Evening Star Newspaper, March 14, 1926, Page 92

Keen Witted Ara in Aiding the Senu eigners, to Preserv b Shows His Perfidy ssi, Hostile to For- e the Secret of the Libyan Sands——Uncanny Instinct Is Possessed by a Sand Pilot in Findig the Way—Engaging a Caravan—The Tell On the northern fringe of the €ahara lies the Libyan Desert With an extent of a milllon square miles, it s perhaps the least known area of its size in the world Into that vast trackless and waterless region ventured Mr. W J. Harding King at the suggestion of an officer of the Royal Geo. graphical Society—of which he is & member. Previously Mr. King had been awarded the Gill Me. morial by the soclety for his ex Pplorations, Many another traveler had been deterred Dy the hostility and in- trigue of the desert dwellers, par- ticularly the Senussi—Moslem der- vishes—with whom Mr. King was to have sad experiences. However, he not only penetrated to the heart of the vegion. hut remained for three vears. This article and two subsequent ones describe hlx most exciting adventures BY W.J. HARDING KING, F. R. G. 8. T was with a geod deal of trepida ton that T set foot on the first dune we came 1o, and realized that 1 had embarked on the des. perate attempt to solve the riddie of the sands of the “Devil's Country Thie is what the dune belt of the des ert in called. It was an awful pros peet However, at the time I placed great faith in my guide, an Arab of con siderable experience in desert travel This Arab, Qway Hassan Qway, had proved himself absolutely depend able on many occasions, and seemed to possess an uncanny instinct for | Rival Leader of ~Tale Footprint. | Mohammedans and was ewpecialiy [hosii> toward Europeans, particular. | v those occupying Moslem terri | Moreover. they are not confined onl to the Libyan Desert. but form one of the most powerful of the dervish | orders. with followers spread through out practicaily the whole Moslem world from Sumatra to Morocco. | And now Qway, though he reat protestations of keenness, on found to be obstructing my prep arations, and he developed signs of | dishonesty that 1 had not noticed in him before. What was worse, I found him secretly communicating with a member of the Senussi zawia in Qasr | Dikihla, who, for some unexplained | reason, had come to Assiut and who seemed to be In frequent communica- tion with him. This all pointed to some underhand | dealing with the Senuasi. who always opposed any attempt to enter their country—usually by tampering with a traveler's guides. T concluded that | 1 had better keep a closer watch upon the conduct of my guide than I had | done hefore, A FEW daya iater at Qara Station 1 found Nimr, & brother of fRhevkh Suleyman, who had aided me in organ- izing my caravan. He brought up to me & jet-hlack Sudanl, about six feet three in height, who was so lightly built that he could hardly have | weighed more than 120 pounds. He answered to the name of Abdulla abu Reesha-—“Ahdulla the father of feath- ers,” a nickname given to him on ac- count of hix extreme thinnesa. He had, however, the reputation of made 1 *ox ok o* finding his way in a trackless waste. Under hix guidance we were abla to | make good progress, and by the eve ning of the firat day had reached the | northeast corner of the plat and were within a day's journey the principal town of the d next day we reached this town with out incident. but arrived just in time, @8 our water-tanks were hecoming | quite empty | Finding that the caravan was rather | overloaded at our start for our jour- ney from Mut. T left, on our second | day out, a tank of water and two ! 8acks of graln in the desert, 10 he picked up on our way back. From | that point we had gone three davs to the south. We had then gone two | days southwest: then two dave weat; | another day toward the northwest, and then three davs northeast | All but the first four days of this | fourney had been over ground which | waR quite unknown to Qway: but when at the end of his roundabout | route I asked him to point out to me | where our tank and sacks had been 184, he was able to indicate its posl- | tion without the slightest uncertainty At the first sight the faculty that a | £00d desert guide has of finding his | way about a trackless desert seems little short of miraculous, but he has only developed to an unusual degree the powers that even the most civil {204 individual possesses In a rudi- mentary state, The Bedouina, accustomed to travel- | Ing over the wide desert piains from | one landmark to another, keep their | eves largely fixed on the horizon. You | can alwaye tell a d man when | you e him in a town. He is looking toward the end of the street, and appears to be oblivious of his imme. diate surroundings. This gives him | that “far-away” look that is g0 much admired by lady novelists Qway was an unusually. intelligent specimen of the Bedouin Arabs—a race who are by no means so stupld as they are sometimes represented. There was little that he did not know | about the desert and its ways, and he | was extraordinarily quick to pick up | any little European dodges, such as | map-making to scale, that I showed | him. » ! 