EXIT THE CAMEL

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 233, 25 May 1932, Page 8

EXIT THE CAMEL

CARS DISPLACE HIM GROWTH OF MOTOR TRAFFIC IN THE ARABIAN DESERT. MECHANICAL CARAVANS. The Arab, whose "Farewell "to His Steed," was one of those "pieces of poetry" which members of the older generation had to memorise in their sehool days, will soon be biddixjg farewell to his camel, for the motor vehicle, which drove the horse off the road, is driving "the ship of the desert" off the sands. In the deserts of Egypt, the Soudan, Palestine, Syria, ffrak, Transjordania, Mesopotamia and Arabia the motor vehicle is in daily use. Caravans of cars run regularly from Beirut, the chief port of Syria, to Damascus, Bagdad, and Teheran, the capital of Persia, a total distance of 900 miles, which is mostly across deserts. The running time between Damascus and Eagdad, a distance of 500 miles, is 24 hours, for there are no stops, except when trouble with tyres or engine necessitates a halt. "The 'traekless' desert," writes Mr. Robert J. Casey in his hook, "Bagdad and Points East," "bears the imprint of every tyre tread known to the roadways of the world, and the long furrow, ploughed in a straight line across Syria to guide the Cairo-Bag-dad mail, is now only one rut in a thousand. To-day devout Mahommedans on the pilgrimage to Mecca think nothing of starting out on to the desert with a Ford, twenty gallons of petrol, a drum of water, ten passengers, and an unbounded trust in Allah." Ibn Saud, the King of the Hedjaz, which comprises the greater part of the Arabian peninsula, and contains the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, to which every Mohammedan throughout the world hopes to pay at least one visit during his lifetime, owns a limousine, in which he travels about his desert kingdom. \It was specially built by an American firm for hard travel in the desert, and is equipped with a Pullman berth in which His Majesty, whose recumbent length is 6ft 4in, vcan rest and sleep at night. Kingdom of Hedjaz. The kingdom of Hedjaz, which is about six times the size of New Zealand, consists mostly of desert, with a population of about 1,000,000, of whom wandering Arab tribes make up two-thirds. Nearly half of the revenue of the kingdom is derived from the devout Mohammedans, who come from all parts of the world to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, the birthplace of Mahomet, and to Medina, where the Prophet was buried. The pilgrimage season lasts from January to May each year, and in normal times 100,000 pilgrims take part in it, but owing to the world-wide depression, there has been a considerable decrease in the numbers in recent years. Last year the total was only 40,000, and this season it is unlikely that the number will exceed 30,000. The majority of the pilgrims reach Arabia by sea, and disembark at the port of Jedda, on the Red Sea, which is about 65 miles west of Mecca and about 200 miles south of Medina. Formerly they travelled to these holy cities by camel from Jedda, but to-day motor transport is available. In an article in the magazine section of the New York Herald Tribune Ruth A. Weeks gives some interesting information about the development of motor traffie to Mecca. "In 1926 a progressive and wealthy Hedjazi went to Cairo to sell his pearls," she writes. "Here an Egyptian representative of an American motor manufacturer bought some of the pearls, and then showed him how one of their truck chassis, with a locallybuilt body, could plough through the sandy tracks of the Libyan desert with twelve to fifteen passengers and their baggage aboard. The pearl merchant invested in a few and got them to Jedda, set up and running in time to carry the first crop of pilgrims of the new season to Mecca and Medina. Profitable Venture. "The venture was profitable. During the next four years the inventor of the 'hadji-by-motor' idea and a half dozen other local agents brought into the country 1500 American cars and trucks. The life of each car was just one season — four or five months — but their owners, charging high rates for the last' leg of journeys from the ends of the earth, could afford to dismantle them and buy new ones. And, of course, spare pai'ts, accessories, tyres, gasoline and lubricating oils of American make followed in 'Their wake. European motor manufacturers tried to get in on the ground fioor of this profitable outlet for their wares, but their cars and trucks could not stand the gaff over these sand and flint tracks. The Hedjazi made his clean-up during the season, and laid his 'iron horse' up for the rest of the year; if it lay down and refused to budge when traffie was at its peak the owwer was just out of luck until the following year. Now there -are 20 native syndicates in the Hebjaz operating 700 cars and buses in this racket. "Most of the business is in the hands of the Hedjazis themselves. In Jedda, unlike other ports of the Levant and the Red Sea, the ubiquitous Levantine, Greek, Armenian and Jew are conspicuous by their abssnce. There are more than fifty or sixty Europeans in all of the Hedjaz, and perhaps a dozen in business, mostly in shipping, importing and pilgrims. "In Jedda, among the foreign business men, there are three characters that might have come out of fiction — an Englishman, an Italian and a Hollander. They are all different, yet they have two points in common — they are all Moslems and they all sell motor cars. The Englishman and the Italian both chose Abdullah for their Moslem names, so to distinguish them their Hedjaz customers with their penchant for nicknames, have labelled them Abdullah Ford and Abdullah Fiat. The Hollander they have nicknamed Hassan el Maadi, 'the one who has followed the right path.' "The most spectacular of the three is the Englishman. During the war he trekked across Arabia from the ' Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, lining up the interior sultanates on the side of the- Allies and skirting along the

ereat desert, which is known as the Empty Quarter. He is an author^ of note, and one of the foremost living authorities on the Arabs and things Arabic. Of late he has come more into the public eye because of his having turned Moslem and he, is now a trusted counsellor of his Majesty and a power behind the throne. "Speaking Arabic libe a native, sitting cross-legged on a divan smoking a nargile, dressed in a loose-woven abba of brown camel's hair, with a red kafiyeh over his head, weathered from the burning sun, his beard cut Bedouin style, Abdullah Ford might easily be mistaken for a nativeborn son of the desert were it not for the deep bljue of his English eyes. He now has a house in Mecca, and has the distinction of being the first European who has received his religious oaths within the court of the Mosque of the Kaaba. "Finding his saies falling off, the Italian also went Moslem. At his showroom and service station in Jedda he has been trying to convince the rest of the Hedjaz of the .sincerity of his new religious convictions" by putting an eleetric light over his front door and sitting there late "into the night reading the Koran. His Hedjazi compe£itors — a bit sceptical — are wondering if this devout reader of the word of Mahomet is not opening up the way for a branch in Mecca."