ft mAm? mA??&ir :- AA9"inm; uro toh? is-A b nmjmr v s' jb 4 fwr ' c p - m t a a 4 m avail av n m w i a o .h r mbl -j. - m j m m . mm w ari aa Br m mmr m m-i v n a " kt la xr - BliiiiliiSiiH Great Changes Going. Spllill V?f- -V ' Ae Coastsof Africa. 1 r-. : V M I. . v . - , . . - ana Arabia fi -V-i --, . i- iulte v " " : 'v"s'' """ "v,v : : "' ill x -h s, -s; 1 1 -zaMr-y mry'' -jr em tw j-to i . v w &JS.Z.S QFKOSmRS BT FRANK 0. CARPENTER. I am on a German steamer of 5000 tons, bailing down the Red Sea. 'We took ship three days ago at Port Bald, and were 18 liours going through the Suez Canal. We tarried a while at Suez, and we are now off Port Soudan, where the new railroad aoross the Nubian desert begins. WTe are just opposite Jeddah, where, according to the Mohammedans, Mother Eve was buried, and where the pilgrims start out over the desert to Mecca. With the ship's slass one can almost see the place where the greatest grandmother of all mankind lies. She rests outside the wall In a tomb 400 feet long, and a mosque rises over her dust. You have heard the Mohammedan story of how Adam fell. Uve gave him the apple, and he ate It, and as a punishment both he and she were cast out . of the Garden of Eden. As they dropped a' 6trang- west wind was blowing, and this wafted the fairy form of Eve to Arabia; while Adam, with his heavier -weight fell down in Ceylon. There Is a string of coral keys running from Ceylon to Hlndoostan, which is still known as Adam's (bridge, and it was over them that he started out on his long hunt tor Eve. It took him 200 years to find her, and the , meeting was somewhere near iMecca. . What became of Adam's bones we do not know, but those of Eve are supppsed to He at Jeddah. Odd Features of the Red Sea. Jeddah is Just about half way down the Red Sea. It took us 36 hours to come here, and we shall be fully that long in steaming to the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, where we enter the Indian Ocean. The Red Sea Is mighty small on the map. It looks like a scratch 'between Asia and Africa: but the scratch is actually about 900 miles wide' In many places, and so deep that the -most of the Blue Ridge Mountains could be dropped down into It, and only their higher peaks would reach the surface., The Red Sea is so long that if it began at Ireland, and extended westward across- the Atlantic, it would go half way to Canada. If it could be lifted up and laid down upon the United States with Suet at Philadel phia, Bab-el-Mnndcb would be a hundred miles or so beyond. Omaha, Neb., and all the way between would be a ea canal as wide as from New York to Washington, or wide enough to accommodate all '.he navies of the world abreast, and leave a hum'.rcd miles or more to spare. A Ktval for the Suez Canal..' This mighty waterway narrows almost to a point at each end. Where it leaves the Indian tcean It Is no wider than the English Channel at Dover, and it is lost at the north In the Suez Canal. Start ing at Pa.b-el-Mandf b. the coasts broaden out and then run almost straight to tne upper end. where- tbey -fork irilo two gulfs and inclose 1 he lower part of the Sinai Peninsula. These two gulfs are those of Suez and Akabah. The- Gulf of Sues in 170 miles long, and it has - been joined to the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal. The Gulf of Akabah is 110 miles long, and capitalists are now. talking of making a canal Trom It to the Mediter-' ranean. The Akabah Canal would be a considerable distance east of the 6uez Canal, but it would practically parallel It. It would nm through Turkish terri tory, and for this reason it can -be built without Infringing on the Suez Canal con cession, which relates to Egypt alone. I sm told that a new Canal would pay well. That of Suez is already overcrowd , and there Is enough business for two. As to the Red Sea itself, it has deep L A - - 1 gSAm . WfMm. A : water throughout. Along the main chan nel there is a full half .mile of salt sea under the ships, and in some places It Is more than a mile and a half deep. The average depth of the Gulf of Suez is greater tthan the height of a 20-story flat, and two W'ashlngton monuments, one on top of the other, could be sunken into the Strait of -Bab-el-Mandeb 'and leave plenty of water above for the deepest ocean steamer to go over them. Hot and Sultry. - The Red Sea is red hot. I have steamed many miles along the equator, but this is much hotter. The water here Is shut in on both pldes by deserts, which fur nish -no streams to cool it, and the trop ical sun beats down from January to December. As a result the surface of the water is often 100 degrees above zero, and It forms a great hot-water plant, steaming the air. The sun's rays are bottled up also by the deserts, which act as a second heat radiating plant. The result Is that the air is often suffocating and there seems to be only a waving sheet of blue steel between us and the lower regions. Indeed, were it not for the electric fan In my cabin I should be un able to write, and outside