8hortly after our arrival at Dakh B Oasis, the Coptic doctor dropped | fn. He told me that he had just seen Shevkh Ahmed. from the sawia at Qaar Dakhla—whose gueat 1 had been at hig ézba, who had told him that if the revelution in Turkey succeeded and the Sultan really were depoged, the Senussi Mahdi would r appear and invade Egypt. The Mahdi, it may be mentioned, iz the great Meoslem prophet, who, according to Mehammedan prophecies, is to arise shortly before the end of the world, to convert the whole of mankind to the faith of Tslam. This, it it were true. was disturb- ing news. The position was one fraught with considerable possibilities. In order to understand the situation, some explanation may perhaps be use- ful to those unacquainted with Mo- ‘hammedan policies. Most people seem hardly to realize the real character of the Senussi: for one constantly hears them alluded to ar a “tribe” or merely as a set of un- ueually devout Moslems, who have chosen to take up their abode in the | letter and heing one of the best guides in the desert, and was alwavs in request whenever a caravan went down to col- lect natron from Rir Netrun, where there was alwaye a very fair chance of a serap with the Redavat Nimr suggested that [ should take him as a gulde. and appeared to he greatly disappointed when T told him 1 had already engaged Qway. I prom. ised. however, to bear him in mind and if 1 wanted another guide at any time to write and ask Shevkh Suley. man to send him When my caravan reached Kharga I met Sheykh Sulevman. and as [ was amped not far from his tent, rode over and spent an evening with him Quway, of course, accompanied me in hopes of a free meal. but was most frigidly recelved by the shevkh. who treated him in the mosat contemptuous manner. We had supper. consisting of bread and treacle and hard.boiled | cigar- | eggs, followed hy coffee and ettes, after which we sat for a time and talked. “Yoi had hetter take me as a guide instend of Qway.” suddenly suggested Sheykh Suleyman Qway looked quickly up, evidently greatly annoved. and the social at- mosphere became distinctly electric. 1 explained that 1 could not well do that, as I had found Qway an excellent zuide the year hefore and had already signed an agreement to take him on again for the season. Qway rather hotly added some expostulation that | could not quite catch. but the gist of it apparently was that Shevkh Suley man was not quite plaving the game. The sheykh laughed falevgh™ (néver mind). he said, “if you want another guide. write me a T will send Ahdulla abu Beesha. He's a good mans—hetter than Qway.” Qway commenced a heated reply. »niy to be Iaughed at v Rhevkh Sulev man. As the Interview threaténed to become distinctly stormy, 1 took the earliest opportunity of returning to camp. * % @ TPON returning to Mut after sev. eral days in the desert I several times noticed a man dressed like a Tripolitan Arah in a long woolen hlan- ket, but had never heen able to get a 200d ook at him, as he alwaye ayolded “YOU HAD BETTER TAKE ME AS A GUIDE INSTEAD OF QWAY,” SUGGESTED SHEYKH SULEYMAN, mesting me. On one occasion when he saw me approaching he even turned back and slunk around a corner to get out of my way. This man was a meémber of the Senussi, or, as it was usually ex. pressed, ‘“he followed the sheykh.” 1 found that he was stayin, with Sheykh Senussi, the clerk in Mut, and by a curious coincidence Qway also happened to be living in the same house. I gathered that Qway was in the position of an honored guest, for nearly every time I saw him he dilated him. At times he became almost sen- timental on the subject, declaring that he was like a brother to him. The reason for Qway’'s affection evidently was that his camel, of which he was 80 proud, was being fed on the fat of the land and that he apparently was getting unlimited tea. This rapprochement between Qway and the Senussi, added to the rather secretive manner in which it was go- most inaccessible parts of Africa, in order to devote themselves to their religious life, without fear of inter- ruption from outsiders. ‘The fact ie, that they are in reality dervishes whose character, at that time at anw rate, was of a most un- compromising nature toward.alk » ing en, made me suspect that this lav. ish hospitality had some ulterior ob. ject, though it was difficult to see what they were planning. As soon as the camels had heen got into good condition T sent Qway, Ahd er Rahman, my chief camel driver. and Ibrahim, the latter's brether, off |to give Abd er Rahman di {of my plans, the bette THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTO BAEOLD e “THE PLACE WHE! . OUR WATER HAD