THE GATEWAY TO THE SAH ARA

ADVENTURES AND OBSERVATIONS IN TRI OLI ‘ P

THE GATEW AY TO THE SAHARA

ADVENTURES AND OBSERVATIONS IN TRIPOLI

BY CHARLES WELLINGTON FURLONG,

W ITH ILLUSTRATIONS B Y TH E AUTH OR FROM PAINTINGS N C OLOR DR W NGS N B L CK AND I , A I I A W H E AND PH O OGR PH S IT , T A

NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION

NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER’ S SONS

1914 O C P RI G B T . 1 909 , 1 9 14 , B Y ¥ ' C HARLE S S C RIB NER S SONS

PREFACE

I PO LI In B arbar onl Mohamme TR , y, is the y

- state A dan ruled in Northern frica, the last c Turkish possession on that ontinent, and out side its own confines is little known . Nowhere in Northern Africa can the life of town , oasis , and desert be found more native

H OW and typical than in Tripolitania . long before the primitive customs of this people will give w ay before the progressive aggression of i some Chr stian power , and the picture of an ancient patriarchal life be tarnished with the

ma cheap veneer of a commercial vanguard , y be answered any morning by the cable news of the daily paper . The great dynamic forces of modern civiliza tion cause events to march with astounding swiftness . Tripoli , in Barbary, is already in the eye of Europe ; to-morrow the Tripoli of - m to day ay have vanished . We have recently skirted the edge of Morocco W with the French legions , sojourned for a hile [Vii] PREFACE

- S in far famed Biskra , wandered in outhern Tunisia and felt the charm and subtile influ

A e ence of the Garden of llah , and have visit d

— the Pyramids by electric car . But that vast middle region , Tripoli , where the great range of the Atlas runs to sand and the mighty desert

e meets the sea, has been left unentered , und scribed . 1 904 N June, , found me a second time in orth A frica ; previously it was Morocco , the western most outpost of the Orient, now it was Tripoli , A the easternmost state of Barbary . specially vised Turkish passport let me into T he Gate w ay to the Sahara— the first American to enter in two years . Within these pages by word and picture I have endeavored to give an insight into this most native of the Barbary capitals , its odd and fascinating customs , industries , and incidents ; a View of those s trange and interesting people who inhabit the oases and table-lands of Tripoli and tania , their primitive methods patriarchal life ; an account of the hazardous vocation of the Greek sponge divers off the Tripoli coast ;

9. story of the circumstances surrounding the dramatic episode of the burning of the United [viii] PREFACE

a Philadel hia 1804 St tes Frigate p in , and of my discovery of the wrecked hull below the waters of Tripoli harbor in 1 904 ; a narrative of some personal adventures which occurred during a trip alone with Arabs over some two hundred miles of the Great Sahara ; and a description of the daily life and vicissitudes of the camel S and the aharan caravans , of the trails over

which they travel, and of the great wastes which

surround them . In recording the impressions of town and desert it has been my endeavor throughout this volume with pen and with brush to paint with

at full color , to surround fact with its proper mosphere and to set it against its most telling

ar background . Events e described so far as

possible in their order of sequence, but it has seemed preferable to present them in subject

completeness rather than in diary form . The history of Tripolitania has been practically

eliminated from the body of the book , being condensed within a four page Historical ” Note .

The native words introduced , are for the most part in common use among the few English and A other foreigners , and are usually rabic or local [i PREFACE vernacular modifications of it ; throughout the most simplified spelling has been adhered to . Translation is in most cases parenthetically given with the first occurrence of a foreign word

In re and also the glossary , when a word is

ea d p te . Of that portion of the material which has al in ready been presented magazine articles , the

’ main part has appeared in H arper s Magaz ine ;

’ The World s Work The Out the remainder in ,

’ l ook A e on s Ma l t az ine. , and pp g My sincere acknowledgments are due to ' m . i li m l a . y friend Mr F Riley, of Tripoli ,

Consul for Norway and the Netherlands , who by his ever-helpful advice and untiring efforts A rendered me invaluable service ; to Mr . lfred

- Dickson , then British Vice Consul , for his timely help and interest ; to the rest of that little coterie of kind friends in Tripoli who showed me every courtesy and attention during my

— Mr A S In sojourn there . rthur aunders , charge A t of the cable station , M . ugus e Zolia, Chan cell or A - of the ustro Hungarian Consulate , and

R d ed P . e Mr . W H . Venables ; also to j asha for numerous privileges and kind assistance ; to the Greek naval officers and sailors stationed [X ] PREFACE at Tripoli for generous aid in work over the wreck of the United States Frigate Phil adel

h — in to B a s i ia t s . p particular Captain , Dr hin Z s t. o rafidis S e . S to Georges p , and Dr g ; P A t Am Mr . David Todd , rofessor of s ronomy , herst College , for letters ; to Rabbi Mordecai

Kohen , librarian of the synagogue , and to faith ful black Salam who proved his worth in time of need .

C . W. F .

NOTE TO SECOND EDITION

SINCE the first edition of this volume the pre diction ventured in its p reface and on its last two pages has been fulfilled and Tripoli has entered a new era of its history . To complete the romantic story and more fully depict the

-da C Tripolitania of to y , two hapters with illus trations have been added to this edition and include the relation of Tripolitania to the

k 0 Mediterranean question , a résumé of the ’ Italian War and an account of Italy s real—estate A ' li venture in North frica , from the moral , po t ‘ i i - e . ical , m litary , and econom c vi w points Side by side with the Italian renaissance of Tripolitania— Libia Italiana— W ill drift the old patriarchal life of Barbary ; the camel and his driver will long compete with the iron horse and A for many , many years rab , Berber, Black , and Bedawee will pitch their tents in the oases

- and on the sun scorched desert sands .

[xiii]

C ONTENTS

P A G E — Date palms— Their value— Markets or suks Trans portation— Horses— Description of the Tues day Market— A market crowd— A knife seller Character of Arab merchants— An Arab sharper Arab barbers— Fruit— Corn sellers— Butcher shops —A marabout— Cofiee houses— A mental mirage Two points of v iew .

CHAPTER FOUR

SXLAM A US SL , HA A AVE Black nomads— Si lam— Slave statistics— Hansaland Haus as— Slavery— Slave rights— Slave t raffic ’ Tribute-paying system— Freedom— Si lam e capture —Slave life —Gambling— Cowries— Gambling away ’ ’ freedom— Bashaws persecution— Sil am s master resists Bashaw— Salam sold— Kano— Trade of Kano and Sudan— Tuaregs— Products of Kano— Slave car ’ avans — Kola nuts— Sil am s j ourney— A Tuareg fight— Kola nuts— Si lam sold several times— His master Hadji Ahmed— Escapes t o Ouragl a— Tends camels— Second escape— Sufferings of the j ourney — Reach Ghadfimes— Sent to Tripoli— Arrival in Tripoli— Obtains freedom— Sala Heba— Hadji Ah ’ med again— Plan f or Si l am s recapture— Scheme — — foil ed r A Sudanese dance A brush with Black — ’ fanatics Si l am s courage .

CHAPTER FIVE

MAS KE D TUAREGS The masked h an gs— Tuareg conf ederation— Tuareg territory— Character— Methods of brigandage Dangers of the trails— Repri sal s— Tuareg convoys — Adventure of tw o French offi cers— Tuaregs of white race— Religion— Character— Massacre of White Fathers— Flatters expedition— Marri age W omen— Social system— Tuareg slaves— First Tu arege seen— Tuareg costumes— W eapons— Shadow ing — Unsuccessful attempt t o photograph them Asgar Tuaregs— Bartering— The Tuareg mask The Sect of the Senusi— The telek and other Tuareg — — weapons The Asgars again The picture obtained . CONTENTS

CHAPTER SIX P A G E “

S . IG T P TH E DIS COVE RY O F T H E U . FR A E H ILA DE L PHIA

’ The Mediterranean— B ashaw s Castle— Grounding of Philadel hia— The u n — Th S . a e e e U . Frig t p s rr d r e burning by Decatur— Local traditions— Jewish rec ords found— Hadji-cl -Ouachi— An Arab tradition ’ ’ —The old Arab s story— Ol d guns— B ushag our s houses— More specific resul ts— Start t o explore har ’ bor— Discovery of a vessel s ribs below water— The Philadelphia— Diving— Condition of the vessel Second expedition with machine bo ats and sponge e — S e o on and oc on of ec e e div rs iz , p siti , l ati wr k d t r mined— Third and last expedition— Sponge divers — a ou o again P rts br ght t surface . CHAPTER SEVEN GREEK SPONGE DI VERS

’ Tripoli s three principal industries— Minor industries and resources— Tripoli Harbor— Commerce of Port of Tripoli— Casualties of one month— ! ui cksands and reefs— B arb ary ports— Arab galleys— Exports — The sponge grounds— Some unpleasant facts Treatment of Greek sponge divers— Greek hospi ’ tal staff— Methods of diving— Divers paralysis Theory concerning it— Cure— A fatal case— Aboard a sponge boat— Methods of fishing — A Sponge fleet Depth a nd time of diving— Diver and shark— Pre paring f or the season— Outfitting— Contract condi ’ tions— Pay— The day s work— Preparing f or the de s cent— The descent— Obtaining sponges— ! ualities — What the diver sees— Manner of ascent— Brutality practised— Preparation of sponges— Value— Bleach — — ing Night on a sponge boat The end of the season. CHAPTER EIGHT

T H E ES PARTO PICKERS Esparto grass or halfa— Esparto regions— Esparto pickers— Description of grass— Wages— Methods of gathering— Dangers— Cons eq uences— Loading cam [xv ii] CONTENTS

PA G E el s Halfa season Transporting Dangers en route— Importance of es parto t radeg Its use Am ount exported— The Suk - el —Halfa— Methods of auctioning the scales -Methods of buying— Market values— W eighing— Ancient devi ces— Trans ferring t o private suks— An accident— Black workers— A sad scene— ! ualities of esparto— Scorpions — Hy ‘ ’ draulic pressé s— Baling up— The day s work— Pay ing ofi — The Black vill age — An incoming steamer — Exportation of halfa— American shipping— Pre paring halfa f or shipment— Manner of shipping Disasters— Thieving propensities of stevedores— A dire instance— Relative importance of trade— A n — summi g up Its other uses . CHAPTER NINE CARAVAN TRADE The gateway to the Sahara— The Sahara— Area — Fopu lation— The trade routes— Ghadames— The Caravan trade— Tripoli merchants— Profits and losses— C ara vans— Sudanese marts— The v oyage— Cargoes Camels used— Caravan sheiks— The firman— Priv ilege f or an Occidental t o travel— Securing a drago man— Outfitting — The horse-trader— Starting with a caravan —Meeting the caravan sheik— Mohammed Ga-w ah-je— Through the oasis— A caravan on the march at night— A stop at Fondfik -el -Tajur a ’ Fondfik s described— The caravan at rest— The day s fare— Night in the f ondfik — The start— Early morn ing— The desert— Caravan trails— The warm rains — W ells— Mann er of travelling— The midday rest h — Uses and abuses of t e baracan Passing caravans . CHAPTER TEN

DES ERT INCIDENTS B edaw i Manner of life Occupations W omen — Appearances— Labor— Social system— A home ward—bound caravan— It s merchandise— A high — temperaturew -Monotony of travel Fascination of little things— Caravaneers— Desert thieves— The sand-storm— Murzuk— Slaves— The Sect of the Se nusi— A bit of deception- A camp in a garden [xviii] CONTENTS

PAG' ’ Night marauders— The old carav aneer s story— A ’ caravan attacked— Value of goods lost — Tripoli s n caravan trade diminishi g . CHAPTER ELEVEN

Acq uaintance with the camel— An epitome of the desert— His history— Kinds of camels— Bargaining — Breeds of camels— Meaning of dromedary— Rid ing a baggager— Driving a camel— C amels in market — Feeding— The camel market— Breeding plac es Camel raisers— B nying a camel— Biters— Means of defence and attack— C haracter— C amel doctor Pas sing in a narrow w ay — A mehari or riding camel — C omparison with dr aft camel— Manner of riding — Eq uipment— Travelling ability of mehara— Dis moun n — C ose acq ua n ance the came ti g l r i t with l ' Physical characteristics— B almand his white nakat (she camel)— Drinking— Adj ustment of loads ’ Saddles— Camel s adaptation t o environment Desert song s— Camel lore— A black camel— Manner of driving camels— Punishment— Mortality— Dan gers Of bad ground— Ol d Bakri and his blind camel — ’ A camel s last days . CHAPTER TWELVE ’ A NIGHT S RIDE W ITH ARAB BANDITS Desert travelling— People met with— Consideration of diet— Clothes— Camping outfit— Obtaining foo d Birds— B edawi— Boundary marks— Hard travel ling— Muraiche suspected— Arrival at Khoms The burden of the trail — Audience with Governor Visit Roman ruins— A Roman harbor— Grounds f or suspicion— Men mutiny— Start f or Kussabat delayed —Good advi ce— A late start— View of Khoms Guard unwelcome Leader-hip decided Night s chemes— Apprehensions — Small caravan passed Fol lowed by thieves— Attempt to ambush— Strat egy necessary— Use Muraiche as screen— Ali tries to run— Mohammed attempts t o strike — Reached Kus sabat — Sleep on a f ondiik roof— The reason f or treachery— Guard leaves— Journey continued— a ’ r r — n b ief est A ight s sleep . [xiX ] CONTENTS

CHAP TER THIRTEEN PA G E A DES ERT EPIS ODE

— — A desert fortres s Suspected A desert host elry Native curiosity— A Turkish officer— Cro ss examina tion— Firman demanded— Officer intrudes— An un m — — welco e invitation An Ar abian night The Turk returns — Attempts force— Remain at lokanda Lokanda locked f or the night— Go outside— Lo kanda under surveillance— Awakened by soldier Officer appears — A ccompanies us— Later sends soldiers— Fast travelling— The guards tire— Guards eluded— Accosted by Z abtie— Reach Thipoli— See Pasha. CHAPTER FOURTEEN

DES ERT The call of the desert— It s area— Character — Desert races W ater W ell s Sand formations Sand storms— Passing caravans — Desert as a highway Ancient peoples— Economic possibilities— Economic value of desert— Past and present— A desert theory — Sudan encro aching— A desert night— Tripoli t o da and o-morro y t w. CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Peaceful Tripoli— Firs t shell fired— Tripoli demoral iz ed— Mediterranean and balance of power— Pan Germanism— Chauv inism— Triple Alliancc erlin Treaty and Tripolitania— Tobruk Bay— C auses of “ I a ian a res s on and u ma um— Sic Man of t l ”gg i lti t k Euro e — S es in Tr o an a— Mora o ca p pi ip lit i l, p liti l, and m ar V e - o n s Res ec e nav ieSH ' ilit y i w p i t p tiv 1\Irks scuttle their ships— Tripoli def ences— Nechet — — m B ey Humanity of Turks Oasis an armed ca p — Desert phantoms— North Afri can campaign com pared— D esert warfare— Transportation and water ’ “ ” — Italy s plan of campaign— Cafes and movies Sand sculptures— Campaign scourges— Itali an mili — — - m tary resources T urkis h resources Pan Isla ism [X X ] CONTENTS

P A G. —Secret sect of the Senousi— Env er Bey— Des ert — — communication Airships and automobiles Ital — ian reprisals— T urks wonderful fighters The Peace — of Lausannch -Some treaty terms Italian sov et m eignty proclaimed fro Castle.