upon deck we have double roofs of canvas- to temper the rays of the sun. Last night many of the passengers slept outside their cab Ins on account of the heat. We eat our meals fanned by electricity," and' yester day we had a sand storm, which covered our ship with red dust, and even entered the portholes and got Into the beds. That storm came from Arabia, and it may have swallowed up some of the pilgrims now on their way to Mecca. , . The air here is so salty that one can almost eat eggs without seasoning; The water contains so much salt that if 100 pounds of it are boiled down four pounds of salt will be found in the bottom of the kettle. The evaporation is so great that were it not for the inflow of the Indian Ocean the sea would, within less than a century, go into the air - and leave in its place one Immense block of salt. Indeed, these watens are more salty than those of the ocean,- and they are saltier than the Mediterranean and most other salt sea?. . . , - Sue ln( 1907. - I had expected to find the Red Sea coast more thickly populated. There are no cities of any size and very few Vil lages. Even Suez has only about 18.000 people, and of them not more than 3000 are Europeans. ; The . town has large docks,-but Its trade is small,' and it has had nothing like the growth .which men thought would follow the completion of the canal. There is direct railroad connection- with Cairo, and passengers on their way home from India stop off there and join their ships, at Alexandria, or take other steamers - from that port. . Hosier' and Its Mines." Have you ever heard"; of the town of Kosler? It is a Red Sea port that at one time had a great trade. It lies on the west coast some distance south of Suez. It was formerly the end of a caravan route from the Nile, and the early Chris tians crossed ftver that way 'and' took boats for the Slnal peninsula to-reach the mountains where Moses received the commandments. Today. Kosier Is- a stopping place for Egyptian pilgrims on their way to Jed dah. It usedo be much more important in that respect than now. It had many irms and hotel tents outside.. It was well supplied with dancing-girls and the other surroundings of a true pilgrimage center. Then the Suez Canal came and killed It. The port is now nothing. Its big houses have fallen to ruins and It has become a THE SUNDAY OREGONIAX, PORTLAND. JANUARY. 5, 1908. village of one-story huts. There are emerald mines near it, however, and the desert region about shows evidences of having been once worked for gold. Port Sudan. The two chief ports on the west coast of the Red Sea are Port Sudan and Sua klm. They , were nothing a fw years ago, but rthey promise to grow into cities since the completion of the Red Sea road. There has always been -something of a town at Suaklm, and the original intention -was to; use- that place as the terminus of the railway. The English surveyors, however, found a much better harbor at Port Sudan, and they have extended the railroad to that point. The town, which was absolutely nothing two years ago, has now several thousand peo ple, and it grows like one of the mush room settlements of the Canadian West. The British government is erecting great docks and harbor buildings. It has put up lighthouses and built a - postoffice, quarters for the government officials and schools. Many lots are being sold and residences are going up. The settlers are Chiefly Europeans, the most of whom come from Italy and Greece. The- harbor of Port Sudan Is shaped like a leaf. ' It is 300 feet deep and well protected - from the sea outside. There are now steamers twice a week from there to Suei and Aden. The ships start at Suez, go to,Port Sudan and then south around the w'est coast of the Red Sea, and return, calling at some of the ports on the east coast. The ships are of the Egyptian Khedlval line. They are said to -be comfortable. ' . At present one of the grea,t needs of that port Is a hotel. There are no ac commodations for travelers, and some of the steamship companies will not sell tickets to Khartum via the Red Sea on this account. It takes 26 hours to go by rail from Port Sudan to Khartum. Sleeping-cars will be put on the railroad this year, and there will probably be considerable travel as soon as the proper hotel accommoda tions are furnished at the port. Already many freight steamers are call ing at .the port, and in a short time the bulk of the freight for Central Africa and the Upper Nile will go that way. Italian Africa. I have been making . some Inquiries about the Italian possessions on the west coast of the Red Sea. They have a col ony known as Eritrea, which begins about, 150 miles south of Suaklm and runs down almost to the Strait of Bab-el-man-deb. It Is not wide, and it terminates a little back of the coast where the Abys sinian hills'begln. It Is only a" Tew years since the Italians tried to include in Eritrea a large part of Abyssinia and failed, owing to the bravery, of King Menelik. The land they have now is of small value. There are only