BEEN POURED OUT WAS GUIDE'S LEA with the caravan loaded with grain which the two Sudanese were to de posit at Jebel el Baved, the hill we had veached at the end of our last journey Thrahim had not heen with me at all the previous season, and as Ahd | er Rahman had never even heen | within sight of the hill I arranged that | Qway should ride with them as far the edge of the plateai, where he was ctions to take him to Jebel el Rayved Here however, he was to leave the caravan and to ride west along the tableland ind come back and report what he had seen. Abd er Rahman. following the di- | rectlons given him by Qway, easily | found .Jebel el Raved, and left the | grain to form the depot in the neigh- | borhood. Qway himself rejoined the caravan on their way k just he fore reaching Mut, so they all returned together, Qway, it turned onut, had done prac. | tically nothing. It was difficult to see | the hest wav of dealing with him. 1| could, of eourse, have discharged him. | but drastic remedies are <eldom the best. and to have done so would only | have had the effect of playing straight | into the hands of the Senussi, as he | was o magnificent guide and they | would have at once gained him as a | whole-hearted recruit. As he unfortunatel knew the whole | e seemed | » and to tie o be to keep him v | him up in such a way that he could | do na harm. 1In the circumstances | thought it best to send Sheykh Suley. | man a letter, asking him to let me | have Abdulla and the hest hagin (rid ing camel) he 1 find. This, at | any rate, would insure my having a | guide if Qwav went wrong, and I | hoped by stirring up a little friction between him and Abdulla to make the latter keep an eve upon his actions. * o2 ox JHILE dressing one morning I | heard Qway helow greeting some | old friend of his in the most cordial | and affectionate manner. Then I | heard him bring the visitor upstairs, and looking through the window saw | upon Sheykh Senussi’s kindness to | |ing with satistaction and apparently that Abdulla had arrived at last. Qway 1apped at the door, and, hardly wait- ing for me to answer, entered, beam- highly delighted at the new arrival— | he wae an admirable actor. Abdulla 1ooked taller and more “feathery” than ever. With a native. made straw hat on the back of his head and his slender waist tightly girthed up with a leather strap, he looked almost girlish in his slimness. But there was nothing very feminine about Abdulla—he was wiry to the last degree. The plan for the journey was as fol- lows: We were to leave Dakhla with every camel in_the caraven, including the hagins, loaded to thelr maximum carrying capacity with water-tanks and grain. At the end of every day’'s march a small depot was to be left, consisting of a pair of the small tanks I' had nad made for the Journey, and sufficient barley for the camels and food for the men for & day’s supply. Qway and Abdulla, who were to ac- company the caravan up to this point were then to go on ahead of the cara- van with their hagins loaded with only enough water and grain to take them | able to produce o much barle: out to the second hill and was to go on as much farther as he felt safe in the same direction, after which he was to retrace his steps until he met the caravan coming ont along the same route, bringing out water and supplies for his relief Abdulla’s Instructions were to go due south when he parted from Qway for two or, if possible, three daye. | | Then he was to strike off west till he | cut Qway's track, which be following, and return upon it till he met the caravan, which would then %0 on along the line of the old road we had found to complete our 15-days journey. and, if possible, push on till we had got right across the desert into the French Sudan I was not expecting great from Qway's journey, but he kne much about our plans and was useful A man in the desert to make it advisable to leave him behind us in Dakhla. where the Senussi might have made great use of him Abdulla was well armed, an exper- enced desert fighter, and, in spite of his “feathery” appearance, was a man with whom it would not be safe to trifle. Am there was a considerable amount of friction between him and Qway, owing to the Arab's overbear- ing attitude toward the Sudanesa in general, I had little fear of them com- bining. At the start Qway, it is true, we should | everything went well. though he did his hest to disgnise the fact, was evidently | my having heen But the rest of the men were in excellent spirita. The camels, in spite of their heavy loads, went g0 well that on the evening of the second day we reached the bushes, our first objective. I found that a well which I had dug the vear hefore to a depth of 30 faet had ‘silted up to more than half its depth with sand. Here we cut what firewood we wanted, and on the fol lowing morning Abdulla and Qway left the caravan and went ahead to- ward Jebel el Baved