CHAPTER SIX TEEN

PRICE OF A C OLONY ’ — — Italy s real -estate v enture Its cost Turkey now a connected empire — Cost of the war— Its monetary levy enormous— Fearful toll in men— C ost of devel Oping Tripolitania— Its commerceb Labor— Arabs migrating— Crowded Italy— An economic v iew point— Of three El Dorados— which — Hard times a war result— Methods of obtaining water— Floods — Date palms— Other products— Effect of over-tax ation— The great carriers— Harnessing rivers— An cient cultivators— Progress of Italian occupation Organizing nativ e troops Continued fighting Methods of Amelioration— Arab police — Hassuna Pas ha Administration Improv ements After math in Italy of the war— Schools f or Arabs— Res toration of old arch— Harbor proj ects— Grav e of the Philadel phia— C ommerce and trade — Tripoli tania a long problem— C omparison with Timisia and Algeria— Does war pay to the victor — The n I — ne ew taly The w Tripoli. GLOS SARY

[xxil

ILLUSTRATIONS

From the near side o a amel I took the icture f c , p

We came to a heap of rust-eaten cannon

Machine-boat and diver f rom Gr eek N av y at work over the Phil adelphia

The ba dark heav s on es was hauled g of , y p g aboard

A deposit boat

in es arto rass in t e -e - a In Weigh g p g h Suk l H lfa . (

Strode away with the bier qf their tribesman

A black sheik

Trade carav an resting in the heat of the day

“ A homeward-bound garfla suddenly l oomed up be f ore us

’ Muraiche and men descending a desert defile

A camel pasture

Mehara f eeding f rom a stone manger

The af terglow against w hich moved the dark ” s hapes of horses and men

The guard lef t us the next morning

H is hand s hot out and seiz ed me strongly by the wri st

We gav e the animals f ull rein and das hed down the ravine [xxiv] ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing page

A Bedaween caravan on the march, with a s and storm roac in I n color app h g . ( )

I/ike ossiliz ed wav es o the sea f f , each other in endl ess monotony

Rolling dunes of sand take on s hapes w eird and picturesque

’ General Caneva procl aiming the sovereignty of Italy in the courtyard of the castl e

ra on l ar under Has suna P asha who have A b c stabu y , been enlisted in the Italian s ervice

MAPS

a o Northern A rica showin resent olitica M p f f , g p p l divisions and principal caravan routes

Map of town and harbor of Tripoli llI ap of Tripolitania

HISTORICAL NOTE

A S KETC H OF TRIPO LITANIA FRO M PRE -H IS TO RIC

T IME S TO T O -DA Y

W E L E P o T V centuries before Christ, h enician traders had worked their w ay along the southern shores of the Mediterranean and up its Oleander fringed rivers , until their galley keels grated on

L bia r the fertile shores of y [Tunisia] . He e hordes of armed warriors , swarming ashore , planted their standards high above the fragrant broom which covered the golden hillsides , and b O utili as centuries rolled y , [Utica] and other cities were reared, among them Carthage . At P the close of the Third unic War, Carthage l ay in ruins and the whole coast territory of

A P r P frica, from the y amids to the illars of

Hercules , became subject to the Romans , and

T rI olitania the territory we now know as p , a

a province of the C esars .

Le tis Sabrata an Three cities , p , , and Oea , ciently constituted a federal uni on known as [xxvii] HISTORICAL NOTE

the t Tripolis , while dis rict governed by their Concilium Annum was called Lybia Tripoli

a . t nia On the site of Oea modern Tripoli , in f Barbary , now stands . Tripolis su fered the A varying fortunes of a Roman frican colony, the yoke weighing heaviest under Count Ro '

Val ntinium . e A . 3 64 . manus in the reign of , D Then came the sacking by the Austerians and wild native tribes from the deserts , encouraged by the policy of Genseric , the invading Vandal king .

641— 668 Before the reign of Constans II, , we

find the name, wealth , and inhabitants of the province gradually centred in Oea , the mari

6 . time capital of Tripolis ; 47 A D . saw the A beginning of the great rab invasion , which , l gathering force , sent the resist ess tidal wave of the J chad [Holy War] sweeping across Barbary .

It broke down what was left of Roman rule , merged the wild Berber aborigines into the great S sea of Islam , inundated pain , flooded even to P the gates of oitiers before it was checked ,

then , slowly receding , finally found its level south of the Straits of Gibraltar and the Middle

Sea .

Since that remote past the flags of various [xxviii] HISTORICAL NOTE nations of the Cross have for brief periods flung their folds in victory over this Mo slem strong hold . When the caravels of Charles V, of

S a i p in , were mak ng conquests in Mexico and P li eru , that monarch presented Tripo and

Malta to the Knights of St . John on their ex

e S a pulsion from Rhod s by the Turkish ult n,

S . oliman the Magnificent Later , in the six teenth S r century, oliman drove them f om Trip oli and received the submission of the Barbary S tates . In 1714 the Arabs of Tripoli gained inde pendence from their Turkish rulers and for over a century were governed by their own bashaws .

1801 c In , on ac ount of the unbearable piracy e of the Tripolitans , war was d clared between 1 804 S . Tripoli and the United tates In , but for the blocking by our government of the scheme and land expedition of General William

o W Eat n when Tripoli was ithin his grasp, the

- a S a s too sixteen st rred banner of the United t te , , would undoubtedly for a time have supplanted l P o . n the Flag of the r phet Thus , not o y would the imprisoned crew of the P hiladelphia in

e Tripoli have been fre d , but our shame as a [xxixl HISTORICAL NOTE tribute-pay ing nation to the Barbary states mit i at ed P 0 1 8 5 . g . eace was concluded in Thirty y ears later Tripoli again came under 19 1 1 Turkish rule , since which time until the crescent flag of the Ottoman waved there undis t urbed and Tripoli continued to steep herself in the spirit of Islam , indifferent and insensible to the changes of the outer world .

’ At 3 P M 3 19 1 1 - ro . . October , a war ship s shell p

’ f or claimed Italy s campaign against Tripoli , and over a y ear Cross and Crescent again clashed on ’ Tripolitania s shores , drenching its sands in blood . 18 In the late afternoon of October , in the

HOtel - Beau Rivage at Ouchy , Turkish and Italian peace plenipotentiaries had been closeted since ten that morning . Without , the broad terrace flooded with warm sunlight was crowded with its fashionable throng at afternoon tea ; from the At orchestra flowed the soft strains of a waltz . exactly Naby B ey stepped toward Signor ” Bertilini S and said , Gentlemen; we will ign ,

and the Treaty of Lausanne became a fact . Italian sovereignty was proclaimed over Tripol itania and Cy renaica , the Turk stepped from his last foothold in Africa— christened by modern

L a ali Rome ibi It ana . !m !

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA slowly filtered through the tardy night mists and mingled with the rose flush of approaching day .

Two silver moons dimly floated , one in a gray

‘

In . A silver sky , the other a gray silver sea strip of shore streaked between ; in gray stencilled silhouette a Moorish castle broke the centre of

sk - its y line ; slender minarets , flat housetops , and heavy battlements flanked in a crescent west ward , and the delicate palm fringe of the oasis

adan— c dimmed away east . The all to prayer i drifted away over the sleep ng city and harbor . The gilded crescents of the green-topped arets in glints of orange-gold heliographed the coming of the rising sun : the shadows of night

- seemed to sink below the ground line , and the white-walled city lay shimmering through a

- transparent screen of wriggling heat waves . The coast of North Africa from Tunis east ward does not meet the converging water routes A short of its eastern extremity at Suez . long the Seaboard of this territory the Mediterranean laps the desert sand and over the unbounded

- sun scorched reaches of Tripoli and Barca , to

- the border land of Egypt, wild tribes control the vast wastes . The great territory of Tripolitania embraces [ 2 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

the what is known as the vilayet of Tripoli ,

Fezzan to the south , and the province of Barca on the east , governed as an integral part of Tur key . The Pashalic of Tripoli includes that por tion of the vilayet extending from Tunisia to the t southernmos point of the Gulf of Sidra . Of all 1 A Barbary , Tripolitania is most truly frican . It Is Situated equally distant from the three entrances of the Mediterranean and is the focus

e S of the three gr at caravan routes from the outh . ’ Tripoli s freedom from European occupation may be attributed to three causes : her isolation

a from the main highways of commerce , the p parent sterility of her desert plateaus as com pared with the more fertile Atlas regions of the

c other Barbary states , and the fa t that she is a vilayet of the Turkish Empire . The anchor chain rattled through the hawse

Adri a . pipe oi the S . S . Her nose swung slowly

into the wind , a soft south wind laden with all those subtle and mysteri ous influences of that t s range land , tempting one on against its gentle pressure , as though to lure him far back into

those desert reaches from whence it came .

l B arbar e er nc u e the our s a es— orocco Al er a y (B rb y) i l d d f t t M , g i ,

Tun s a and Tr o an a. i i , ip lit i [ 4 ] TRIPOLI IN BARBARY A m knock at the door of y cabin , and a short . W iry Englishman looked out from beneath a broad panama which shaded his keen, laughing eyes . “ ’ He extended his hand . I m William Riley ; our friend ’ s letters reached me and I ’ ve just

a u come aboard ; but I s y, bustle p, if you want to get through with those Turks at the Custom P ” House . erhaps I can help you , and he did as t soon as I mentioned cer ain articles in my outfit . “ It might go badly with either of us if we ” sit down too hard on this ammunition , he m remarked , glancing at the bagging seat of y ’ trousers , as we stepped upon the stone customs quay from the Arab galley which brought us ashore .

1 M e Red ed P y vis ed passport was sent to j asha, the Turkish Military Governor . The customs A passed , two rabs with my luggage followed in our wake up the narrow streets of one of the most Oriental coast towns of North Africa

S . Tripoli , the Gateway to the ahara

- As . we left the Custom House , Mr Riley A pomted to a well curb on our right . few days ago a Greek merchant engaged some men to

as a is Tur s as a A a c for c e Be or o ernor. P h ki h, B h w r bi , hi f, y G v [ 5 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA clean out that well , which for years has been a receptacle for refuse of all kinds . The first Arab to go down was overcome at the bottom by poisonous gases ; a second descended to assist

“ i him and was overcome ; likew se a third , a fourth , a fifth . More would have followed had l not the crowd prevented . A l five lost their lives , the last one dying yesterday . The Greek merchant who engaged them was thrown into

na s prison and fined twenty p [napoleons] because ,

as the Turkish officials charged , the men would not have died had he not asked them to go down . During my stay within the bastioned walls of

l okanda Tripoli , my quarters were in a [hostelry] kept by an Italian family . This characteristic A - rab house , with its plain walled exterior and open square inner court designed to capture as little heat and as much light as possible , was on ' - the A rbar Ars itt [Street of the Four Columns] . A No one ever brags of the ” wideness of rab the A -Arsfit streets , and despite the fact that rbar was a Tripoline boulevard , from necessity rather than from choice I often discreetly retreated to a doorway or side street from an oncoming widely burdened camel . The Arbar-Ars at b ecame my friend and chron [ 6 ] TRIPOLI IN BARBARY

icl er . Through the busy hum and drone of -b - passers y at morning and evening tide , through the hot quiet of siesta time and cool stillness of

u night, there drifted p to my window the story

o of the life of a picturesque pe ple , replete in the ever-varying romance and bright imagery of the

East . Daily under my window a Black mother ensconced herself in the doorway with her child , where she crooned a mournful appeal to passers

A s b by . lms are often given the e town beggars y

m , their ore , fortunate brothers for says the “ ” Koran , it is right so to do . The following , however, may illustrate an interesting but not uncommon exception to the r ule “ In A the name of llah give alms , wailed a beggar to a richly dressed Moor who was walking ahead of me . “ A May llah satisfy all thy wants , replied the wealthy one and passed on . The wealthy one u once picked p bones for a living . The percentage of these beggars and other natives troubled with ophthalmia is very great In

Tripoli , as in many Oriental cities , due in part to the fierce sun glare and the fine desert sand

ibli i blown by the g [desert wind] , but ma nly to [ 7 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

So . the flies . it is not surprising that many of these people become blind through sheer igno — A ' rance and lethargy . But then llah wills A Tripoli bestirs herself early . few steps

A -Arsat down the rbar , my friend Hamet, a seller of fruits and vegetables , and his neighbor, the - S one eyed dealer in goods from the udan , take down the shutters from two holes in the walls , spread their stock , and , after the manner of all good Mohammedans , proclaim in the name of the Prophet that their wares are excellent . The majority of those who drift along the Arbar-Ars at are of the four great native races of Tripoli

Berbers , descendants of the original inhabitants ;

A o rabs , progeny of those c nquerors who overran the country centuries ago ; the native Jew ; and t lastly , itineran Blacks who migrate from the

A - The Berbers , like the rabs , are a white race people whose countless hordes centuries ago flooded over Northern Africa; coming from no

’ Hame s one knows where . That one by t shop

. baracan stops to examine some figs His , the

1 prevailing outer garment of Tripolitans , has

Tr o ans s n fie the eo e of the err or Tr o ine ip lit ig i s p pl t it y, ip l a dwell er in the town of Tripoli .

