YOUNG ENGLISHMAN IS GRAND VIZIER TO SULTAN OF MUSCAT

Shannon News, 28 March 1929, Page 1

YOUNG ENGLISHMAN IS GRAND VIZIER TO SULTAN OF MUSCAT

ONE OF “MYSTERY MEN’' OF ARABIA. Members'of the Royal Geographical Society at, a recent meeting in Londou had tne unusual experience of a lecture on unknown Arabia by .the. Grand Vizier of the Sultan of Muscat. The Grand Vizier is one of the “mystery men” of Arabia —a young Englishman named M. Bertram Thomas,. who went East during* the war to fight, and decided to stay there, for ,fun. He became a political officer in the Euphrates, then Finance Minister of the Sultan of Muscat, and then his Prime Minister. Mr. Thomas’s hobby is exploration, and he gave an account of how this year he crossed 500 miles of desen country renowned for its barbarism, and hitherto untrodden by European. The region he crossed was the hinterland of the south-eastern end oi the Arabian peninsula, from south of Muscat to. Durfar, on the Indian Ocean. This is part of the “empty quarter” of Arabia, a place which is a name of terror throughout the peninsula. The Admiralty, as- Mr. Thomas recalled, warn mariners against the coast because of its “barbarism.” The ex plorer himself discovered that everj man in the region goes about armed to- the teeth. Nevertheless he travelled across it as a simple bedouin, wearing the costume and speaking the language of the people. Not once, however, did he disguis# the fact that he was a Christian,

Mr. Thomas had a preliminary ad* venture by going to see the Amir al Bani bu Ali, where no ■ European had been for nearly a hundred years. The Amir was friendly but was very loath to allow him to gather together a party of Arabs and camels to cross the desert. It took a week of argument to get his consent. . The Amir’s estimate of the dangers proved correct. At various stages the bullets of- desert people whizzed over the heads of the expedition. Tsey were tracked from place to place ,and in semi-barbarous communities their observations aroused acute hostility. At the outset of the journey a community of camel breeders : was found. They, lived in dwellings of acacia thatch, scarcely deserving the name of huts, with a few water skins hung or tree ’ branches, and baskets of date# higher up, out of reach of the camels. Another community discovered lived on the hammer-headed shark. Theexplorer saw men floating on inflated skins, calihly laying nets for the . fist which swarmed in the sea. Young girls with catapults protected the landed sea harvests from sea birds. The shark’s heads and tails were exported to China to command a high price for soup making. , Yet another community in the “empty quarter” lived by gathering frankinsence, a resinous substance, very fragrant, secured from a bushy tree.

The expedition came across a magnificent natural orchard of frankin cense trees four miles square in the heart of a country stony with patch.' 1 of black lava.

Lastly, just before reaching the end of the journey, Mr. Thomas struck til place believed t 6 be the original Abys —the abyssapoliz of Ptolemy:— ‘‘Descending, steeply, we halted 3-) feet above the gorge of Darbat, neaa perennial stream. “The spectacle is of great beauty In every direction are mountain slope-' thickly wooded, and below the strearr flows to the abyss.

“We clambered down the hillside tthis stream'. Thence I crawled to t-h* edge of the. abyss and peered down it* precipitous face 500 feet below.”

As a. ■ result of the adventure t.V world now'- possess a map of South eastern . Arabia,. the dialects of twr aithevto unknoavn , tribes. vocabularies' ■f four others.;., and valuable arch act ■•logical knowledge. ■ The British Museum experts are examining the archaeological results.