w8 WALKED with them for a short Aistance as they left. to final inatructions. I told them that we should closely follow their tracks. Having some experience of Qway's sauntering ways when scouting by himseif, 1 told him that he must make his camel put her best leg forward, and that if he did 1 would give him a big bakhshish at the end of Journey. He at once loat his temper. camel was his, he said, and he waa not going to override her, and he &hould go at whatever pace he chose. He was not working for me at all but he was working for Allah. My ohvious retort, that in that case there wA® no necessity for me to pay his wages, did not mend matters in the least, and he went off in a towering rage. The Senussi greatly put out by teach their followers “Certified” Families. 8 your family “certified?” Thik is the question that fond and cAre- ful parente may soon ask of anitors for the hands of their daughters. There Is a movement under way under the auspicer of the Eugenics Roclety of the United States of Amer- fea which will soon allow familles of satisfactory health, history and he- redity to obtain credentlals which distinguish them from those who can- not come up a high eugenic level, Magazine. Fitter family” competitions are now being put on at State fairs and exhibitions, and staffs of pro- fessional physicians, geneticists, pay- chologists and others examine these familes and score them in a manner somewhat comparable to the way in which stock and other fair ex- hibits are judged. The movement to certify families and individuals from a eugend and health standpoint originated with the firat competition held by the Kanaas free fair at Topeka Rlx vears ago, and this ar fitter family compe- titions have been held at seven large expositions and State fairs. In Kan- [sas the governor glves a sllver tro- phy cup to the blue ribbon family, and individualt who measure up to the high standards get a medal. A pfan is also being evolved which al- lows non-competitive examinations as well. Contestants arq scored upon the following data; Family his- tory and heredity, psychological meas- urements, psychiatric test, physcial and medical condition, condition of eyes, ears, nose and throat, condition of teeth, laboratory tests, health habita. ““The object of the fitter family movement is the stimulation of a feel- ing of family and racial consciousness " Dr. 8herbon ex- “We belleve that eventually there will be created a sentiment for certified families as distinguished from those who cannot or do not obtain evi- dence of being able to pass the rather rigid tests of the examinatio Not only have parents and children heen subject to test, but engaged cou- out to the main depot at Jebel el Bayed. Here they were to renew their supplies, go on for another d it gether and then separate. Quay was to follow dbdulla’s ¢ ples and single individuals_ of marriageable age have used fitter family competitions to assure them. selves that they are worthy of becom- ing_patents of the nexy Kenerations too | give them | the | The‘ COVERED THER SANDALS.” WITH THE GREAT SQUARE FOOTPRINTS OF THE that every moment of a man's life | should he devoted to the service of hix Creator: consequently, though he may be working for an earthly he must firat consider towards Allah. as having clalm upon his services Abd er Rahman. who had his the master, duty firat heen this T | watehing | distarnce | turbed when I got | | van. Qway, 1 { bt (tired) snd little ed v el per K to the cara viel ' feeling prophesied that we difficult journe Abd er Hahman | began 1o ko wron, The first two days after leaving had bheen cool, but shnnn spra up after we left the bushes and the day became Ming hot Towards L midday the internal pressure caused the expansion of the water and air in one of the tanks, restarted lenk that had been mended and the water began to trickle out of the hole We unloaded the camel and turned the tank round, so that the leak was uppermost and the dripping stopped But =oon leak started in another of the mended tar and by the evening the water in mo: of those I had with me was oozi at least one point, and them leaked from two places. O arriving In camp, T took the leaks in hand and stopped them with sealing wax. This loss of water Wwas a serfous matter very morn g I measured out the day's lowance for each man by means of a small tin; in face of the leakage from the tanks, I thought it ad Isable to cut down the allowance siderably e sealing wax I had put leaks effectually closed them wards noon the increasing melted the wax and soon they leaking as bhadly as eve the tanks, that had held out up to t point, also opened their seams in heat, and by the end of the d every single tank that 1 had Aripping its preclous contents on the ground. Only the small ones that | had mada for the depots waterproof. As the effectual ing, and the seams them with stopping hrought the seams the hiade This