TRIPOLI IN BARBARY m slipped fro his head , which is closely shaved , save for one thick lock of ha ir just back of the

Ab Hanif ah to . u p , the seer , so goes the story ,

a advocated this lock of hair, that in b ttle the impure hands of the infidel might not defile the decapitated Moslem mouth or beard . in Whatever their station life , in appearance and bearing the Arabs of to-day are worthy sons of their forbears , who forced kings of Europe to tremble for their thrones and caused her scholars to bow in reverence to a culture and learning at that time unknown to the barbarians of the

North . Look at the swarthy Hamet in full trousers

of and shirt white cotton , squatting in the shadow

‘ As of his shop awning . he rises to greet a richly Sa dressed Moor, la Heba, the slave dealer , each places his right hand in turn on his heart, lips , and

‘ temenah forehead , thus through the [greeting] , “ a m saying , Thou h st a place in y heart, on my ” lips, and thou art always in my thoughts . Had these two Arabs exchanged the cotton garments

- and the gold threaded turban , scarlet haik, and yellow embroidered slippers , neither would have lost his superb dignity, for either could well have graced the divan of a Bashaw . [ 9 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

In The Blacks , mostly nomadic and fewest S numbers , come fromthe outh to escape the crack of the slave whip or migrate in small tribes from A S . t the udan no great distance from Tripoli , a under the sh dow of the palm groves of the oasis , a tribe of Hausas have erected their palm

r thatched z e ebas . Within this village they have their chief and laws after the manner of the na tive life of the interior .

Many of these Blacks are caravan men , but n find employment I and about the town , Often along the Arbar-Arsfit I have watched these powerful fellows carry to and from the town wharves and fondil ks [caravansaries] heavy loads of merchandise suspended on long poles slung w acrosstheir shoulders . Some of them sho ed great calf muscles playing under deep-grooved scars like those which slashed their cheeks and tem

— o f ples brands either their tribe or of servitude .

Last but not least, however, is the native Jew . In every town of Barbary where the Arab tol crates him there in the Mell ah [Jewish quarter] he is found . Never seeming to belong there , yet

man omnipresent from the earliest times , he has his A aged not only to exist beside rab neighbors , but has thriven . [ 10 ] T RIPOLI IN BARBARY

First and most important of the intrusive foreign element are the Turkish military and merchants whose commander-in-chief rules as

Pasha of the vilayet of Tripoli . He is in com mand of the twenty thousand troops who exer cise general surve illance over the towns and districts where they are s tationed . It is the duty of these scantily clad and poorly paid Ottomans to assist in collecting taxes from the poverty A stricken rabs , to protect caravans along the coast routes , and enforce Turkish administration in a few leading towns and their vicinities . Next in numbers are the several hundred Italians and a Maltese colony of fisher-folk who r live near the Lazaretto [! ua antine] by the sea . Members of the foreign consulates and a few other Europeans complete the population In Tripoli the religious classification of Mos lem , Jew, and Christian is most emphasized perhaps by their three respective holidays , Fri

S S . day , aturday, and unday From the Western point of View this interferes somewhat with trade , but is not felt by those who would regard life as one long siesta . The extent to which even pleasurable effort is disapproved among Mo ’ hammedans is shown by the Pasha s reply when [ 1 1 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA asked to join in the dancing at one of the cousu ’ “ ” afl airs late Why should I dance , replied his

Excellency , when I can have some one to dance ” ’ for me ? The same reason was ofl ered by a high

hl S b official for ina ility to read and write . As one wanders through the maze of narrow s street the unexpected constantly delights . Every turn presents a new picture or creates a fresh interest and the commonplace 18 full of artistic possibilities . One soon overlooks the refuse and other things objectionable in the compelling sense of the picturesque . Wandering among

’ ’ Tripoli s sacred mosques and bazaars , losing one s self in the romantic maze of a thousand and one

’ legends , one s mind is satiated with a cloying surfeit of perfumed romance . It is as difficult to select fromthis illusive whole as to te ll at what hour is the supreme moment in which to see her

“ - when the dew bejewelled oasis , through which - v crawls some slow mo ing caravan , lies violet colored in the early morning ; when m the heat

- of the day , sun scorched , every spot of color stands out like the particles of a kaleidoscope ; at sunset , when desert and city are bathed in rose ; or in the still night when , blue pervaded , she rests hushed and ghostlike on the edge [ 19 ] TRIPOLI IN BARBARY

Si s of the lent desert, the golden crescent of her mosques turned to silver and mingling W l tll the stars . Evidences of the Roman occupation confront P one on every hand . Columns of a agan Rome support the beautiful domed vaultings of some of the mosques or are set in as corner posts to the houses at every other turn , and the drums thrown lengthwise and chiselled flat are used as steps

- or door sills . Beyond the walls of the town fragments Of tessellated pavement laid down two thousand years ago are occasionally found . Two Roman tombs decorated with mural paintings were recently discovered about a mile or so from the city . Unfortunately I was too late to see e th se, as the Turkish authorities at once ordered the places filled in and the spot was soon ob A . t literated by , the shifting sand one end of the

A -Ars at rbar , in the very heart of Tripoli , stands what once must have been one of the most splen did triumphal arches of antiquity . It is known A to the Moors as the Old rch ; to the Europeans ,

A A i In as the rch of Marcus urel us , whose honor

6 . . 1 4 it was erected A D . What seems to have been the rear of this

triumphal arch now fronts the street , while its [ 13 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

front overlooks a wall , below which some pigs root and grunt about in the mire . Much to the interest of a few pedestrians , I climbed the wall and photographed the sadly obliterated inscription— an almost inaudible whisper of the past . Later , inscribed on the faded leaves of 1 an old album , I ran across a record of this inscription made over half a century ago . It read

IMP CE S RELIO T I P . P ET AV AN ON N AVG .

INIP . A RELIO ME O A G CABS V . A NIAC V . L VERO

— BER S . O RFITUS PROCCOS CVM VTTEDIO

E D EDICAVIT C CALPVRNIVS MARCELLO L G SVC . CE LSVS GYRATOR MVN ERIS PVB MVN EPARIVS

II IE F M P ERP S G V ! ! LA EN TV V . AR V MARMORE S OLIDO F ECIT

v The arch appears low and hea y , which is not surprising , considering that it is half buried beneath centuries of accumulated rubbish and

- . P U wind blown desert sand artly mortared p, it now serves as a shOp for a purveyor of dried

fish , spices , and other wares . Once I entered its interior to outfit for a caravan journey ; many other times I Visi ted it to admire in the dim light

1 m in osses on of A . Zo a a es a ou 1844 . It A u s . lb p i M li , with d t b t orme e on e t o Dr Ro er D c son of Tr ol unc e of f rly b l g d . b t G . i k ip i l Mr A re D c son Ac n r s Consu in 1904 , lf d i k , ti g B iti h l . [ 14 ]

TRIPOLI IN BARBARY its beautiful sculptured ceiling and the weather worn decorations of its exterior . n t Through these narrow , fascinati g s reets of Tripoli her thirty thousand inhabitants go to their tasks and pleasures . Between series of

re-en arches , which serve the double purpose of n forcing the walls and givi g shade, awnings are stretched here and there . Under these and in little booths all the industries necessary to the subsistence of the town are carried on . At ev ery hand one seems to be enclosed by one or two storied houses , whose bare walls with few windows and heavily made doors give little sug gestion of the beauties of color and craftsman ship those oi the better class may contain . On either side of the streets , particularly in the

te -in- - bazaar quar r, are little hole the wall shops , as though their owners had burrowed into the n walls of the houses, and there, half hidden amo g

- their goods , cross legged they squat, these mer

of chants the drowsy East, fanning flies and n waiti g for trade . Their wares stand out in brilliant display of n burnished brass , copper trays , hangi g lamps , - ff flint- silver mounted ebony snu boxes , and lock

uns handsomel - g , y worked saddle bags and leather [15 1 THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

money pouches heavily embroidered and of Kano

. of dye In the quiet shadows long arcades , men pass noiselessly in slippered feet over carpets

and rugs from Kairwan , Misurata , and the

‘ farther East . Out in the sunlit streets a few Eu

ro eans C ons ic p mix with the native populace . p nous among them are heavily turbaned Moors 1 in fine-textured burnoose and richly broidered t vests , in strong contras with camel men from the f desert, mu fled in coarse gray baracans . Then

- there are the blind beggars , water carriers , and

marabout St . occasionally a [holy man] , who , like ’ John of old , dresses in raiment of camel s hair . The whole moving mass was like a great con

- ausm fetti covered stream , here p g , there swirling

and eddying , but ever flowing between banks and islands of brilliantly colored booths with their

shimmering Oriental wares . Rising above it all , caravans of camels forged quietly along with soft

and dignified tread .

O To the casual Occidental bserver, undoubt

edly the visual impressions are paramount . For the atmospheric Color in its semi-tropical bril

liancy serves to make more effective and lumi~

“ 1 a a e s nc on It The term Moor is a class more th n a r c di ti ti . n fies a na ve o n e er and us e rou ou ar ar sig i ti t w dw ll is d th gh t B b y, [ 16 ] TRIPOLI IN BARBARY nous the variegated detail of local color— of s people, house , mosques , and bazaars . But to one to whom it is a prism through which he views Moorish thought and character in deeper

- relationship, it has a far reaching symbolism

- the all pervading influence of Islam .

’ Spanning the street of the Suk-el Turc [Turks Market] is a trellis-work covered with grape

Thrbu vines . gh their green leaves and clusters of purple fruit great splashes of sunlight fall on drowsy Moors . Here most of the official busi e ness is transacted , and notaries as w ll as other f b public officiamls have their o fices . Near y is the principal osque, and in the light transparent

s of shadow of its arcade sit the ellers caps . The bright glare of the sunlight makes it difficult to

S see into many of the hops , but at the sound of a shuttle one may pause a moment and see an Ar ab weaving on his loom fabrics of the finest quality and intricate design . Near by in an opening blackened with smoke a barefooted baker moulds coarse dough into flat , rounded loaves . Down the street the faint intermittent tinkling “ ” of a bell is heard Bur-r-ro ! [Get out in warning rasps the high-pitched voice of a camel [ 17 l THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

of driver . I dodged quickly into the shop a Silversmith and watched four lumbering camels e squdge softly by . To prevent thos behind the driver from being stolen , the halter rope of each was tied to the tail of the one ahead , and on the

of tail the last camel , as he flipped and flapped

S it from ide to side tinkled a bell . A wily one of the Faithful , not being rich in

’ c this world s goods , turned ovetous eyes on a nomadic brother who passed through the town “ ! A leading a string of six camels . Allah llah ursel el Allah ! Could not the brother spare one

amal . SO of his j [camels] , dusting the flies from his eyes and hooding himself with his baracan , he stealthily followed . He was aware that near the New Gate the street narrowed and made a double turn . No sooner had the driver and head camel rounded the first corner than the wily one seized the bell attached to the hindmost

of camel . With a stroke his knife he severed it

of from the tail the animal , and keeping it

of tinkling , quickly fastened it to the tail the “ — A next, cut loose the last beast, and llah wills

— ff made o with his prize . P robably no superstition has a strong er, more universal hold on the Mohammedan than his [ 18 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA thrown itself across the garden and crept its Way over the sandy stretch of the Tuesday Market A beyond , and the distant rab houses sewed a golden thread across the dusk shadows of the coming twilight, together with the little coterie h of Englis residents and other friends , the end of the day was invariably spent about one of its

. mastica tables Here , over our Turkish coffee , ,

l akoom and , the latest news would be discussed ; a recently arrived caravan , the latest edict of P the asha, anything from the arrival of Turkish exiles to the Thames boat-race or London and

Paris quotations on ivory and feathers . I found out some time after my arrival that I was the first American to visit Tripoli for two years . The sudden alighting in their midst of a stranger had set going at full pressure their speculative machinery , and for a time I was regarded as a spy . u ki h lub One evening at the T r s . C we turned our attention from the praymg figures of the Moslems in a near-by cemetery to an incoming steamer . Then the conversation drifted , like the

y , laz wreaths of the cigarette , smoke to the ancient

Castle of the Bashaws , which flanks the city on

. m the east Within its ra parts is a little Village , [ 20 ] TRIPOLI IN BARBARY

old and could its walls speak , they could tell

‘ t of in ales intrigue , romance , and bloodshed u numerable . I had been thro gh the prisons and

f or barracks which it is now used , and had talked with some of the prisoners . One was a Turkish exile, a man of education , who for political rea sons had sacrificed his freedom for his conv ic tions , and considered himself lucky to have escaped being sent far south to Murzuk with its

- sense robbing climate . “ Do th you see that spot in e wall, close to the ” ground and under that corner bastion P said my

to friend Riley , pointing where a small hole had “

u . W apparently been bricked p ell , one after S uk noon , I was passing here from the [market] when a ragged , unkempt fellow appeared in the caravan road there, acting most strangely . He a seemed afr id to walk erect, and , though in broad daylight, groped his way about in a most uncanny

A . manner . crowd collected Turkish guards soon appeared and conducted him back to the

Castle from which he had come . Yes , through

- that stoned up hole . You see the poor beggar had been in there for years , down in one of the dungeons below the ground . He had been there so long that no one remembered who he was or [ 2 1 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA for what he had been imprisoned ; but somehow he managed to secure a hard instrument and dig his way out . Had he reached the outside at this time of day or at night , he might have escaped . ’ ? Why didn t he Coming from the darkness , he found himself blinded by the strong sunlight , and the heavy iron shackles on his feet gave him away . Unless he is dead , perhaps the poor

r us w etch is there now, only a few yards from but on the other side of the wall . Riley knocked the ashes from his cigarette and looked thought fully at the Adria steaming in with the weekly mail .