a few tracts that can be irrigated and the exports are nothing. The strip is inhabited by. no mads, who raise camels, oxen, sheep and goats. The pasturage is scanty and the shepherds move about from place to place with their stock. Some of the tribes live in tents made of matting and their wants are simple to an extreme. ! Massawa. The chief Italian port Is Massawa. It a little town situated on a coral island and joined to the mainland by a cause way. It has two short railways which connect it with the Abyssinian hills and which comprise altogether about 4S miles of track.: The road is to be continued to the town of Asmara, near which some gold mines have been opened. I am told that the Italians have recent ly built a telegraph line from their port to the capital of Abyssinia and that they are trying to increase their trade with that country. They are shipping consid erable salt, which, strange to say, is so relished by -the Abyssirilans that it brings more than suger and takes much the same place among them as candy and tobacco with us. The average Abyssinian carries a stick of rock salt with him and takes a suck at it between whiles. .If he meets a friend he asks him to take a lick of his salt stick and his friend brings out his own individual stick and they take lick about. It is Just as it was with snuff in the" days of our forefathers, when every one offered his friends ;a pinch of his choice macaboy. . - -The Port of Mecca. I regret 'that .1 shall not be able to stop" at Jeddah, the port of Mecca, to which I have already referred. It is one of the most interesting places on the Red Sea and 100,000 or more pilgrims pass through it every year. While' at Omdurman, a few weeks ago, I saw something like 1400 Mohammedans who. were going by the new railroad across "the Nubian Des ert to Port Sudan, where they expected to get ship for Jeddah. Some of them had been 10 years . on the way and their re ligious enthusiasm had not waned. They started out upon camels from, the bor ders of Timbuktu and had been forced to Bell their camels for food. After that they had walked from oasis to oasis, working for money , to carry them on ward. In that party there were so many that the English government officials had to divide them up into batches and send on a train load or so at a time. ' The road saved them several hundred miles of camel riding. and walking and it will probably be a great pilgrimage route in the future. At present the pilgrims come to Jed dah. from all parts' of North Africa and from the eastern coast of the. Mediter ranean Sea. They also come from India and Southern Arabia and Jeddah takes her toll from each of them. The people live by fleecing the devotees. The town is full of hotels and it is noted for its discomforts. It has a bad water supply and after each big rain there is an epi demic of fever. All who land In Jeddah go on foot from there' to.M.ecca. The distance is 66 miles and. a .guide is re quired. ' The Sew Mecca Railroad. The British are now talking. of build ing a. railroad . from Jeddah. to Mecca. If they do, it will, probably pay . well, for the travel is enormous. Twenty five years ago there were more than 60,000 . Mohammedans, who came ' an nually by sea to. make .their way ovei the sands to- Mecca and Medina. There are probably half again as many more today, and the railroad will so reduce the cost of the trip that the number of worshipers will be greatly increased. Indeed, the day may come when some Mohammedan tourist' Agent will be selling to. pilgrims : rrom all parts of the Mohammedan . world round-trip tickets to ths birthplace of the prophet, including ' admission to the Kaaba and also to Medina, where Mohammed "died. The Sultan is already building a line southward from Damascus- to Mecca, 560 miles of the road being already completed, and it is expected that it will reach Medina In 1909 and Mecca early in 1910. There is now a line from Beirut to Damascus, and one will be able to start In at that port In the Western Mediterranean and go to Da mascus, Jerusalem and Meoca without change of cars. The Mecca line is be ing built by Turkish soldiers, under the supervision of a German civil en gineer, and the cost is being In part defrayed by the voluntary e tions of Mohammedans in all parts of the world. When tflese railroads are completed there may be a chance for -Christians to visit the holy city. All who have been there in the past have had to go in disguise, and the man who would at tempt it today takes his life In his I hands. The railroad will be officered by Mohammedans, and It Is doubtful whether they will take Christians as passengers. They will have to cater to the pilgrims, as it is from them that their traffic must come. In the meantime, without wishing to act as did the fox - who called the grapes sour, I do not believe there Is much to see in Mecca, after all. The town lies in a hot, sandy valley, wa tered for the most of the year by a few brackish wells and some cisterns. The Genealogy of the Taft Family Its