w | e he right: th almost it everal of or more e on the Lut to hent her e the sealing-wax_ proved in since the leaks were all in of the tanks, I plugged some_gutta-pe that 1 had with me, wedging it where they leaked of a knife 1< apparentl | the heat 1, though it was lfable to he loosened by rough usage, w great improvement on the wax the leaks were plugged too late ing the two while they wen, one tank had hecome entirely empf nd the others all lost a considerahie nortion of contents We contin fortunate into with Diir we almos ha ed our march, le: from | ere | remalined np till we re I found had not Jet ched The i Leen ade, as | in it the foot of kood balf-dav's ed, but a noth to see that iite In or- n was evie enving theun- Thrahim sand 10 the depoband 1 searching wned with & long % announcing that & water had heen thrown away. 1 hurri y depot, and he pointed out two large patches of sapd thickly crusted on the surface, shot- | ing that a very large amount. of watar | had heen spilt | We examined the depot itself, The [ sucks of grain were quite vuntoched, | but every ane of the large iron tanks vas practically empty, with the em- coption of one which was about haif full T'he little tanks intended for the smali depots i appear te have been tampered with, perhaps he- canse they would have ree some time to empty The n wh the oy ed the der dently = off loadin Dahab he went hegan peering the neighi [ e he ret the prec of pinca pourad “quare hborhood water had been was covered with the great wotprints made by Oway's leather sandals, and made it quite clear th it was he who had emptied the tanks. There wax no 1t of t mors rounded sandals worn by a on that side of the depot We followed Qway a short distance dred yards joined on e ik Abdu About depot 1t the smal Qua print mark the <hov heen turned Abdu camp t I seraped it off in the even. | the scheme vorking the unaffected by By Oil Pressure. itomobile of revolutior LUCRETIA E. N that golden age of high deavor, that sixteenth century daring exploration in the un- | known New World, what chap- | tere fn sheer romance were pen- | ned by those fearless men who, leav- | ing often rich estates in the sun-| washed hills of Spain, in “doublets | and cassocks of silk." in high cordo | van boots, with handsome swords at | | their sides, or else dressed all in| shining armor, searched through the | vine-tangled forests und dismal |swamps that bordered the Gulf of Mexico for, yes. for gold and silver and preclous stones, but chiefly for the fabled fountain of vouth. that| {they might drink of those magi | waters and be assured of an endless vouth with its inherent and limitless | ambitions. Their dreams of untold treasures were fashioned to sail the | sunny keas that are the morning hours of life. It mattered not at all that the| search for those transforming waters brough them unguessed hardships, sufferinga and disease. Always just hevond the trackleas forest lay the fountain. alwayve over the next crest of mountaine. Somewhere. it hidden oasie Iay fair as a palm-hordered | Spring in a houndless desert. and some |one, some dav. some where. would | make that last ultimate discovery. | that consummation that still haunts | the hearts of men | S0 on and ever on. under burning sune, through drenching rains., over | mosquito-Infested swamps. the dream | of gleaming vouth led them, these | fearless pathfinders in an uncharted land. ~ A fantastic adventure out of which came atartling discoveries of | new territories. and waterways, oceans and rivers, and bavs all but unknown. And for thelr monarchs a dazzling grandeur from hoped-for em | pires in the weatern realms Thus it came to be that south and { weat of the Gulf of Mexico Spain | bullt her ever-widening empire, the center of whose authority was sta- tioned in the Antilles. In the adven- turous year 1519 the Governor of Cuba dirpatched the intrepid Cortez ke a fair god to conquer the rich landa that lay north of the Iathmus of Panama. | " If the little expedition with “white- winged towera” thAt carried them Acrost the water. with thelr horses and their canndn. with their fair facer and shining armor. filled the in- habitante of that domain with awe and wonder, the high atate of civiliza- tion, the wealth, the courts of justice, the agricultural and mechaniecal arts, the sculpture and architecture of the people conquered waa cause enough for wonder on the part of the Fu- ropeans. Up to the time of the conquest of Mexico, the adventurers had found. not the elaborate courts and the high- 1y oivilized peoples of the Indles, but ever and alwavs the simple, rude In- dian, living in huts that gave at best but a bare shelter. Cortezx had plunged into the heart of the Astec civilization, for he captured their capi- tal, which was Mexico City, ruled over by Montezuma in a fashion both opu- lent and absolute. But he probably never satisfied his curlosity