Part 33 (2/2)
=Arabia=--Arabia is noions only are under the control of the Sultan The interior is peopled by nonty of Turkey The province of Yemen, on the Red Sea, is about the only noteworthy part of the peninsula Hides and Mocha coffee, gathered by Arab traders, are shi+pped fro-place of thousands of Mohaious duty; it is also the centre fro-station of the British E a considerable trade in Ah Arabia itself is practically of no commercial importance, the same cannot be said of the Arabic people They are keen, thrifty traders, and as brutal in their instincts as they are keen The commerce which connects the western part of Asia with Europe is largely of their oods fro them to Jewish and Armenian middlemen, who turn them over to European and Areater part of the commerce of northern Africa The slave-trade, which is wholly in their hands, is very largely the key to the situation A party of slave-dealersall who are not able-bodied, load the rest with the goods to be transported to the coast
=Persia=--Persia is the modernized name of the province now called Fars, or Farsistan Within its borders, however, the name Persia is almost unknown; the native people call the country Iran In the tireat powers of the world The cultivable lands produced an abundance of food-stuffs The mines of copper, lead, silver, and iron orked to their utmost extent, and the chief trade-routes between Europe and the Orient crossed the country to the Indus River
The conquest by Alexander the Great changed the course of trade and diverted it to other routes, thus depriving the country of much of its revenue; the invasions of the Arabs left the empire a hopeless wreck
Iran blood dominates the country at the present tie any material developanization of trade, nor any systeon-roads with innuates ”Turkish” tobacco, opiurown for export; silk and wool, however, are the most important crops The former is s and carpets There are famous pearl-fisheries in the Persian Gulf
_Tabriz_, situated in the ion, has important manufactures of shawls and silk fabrics of world renown The Tabriz rugs are regarded as a-maker's art _shi+raz_, the for and carpet manufactures _Mashad_ is the centre of the trade with Russia
_Bushi+re_ and _Bender-Abbas_ are seaports, but have no great ih the port of Trebizond
=Afghanistan=--The nohanistan have but little in common with the British civilization that is slowly but surely closing in upon the them from routes of commerce A considerable local traffic is carried on between Bokhara and Herat, and between Bokhara and Kabul through Balkh, all being fairly prosperous centres of population in regions ation
By far the most important route lies between Kabul and Peshawur, at the head of the Indus River A railway, the Sind-Pishi+n, extends along the valley of this river from Karachi, a port of British India, to Peshawur, also in British India near the Afghan border, and the route lies thence through Khaibar Pass to Jelalabad and Kabul A branch of this road is coh Bolan Pass nearly to Kandahar
_Kabul_, the capital, is a h it is a collection depot for the Khiva-Bokhara rugs and carpets that arefrom the railway of the Indus Valley _Herat_ is the anized commercial system; a small amount of British manufactures--s and dried fruit are the only exports to Europe and America The imports enter mainly by way of Karachi, India; the exports are carried to Europe, for the greater part, by the Russian railway
The ihanistan is due to its position as a buffer state between Russia and British India The various strategic points for years, therefore, have been : ”Whoso would be master of Indiaof this is seen in the history of Khaibar Pass, which for hter; indeed, it has been the chief gateway between occidental and oriental civilizations for more than twenty centuries Since the acquisition of India by Great Britain Afghanistan has been under British protectoracy
=Baluchistan=--The general features of Baluchistan resemble those of the other parts of the Iran plateau The coast has no harbors in the proper sense, but the anchorage off _Gwador_ has fair protection froh food-stuffs for the half-savage population There is but little organization to the government save that which is military in character The state is a protectorate of Great Britain
Rug- is the only industry that connects Baluchistan with the rest of the world _Quetta_, the largest town, is aBolan Pass Its outlet is the Kandahar branch of the Sind-Pishi+n Railway
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
What clireat production?
How do climate and soil affect the character of the wool clip?
How do Arabian horses coh-bred stock with respect to usefulness?--how do they coarded as the key to India?
FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE
From a cyclopaedia (or from McCarthy's History of Our Own Times) read an account of the British disaster at Kabul
Study, if possible, one or ns, and warp of each: Bokhara (antique and modern), Anatolian, Kermanshah, and Baluchistan
CHAPTER xxxI
BRITISH INDIA AND THE EAST INDIES