Show arabian peninsula entices explorers fruitful field for archeo logical research washington whether or not french flyers have hare discovered the legendary capital of the queen of sheba they have again called attention to the vast forbidding arabian peninsula one of the richest areas for geographic and leal exploration now left in the world says a bulletin from the national geographic society arabia has been a lodestone for western exploration recently because back on its burning plateaus in the scorching heat of hidden wadies dry river beds have been found strange tribesmen in cities of setback set back skyscrapers eight to ten stories high obstinate warriors for centuries have entrenched themselves in these lofty forts that at it a distance resemble modern new york apartment houses from their imposing doorways to pent houses and roof gardens traces of old caravan trails farther inland lie ile great areas of desolate desert with singing sands such as marco polo heard in the gobi and traces of ancient caravan trails that predate the era when solomon derived ild gold and frankincense from biblical ophir two notable crossings of the huge rull rub al khali desert were made recently by englishmen one by bertram thomas and the other by II 11 st john B philby while the americas were being discovered and explored while the poles were being attained and the polar regions visited again and again the arabian peninsula lying in the heart of the oldest known civilization has remained almost unseen by white men about square miles of territory equal to the combined areas of germany and italy is blank or but vaguely sketched on modern maps yet some of the border lands and surrounding seas of this huge ellipse hum with activity that arabia has been able to guard its mysteries so long iong a against alast the inquisitive westerner Is due partly to the physical features of the country and partly to the religious if lous fanaticism of its sparse population ula tion southern arabia now a desert was probably fertile and well watered when europe and large parts of asia were still in the ice age and it may well have been one of the earliest homes of civil eted man climatic changes at a later late date brought extreme dryness and a drift of sands from the north dotted with unstudied ruins the arabian peninsula Is ii dotted with ancient rulus ruins some of which haye have been seen only in passing only a few of these have been studied by scientists undoubted ly there are other ruins yet un found some of them buried in the sand one of the highroads high roads of the old world the overland trade route from india and persia to egypt and syria and to other countries around the mediterranean began in in southeastern arabia and wound through the plateau emerging at various points in the near east made its own contri contributions butiong of fr frankincense s 1 neen 3 e myrrh and aloe to this ancient world commerce some writers hold that in the southern quarter of arabia was that ophir rich in gold whose name like that of itself Is known to us from the old testament 1 the tenth chapter of genesis calls the latter the old testament also mentions another arabian land of mystery saba sheba whose queen of the south traveled to jerusalem on hearing of the wisdom and wealth of king solomon the land of sheba Is generally placed by modern authorities in the border land between the present day states of and yemen the romans knew all of these prosperous provinces naming them arabia fells felix happy arabia in contrast to the rest of the peninsula which they called arabia deperta and arabia petrea the desert and realm of stone |