Show thru P mi 6 M Q 4 if ta ra it J A 0 4 4 1 ela 1 1 ae 0 y 9 r 4 milking a rubber tree near singapore prepared by national geographic society washington D C service UREE cities ot of asia that T have hate figured prominently in former england to australia flights will be on the route of the london melbourne race which will take place in october they are baghdad Alla habad babad and singapore baghdad is near the persian frontier hard by the traditional site ot of old eden mans birthplace here on tile the classic soil of babylon nin nineveh 11 and apis once flourished the pick of 0 the human race here was the center of the worlds wealth power and civilization and back to this and ancient nt region modern men are turn in ing to reclaim its lost areas open its mines and oil deposits to restore the garden of 0 eden from the deck of a tigris steamer baghdad looms up boldly its splendid skyline of domes and min abets reminding one of some widnay of worlds fair memory an old odd pontoon bridge connects tile the two parts of tile the elty city separated by the yellow tigris on the west bank Is the old town enclosed by date and orange groes from here the new baghdad railway starts on its ion long run across the trackless desert east of the river on the side is new baghdad with its government offices barracks consulates prisons etc as far as the eye can reach in every direction stretches the vast flat treeless empty plain ot of mesopotamia a region once more populous than pei belgium lum to go native one must paddle ashore from the steamer in a goof nh a queer coracle like craft in use here since jonass day A Is woven from willows about 6 feet in diameter Is perfectly circular and basket shaped shape d and Is coated outside with bitumen some say moses was cut adrift in one of these goo fahs another strange craft at baghdad la Is the kel els a kurdish invention the Is a raft made of inflated goatskins goat skins held together by poles and covered with a platform of 0 straw mats these feleks come down to the city in hundreds from bringing bring ing wool grain and suns skins not the baghdad ofala of all baba A great wall encircles baghdad F flat at roofed huddled moorish houses many almost windowless and each surrounding its own open court are a distinct feature of the older parts ot of the city on these flat roofs arabs spend the summer nights with tom toms flutes water rater pipes and dancing women faced facing the river removed from the arab to town w n a are r e built the imposing foreign e consulates 0 ns u 1 mercantile offices a and n d the sumptuous homes of rich J jews aws ar men ians tans greeks and syrians the men who made new baghdad but the baghdad of all AH babas day with the splendor of gladdins Alad dins enchanted age Is gone forever the palaces the mosques and minarets mina are mostly in ruins even the tomb of lovely lady Zo beldo favorite wife of litrun al Is tumbled down and decaying it Is into modern monuments to new baghdad into roads bridges public buildings irrigation works army organization iza tion dredging the tigris etc that the prominent citizens put their money modern baghdad is in safe bands now new no dissipated royalty guards its gates sober clearheaded clear headed men drilled in the best schools of modern europe able to hold their own anywhere administer its affairs As late as 1830 the tigris overflowed its banks bank swept through baghdad and drowned people in one night Alla habad attracts millions normally Alla habad india Is it a city ot of people it lies in tile tho region behnken beti Aen the jamna and ganges rivers at tile the meeting place ot of the two streams it Is this location that draws huge crowds to the town annually and at twelve year intervals tremendous hordes both tile the jamna and the ganges are sacred streams and their meeting place is doubly sacred the mystical indian mind finds still a third reason for holiness it Is believed by tile the pilgrims that the saraswati a river which la is swallowed up by the sands southwest of 0 f punjab emerges at the junction point of tile the jamna and gages both the ganges and the juani are coffee colored streams heavily laden aden with slit eilt at low water in late winter a large expanse of dusty sand Is exposed below the aldaha bad fort which stands on the bluff overlooking the confluence it is on this beach that the millions of pilgrims assembled recently the indian police have their hands full during the great religious it ious fair or kuebli alela all chicles vehicles are excluded from the river plain and all efforts concentrated on maintaining order among the multitude of men women and children that move about in the dust slip on the wet aay c lay near dear the stream banks and attain merit by bathing in the murky vr waters aters A torrid sun bents beats dov n and to screen its rays little shelters or ol rushes have hare been erected on tile the sands under these sit all manner of people wearing a minimum of clothing among them ire are holy men their bodies smeared with gray coats of ashes groups of idols aro arc sot set up that afie the faithful may contribute coins among the crowds go men carrying water skins sprinkling the water in an effort to lay tile dust that millions of bare feet stir up the kuebli mela is a mecca for moneymakers money makers ers and the principal thoroughfare Is lined with mat shed shops tor for the sale of sacrificial tiny brass idols holy herries berries made into dark necklaces and ili 1 I shining brass bottles zoned with mellow tinted copper in which holy water can be taken to remote parts of india by credulous people here and there one finds men with small furnaces full of heated pitch sealing the water vessels so that not an atom of holiness can escape Alla habad Is old in the enclosure of the fort Is a pillar erected to asoka the great buddhist king during the third century n B 0 it may have been moved to the spot taken however so it Is not conclusive evidence that a town existed on the site of Alla habad during ahokas reign the first town known to history on this site was about which a chinese traveler wrote in 1700 A D the hin dus still call the town the place ot of sacrifice it received the name by which it Is now known to the world from its mohammedan conquerors in 1575 singapore a great free port singapore Is an island 27 miles long by 14 wide and just misses be ing the southernmost point 0 of f tin continent of 0 asia by a half mile water channel it asat the tunnel funnel point of the strait of malacca alacca 11 which extends between the malay peninsula and the island of sumatra the great water highroad between india and china little more than a hundred years ago the island owned by the sultan of on tile the nearby mainland was a deserted jungle save for a little fishing village ships in the china trade passed it by as they passed many another jungle shore the only ports of call in that re region ion of the world were those of the dutch islands of sumatra and java but these ports took a big toll in rees fees and sir stamford raffles an of oll I 1 iclal of the east india company began to dream of 0 a free british port that would facilitate trade in 1819 he be obtained the deemin seemingly ly worthless island of aln singapore acore 7 for 1 his company for a small fee de soon proved him a prophet for within two years ye ars alic t ile little trading center lie he established had a population of it was 1821 1822 before the british government consented to take nn an interest in the place |