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Show Jordan Nomads Refuse Progress Land Where John the Baptist Bap-tist Preached Still Primitive. Washington. "All Christendom can visualize the location of the recent earthquake that shook Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Jericho in Palestine, but Transjordania, across the Jordan river, is a new and less familiar Arab state," says a bulletin from the National Na-tional Geographic socjety. "Transjordania did not exist until the league of nations, about seven years ago, decided to establish a state east of the Jordan. A correspondent who visited the new state in 1923 described de-scribed Its creation as 'an act of the Versailles pastrymakers, who, like so many cooks, had some dough left over after the molds were filled, and this was fcne of the odd cookies.' Dull, Dreary Desert, "Transjordania is a desert. Shaped like an as head, with the blade pointing southward toward the Red :-ea, the state lies on the northern fringe of the Arabian desert and includes in-cludes the eastern shores of the Dead sea. But much of the region, particularly particu-larly that lying near the Jordan, is steppe land, supporting some llocks and occasional crops. "Many of the half million inhabitants inhabi-tants are nomads who wander about the area, pitching their tents where ami as they please. This accounts f"r the slow development of the region. re-gion. Even the ruler, his highness, tie Emir Abdullah Ibu Hussein, is virtually a desert prince and nomad chieftain. Until recently he held his 'court,' not in a palatial palace, but in a group of tents. "Amman. Transjordania's capital, is about a five-hour automobile ride .cross the hot and dusty plains of Jericho and through the sizzling val-1. val-1. y of the Jordan river. Amman, under un-der various names, has been the capital capi-tal of this area for ages. It was ailed Rabbath Amman, chief city of the Ammonites, almost from the days of Lot, from whom the Ammonites are said to have sprung. In the Third century Ptolemy Philadelphia became the new lord ami called the capital Philadelphia, the city of I rotherly love. Once Prosperous Center. "No one visiting Transjordania toil;, to-il;, y would suspect, at first glance, that this land was once the center of Greek and Roman prosperity. Greek culture flourished in the East after A.cxander's eastern conquest and dur-ii.g dur-ii.g the reign of Ptolemy Philadel-1' Philadel-1' is. When Ptolemy took the reins -,f .-.iv.irnmpnr fine of his first HOtS ..as to build a magnificent acropolis at Amman. "The main street of Amman winds CV . around a high hill upon which the Greek citadel once stood. Hard by are the ruins of a Roman theater aiid the broken stone benches of a Roman Ro-man amphitheater which probably seated 7.CXM) spectators. "Abdullah has cleared away the debris from the ruins. Now the columns col-umns and stones are frequently lined with the village loungers and herds of goats browse among the ancient foundations. Everywhere in Transjordania Trans-jordania the mounted Arab is seen wearing his flowing native garb. His hat is perhaps the oldest form of headgear. It is a large square piece of cloth called the kaffeyeh. One who is familiar with the coif can tell readily read-ily from what region the wearer comes." |