[ 29 ] CHAPTER TWO

TOW N S CE NES AN D INC IDENTS

ROM the top of my lokanda I could look

over the dazzling , whitewashed , color tinted city, a great sea of flat housetops broken only by several minarets , an occasional palm

- tree , the castle battlements , and the flag staffs of the European Consulates . The mosques , the city walls , and some of the more important build

i n of i gs are built of huge blocks stone, but on the

- whole it is a city of sun dried bricks , rafters of

- palm wood , and whitewash . This material serves its purpose well in a country of heat and little rain , but permitted of a unique catastrophe in 1 9 04 . February, Some miles back of the town in the low desert

- - foot hills , owing to a cloud burst , a great body of water was accumulated in a natural reservoir . S a uddenly it burst, flooded cross the country w ithout warning , and on a bright clear day swept through the oasis and town of Tripoli , gullying [ 23 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA its way to the sea . Sweeping around the bases

- of the houses , the sun dried bricks at their

the foundations disintegrated like melting snow,

l . walls col apsed , and some eighty people perished For almost a day it cut off traflic along the main caravan road as it led into Tripoli . Great crowds gathered along its banks and on the roofs of the neighboring houses . The next day muffled figures searched amongst the débris in the gully for their lost ones and property . Often under the blue-green of African nights

I would sit in my window, whose broad stone ledge still held the heat of the departed day, and listen in undisturbed reverie to the night sounds A of the rab city, sounds among which the rumble of] traffic was conspicuously absent, sounds which took on a personal element— the soft scuff of feet ; the prayer calls of Muezzins ; far off cries , voices of an almost forgotten people .

From under the palms far out beyond the town , -h the hoarse bark of a wolf ound drifts in , as

’ patrolling the mud walls of his master s gardens he warns away marauders . Though early even n A - ‘ A i Arsfit . g , the rbar is almost deserted low,

sustained whistle , then down in the dark shadow

s a du ky figure moves noiselessly by . Soon [ 94 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

’ difl usin more lanterns , g the darkness , glinting in

’ scintillating reflections from the men s eyes , and throwing great slashes of mellow light down upon the heads and shoulders of the muffled forms of the women . In their midst, seated on a donkey,

al an rides the bride, hidden from View under a p u n q i [canopy] . Again follow lanterns illuminating the dark canopy, etching out the red gold threads of the heavy embroidery from its dark , velvety background . r Just beyond my window the p ocession halts ,

wails a song , and moves on . Then the wild rhapsody of a desert people grows fainter ; again only the tom-toms sound out in their barbaric prosody and float away over the town and the desert sand . A scavenger dog sneaks by and the city sleeps . One midnight I watched the moon disk pass behind the minaret of the Djema-el -B aruj [Mosque of the Steps] at the corner and paint the A city in silver . On the other side of the rbar

Arséit S , far down the street, I caught ight now and again of a thief, as , rope in hand to lower himself into the courts , he worked his way along the roof tops . ! uick and catlike his wiry figure dropped lightly to a lower level here , or scaled a [ 26 ] TOWN SCENES AND INCIDENTS height there, until he reached the house across the street . Sitting motionless I watched him with interest . Barefooted , he wore only a pair i of cotton trousers , while a turban was twisted about his fez . The moonlight played over the muscles of his supple body and glinted a silver crescent from his crooked Arab knife . It was not until directly opposite that he saw me . For a second he stood motionless, then like a flash dropped below the parapet of the house and disappeared . Many an evening I would saunter down the ' Arbar-Arszit ; pause long enough at the door of the Dje’ma-el -Daruj to sense the interior of this b W eautiful shrine , lit only ith its suspended

r cluster of my iad little lamps . These twinkled in the gray darkness like the falling stars of a bursting rocket and shed their delicate glow over the prostrate figures of the devout lVIosl ems e n beneath th m . On straw matti g s which covered the marble floor, they turned their faces toward

kibl eh e the [sacred niche] and Mecca . I rar ly stopped , however, to deliberately peer into this ’ ofl ence sanctuary , lest I give . The next corner brought me to the Street of the Milk Sellers ’

Market . Knocking at a big green door , I would [ 27 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

shortly meet with a cordial reception from my

friend Riley .

and His house , originally built for occupied by

of w as the favorite wife Yussef Bashaw, one of the best examples of the seraglio of a high-class

Arab . A broad balcony surrounding the court

- took the place of the living room, after the man A ner of the rabs . Here amidst a bower of

r tropical plants , carpeted with are rugs and furnished with all the necessities for a complete home life in the East , most of the family life is spent . Off the balcony were the private living

. A A rooms fter the rab custom , originally no two were connected and all save one received their light through barred windows opening upon S the balcony . everal of these rooms had been converted into one spacioiis drawing-room and another into a library . Both Bashaw and Sultana have long since

’ u gone . Y ssef s bones repose in a mosque of his own name , while under an arched tomb of the

S S —el - Sciut ultanas at ciara , the dust which was once the beautiful Lilla lies beneath the wind blown sands near the sun-scorched desert trail which leads to Misurata . I gazed in fascinating reverie at the worn depressions in the floor tiles [ 9 8 ] TOWN SCENES AND INCIDENTS and where the edges of the balustrades had he come sof tened and rounded . Sa S One evening , after lam, the black udanese , ff had brought us our Turkish co ee , we settled down comf ortably on the long wicker seats . The addax horns and native weapons on the walls painted long diverging slashes of black in the lamplight . The lamp shed its rays through the balustrade into the court, and the gnarled old tree which rose from its centre threw fan tastic genii shadows on the opposite walls ; the

hr soft wind rustled in its canopy of leaves , t ough which an occasional star scintillated in a bit of blue . “ Riley , said I , who lives in the big house ” e P with the heavy bolt d door , near my lokanda “ The one with the Roman column for a ” corner post ? Why do you ask ? “ i Well , in pass ng I often look up at the lat tice which projects from the window above its portal, and this afternoon when the sun fell full

- upon it , through its jalousied wood work I saw indistinctly the face of a girl , then heard a gruff ” voice , and she disappeared . “ S ' trange Those jalousies , you know, screen the only window in the house that looks out on [ 99 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

u — the street . That windowis in the g lphor a room strictly private to the master of the house, none of his immediate family ever being allowed c to enter without his parti ular permission . ” ! R “ ” Come said iley ; I will show you , and he led the way to his private study, which had l formerly been the gu phor of Arab masters . S ” tep out here , and I found myself in a little “ e lattic d box outside the window . This hole in the floor allows one to see who may be knocking at the door directly beneath , but it has been

’ known to be used by Moor1sh maidens as a means of communication with outsiders . By the way , you found no piece of cloth or paper in the ? street , did you Odd stories have been asso cia ed t with that house . It is rumored that a f young Circassian girl , mysteriously brought rom across the Mediterranean , is confined there in the seraglio of her master .

We talked late , for the night was hot . During the day the silver thread of the mercury had

- hovered about blood heat , and now , at midnight , it had dropped only to eighty degrees ; but this S was nothing unusual in Tripoli . uddenly the brindled bulldog started from his dozing at his

’ master s feet and with a low growl sprang upon [ 30 ] TOWN SCENES AND INCIDENTS

to h e the p of the balustrade which patrolled , ffi sni ng high in the air . “ ”

A . thief on the roof, remarked Riley One u night, not long before you came , that p p woke me out of a sound sleep. There was the devil of a rumpus in the street outside my door .

u a amst Backed p g it, doing the best he could

krasrull ah k b with his heavy [ no bed stick] , which Ali all Tripolitans carry at night, was Hadji , a u neighbor, putting p a game fight with three big

Blacks with knives . Opening the door , I pulled him in ; the Blacks started to follow . From ' behind my revolver I told them that any man who sought my protection against murderers

i would have it . Order ng them away , I closed the door and made Hadji comfortable for the ” night . “ What had he done to them ?

r Oh , nothing ; they were hi ed by his enemy, u another neighbor . They hid in that archway p the street and sprang out at him as he passed . As I went by the archway on my return that night I hugged the farther wall and carried my ” revolver in my hand . It IS little wonder that here in the Bled-el Ateusch —The Country of Thirst— where the [ 3 1 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA relentless sun enforces rest and the great soli tudes seem to brood a sadness over things , there has been engendered in all the people a life of contemplation and fatalism little known and still less understood by thicker-blooded men whose lives are spent in struggle and ac tiv ity against the adverse elements of northern climes . Tripoli is a land of contrasts— rains which turn the dry wadis [river beds] into raging tor rents and cause the country to bloss om over night, then month after month without a shower over the parched land ; suffocating days and cool nights ; full harvests one year , famine the next ; a - without a bre th of air , heat saturated , yellow sand wastes bank against a sky of violet blue ;

’ the ibli - then the terrific blast of g , the south east i - w nd storm , lifts the fine powdered desert sand in great whoofs of blinding orange , burying cara vans and forcing the dwellers in towns to close their houses tightly . Arab character in a marked degree seems to be the child of its environment and has inherited many of the characteristics of the great solitudes among which it has dwelt for thousands of years . On the one hand the Arab is hospitable and open [ 32 ]

TOWN SCENES AND INCIDENTS

n handed ; on the other treacherous , graspi g , and cruel ; seemingly mild and lazy , yet he is capable of performing extraordinary feats of labor . His

are religion and literature full of poetry , but many of their tenets are lacking in his daily life . In his architecture and design the highest

et artistic instinct is shown , y the representation n of a y living thing is forbidden . Stoical and dignified , yet he is capable of being roused by any wandering marabout to an ungovernable state of fanaticism ; now you know him , again he is as mysterl ous and changeable as the shifting sand about him ; by nature he is a nomad , a dweller “ In A be in tents rather than towns . llah has i ” stowed four peculiar th ngs upon us, say the “ Arabs : our turbans shall be to us instead of diadems , our tents instead of walls and houses , our swords as intrenchments , and our poems ” instead of written laws .

By the creed of Islam all lines are drawn , all distinctions made . Upon the traditions of Mo hammed and the interpretations of the Koran A the rab orders his manner of life in polity , eth “ A ” ics , and science , and llah hath said it, is the fatalistic standard of his daily life . The teach ings of the Koran and centuries of warfare in [ 33 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

’ which women were but part of the Victor s loot have in no small degree helped to develop that exclusiveness which is a cardinal principle in the

Moslem life , for there is no social intercourse among Mohammedans in the Occidental sense of

the word . - A The plain walled house of the Tripolitan rab ,

with its heavily bolted . door and jalousied win

dow, is built with due consideration to guarding

well the secrets and private life of the occupants ,

. or and whether large or small , in town country ,

all are of the same plan . The inner court is the quarters of the mistress

of the harem . In many of these are ancient marble columns , while rare old China tiles adorn the walls . Here the mistress entertains com panies of women ; here they celebrate in their peculiar fashion the birth of a child or wail the

- burial song over the body of the dead . O ccasmnally a Moorish woman is permitted to visit the mosques at night, accompanied by a S servant . ometimes she calls on a woman friend At or with an attendant Visits the bazaars . these

she times wears a baracan of fine texture , and a dark blue veil bound around her forehead covers A her face . ccording to the thickness of this [ 34 ] TOWN SCENES AND INCIDENTS veil , her features may be more or less distin

u a g ish bl e . I have noticed that oftentimes the more beautiful a woman , the thinner the veil . Tripolitan women of the middle class have a custom of going about without veils , but draw the baracan over the face instead , leaving a small aperture through which they peek with one eye . Women of the lower class— the countrywomen and Bedawi— frequently go with faces uncov ered . The country Arab converts all his scant earn

de os ings into silver ornaments , and these are p ited on the persons of his wives— a veritable burden of riches , for they are constantly worn . I have run across women hauling water under the cattle yoke of the desert walls , literally loaded down with pounds of silver, while the husband sat on the edge of the well-curb and directed the irrigation of his fields . This silver forms an important function as a ’ barometer of the country s prosperity , to read which one has but to go to the little booths of the silversmiths in the trellis-covered Suk -el -Turc and note whether the country people are sellers or

’ 1 . 900 a ear buyers In , y of poor crops , worth of this old silver, so dear to the womankind [ 35 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

u of the peasantry, was broken p and exported ,

chiefly to France . The Turkish Imperial taxation is under the head of v erghi [poll and property tax] and the tithe on agricultural produce . During the ten years preceding my sojourn in Tripoli , the total

averaged annually . The verghi payable by the vilayet was fixed at a sum equivalent to Only in two

In 1901 years was this obtained , and surpassed

1902 . in Both were years of bad harvests , show ing the tremendous pressure which must have been brought to bear on the peasants by the n authorities . Duri g the past thirty years the trade of Tripoli has been stationary , with an

I 3 850 000 — average annual value of $ , , exports balancing imports with remarkabl e regularity . Though the Tripolitan 1s quick to learn he has

a a little creative genius , and his constitutional p thy is a formidable barrier against departure from his primitive customs and traditions . In the deserts certain tribes live by means of reprisals and by extorting heavy tolls from caravans . In the vicinity of the populated districts there are ma n ra ding bands of thieves , and in the towns and

’ - - s uks [markets] are scheming ne er do wells . But [ 36 ]

CHAPTER THREE

O UTS IDE TH E W A LLS

HILE the vilayet of Tripoli is a purely

agricultural province , a very small area of these barren , inhospitable wastes is cultivated or cultivable under present conditions , and one need not look far for the primary cause— the yoke of Turkish taxation . Give me until to ” a morrow and I will p y my verghi , I once heard an Arab farmer say to a Turkish tax col lector . “ ” Then give me your camel . She and her foal were sold at Ramadan

[Annual was the reply .