concern- ing the people among whom ha made his conquest. That solution was to be made in later centuries. Cortez never knew that the people | whom he conquered had come a cen- tury earlier from somewhere north- west of the high tableland of Mex- ie6 where he found them and had conquersd the Indian race already in possession there. They were all In- dians, possibly all of the same race or tribe, the Astecs developing in less than a century a civilization that sur prised men who had been accustomed to a high state of culture in the old world. The religion of a people is an in- dex of that people's progress, and Cortes found, as always, some con- filcting facts, some rites and cere- monies whose performance was less noble than the highest conception of the deity whom the Indians wor- shiped. But if the supreme god of the Astecs, he who is spoken of as “he who is all in himself” and ‘“he by whom we live” and who had no image, was sometimes offered bloody sacrifices, he could be propitiated not by such sacrifices but by incense and flowers. There were many gods whom these surprising palace-bullding. justicelov- ing Aztece held in high reverence, and it is one of the lesser of these divinities that we wish to speak about, for his altar place {8 now in Wash- ington, far from the land of those who paid their tribute to him. It is Xochipilll, god of flowsrs, ot whom | we write, wondariog as we dwell upon HEMINGTON. " en- | of | ! | silver | «un and moon and stars for him whether that intrepid conqueror of hir peaple. Cortez, ever atood hefore the imperturbable calm of his flower loving face. whether he ever wit nessed the fragrant ceremonies whose offerings wera the falrest blooms from the gardens of the kingdom of Monte- zuma Be that as it may. the centuries have thrice run their full cycle since those romantic days of Spanish glory in the Gulf of Mexico, and Xochiptili today sits in the calm reflection of divinity in the sunken garden rear of the Pan-American Union Build ing. And because they planned and built that structure with the perfec. of jewelers, they have chipilli & mirroring pool surface reflects to him endless mysteries of the clouds his un- whose the ceasing delight. The setting for his shrine is utter loveliness, with an atmosphere signed to shadow forth his original home, the home of his creators and worshipers, for in the white marble rafling back of him is inserted stone cut in Aztec designs, bits from some architectural achievement in that kingdom of cultured Indians, and still farther back. past the heautiful rail- ing and the pebbled drive, stande the annex, whose three.arched loggia ve HE IS NOT THE GOD OF FLOWERS. HE LOOKS DEN OF THE PAN in the | given | and | de- | MERICAN U velopment, from the hud to the falling petal With strange the figure is called apon it the “Sad Indian sorrow is visible in the face ahove 1 flower.decked garment. A deep co centration is there, a contemnlatic on the deep joy of his contente spirit: withdrawn. undisturbed. N vana-wise, he dreams awav the ho with eves half closed, wi n-d hreath, intent only upe beaut that clothes ftself in n varied forms. Smiles may hide great unhap piness. but a look of serious templation may conceal a peace 1 passes all understanding. So with Xochipilli If the carved figure the pedestal stone | worthy, for its four s in harmony with gure rest | upon it. Its faces are cut in fre work and designs compesed of wide | open flowers with butterflies | their corolias. of single flowers ar of butterflies drifting toward a hor der of petals. It ix a remarkable throne he sits upon. all but hidden now hy sprays of pefennial green As though the ivy vines were con- sclous of his utter joy in them. they have climbed into his arms like caress Ling children, their sturdy green, un of ohser those wh hut th it is | is remarkalle not less no es are carved is re iR AD INDIAN,” BUT XOCHIPILLI, THE AZTEC OUT FROM THE SUNKEN GAR- NION BUILDING. produces in Aztec tiling (its blue is like the blue of forget-me-nots) the best period of that Indian kingdom. The place of his habitation is truly ambient with local color: that he is Aztec no one could doubt. As is fitting for a god, nothing is known of his origin (save as all gods have their origin in the highest as- pirations of the human soul), for his statue, whose sculptor remains un- known, was dug up in Tlalmanalco, Btate of Mexico, during excavation there, and the stone that serves as his pedestal was found near the buried image. ‘The statue reveals the god seated upon the floor, with legs crossed, the half-closed hands raised a little to- ward the face in the human gesture of ecstasy, while the utterly satisfled face, with a serenity that nothing can disturb, is lifted infieep inhalation, for he smells the flowers always—it is their perfume_that rises like incense Everything about his dress is indic- ative of his passion for flowers. The