Page 416 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

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cations. The land of the camel has become the land of the motor car. At •
the beginning of the twentieth century there were no railways or high­
ways in the whole country. During its first decade Media was linked to
Damascus and a survey made for a railroad to Mecca which has not yet
materialized. During the World War a short railway was constructed
between Aden and Lahaj. Aeroplanes have become familiar to the dwell­
ers in the desert and the present King of Arabia has a royal air force, j
Telegraph and telephone lines, not to speak of wireless stations, connect j
Mecca with the coast and Baghdad with the interior. Motor cars first
came to West Arabia in 1919. Now there is a good road between Jiddah
and Mecca, and over one thousand passenger cars and buses are registered
in the Hejaz.
Besides the regular route—Beirut to Damascus,—thence due east­
ward to Ruthah Wells and to Ramadi, and along the Euphrates River to
Baghdad—the latter city is also accessible to Mediterranean ports by a !
route beginning at Aleppo, Syria, and proceeding via Deir-Ez Zor to
Baghdad. This route, however, is longer, requires a greater time to cross,
and has bad stretches of road to be overcome. While still in use, it cannot
compete with the established Beirut-Baghdad route. Jerusalem is con­
nected with Baghdad by a route which follows that of the Damascus route
as far as Ruthah, proceeding thence south and south-west to Amman, in
Tran-Jordan, and on to Baghdad.
In a recent United Stales Commerce Report we read: “A glance at
the map of south-western Asia quickly shows the enormous saving in time
effected through crossing the desert by motor, in contrast with the long
voyage through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, around the Arabian Penin­
sula, and through the Persian Gulf (the former established route), re­
quiring an average transit period of approximately twenty-one days. The
usual passenger-car or bus time is now twenty-six hours (the lorry some­
what slower) from Damascus to Baghdad, a five hundred-mile run.”
“The first motor car to cross the desert, of which there is record, was
an English vehicle brought into Syria in 1906. The date of its trans­
desert journey is not available, but is believed to have occurred within a
few years after the car’s advent in the country. Not until 1923 was another
such crossing made, when the necessity for establishing a route and a
regular crossing was quickly appreciated. The feasibility of the desired
regular service was demonstrated. The perils attending this 1923 exploit
were multifarious. The drivers had nothing but their sense of direction
and the assistance of the skies to guide them; there was the ever-present
danger of mechanical trouble, a breakdown, or a shortage of water and
other supplies; and there was the peril of robbery and murder. Never­
theless, the cars arrived triumphantly at their destination, with no untoward
incidents.”
Every year the motor car is penetrating further into neglected Arabia.
Communications between every part of the Peninsula were never so rapid
and universal. The Arabic Press from Cairo, Beirut, Damascus, and
Baghdad also reaches every part of the Peninsula. Surely all this is a chal­
lenge to hasten the work of evangelization. The dream so long unful­
filled, of a Christian hospital at’Jiddah, should become a reality. I ladhra-
niaut and the interior of Nejd may soon l>e open for colporteur effort. At
least the attempt should be made. Meanwhile, the Arabian Mission was
never in greater need of prayer and support than it is today. The first

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