which this is the first number, and which will in future be published regularly on the first of each month, is intended to convey intimations of changes in rates of postage and other information likely to be of value to Ihe public. The " Bulletin " will be posted up at every post-office, and will be supplied free to Clubs and other places of public resort on application to the Chief Postmaster. The Payne Family of Bellringers are at present in Auckland. They will probably visit Foxton. Messrs P. Hennessy & Co. advise customers for Coalbrookdale coal to book their orders for the coming cargo, expected next week. The price on the wharf is, we understand only thiriy shillings a ton. We noticed on Thursday that the Messrs Sirang were sending away by train trusses of compressed straw. There are some 40 tons to go away and we understand that the straw was pressed at Okaua by Mr Bevan's machine with the help of an engine from Foxton. The bales testify to the advantages for transport of this system of compression. Mr Schreiner moved a vote of no confidence in the Cape Government I owing to their election cry that British supremacy had been endangered. The motion was carried by 39 to 37. The Ministry, however, will not resign unless they are defeated on the Budget Statement. As the Wellington-Masterton train was drawing up to the Woodside Railway Station on Wednesday night a young girl named* Florence Owen, a second-class passenger, attempted to alight from a carriage. One wheel of the bogey carriage passed over her body high up, and she was crushed to death instantly. Mr L. Stansell, who has been stationed at Dannevirke, as cadet in the railway office for some months, has been transferred to Featherston, and leaves in a day or two. The Government of Morocco has indemnified Portugal and Italy for robberies committed by that Riff pirates upon Portuguese and Italian subjects, a number of whom were captured but subsequently ransomed. There is a story going the rounds of the Southern papers that when pressmen were ordered out of their gallery in the House of Representatives a week or two ago dhring a stonewall, and the Ladies' Gallery left open, an enterprising youth rigged himself up for the occasion in petticoats, veil, and the rest, and stayed in amongst: the women> to report the proceedings. Also, that the thing was done so well that the members on the floor of the House were asking each other who that fashionably dressed dark and rather pretty girl was. While Captain Charles Tanner, of the zgih Bombay Infantry, was filling a bottle from the Jub river, East Africa, he was attacked by a crocodile and dragged into the river, but was rescued by a number of Sepoys. His i hand was badly lacerated. The Prussian Minister to the Vatican has been recalled, owing to the Pope championing the protectorate of France over the Catholics in the East as again6t the claims of Kaiser Wilhelm. Cloth is now being successfully made from wood. Strips of finegrained wood are boiled and crushed between rollers, and the filaments, having been carded into parallel lines, are spun into threads, from which cloth can be woven in the usual way. The clergy of Russia are divided into two classes — the white or village clergy, who must all be married, and the black clergy, or monks, who are vowed to celibacy. The higher dignitaries of the Church are invariably chosen from the latter class.