History Compiled by the Mother of the Secretary of War. RS. LOUISA M. TAFT. mother of the Secretary of War, who died at her home in Millbury, Mass., on December 7, at the age of 80, spent the last years" of her life compiling the New England history of the Taft family and .of her own family, the Torreys, from ge nealogical data collected by her husband,' Judge Alphonso Taft, during his lifetime. -The history, together with eulogies of .her husband, father and mother and ref erences to the Secretary of War which show her pride in him, has been recently published in a genealogical history of Worcester County, Massachusetts. The first ancestor of Secretary Taft re vealed by the late Judge Taft's researches was Robert Taft, a housewright, who went from the then province of Brain tree and settled at .Menton, Mass., in 1669. He had five sons, one of whom, Joseph, born in 1680, married Elizabeth Emerson, the granddaughter of the first minister of Menton. Joseph's second son was Captain Peter Taft, born in 1715. Captain Peter's third son was Aaron, born In 1743. He was fit ted for Princeton, but had to leave col lege before he had finished, although he had already established a reputation as a scholar. ... He settled at Uxbridge, Mass., but re moved to Townshend, Vt.. where he died in 1808. He married Rhoda Rawson, the great-great-granddaughter of Edward Rawson secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1860 to 1686. Peter Rawson, the third son of Aaron, born in 17S5, married Sylvia Howard in 1810. He taught school and was admitted to the bar. He . became Judge of the Common Pleas, Judge of the Probate Court, ' Judge of the County Court of Windham County, was one of the county commissioners and was for many years a member of the Legislature. He removed t,o Cincinnati in 1841, where he died in 1867, leaving one son, Alphonso. Alphonso Taft, father of the Secretary of War, was born In 1810' In Townshend, Vt., and was graduated from Yale In 1833. He taught for two years in an academy In Ellington, Conn., and then became a tutor at Tale. He was admitted to the bar in 1838 and went to Cincinnati the next year. In 1867 he argued before tb United States Supreme Court the claim of the city for the bequest of Charles McMicken, which secured the nucleus of the endowment fund for the University of Cincinnati. Mrs. Taft wrote concerning her bus band's reputation while he' was Judge of the Superior Court:.' "No young man was ever turned away because his case was considered too small for the Judge's patience; no experienced lawyer ever felt his case too large or the questions involved too intricate for the Judge's capacity and learning. His most important case was the 'Bible in the Public Schools." "The Catholics and Jews, who formed a large proportion of the citizens of Cin cinnati, complained on the introduction of xaUidoua instruction into the public The -best water comes in from Arafat, through a little aqueduct, and it is sold at high prices by a water trust at the head of which is the Governor of the city. Mecca, all told, has only about 60,000 inhabitants. It fills the valley and runs up the sides of the hills. The houses are of dark stone, built in one, two and three stories. They starid' close to the streets. There are no pave ments; it is often dusty and it' takes all the holiness of the surroundings to make life agreeable. The Kaaba. The most important place in Mecca is the sacred mosque, and the most im portant thing in the mosque is the Kaaba, a cube-shaped stone building which lies in its center. In the south schools as violating the spirit of the Con stitution. The school board stopped the reading of the BibiR. The court was ap pealed to on the ground that it had no power. . "There was a violent contest and feel ing ran high. To Judge Taft there was no question of the right of the board to take action. It was not in bis nature to consider for a moment popular clamor or the effect of his decision on his career. "The two other Judges decided against the board. Judge Taft delivered an elab orate dissenting opinion. When the case was taken to the Supreme Court of Ohio this opinion was sustained by the unani mous court of five Judges, and It has since become the law throughout the United States. " 'The Bible- in Public Schools' case arose in his path several times later, and probably prevented his being Gov ernor of Ohio. When, however, the storm of prejudice and bigotry had subsided and the people had 'time to consider the matter Judge Taft's reputation as a Judge who knew neither fear nor favor inevitably increased." Judge Taft's first wife, Fanny Phelps, was a daughter of Judge Charles Phelps, of Townshend, Vt She died in 1851. Three children were born to her, one of whom died in infancy. . Charles Phelps Taft, the second, son. Is the proprietor of the Cincinnati Times Star. The third son, Peter Rawson, died in 1888v Judge Taft married Louisa Maria Tor rey in 1853. Her first son. Samuel Daven port Torrey. died in infancy. Secretary Taft was the