! k afir Ha thou [unbeliever] , thy baracan will ” fetch little enough , and without a murmur the

Arab was stripped of the garment . The district which lies between the crumbling eastern extremity of the Atlas known as the Tripoli Hills and the sea forms almost the entire present productive soil of the vilayet of Tripoli ,

- being two fifths of its square miles . In [ 38 ] OUTSIDE THE WALLS

A Bedaw i this narrow strip, rabs, Berbers , and

e . cultivate cereals , vegetables , and fruit tr es Here one is transported into an Old Testament land , to a people who still cling with childish tenacity to the picturesque and crude customs of ages past . There amid a flock of sheep is Joseph ; Rebecca

- is filling an earthen water jar at a desert well , or perhaps a young Bedaw een sower after the first autumnal rains have soaked the ground , goes

o forth t sow . With a rhythmic swing of the arm An he broadcasts seed . elder member of the

S family, perhaps the old heik himself, follows with a crude iron-tipped plough drawn by a A in camel , cow, or dilapidated ass . bout four u ches of soil are scratched p, but enough to turn

t . under the seed , and the res is left to nature After the grain is garnered it is flail ed or tramped

- out under hoof on some hard packed spot , and a windy day awaited , when it is thrown in the f air , and wheat and cha f are thus separated .

The soil, however, is so fertile, that with abundant rains the harvests are surprising in their yield . The seed sown is occasionally wheat, guinea corn , or millet, but generally bar l e A . y, the staple food of the rab Thr ough lack of rain the Tripolitan can count [ 39 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

s on only four good harve ts out of ten . This also ’ afl ects the wool production , and in bad years the

Ar ab , fearing starvation , sells his flocks and his

seed for anything he can get . Through lack of initiative and encouragement added to the bur

of - den heavy taxation , fully one half of the culti h A - i va le soil lies fallow , and the rab cattle ra ser or peasant sows only sufficient seed for his sup An port through the coming year . y surplus

which may be acquired , however , generally finds its way into the hand of the usurer and the tax A gatherer, so that the rab stands to lose by ex

tended cultivation . An oasis originally meant a habitation which

presupposed the existence of water , but has come

to mean any cultivated spot . It is usually de v el oped where springs or surface water are to be found ; otherwise wells are sunk and the land irrigated by water drawn from them in huge

- goat skin buckets . S A electing some satisfactory spot , the rab digs

- his well , sets out his palms and orange trees , and shortly under their shadows raises fruits and

vegetables . In the cool of the day he hauls

-to In - water to the well p the goat skin buckets , to

be automatically spilled into an adjoining cistern . [ 40 ] OUTSIDE THE WALLS

This filled , a gateway is opened through which the sparkling liquid rushes , finally trickling

. away . . down the little ground channels by which

or the garden is irrigated . Camel , cow, donkey , wif e may be the motor power used to bring the water to the top of the well . This is achieved by hauling the well rope down the inclined plane of a pit . There was one well I used to Visit in the oasis of Tripoli that was tended by an old blind it man . Down into the p he would go with his

u . cow, turn her about, then p again When something went wrong with the tackle he would lean dangerously out from the slimy well-curb or crawl along the rope beam over the opening to adjust the rope— no easy = feat even f or a man who could see . From the desert at the back of the town one looks across a sea of sand surrounding the heavy h battlements . T e coast and part of the City walls are screened by a narrow fiv e mile oasis of

- date palms a mile wide , which raise their chiselled shafts high above the houses and mingle their gracefully feathered tops with the needle spires

. not of the minarets It is its beauty alone , how

- ever , which makes the date palm queen among trees : its shadew is protection from the heat ; its [ 41 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA leaves are Used for mats and thatching ; its wood for building and fuel ; its fibre for ropes and baskets ; its juice for drinking , and its fruit for food ; even its stones , those which are not ex f ported to Italy to adulterate cof ee , are made into a paste fodder for animals . NO less than two millions Of these regal beauties are grown by the A rabs in the vilayet of Tripoli , and great quanti ties of the fruit finds its way to the arid plateau lands of the Fezzan , whose inhabitants make it their principal diet .

u a s O tside the town walls, or at est blished spot within the oasis , suks are held on certain days of the week . To these , over the sandy highways

the through the palm groves, passes native traffic— small caravans of donkeys and camels loaded with the products of agriculturists , and shepherds with their flocks of sheep, which patter along in a cloud of sand dust . I once saw a little donkey on the way to market A supporting a corpulent rab , a bag of corn , and

C W a live sheep. N and again the little burden bearer showed its fatigue and disgust by lying down in the road . Nothing of that nature ,

though , could disturb the imperturbable son of

A l the llah , who he d in place corn and the sheep [ 49 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

One morning before dawn I passed through

uk -el— the Castle Gate to the S Thalat . Many

others , mostly merchants from the town , were

he moving in t same direction . There was ’ H me - a t s . one eyed neighbor Like many others ,

he carried a little portable shack , under which to

o o spread his wares . I climbed to the t p f the

high wall of a square enclosure . In the early light the gray and white baracans of the people

merged into the tone of the sand , and I could sense the great noiseless mass of humanity

moving below me only by the dark spots of faces , n arms , and legs . Then the su l ight flooded a scene as truly barbaric and pastoral as any in the A days of braham . A palette of living , moving color, this red

baracaned fezzed , humanity wormed its way between piles of multicolored products of the

— S oasis scintillating brass , copper, and ilver uten sils ornaments , brilliant cloths , and leather trap pings from the antipodes of Tripoli trade— Kano and Manchester . Most of the populace were merchants from the town , others tillers of the

- soil from the oases and plateau lands , half naked Blacks from the neighboring suburb of Sciara-el

Sciut , caravan men and camel raisers from the [ 44 ] OUTSIDE THE WALLS

- - t Eu Sef . ribes of Zintan , Orfella, and the Weled m Darkly clothed Jews were uch in evidence , also wild desert men from the far south and nomadic

traders from anywhere . Here the high , round fez , modern rifle , patched brown suit , and heavy shoes bespoke the Ottoman soldier , and the occasional

- glare of a pipe clayed sun helmet, a European .

’ In the wall s shadow just ’ below my perch

For ? squatted a vender of knives . culinary use Not by Mohammed ’ s beard ! A knife is a thing

infidel s ChI‘IS to slay with ; none but , Jews , and tians at repast would portion food with such an instrument . Prospective customers crowded about him ; some drew the crooked blades from their brass-mounted sheaths and bargained at i the r leisure . Instinctively they preferred to bar ter, but this method of trade has been greatly superseded by the use of Turkish currency, although napoleons and sovereigns pass in the

e e coast towns as readily as paras and m djidi s . The following extract from a letter of a leading British resIdent of Tripoli will give an insight into the character and business methods of the Tripoli town Arab

The ood old Arab is as d n out onl a f ew rema n n of g f t yi g , y i i g the old sc oo W en I cam r h l . h e he e seventeen years ago [and not [ 45 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA made m or une et sold hundreds of ounds to the Arabs en y f t y ] I p , ter n the oods to he r deb in m book s cal cula n the amount i g g t i it y , ti g w h hem and he alwa s a d u w ou n bo r a he . Whena it t , t y y p i p ith t y t man was ill he would send word and when well again would come r un n Th n o d a d bring the money . e ew and present generation nn s The are l earn n ca ot be tru ted . y i g tricks from the Jews and find he have to do em to be abl e to com u e t y th pete . It is q it a common h n f or Arabs here to a l a nd o er 20 er c t t i g f i ff p ent. o 2 r c n re ou n ver e r f n 5 pe e t. ; befo y e h a d o a Arab smashing he has l earned all the Vices of the European and has slipped f the good points o the Ar ab . The rural Arabs are horou hl noran su ers ous and t g y ig t, p titi , sus c ous when he come n o own k now n a the Jews pi i t y i t t , i g th t ,

mos of the Euro eans and the own Arabs are all . on the l ookou t p , t t H s r -w rk n nd ll s in r n r fi to tak e him in. e i ha d o i g a ti his ga de o eld w h his am l com n nto own on marke da to sell his rod it f i y, i g i t t y p uce and buy his littl e supplies . The world over the paysan is the natural prey of the sophisticated and unscrupulous urbanite . But the methods by which these leeches extract their ill-gotten pelf is as varied as the conditions i under which t must be obtained . Watch that Arab yonder ; the one who has just turned in by the camel market with his flock of

sheep. He soon stops and huddles them all in a bunch about him . It is early yet and he refuses ’ the low c fi ers proffered by several passers-by ’ a ! B is sal mah On thy peace , uncle pilgrim , and a keen-visaged Moor greets him with the m n T e e ah . 46 l

OUTSIDE THE WALLS

Gedash ! [how much] has been offered thee for thy flock P”

Four medj idies a sheep. ’ What dog of an unbeliever has ofl ered the price of his own skin to one of the Faithf ul ? Thy sheep are fat and of good kind and by Allah

er are worth double, but hold , givest me one p ? cent . if I sell for twice that which is offered thee Well said ! Come then to yonder f ondiik at the edge of the Suk and we will there place thy flock ” n for safety . The Moor draws from his leather money bag a few paras and pays for the stabling , the f ondiik keeper naturally supposing him to be the owner . “ ” Now, said the leech , let us take one sheep and go back to the Suk with it Then through the crowd they pick their way , the leech carrying the sheep across his shoulder .

A . Hold , brother, may llah lengthen thy age

S a W l th i t y thou here this sheep, wh le I seek a ” customer .

Tired of waiting , and with growing suspicion '' the man from the w adctn [country] at last hurries ' f ondrik back to the , only to find that the leech had long since taken the flock and disappeared . The wall upon which I had been seated en [ 47 l THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA closed a rectangular yard of several acres in

es arto which bulky loads of the wild p grass , or hal a A f , as the rabs call it, were being removed from the camels , eventually to be shipped to

England for the manufacture of paper . Patches of blood stained the sand outside some neighboring shacks . They are but the sign

Ar of the ab barber , who , in addition to his ton

s orial accomplishments , like the barbers of old , performs simple surgical operations , and our striped barber-pole is but an ancient symbol n a representi g a twisted b ndage . P assing through the produce quarter , I picked my way through heaps of grain , piles of melons , f w tomatoes , and other stu fs hich made gorgeous spottings of color as they l ay in the brilliant sun

or shine , under the violet shadows of the shacks which were shifted from time to time as the sun wore around . Under a tattered piece of old burlap two Sudanese roasted fodder corn ; men scuffed noiselessly by over the hot sand , pausing ” “ e Gedash P her and there to ask , How much P” Often they squatted down in front of the goods and sometimes spent an hour or more bargaining .

us I soon came to the Arab butcher shops . S [ 48 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA A Moslems . t Ramadan they are very much in

I evidence, and have been ndirectly responsible for holy wars and the direct cause of many up risings and revolutions The arrival of a large caravan from the Sudan is a great event , and as it reaches Tripoli groups l of women shril their cry of welcome . Many small caravans may be seen in the Suk when market is held . Frequently toward the end of the market day I would drop into one of the numerous l ittle coffee-houses which border the easterly end of uk S . the Low benches lined its sides , and from a dark corner on one of these, I would watch my Arab neighbors smoke thoughtfully over their slender thimble pipes of kief and hashish . Between me and an Arab opposite the hazy smoke wreaths curled and lost themselves on

- As the heat laden air . the hashish lulled his feverish brain to sleep in the Fields of the

Blessed , perhaps through its fumes he saw miraged the events of a time when his sires

P flauntin unfurled their banners before oitiers , g them for centuries in the very eyes of Europe from the walls of Toledo and Granada , and ’ Basq uan valleys echoed the Mez z in s call . [ 50 ]

CHAPTER FOUR

S ALA M A A SA S LA E , H U V MONG the many nomads who camp for a time in the oasis of Tripoli or on the out skirts of the town are occasional tribes of

Blacks , who have wandered across the Great e Desert . These are v ry clannish , and do not mix much with the inhabitants of the towns , not even with those of their own color . Perhaps the most interesting of these Sudanese are the

1 Sa . Hausas , to which people lam belonged Sa lam , like many others of that splendid race ’ S who inhabit the Negro states of the far udan , had once taken his slim chances of escape across the desert wastes , arriving at last in Tripoli , A where , as in numerous other North frican towns under Turkish or French control , a slave may obtain his freedom by becoming a Turkish or French subject . Si During my sojourn in Tripoli , lam at times

salam has been prev iously mentioned as the servant of an English resident in Tripoli . [ 52 ] S AM A A SA S AV AL , H U L E was placed at my service by his master . The picture of this Hausa , when he first smiled in an

18 appearance at my lokanda, still vivid in my memory It was one hot August night an hour after the evening prayer had wavered from the minarets across the housetops of Tripoli . I was sitting alone ; my doors opened out on the brbad bal cony which surrounded the inner court . The night wind rustled softly through the upper branches of an olive-tree ; a booma bird croaked hoarsely on its nest ; the candle flickered . I must admit I was inwardly startled as I looked u p from my writing at a white burnoosed figure , which had suddenly emerged from the darkness and now stood beside me . It was Salam . I remember how black his hand looked in contrast With the ‘white note from his master which he delivered to me .

