The inhabitants live very much as the Turcomans do, and their principal possessions are herds of camels and flocks of sheep. As a consequence a large majority of the inhabitants of Baluchistan are nomads, wandering from place to place in search of pasturage for their cattle.

The capital is Kelat, a fortified town and the center of trade for the interior of the country. It is about seven thousand feet above sea level, and has, in consequence, an agreeable climate. It is not an attractive place. The streets are narrow and filthy, and the bazaar, although it is supplied with all kinds of necessaries, is not like the bazaars to be seen in the large cities of India and Japan.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE HOME OF THE ARAB.

THE peninsula forming the extreme southwestern corner of Asia is the home of the Arab. It is a land of great interest, not so much for the country itself, or the places to be seen there, as for its interesting history.

"O'er Arabia's desert sands

The patient camel walks,

'Mid lonely caves and rocky lands
The fell hyena stalks.

"On her cool and shady hills

Coffee shrubs and tam'rinds grow;
Headlong fall the welcome rills

Down the fruitless dells below.

"The fragrant myrrh and healing balm
Perfume the passing gale;

Thick hung with dates the spreading palm
Towers o'er the peopled vale."

Although some parts of Arabia are mentioned in the oldest historical records, and its shores were familiar to the earliest navigators, the greater portion of its territory has remained almost unknown. This is because so much of this land is a desert and has been but little explored by travelers.

Arabia forms a triangular peninsula, with its base, nearly a thousand miles long, resting on the Indian Ocean. Its eastern coast is washed by the Persian Gulf and its western coast by the Red Sea.

Arabia as a whole is not a fertile country, but is a high table-land, rising here and there to mountain ranges. In the southwestern portion are tracts of fertile country, and along the slopes of the mountains are rich pastures and cultivated fields. All along the coast are vast stretches of sand, at intervals reaching far inland to where they join the great desert, a wide waste of burning sand.

In the olden time Arabia was divided into three portions, the rocky, mountainous country on the north; the great central desert; and the fertile land to the south, known as Arabia Felix, meaning the happy country. This last region is now known as Yemen, and is the most favored portion of all Arabia. Here vegetation is abundant, and the date palm yields its rich fruit, which is the staple food for large numbers of the natives. Great quantities of dates are ex

ported from Arabia to many countries of the civilized world.

Far beyond all other products in commercial importance is coffee, which is largely cultivated in Yemen. The coffee raised here is of a very superior quality and is called "Mocha," the name of the town from which it was formerly exported. This well-known coffee is grown on the highlands of the interior and is brought down to Aden by caravans.

Aden is the principal port of Arabia, and steamers to and from the East enter its harbor. The city and surrounding country are under the rule of Great Britain. From this port Mocha coffee is shipped to Europe and America.

In all parts of our own country the dates and the coffee grown in Arabia are well known and very much liked by our people. Not all the dates sold in our stores are grown in Arabia; and a small portion only of the coffee we consume comes from that land.

It will interest and surprise you to learn from how many lands these two commercial products are obtained. Beyond the great central desert of Arabia are sandy stretches, relieved here and there by fertile oases. The large towns are located on these fertile tracts and are the centers of the trade and agriculture of the country. Between the oases are wild, barren wastes of sand, like a sand sea, dividing town from town.

Though Arabia can boast no great rivers nor fertile fields, she can proudly claim to be the original country of those two most important animals, the camel and the horse.

The camel may be called the national animal of Arabia, for no other can endure long journeys across the scorching sands of the desert, where neither food nor water are to be found. Because so admirably adapted to journeys across these great seas of sand, the camel is called the "ship of the desert."

The strong and patient camel is possessed of great powers of endurance. In crossing the desert, the lack of water is more to be dreaded than the want of food. It is possible to carry a supply of food and, even in the sand desert, coarse grass and shrubs are frequently to be found. But for many weary miles no sign of water is to be seen. The stomach of the camel is, by a wise provision of nature, formed with pouches in which a quantity of water can be stored. Thus supplied with water, the camel is able to travel from six to ten days under the heat of the tropical sun, and can traverse the long caravan routes with no other food than a small quantity of grain and a few dates each day. When approaching an oasis on the desert, the camel rushes forward at great speed and drinks long and deep at the welcome pool.

The Arab uses the flesh and the milk of camels for food, and weaves their hair into cloth for clothing and tents, and also into rugs and shawls.

The camel shows no trait of affection for his master, but, on the contrary, is sometimes very vicious. "When you bid a camel to get up, he objects; when you order him to start, he objects; and when you order him to halt, he objects, showing that he really objects on principle."