second son. Henry Waters Taft of New York the third. Horace Dut ton Taft the fourth and the fifth child Is her daughter. Fanny Louise, wife of Dr. William A. Edwards, of Los Angeles, Cal. "The fact that Secretary Taft through out his long and honorable public career has received promotion continuously," wrote Mrs. Taft, "is ample evidence of his capability and reliability and of the sterling Integrity of his character. In October, 1906, he was sent to Cuba by President Roosevelt to direct .In the res toration of order and discharged the deli cate duties with signal sagacity and suc cess." ' - Mrs. Taft was descended from .William Torrey, who. went from Somerset, Eng land, to Weymouth, Mass., in 1640. He was for many years a member'.of the House of Deputies, ' and was always chosen clerk. He was a Magistrate and Captain of Militia and died in 1690. The fifth William In the line of descent was reported to have been 6 feet 7 inches tall. . He was the father of Samuel Dav enport Torrey and grandfather of Mrs. Taft. Mrs. Taft's father married in 1824 Susan Holman Waters, daughter of Asa Wat ers, founder of : Armory village, and grand-daughter of Colonel Jonathan Hol man, who raised and commanded a regi ment during the Revolution and distin guished himself at the battle of Saratoga. Mrs. Taft's father established himself m Boston in the West Indian trade and re tired to Millbury, Mass., in 1S31. "Mrs. Torrey was a woman of rare en east corner of this building at about five feet from the ground is the black meteorite which the Mohammedans say was once a part of the gates of Para dise. When Adam was cast- ut, this stone fell with him, and it dropped down near Mecca. . At that time -it was of a beautiful white color, but it is now turned to jet, having been black ened by the kisses of sinners. Every pilgrim who comes to Mecca presses his Hps to it again and again, imagln-j ing that as he does so his sins go out1 of him into the stone, and his soul be comes as pure as it was when he was a baby. There are several hundred thousand pilgrims who perform this kissing act every season, so that the holy stone of the Kaaba gets its mil lions of kisses every year. . What a load of sin it must carry! dowment and character," wrote Mrs. Taft, "well educated for the period, and her highest Interest was always in the world of thought. She had an irresistible desire to know the best that had been written in literature and philosophy, and she had the courage to follow the new views of truth, which her active and progressive mind attained, to their con clusions." Of her father Mrs. Taft wrote: . "Mr. Torrey will be long remembered as a man of marked individuality, of thor ough business methods, of inflexible In tegrity, with a decision and force of character which left a lasting impression wherever he was known. It happened that he was called upon to assist at the burial of his juniors. In a green old age. He seemed like an oak, worn but steady, Amidst the elements, whilst the younger trees Fell fast around him. "Belonging to the heroic age of New England he never for a moment lost the bearing of a gentleman of the old school. Without office or the desire for office, he enjoyed the respect of all. To an unusu al degree he possessed That which should accompany old age. As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends. The Laborer and His Hire. Catholic Standard and Times. Hallo, siffnor, I ain't nee you For manny, manny days. I wondra moocha w'at you do All time you was away. All deesa seexa mont' or more Dat you' are gon' from home. I 'spose you went out Wei', aignor ' Eh? No? You was een Home? An' Pareess, too? Wal, wal, my frand, Wat Joy you musta ffel To see all deso so granda land Where you have been. But steell You musta worka ionga while For save da mon' to go. Eh? Deal een atocks ees mak' your pllel Escuse! 1 deed not know. I weesh dat dere waa eoocha treep For Dasoman like me; Ees manny now dat taka sheep For home een Eetaly Eh? Wa't ees dat? You aay deea mea Are mean as dirt een etreat For com' an' maka mon' an' den To run bark home weeth eet? I am au'prised weeth you. - signor. For hear you talk like deea. Da mon' we gat by workin' for We do weeth as we pleaas. .' You say dey leave no theeng- behind For deeHS mon' dey mak' ;. Bscuae, aignor, but you weell find Dey pay for all dry tak'. Dey pay for 'eet weeth hards toil, Weeth gooda road an' street, Weeth crops dat spreenga from da aoll An' geeve you food for eat. Weeth wheat dat mak' you bread so good, - Weeth grape dat mak- you wines. An', yes, dey pay eet weeth deir blood On railroads, een da mlnea! W'at deed you geeve for w'at you mak' Een deesa ntocka deal? Not wan good theeng for all you tak'. Not wan, signoi- but steell You 'say dees men no gotta right To do da theeng dey do. - Escusa me for sat excite. I would shak' hands weeth you. Eea Chrees'mastlme, so let us be Good 'Merioana m'.-n. Shak' hands! Ket ees a Joy to me For see you home agen. In . I.ondon there is one clergyman to every 2600 persons. V