- His short, well built figure was wrapped in six yards of baracan . From this bundle beneath the red fez , his face like polished ebony mirrored the candle flame in brilliant high lights , and below a

- heavy beak like nose , his white teeth glistened and his deep-cut tribal scars criss-crossed in

~ blacker shadows his cheeks and temples . He [ 53 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA received my answer : again the light flickered and Sa lam disappeared as quietly as he came .

Far away to the south , six to eleven months as

e o the camel journ ys , s uth where the caravans end their long voyages and the Great Desert

' the meets the forests , is land of the Hausas, that

“ great organized Black Empire . There , in the

Meradi Sa . town of Katsena , lam was born His town was like thousands of others which lie scattered over the width and breadth of the S Central udan , their mud walls and thatched roofs baking under the tropical sun of Hausa land .

fi ura Though short in stature , the Hausas , g tiv el y speaking , are mentally head and shoulders above any of the numerous Black tribes of

Africa . They have a written language resem bling Ar abic and the traveller through the Sudan who speaks Hausa can be understood almost everywhere . Despite the fact that the Hausas are a com

- immemo merce loving people , slavery from time rial has been a national curse . For centuries the noiseless tread of laden Slaves has worn

rutted paths below the forest level , packing them h ard as adamant and weaving an intricate sys [ 54 ]

M A A SA S A S A , V AL , H U L E tem of narrow highways through the jungles of

Hausal and . Incomprehensible as it may seem , it is nevertheless a fact that only a few years ago at least one out of every three hundred persons in

- 1 the world was a Hausa speaking slave . Notwithstanding horrible atrocities committed

- by slave holders , slaves have always had certain rights of their own . Sometimes their condition is better than before captivity , and it is not unusual ' f oi head slaves to be slave-owners themselves and

o t be placed in positions of high trust . One

- noted instance is that of Rabbah , an ex slave of

Zubehr P a asha, who by direction of the M hdi became governor of the great eastern Hausa state of Darfur .

- The slave traffic, based as it is on a tribute 3 paying system , has had a most demoralizing

i effect, and until the recent extens on of the British sphere of influence permanent security of life and property was unknown . Slaves sent out with the garflas [caravans] often travel as far north as Tripoli and other towns in Barbary

f or where freedom could be had the asking , but

1 C a es . Ro n on in Hausal and sa : It ene a h rl H bi s , , ys is g r lly admitted that the Hausa-speaking population number at least ’ fi een m n e h o o i . . ou n n r f s e o e e cen . o t e ft illi , , r ghly sp aki g, p t w rld s o ul a o - n, and at the er eas one r are in a s a e of p p ti” v y l t thi d t t r slave y . [ 55 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA through fear or ignorance many return south

again to their bondage . The sum necessary for

a slave to buy his freedom , subject as he would be

to arbitrary taxation and recapture , is prohibitive ,

so only escape remains with its attendant risks . As Salam trudged beside me through the oasis

of Tripoli , or during quiet hours spent together [

in my lokanda , he told me of himself and his

c people . In order to appreciate the cir umstances

’ Sal am s surrounding capture , one must under in A stand the conditions his country . state of

’ feudal w arf are betw een many neighboring towns

is a chronic condition throughout Hansaland . The tribute-paying system rather than a state of

war was responsible for slave raiding , for vassal chiefs and towns were obliged to include large numbers of slaves in their annual tribute . The powerful Sultan of Sokoto demanded from the Hausa states three-fourths of his tributein human beings — and got them— ten thousand coming A from the King of damawa alone . It was in one of these slave-raiding expeditions that Salam was A first made a slave . t the time he lived at

Mid arok a , where he had been taken by his

-in- Lasunv adi brother law, , after the death of his

parents . 56 l

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA my back would heal from the welts of his rhinoceros hide . W orking when made to, sleeping when he could , a year passed . In the evening he watched the slaves gamble about the fire , Often staking

As anything of value he might have acquired . slaves and cowries form the chief currency of the people , these are naturally the principal stakes in games of chance . The little white cowrie shells found on certain parts of the African

are coast , so to speak , the small change of the

S Si country . everal years ago the value of a ngle

- i . e. cowrie was about one eightieth of a cent , , two thousand equalled a quarter of a dollar . The inconvenience of this “ fractional currency ”

i - is evident, consider ng that three quarters of a

i l m llion , weighing over a ton and a ha f, were paid by a king to an explorer for a few rolls of silk .

- Consequently , the check book of wealthy Hausas , when travelling , is an extra number of slaves , one

s of which from time to time they ca h for cowries . The shells are also worn about the person as’

“ a protection from any evil influence , or the evil ” eye . Five selected cowries , for gambling , may be found in the possession of most Hausas . Hardly second to the curse of slavery in Hausa [ 58 ] S A A AUSA S AV AL M, H L E land is that of gambling and the passion for it among these people is unrestrained . It takes “ ” its most insidious form in the game of chaca,

u played by tossing p the five cowries , the result A depending upon the way they fall . t times there is no limit to the stakes , and the escutcheon of Hausal and might well be five white cowrie shells on a field of black . Salam once told me that a friend of his master was playing one evening after much l akby [a “ palm wine] had been drunk . Everybody was ” “ ‘ ’ excited , said he, for the evil eye was on him , and time after time his cowries fell the wr ong

W i way . Losing first his ves , then his horses , he ‘ turned to his opponent and cried , Throw again ; ’ S if I lose I am your slave . The evil pirit of the ” — hyena appeared in the darkness and he lost .

Hausal and A In , as in the rest of native frica the Bashaws and powerful natives are generally the judges , and not only the poor Hausa, but the owner of too many horses , slaves , and wives , must be careful how he treads , lest he arouse the apprehension or envy of his Bashaw, who loses “ ” no time in presenting requests for gifts . These demands are continued until his subject is suffi cientl y weakened or ruined . [ 59 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

Now Durbee had a cousin who had been un

fairly appointed Bashaw by the Sultan of Sokoto . Despite the f eeling of injustice which rank led in ’ Durbee s breast , he loyally complied with his ’ cousin s demands for horses , until his favorite

ak w l a a i i . black horse , his , alone rema ned One

’ ’ ’ morning aS Szilam sat in the porch of Durbee s

ak aw ali house , a giant negro arrived to take the

Durbee and to summon before the Bashaw . “ ’ 3 Sa My master , said lam , was not feeling

sweet , and seizing his war spear said threaten ‘ in l ! -r-ro ! g y, Take him if you can Bur Go ,

tell my cousin a Bashaw does not go to a Bashaw,

k a e and my a w ali stays with me . Tell him that b fore the shadows of the date-palms have darkened

’ the doorway of his house I will meet him to fight .

Durbee That afternoon mounted his horse ,

‘

hi out al one . took his s eld and weapons , and went Some of us followed to the edge of the palm grove , and as the appointed time drew near he

rode out in the open . There on the hot sands he

awaited his enemy . The hour of the challenge

; Durbee passed , but the coward never came

ak aw ali kept his , and before the annual fast of Ramadan gathered his retainers about him and ” supplanted his cousin . 60 ]

SA A A A SA S AV L M , H U L E

Shortly after this Durbee made a journey to Sokoto to make his peace with the Sultan and ' i left Salam with a friend in a neighbor ng town . This man treacherously sold him f or two thou

o sand cowries in Kan , the great emporium

of Central Africa .

s Within its fifteen mile of mud walls , twenty to forty feet in height, swarms a mass of black and

- sun tanned humanity . In the open markets cara vans of Black traders from the Congo come in with their long lines of donkeys weighted down with h ivory, gold dust , and kola nuts , alting perhaps beside a garfla all the way from Tripoli with Euro

or pean goods and trinkets , from the salt chotts of

f or A S . Tunisia and sben , salt is scarce in the udan Here Arab merchants from the Mediterranean and the Red Sea meet those from the Niger and lf the Gu of Guinea , and no small number of the two million nomads who pass through every year are Hausa pilgrims bound for Mecca . The

1 hadji or pilgrimage by the way of Central

S or udan , Tripoli , Egypt has brought the Hausas in touch with other peoples and has contributed

’ Hausal and s much to civilization .

1 The erm a or had l a e o to the rima e to t h dj , j , is ppli d b th pilg g ho h h o Mecca and to one w as made t e j urney . [ 61 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA Among this heterogeneous mass are occasion ally seen those fierce white-skinned sons of the

You desert, the Tuaregs . can tell them at a glance as , lean and supple, with an easy panther like tread , they glide through this congested human kaleidoscope . Tall and picturesque, with

or flint- long spears locks in their hands, and maybe a broadsword across their backs , appar P s t . ently eeing no hing , they observe all erhaps

to they are here to trade , but more likely keep close watch of departing caravans bound north ward through their territory , that their sheiks

or may exact homage and heavy tribute , failing in this may loot . It is estimated that Kano clothes over one-half o f the great population of the Sudan . In the towns of Central Tunisia , two thousand miles

away , I have. seen the indigo and scarlet cloths of Kano hanging next to those of Kairwan and

' S A f ondii k s of fax , and piled in the rab Tripoli , hundreds of camel loads of her tanned goat-skins

f or to ready shipment New York, and I have watched the natives in the markets barter f or sandals and desert slippers of Kano dye .

to Sa s On his way Kano , lam pa sed many slave

of a caravans . Some the wretches c me in bound [ 69 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

nuts packed between damp leaves in baskets . These they chewed to give strength to travel far without food . “ ’ A e Sa month s journ y , said lam, brought us to the outlying territory of my people , and one night we passed a spot where there was once a village of Tuaregs under two sheiks . On one

Lasunv adi of my visits there with , a dog came sniffing along and a Tuareg struck him with

’ a knife, whereupon the dog s owner killed the

Tuareg . The men of both sides came running from all directions and fought till there were not enough left to bury the dead . Those who were not killed left the Village, and the place was

D ibana P called j , the lace of the Cemetery of the

Dog . ’ At Sal am s Zinder , master was obliged to pay homage and tribute in order to pass through the territory controlled by its fierce inhabitants ,

Asbenaw a the , who were under the Bashaw of

’

Sal am s . native town , Katsena One glimpse of

’ Sal am s tribal marks , and they would have freed him and destroyed the caravan . Knowing this , his master gagged him and did him up tightly in

one . the middle of of the camel loads Here ,

ol ed i t and bumped against other camels , unable [ 64 ] S AM A HAUSA S LAVE AL ,

to move and nearly suffocated , he was confined ’ s during a day march , and when taken out more dead than alive, his limp body was thrown over

a donkey . For months they marched north over the sand and rocky lands of the Desert . Now and again a garfla man paid his last tribute to the sands and added his bones to the many others bleaching in the sunbeside the caravan trails . At a last they reached Ghad mes , and in the

course of a year , having passed through the

of Sa hands several other masters , lam was sold to

A of A an rab by the name Hadji hmed , who sent i him into the desert to ra se camels . It was one night in my lokanda that Salam told

me of his escape . Sa From time to time, began lam , my mas

ter made journeys to distant towns , even as far as

f or Tripoli , leaving the slaves months without food save what we could gather ourselves . One morning while the stars were still bright and the

dried grass wet with the night dews , I left on a

r meha i [running camel] . By midnight of the

O ura l a second day I arrived outside the walls of g ,

among some tents . Near one of these the mehari

own stopped of his accord , and dismounting , I [ 65 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA hobbled him and lay down under a palm-tree to sleep. I was startled the next morning at the sound r of a voice I well knew, and pee ed out from under my baracan . Within six camel lengths of

A his me stood Hadji hmed , my master , and head slave !’ ‘ o Hubba said he to the mehari , th u lump of swine ’ s flesh ! How came you here P’ I knew then that the mehari had led me into a trap.

ban e Gi i! th mehari is hobbled . What does P’ this mean said my master to the head slave . S u eeing I was about to be discovered , I jumped p ‘ and ran angrily toward them , exclaiming , Who should have brought it here but me, whom you left without food !’ ‘ ’ ou P i Who showed y the road cried he, lay ng hold of me . “ ‘ ’ My hunger ! Whereupon they both set upon me and flogged me and the next day I was conducted back home . “ r O ura l a Befo e my master returned from g , a I planned again to escape with B ko , another slave ; we would avoid the towns and go far north , so one day when we were alone branding [ 66 ]

THE GATEWAY T O THE SAHARA

mehara sent pain through us . We knew that we

could not much longer cling to our saddles , so we

lashed each other on . The last time that Bako

fell to one side I was too weak to help him , and he rode with his head hanging lower than his

heels . The camel ticks burrowed into our skin , our tongues were cracked and bleeding when the

mehara at last staggered into Ghadames . Some days after the Turkish governor of that

place sent us here to Tripoli with a caravan , to be

Red ed taken before his brother the Bey [ j Pasha] . Many in the towns came to the Tuesday Market to see the caravan come in , and among them I saw the fat form of one of my former masters , Sala Heba— the one who had sold me to Hadji A hmed . He watched us enter the Castle, where we obtained our release , and as I came out a free man he approached me : You are a stranger in the town . I live here now . Come and work

’

. So for me I did , though I well knew the old pig had heard of my escape . One night I was awakened from my Sleep by Heba holding a l ow conversation with some one in the court . The other voice I recognized as A that of my last master , Hadji hmed , and I listened from the roof as they planned my re [ 68 ] S A A HA SA S AV AL M , U L E capture by inducing me to go south again as a caravan man . “ The next morning Hadj i Ahmed called for ‘ me and said : You have your freedom now . Come as a driver and I will give you three

’ medjidies clothes , and a month s wages of three more in advance , to go back with the

’

arfla . g I agreed , and taking the money , went out with him to buy a new burnoose and other

‘ ’ ' ‘ ' said he Fondii k -el clothes . Now, , go to the

’ Burka where the caravan is being loaded . “ Taking the bundle , I chuckled to myself as I

u S Amoora turned p a side street where lived idi , who kept open house for slaves and often pro m v ided them with money . There I left y bundle and hid under the sea wall, not far from the

Arfi house, , where was once the consulate of A your country . Hadji hmed and his men ran all over town in search of me and at last one found me asleep wrapped in my new burnoose . “ ‘ - - - Bu r r o ! . arfla Get out The g is going . ’ Hurry ! Your master is angry . “ ‘I ’ ” have no master, I am a Turk now , said

I . Leaving me , the man returned with Hadji

A off hmed , who angrily ordered me , but I laughed and said : 69 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

’

! No . Lah [ ] I know your schemes .

o ? You m You refuse to g , y slave , dare steal my money as a tick would bleed a camel !’ he cried threateningly , but I sprang from his

to grasp as he attempted seize me .

