War in the Garden of Eden | Page 8

seventy miles of railroad from Baghdad to Samarra were
built by the Germans, being the only Mesopotamian portion of the
much-talked-of Berlin-to-Baghdad Railway, completed before the war.
It was admirably constructed, with an excellent road-bed, heavy rails
and steel cross-ties made by Krupp. In their retreat the Turks had been
too hurried to accomplish much in the way of destruction other than
burning down a few stations and blowing up the water-towers. The

rolling-stock had been left largely intact. There were no
passenger-coaches, and you travelled either by flat or box car. Every
one followed the Indian custom of carrying with them their
bedding-rolls, and leather-covered wash-basin containing their
washing-kit, as well as one of the comfortable rhoorkhee chairs. In
consequence, although for travel by boat or train nothing was provided,
there was no discomfort entailed. The trains were fitted out with
anti-aircraft guns, for the Turkish aeroplanes occasionally tried to "lay
eggs," a by no means easy affair with a moving train as a target.
Whatever the reason was, and I never succeeded in discovering it, the
trains invariably left Baghdad in the wee small hours, and as the station
was on the right bank across the river from the main town, and the boat
bridges were cut during the night, we used generally, when returning to
the front, to spend the first part of the night sleeping on the station
platform. Generals or exalted staff officers could usually succeed in
having a car assigned to them, and hauled up from the yard in time for
them to go straight to bed in it. Frequently their trip was postponed, and
an omniscient sergeant-major would indicate the car to the judiciously
friendly, who could then enjoy a solid night's sleep. The run took
anywhere from eight to twelve hours; but when sitting among the
grain-bags on an open car, or comfortably ensconced in a chair in a
"covered goods," with Vingt Ans Après, the time passed pleasantly
enough in spite of the withering heat.
While still a good number of miles away from Samarra we would catch
sight of the sun glinting on the golden dome of the mosque, built over
the cleft where the twelfth Imam, the Imam Mahdi, is supposed to have
disappeared, and from which he is one day to reappear to establish the
true faith upon earth. Many Arabs have appeared claiming to be the
Mahdi, and caused trouble in a greater or less degree according to the
extent of their following. The most troublous one in our day was the
man who besieged Kharthoum and captured General "Chinese" Gordon
and his men. Twenty-five years later, when I passed through the Sudan,
there were scarcely any men of middle age left, for they had been
wiped out almost to a man under the fearful rule of the Mahdi, a rule
which might have served as prototype to the Germans in Belgium.

[Illustration: Golden Dome of Samarra]
[Illustration: Rafting down from Tekrit]
Samarra is very ancient, and has passed through periods of great
depression and equally great expansion. It was here in A.D. 363 that the
Roman Emperor Julian died from wounds received in the defeat of his
forces at Ctesiphon. The golden age lasted about forty years, beginning
in 836, when the Caliph Hutasim transferred his capital thither from
Baghdad. During that time the city extended for twenty-one miles
along the river-bank, with glorious palaces, the ruins of some of which
still stand. The present-day town has sadly shrunk from its former
grandeur, but still has an impressive look with its great walls and
massive gateways. The houses nearest the walls are in ruins or
uninhabited; but in peacetime the great reputation that the climate of
Samarra possesses for salubrity draws to it many Baghdad families who
come to pass the summer months. A good percentage of the inhabitants
are Persians, for the eleventh and twelfth Shiah Imams are buried on
the site of the largest mosque. The two main sects of Moslems are the
Sunnis and the Shiahs; the former regard the three caliphs who
followed Mohammed as his legitimate successors, whereas the latter
hold them to be usurpers, and believe that his cousin and son-in-law,
Ali, husband of Fatimah, together with their sons Husein and Hasan,
are the prophet's true inheritors. Ali was assassinated near Nejef, which
city is sacred to his memory, and his son Husein was killed at Kerbela;
so these two cities are the greatest of the Shiah shrines. The Turks
belong almost without exception to the Sunni sect, whereas the
Persians and a large percentage of the Arabs inhabiting Mesopotamia
are Shiahs.
The country around Samarra is not unlike in character the southern part
of Arizona and northern Sonora. There are the same barren hills and the
same glaring heat. The soil