Page 279 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (2)

K NliCUiCHiU A KAMA

desert. We struck the river again at Felujah, where the car> usually
cross, but the pontoon bridge was washed away and people were now
crossing by means of a ferry. This terry is an ingenious alfair made of
two boats attached together and hitched by means of a pullv tu a cable
rope stretched across the stream. The boats move across bv the force
of the water.
Our party arrived in Baghdad in the afternoon, all hungry and ready
for a bath, but none the worse for having taken the desert trip. This
sounds a great deal worse than it actually is. The Nairn Company i*
reliable. They carry the mails and all kinds of stores and spares for
emergency so that the passenger runs only a minimum of risk. I have
very little doubt but what this will be the way home for Americans in

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CROSSING TllE EUPHRATES BY FERRY
Mesopotamia, Persia and the Persian Gulf. In this way money can be
saved, and when hotels will be erected in intermediate points, a greater
degree of comfort will be enjoyed than on the sea voyage through die
Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. The day of the motor car is here and
it is changing the whole complexion of the desert lands. No one can
say with any degree of accuracy what the future will bring forth in the
way of transportation in these undeveloped regions. There are two
main companies now .operating in this desert, but there are numerous
other individual cars running as well. Competition is very keen and
no one dare say which will eventually survive, although the Nairn
Company has the Government back of it. In the meantime the merchant
and the missionary are watching the course of developments, all of
which we hope will turn out for the good of civilization and the uplift
of the race.