“ ‘ ’ i Give me the clothes and the medj dies , he commanded . ‘ Lah ! I have use for them . I go to the Bey

’ a o u to p y f r a protest against yo . “ At A this hmed was greatly scared , though b more angry , but I was safe enough there y the sea wall , as free as Hadji himself , who well knew the Bey could punish him and confiscate his goods .

“ ’ ‘ Never mind , said he ; here are three more

’ medjidies . I took them . ‘ hi - said I , thou w te faced horse with weak eyes !’ And that was the last I ever saw of him ‘ but to , I often went to Visit the fat Heba inquire after his health and to S how him my new ” burnoose . “ ” d i Si P hi But the me j dies , lam I laug ngly

for queried . The dark eyes met mine a moment ; the pupils seemed to contract fiercely . Then a black hand disappeared under the folds of his baracan . 70 l

S AM A A SA S AV AL , H U L E ” I bought this , said he , and drew from its sheath a beautifully worked dagger , the crooked blade of which flashed silver in the lamplight . Not long after Salam had related his narrative to me a most unexpected event occurred . One hot out of A morning, from the sounds the rab

n of tow life , came the faint rhythmic cadence

- - distant beating tom toms . As their echoes vi

’ brated up the narrow Street of the Milk Sellers

out to com Market, I went in time meet a small pany of Blacks . They were parading the town by way of announcing to their race the event of a religious dance , to be held near the palm groves of the oasis outside the toWn . Late that afternoon found me in company with ' Sel lam headed in the direction of their rendez vous . Salam was dressed in his best fez and

of baracan , with a little bouquet blossoms tucked

n — behind his ear . In o e hand he carried as was his custom on auspicious occasions— a piece of discarded copper cable which he had picked up as a prize at the cable station . Turning a corner of on of a building the outskirts the town , we

of came into full View a barbaric Sudanese dance . Forming a great ring seventy-fiv e yards in diameter was a wild l ot of some two hundred [ 71 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

1 Blacks , surrounded by twice as many excited spectators . Its limits were fixed by poles , from whose tops the green flag of the Prophet occasion ally fluttered in the hot breeze . Most of the

. - participants wore gaudy colored vests , below which hung loose skirts weighted here and there

. k ras rull ah at the edges Each carried a heavy , and there seemed to be certain understood forms

: which they observed in, the dance . For nearly

tom- re- o half a minute the toms , enf rced by the squawking oboes and clashing cymbals , would

o i sound ut their wild stra ns in regular cadence .

Meanwhile the dancers would beat time , holding

ffi u hot their clubs vertically , scu ng p the sand and uttering strange grunts . Facing one another in

i pa rs , they would accentuate the beats by sharply cracking their clubs together several times . At sudden flares of mUSIc they would turn

u violently round and round , sending p great

of clouds orange sand , their weighted skirts swirling out almost horizontally about their

. u waists Then they would bring p short, each

e of Opposit another partner , with a crack their n clubs ; and s o the dance went o .

1 T ese e e noma s and of two e the Ou e e rom e h w r d trib s, l d B di f B di and the u e W a hermi is nea u a us e O B a hermi. B a l d di g g r K k , j t w st of La a Bo ace ma be oun on ma s . ke Ch d . th pl s y f d p [ 72 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

Significance of the danger until he had gone and I found myself in the vortex of this frenzied human whirlpool . Only a few individual faces stood out of the

who crowd, the two left the ring and a loathsome

vi S . indi dual , eemingly a marabout , who spat at

i of me . Those behind jabbed me w th the ends their clubs . Those in front , led by the old man , gesticulated and shouted and Shook their clubs above their heads . Meanwhile , bruised from im one of the stones , I limped as slowly as my patience would permit across the open space and managed to work my way alongside the stand

of A . an rab fruit seller Here , to disguise my mingled feelings of anger and apprehension , I bought some figs . Discarding the poorer ones , I proceeded to eat the rest in the most approved f native fashion , a fecting meanwhile a steadiness of hand which quite belied me .

of Instead quieting the crowd , my attitude served to make them more furious . They yelled and threatened in my face , while I clung tightly to my camera box and wondered how much re sistance there was in my pith sun helmet . I had

s o f or one no weapon and it was better , would have been useless against these fanatics . [ 74 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA There was only one reason which led me to request that no troops be sent to gather in the

’ am ringleaders . Sal s life afterward would not have been the hide of his desert slippers .

[ 76 ] CHAPTER FIVE

T H E MAS KE D T UA RE GS O the Arab are generally accredited the con S trol and ownership of the Great ahara , but in reality there , far away from the coasts , a people as mysterious as the trackless sands— the masked Tuaregs— are the real rulers and buc cancers of the Desert . Their homes are in the

of very heart those arid wastes , whose vast soli tudes seem shrouded in mystery , and where over it all one feels at times , even in the sunlight, an uncanny brooding . In the vicinity of Timbuktu dwell the Aw eelim

of miden tribe , the westernmost the Tuareg tribal confederation . In the very centre of the Sahara and in the rugged Hoggar Mountains , under the

of Tropic Cancer , live perhaps the most blood

— thirsty oi all the H oggars . In the deserts in

of a a the Vicinity Ghad mes and Gh t , where the

of to border line Tripoli seems open its mouth ,

As ars to of roam the g , while the south Tripoli the [ 77 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

Kel ow 1s i nfest and control the regions through Which pass two caravan routes from Tripoli to the

Sudan . Every southbound caravan from Tripoli is forced to pass through Tuareg territory . For this pri vilege the garfla sheik must in person salute the Tuareg Sultan and pay a toll accord ing to the wealth of his merchandise , in addition

f . to a fixed tari f, which is levied on all caravans And woe betide the luckless caravan whose inde pendent sheik refuses to pay tribute or which is caught in the meshes of tribal wars ! The Tuaregs are masters of a territory half the area of the United States in extent . It reaches from Barbary to the Niger , from the fever-laden districts of Semmur and Senegal on

A a of the tl ntic to the land the wild Tebus , who occupy and control the deserts east of Lake

Chad . Out of the million and a half square miles of Tuareg territory scarcely more than the

of area New York City is cultivated land , and

b con even this , in most cases , is saved only y a stant fight against the relentless march of the drifting sand . Fearless and enduring must a people be who can live , travel , and thrive in such a desolation .

fleet- Mounted on swift mehara , footed horses , [ 78 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA A . S forsaken , as the rabs call them hortly after my arrival in Tripoli I set out to get information about them . But information was scarce , save

— along one line the pillaging of caravans .

One night , as was my wont , found me at the home of my friend Riley “ Only Old Mustafa , he commented as he joined us on the balcony which surrounded the inner court . Old Mustafa was one of the A shrewdest rabs in Tripoli . Fifteen years before he picked up bones for a living ; now he was one of the wealthiest merchants in the town . But in

of the past few years much his wealth , invested

out on in the caravan trade , had been emptied the

G atrun s . desert by the Tuaregs , Tebus , and y But a little while before a rider had come with bad news from the south on a mehari from

Murzuk . Details were meagre , but the home ward-bound caravan had been attacked between

on . the Bilma oasis and Kawar, the Chad trail This trail is the most direct and westerly of the two main routes , and had been considered fairly safe by reason of the recent British occupancy of

Kuka at its southern end . The other , to the

- of a a Air south west , by way Ghad mes , Gh t , and , of late years had proved a costly risk . The great [ 80 ] THE MASKED TUAREGS menace to the caravan trade is the Tuareg . It is he who is generally responsible f or the looting

arflas : of the g perhaps indirectly, as in the case of b a recent attack y the Rashada, a wild Tebu a tribe from the east of the Gh t route , which had suffered the loss of some camels through a border invasion of Tuaregs . Failing to regain posses sion , they took it out of the next Tripoli cara v an at Fal essel ez , a small oasis called , and car ried off some eighty loads of ostrich feathers and three hundred and eighty loads of Sudan skins .

f or It was a good haul one raid , but hardly a

D amer hu circumstance , as compared with the g

f - Air a fair , about half way between Kano and . This caravan was one of the largest which had

of left Kano , consisting thirteen thousand camels ,

not and S . to mention donkeys , goats , heep This time it w as being convoyed mainly by Kel owi

Tuaregs , and started from the south . When about half-way between Kano and Air it was

D amer hu w ho ol d attacked by the g , had an

l o score to settle with the Ke wis . They literally got away with the whole outfit to the amount of

’ nearly a million dollars worth of animals and

” goods . Old Mustafa was not caught in this raid , which nearly caused a commercial crisis in [ 81 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

Tripoli and left the bones of twelve of her best caravaneers beside the trail .

P the aradoxical as it may seem , Tuaregs are not only despoilers of the caravan trade , but also make that trade possible through their pro

tection . as escorts For , when tribute is paid for

- h safe conduct through their territory , these swart y warriors , mounted high on their lurching mehara , accompany the caravan to the outskirts of the

m s ro territory, or , as someti e happens , agree to p teet it through adjoining dangerous districts . On these occasions they will fight as for their

— own with all the ferocity of their leonine natures .

During the march , however , should one of these eagle-eyed adventurers spy some object which strikes his fancy belonging to a caravaneer , the

i s i latter nformed of that fact , whereupon the object changes owners— even to the stripping from his back of his baracan .

Where can I find the Tuaregs ? I asked . ” Well , replied M . Zolia, eying me quizzically , most people are afraid that the Tuaregs will a find them . Their nearest town is Ghad mes ,

’ ’ ’ — i twenty days camel s journey f you re lucky . N ot within the memory of any of us Europeans here in Tripoli has a Christian ever been per [ 82 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

n of cuito s route devoid wells , and after super human exertions staggered back to their starting ” point . I well knew the futility of obtaining permission from the Pasha to travel in that direction ; be

- sides , my contemplated route lay south east .

But, being anxious to get at least one glimpse of

In mr . a Tuareg , I persisted in my q y

s Well , you might cro s their trail in the ” “ desert , replied M . Zolia, and by some chance you might run across them right here in Tripoli , ' f or i in occas onally they come with the caravans , ” or to trade . Then I could knock off a sketch ” A ! sketch ejaculated Riley Gad , man ,

’ ’ don t try any white man s magic with your pencil n or camera o those fellows . That black camera box of yours , with a glass eye pointing at them , they would regard as an evil thing . They might think you could cast a spell over them , and one method of breaking it would be to stab the evil ‘ ’ no one casting it . Dead men cast spells is

’ e their motto . Keep away from th m ; don t even appear too curious . They are childishly super stitious ; you might unwittingly off end them by ” some trivial act , and their knives are long . [ 84 ] THE MASKED TUAREGS

ma Strange as it y seem , the Tuareg is of the

W not f or hite race , and , were it the fierce exposure to - sand storm and desert sun , these swarthy children of nature would undoubtedly count many of a Saxon fairness among them . In their

of veins flows the blood Berber ancestry, and in their language is preserved the purest speech of

of that tongue . The ancestors these tribes were likely the most liberty-loving of that independent race , and probably , rather than be subjugated , they retreated into the vast spaces of the Great

Desert . Here , at certain centres , they have towns built under the shade of the towering date

of c ases m , of palms the ; but ost their life , often

on without food and shelter , is spent the march ;

on or on a wild sally here a caravan , a fierce

’ sl aught there into an enemy s territory from their borders , then the rapid retreat and the dividing of the loot . They seem to have drawn their religion from the countries bordering the north and south of

f or their territory, it embodies certain forms of of A Mohammedanism their rab neighbors , combined with more or less of the fetichism of the Sudanese . Their daily life is a defying of

na ra the deathlike wastes , and it is but tu l that [ 85 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

' ell ow l oom the lonely vigil of night , the y g of the

- sand storm , and all the mysterious phenomena

r of those deserts over which they oam , should be

' associated by these people with the jinn and evil spirits with which their legends and folk lore abound . “ Never promise more than half of what you ” can perform , runs a Tuareg proverb , and trav ellers and French army officers have claimed for the Tuareg steadfastness of character , the de

of . fence a guest , and the keeping of promises

This , however, was not borne out in three instances where small bands of the White Fathers [French missionaries] relied upon the ’ for Tuaregs word a safe escort , only to be mur dered when far on their journey ; nor in the case of hi the Flatters Expedition , w ch left southern Algeria to study questions of railway communi