manta or wrap that falls from his head to cover his neck and back is designed with a pattern of reeds or | canes, whose designation is that of fire. The ornaments at his ears are full-blown flowers, and upon his dress are flowers 1o varjous atages of de- ! dismayed by Winter's frost or Sum mer's heat, festooning his arms, his left shoulder that they may feel his heart beat, and hie lap; they have en- circled his feet in Nving chains to keep him from running away: and they have almost hidden his pedectal in the beauty of their three-pointed leaves, only o fall like a green cas- cade into the mirroring pool at his feet, all but concealing' the great frog's head that reaches out over the water. . Those vines have made him an in- tegral part of the whole garden: he is bound to it, held by the tenacious tenderness of living things. And vet he has no desire to leave his sunken garden, with its gracious pool, for he loves the waterdlilies whose green leaves lle upon the still water lke serried islands, showing here and there lotus blossoms white as carved ivory. And Xochipilll knows that whenthe sun draws the fragrance of the llles strongly the little alligator that lives in the pool will lie asleep on a lily-pad under his benign protection, While the gold fish weave fantastic patterns as they move lazily through the shallow depths ; It was for. his happiness that they planted Lombardy poplars in the garden, for there is no odor, save from Ipine Lees that is DALl a0 Iesinome, 4 Xochipilli, Aztec God of Flowers, At Shrine in Pan-American Buildin half <o pungent that of the u <. along eds unde the s or even i until ength in th vines. they against glow he willows - well, he knows v tips of the tr as a memorial | Fall. Any ane, and know that. just as he he will but ke the trouhle dogwood hlossoms are ter in the tight bude ti | stark branches. With it gination he woods a dreaming delight Later for him will be a W the roses It will he poured out him in the golden goblete of the sur prodigal in fragrance, rich and h | Roses? lle wears a chaplet of ! always, red and white and yellow. Ir sooth, garden roses are his | mooniit madrigal, as plangent as the song of the mocking bird heard in the ! noon of nignt Could any go from the Pan American Building without paying the | god of flowers a visit?> Then. if <o “tix a pity, for Xochipilli will bless one unaware, no matter what the sea 1 of the, vear, for in sunshine storm, in Summer or in Winter will continue to see. to hear, to smel the flowers, and his unshaken caln | will do the souf good, for his is the detached contemplation of these whoge peace ie won. Hie kingdom is flowers, a fair and fragile empire whose crown is. in truth and in fancs a cordlla. Fortunate that city holds his shrine beside the pool w the poplare make the ineffable saund of Summer rain in their gleaming leaves. could see see, if he thinks . ihatiike Win Aorn their o faith akes t one w— Testing Fake Gems. VEL clever institute Vienna, says Popular Mechanics, and have hecome special gem-testing eatablished in forgers that has J a bean similar studies are being carried on in_this country to detect imitations. Imitation diamonds are numerous and it is possible to make real ones in the laboratory, but the cost of the | process is about $200.000 a carat while natural ones can be purchased at from $100 to $300 a carat. Rubles can be made by laboratory methods in about six hours, and some of them are so nearly like the real stones that other tests than with the eyes are necessary to distinguish them. While the synthetic emerald has brilliance and realistic color, it usually can be told from a genuine one with little difficulty. They are often bullt up in three parts. which are fastened by invisible cement. Thae tep and the hottom part may he glaes crvstals cut in many facets with a thin shaving of a real emerald between them to give the color. Others rggv have a &light cavity between the f&o crvetals which is filled with a green liquid. Both imitations are easily detected by submerging the stone in a cartain kind of oil and holding.it up to the light. —- Temperature of Mars. JEVEN if we should find a way to get < over to Mars, we couldn't go—at least not until wo had rigged up gome sort of an electric suit that would ake heat with us. For, landing on that in- hospitable shore, we should freeze more solid than icicles, owing to the extreme severity of the climate, ac- cording to Popuiar Selence Monthly. Dr. W. B. Coblentz of the Bureau of Standards, using extraordinarily del- fcate instruments of his own invention has concluded that 100 degrees below zero is just ordinary temperature in our frigid neighbor's clime. Almost every night in Winter, he says, it goes down to degrees Centigrade, or 158 degrées Fahrenheit Dr. Coblentz made many of his measurements in Arizona last Augist, when Mars was in an unusually closq Doeition 1g.2he sgrths