SCOTSMAN'S FEAT.
ACROSS ARABIA IX A MOTOR. FIRST TIME OX RECORD. A correspondent of the London Times describes How Arabia has been traversed for the lirsi time by a motor-car. darting from A.exaudretta on Uch .November, Mr. Daviu Forbes drove 10 Bagdad ".n nine days, 01 which only sixty hours were spent in actual travelling. One day had to be devoted to business ;n Aleppo, and two days were lost in the (Ongtruction of an improvised ferry at Anah, where the Euphrates was crossed. The ordinary traveller, lie it noted, _ ~ drives, from Alexandretta to Aleppo in three days, with luck—making a journey of twenty-four days in all. Only the week before a young artillery officer followed more or less the same route on a bicycle, covering the portion between Aleppo and Bagdad in the astoaishly short apace of seven days. HU haste, however, iB explainable in that pn more than one occasion he had to . . Tide for his life. Mr. Forbes' party 'oons&ted of him self, hjg English driver, an Assyrian mechanic, a Bagdad cook, and an Aran guide—total five. The car was a new 40-h.p. Argyll, fitted with Diinlop pueu matic: tyres', and carrying in' addition to her passengers an allowance of bedding for each; fifty gallons of petrol in specially-built tanks, "spares" fo r prac- , tically everything imaginable, picks, shovels, sledge-hammers, and tinned foods; so that the load was no light one. Before starting reserve supplies of petrol were established at Doir and
at Anah, and to the former place spare H Wheels with solid tyres were also sent. Tie latter, however, as things turned out, were not. required. In all 136 gallons of petrol were used. In her trials in Scotland the car burned one gallon in every twelve. miles, at' which rate the journey would amount to 1632 miles; even if we halve this the feat remains' a great one. To the Arabs the spectacle was unique. Of the comments of the Bedouin unfortunately no record remains—the I rtr was always out of range before they had time to recover from their surprise. In the very rare villages where halts were made for the night the usual greeting was, "Mash-alla! Shemeen de fer?' —"Good God! The (Bagdad) Railway!'' All were invariably friendly and in their childish delight ready ito render every t possible assistance to the crew. Their ~ „ intense curiosity, however, or desire, '; perhaps, to convince both themselves jj and their friends that the car was a :-' reality and not a dream, led to petty thefts of anything detachable, such as cuts or screws—a point which future .' motorists in Arabia would be wise to bear in mind.
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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 138, 10 July 1909, Page 4
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441SCOTSMAN'S FEAT. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 138, 10 July 1909, Page 4
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