- cation across the Sahara . This ill fated company A left Ouargla , lgeria , about a hundred strong A French native tirailleurs , rab guides , and camel drivers enough to attend to the caravan of some three hundred camels all told . Attached to the party were a number of Tuaregs . Week after week they toiled in measured march south , Am id passed g , and entered the very heart of the [ 86 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA w ho o out on , often banding together, g foraging ’ afl airs of their own , passing like mysterious phan toms over the sands . In the small hours of the morning they come down with a rush on some

r unsuspecting doua [village] . Sunrise finds them

- mi . les away , red handed with their loot Lastly

Bell ates or are the , Black slaves , who become

' much attached to their masters , often refusing

d f to their free om when o fered , preferring retain their Tuareg citizenship rather than seek their homes in the Sudan . The Tuaregs resort to the same method of branding their slaves as do the Arabs— slashing out strips of flesh from the calves , cheeks , or temples . One stifling morni ng i n mid- July a surprise awaited me . Only the noise of a di sconsolate camel or the drone of some drowsy insect among the courtyard plants of my lokanda drifted on the heated air . I paused a moment on the thresh

to do old , as we are wont , perhaps through

out nar primeval instinct , then stepped into the

- f row . o , sun baked street Just ahead me another l hi crossed it, c eaving its way between the w te

ar walled Arab houses . My c caught the soft

f of fla ed scu f sandalled feet, a white garment pp

a tw o l out from beyond corner stone , then tal [ 88 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA each concealed a wicked knife . They shortly

- Suk -el - turned into the trellis covered Turc , and at a call from an Arab stopped before the small wall opening of a shop. Only round golden spots of sunl ight percolated through the heavy clustered Vines and purple fruit and scintillated on their copper bead neck

S biit laces and ilver amulet cases ; the narrow , crowded mart was too dark to risk a shot with

f or my camera , I must insure the success of my

first attempt , before their suspicions were aroused .

From the covering of the booth‘ of a Jewish sil rs mith v e I watched the transaction with interest .

A i The rab was bartering for the r weapons ,

A his and , after rab custom , transcribed conver sation in imagination on the palm of his hand

. A with his index finger Unlike the rab , the Tuaregs seemed to disdain haggling over the

l ow price , and after an occasional guttural grunt ,

no by means lacking in intonation , brought the trade to a sudden termination . One of them threw back the sleeve of his tunic and slipped the leather bracelet of a long knife scabbard from the wrist of his left arm . Handing scabbard and

to A u weapon the rab , he gathered p a handful of piasters and moved on with his companion . [ 90 ] THE MASKED TUAREGS A I slipped from my retreat , noted the rab

f or booth , and dodged after them two hours as their path interlaced through the maze of tor

tuous s . street , but no chance presented itself Owing to my distinctive European dress and glaring white sun helmet , it behooved me to be doubly cautious both for the success of my under taking and my safety . But I made the most of the opportunity to study carefully their appear ance and manner .

of Six Both were men tall stature , at least feet

sa . in height , I should y This was accentuated b W i y their ry , catlike figures and the style of their litham : a mask in two pieces with broad

flaps , one crossing the forehead , the other the

of the lower part face , suspended from the bridge

f - o the clean cut aquiline nose or just below it . hi They adopt t s covering , it is said , to lessen the evaporation in throat and nostrils , and rarely remove it even when eating or in the presence of their families . Over the mask was wrapped ,

- of turban wise , a piece white material , the crown

of . the head being left bare From this aperture ,

tadilmus o f the , a lock black hair, projected

Skyward .

- They walked with an easy , even paced lope , [ 9 1 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

S hi winging well from the ps , commencing the forward stride of one leg before the other heel had

. of left the ground Every motion their supple , catlike bodies gave a sense o f muscles trained to perfection .

A glance showed them to be — men inured to the most brutal hardship, in which the pitiless ex

of — tremes rain and sand storm , heat and cold ,

hi of hunger and t rst , and the fortunes war were

’ but common episodes in the day s work . The Arabs of Tripoli treated them with the greatest respect ; not once were they jostled by the passing

. s many Yet these nomads , toical as they were ,

b not seemed y their guarded glance , altogether at ease thus removed from their desert trails , and they viewed many things with simple curiosity . Such were these desert children w ho strode on

of . U one ahead me p street , down another , past

of Dra ut the Mosque g , the Mediterranean free

- u m ow n A A e . booter , then p y street , the rbar rs t Here they were hailed by the one- eyed dealer in goods from the Sudan .

Twice I felt sure they had noticed me . It was now high noon and the Siesta time found us the

- only occupants of the sun baked street . I was

too to near them turn back, and as I neared the [ 99 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

now i in S tions ; but Wada , the Central udan , is its

. S headquarters The enusi , so far as I know , wear nothing by which they may be distinguished

of as do many the other Mohammedan sects , and

r o eve y member is sworn t secrecy .

’ influence Its is so powerful , yet so intangible , that it is a difficult influence f or the invading

Christian nations to deal with , as France has

to found her cost . To the Senusi has been attrib uted the cause of some of the most violent up risings and oppositions against the invasion of

As ars S . the French in the ahara Not only the g ,

Kel ow i but the are strong adherents of this sect , particularly those residing in Air and Ghat . It is said that the plot against the Flatters Expedi tion has been laid at the door of the sect . “ How did you know they were in town ? I continued . “

it . Why, half of Tripoli knows Tuaregs enter a suk or town f or one of three reasons— to

s trade , to buy camels , or to py out information regarding an outgoing caravan . Generally they don ’ t bring enough stuff to load down a month

’ old a camel , and they certainly don t p y Tripoli

f or on prices camels , when they can lift them the

. So trail draw your conclusions , as the caravan [ 94 ] THE MASKED TUAREGS

As s men and merchants draw theirs . These gar will probably hang around the Suk over market

d a or e e on y perhaps longer, keeping an y the

of number camels purchased , and loaf around the rope shops and other places of caravan out

u of fitters , picking p any stray bit gossip which

ma y drift their way . Of course, they may be

’ honest , but the chances are even . Don t repeat ” u of S T y o r game this morning with enusi uaregs , S continued my friend , as we parted at the treet

’ of the Milk Sellers Market .

The following morning , before the sunlight on the neighboring minarets and housetops had

to A changed from rose gold , found me at the rab

k -el - Su . shop in the Turc There , in a dark

on of old l a corner a pile silks , y the long Tuareg

el e t ks [daggers] . ” G adesh P T n I inquired . The ripoline amed ,

his price , and I took the coveted weapons back

o m t y lokanda .

’ T he dagger is the Tuareg s main weapon , and A has two unique characteristics . ttached to its scabbard is a broad leather ring through which are passed the left hand and wrist ; the knife lies

of flat against the inner side the arm , its handle

f or grasped by the hand , the Tuareg evidently [ 9 5 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA goes on the principle that a knife in the hand is ” worth two in the belt . Strangely paradoxical to all the symbolism which plays s o important a part in the religion of the orthodox Mohammedan , is the character of f or the telek handle, it is in the form of the

of the . A cross , the symbol hated Nazarenes number of theories have been advanced by way of explanation , but the most reasonable and sub stantiated seems to be that it is a relic of the time when this people were Christians , during the

Roman era, before they were driven from their more northern habitations by the Arabs . The cross is also found in Tuareg ornaments , and in

- the handle shapes of their two edged war swords .

I would venture an opinion , however, that these weapons have no religious significance

to whatever the Tuareg , but were patterned after

- - of in the cross hilted , double edged swords the

f or not vading Crusaders , only did the Crusader land on the heights of Carthage and other points

A f or along the North frican coast , but a number of years Tripoli itself was occupied by the

of St . w ho Knights John , came in touch there with the nomadic desert tribes . They must have

S left many a graven crucifix, sword , hield , and [ 96 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

Suk channel ways of the , banked with produce

and handicraft articles of town and country . I had almost despaired of again setting eyes on

As ars the g , when , as I rounded the tent of a

in - dealer goat skin water buckets , there were the Tuaregs— three of them— all squatting before the ‘

tattered tent of a Black, eating ravenously of roasted fodder corn ,

them m This time I would let cross y path , and I waited unobserved under the shadow of the uk wall of the Halfa S .

Having gorged themselves , they crossed the market . I anticipated them first at one point, then at another . Either they turned aside before reaching me , their faces were in the shadow, or some Arab exasperatingly blocked my view.

Then they headed for the camel market , so I hur ried by a circuitous route and arrived begrimed \ and perspiring at the farther end of a long line of

camels . Examining a camel here and there , they gradually worked their way toward me .

The third Tuareg was evidently a serf, for he

w . wore a hite litham He carried a long , grace fully shaped lance , which I would have liked to

i buy , but an exper ence of trying to buy a hauberk from a Riffian in Morocco had taught [ 98 ] F o m the ne e of a came I o o the c ure r ar sid l , t k pi t

CHAPTER SIX

TH E DISCOVERY OF THE UNITED STATES FRIGATE P H ILA D E LP H IA

ROM time immemorial the Mediterranean has been the arena of naval strife and

. to piracy Men chained the galley thwarts , ex n f ha sted and broken in spirit , have su fered under

r u the heat and cold , and w ithed in ang ish under

of P the lash agan , Mohammedan , and Christian .

But against the long horizon of its history— from the American view-point— one wave looms very

on i high , whose crest is a burn ng frigate , and high above her mast-heads we trace through the saf

— E T fron smoke clouds a name D C A UR .

’ of On the eastern end Tripoli s water front ,

one of formerly long line fortifications , rises the

’ Bashaw s Castle , its thick walls towering over the harbor some ninety feet above their sea-washed foundations . By the courtesy of Redjed Pasha I saw some

of n of thing the i terior this ancient pile , which [ 100 ] THE FRIGATE PHILADELPHIA

of n enclosed within its walls a little village its ow . Passing from large open courts of elaborately

e to colored tiles , through labyrinthin secret ways the prison , I mounted its high terraced ramparts .

Rounding over me , the great dome of unbroken blue stretched away to meet the darker mirror surface of water .

T o - to the north east , parallel the shore , extends

of now a dangerous line rocks , poking their

of ba jagged surfaces through the dark blue the y , n now disappearing under its waters . It was o

of these hidden crusted tops , three miles east the

of harbor entrance , that the grating keel the United States frigate Phil adelphia first warned

Captain Bainbridge that they were aground . T he guns having been hove overboard , her defence less condition compelled her surrender that after

3 1 1 803 . noon , October , Much of my time in Tripoli duringthe summer of 1 904 was spent in efforts to obtain data relating to the capture and destruction of the Phil adelphia by Lieutenant Decatur in command of the ketch

Intre id— not f or p only its local significance , but also with a View to locating the wreck . I ques tioned representatives of the European govern

o ments in the t wn , waded through countless [ 101 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA ffi files of o cial documents , dusty consular reports ,

f or and private journals , but many weeks my - fl search proved fruitless f Hearing finally that in fl

” the dibriamim[local records] of the Jewish

S of ynagogue an attaché , the French consulate had once found certain valuable historical data ,

to s a I determined , if possible , inve tig te these archives . Consequently , a meeting with Rabbi

of Mordecai Kohen , librarian the synagogue , was

b . arranged y the acting British consul , Mr

Dickson . l 1 4 y , in company with Tayar , a young interpreter , I found the rabbi buried in a pile of ol d books in the library of the synagogue .

to Touching his hand his forehead , he welcomed us ; then brought from a dark corner a musty ol d book on magic and science and a glass sphere on which he had pasted paper continents . These

to tw o proved be his greatest treasures , which he exhibited with all the unconcealed glee and pride

of . a a child Then , drawing from a shelf a sm ll

i w a to volume and a manuscr pt , he led the y the

British consulate , where , in company with Mr .

s Dickson , we eated ourselves about a table in a

to cool north room , and the rabbi proceeded decipher the brief facts . [ 102 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

View of the writer . It briefly stated , Y e however, that usef Bashaw was a bad rul r, had equipped a number of corsairs , and that the crews of the captured vessels were sold like sheep.

ins Zurri D hé es His capta , g , g , Trez , Romani , and

El - Mograbi , set sail from Tripoli and shortly sighted an Ameri can vessel . Zurrig left the others and daringly approached the ship, annoy ing her purposely to decoy her across the shoals .

She stranded , but fired on the other vessels

a until her mmunition gave out , whereupon the

- 1 Moslems p illage d her . The American Consul was very much disheartened and tried to con cl ud e arrangements similar to those recently made between the Bashaw and the Swedish

! Consul ; but such an enormous tribute was de ‘ e ed m nd that no terms could be reached , so by

2 order of the Bas haw the vessel was burned . FrOm time to time the corsairs brought in several A American merchantmen . Soon the merican squadron arrived , blockaded the harbor for

1 a H n N ssen f or the Amer can R bbi alf oom evide tly mistook Mr. i i h Dan on m . M en wa t e s c sul but w e had none at the e r . N s s , ti is i h consu and o un ar ac e as a en f or the Amer can r oner l , v l t ily t d g t i p is s, and happened to occupy the house formerly used as the United a n St tes Co sulate . ” of o ma av e een T s c urse was an erroneous ea . It hi , , id y h b ur ose c rcu a e rou the o n ar cu ar amon the in p p ly i l t d th gh t w , p ti l ly g a an an a n h bit ts other th Moh mmeda s . [ 104 ] THE FRIGATE PHILAD ELPHIA

twenty days , and bombarded the Tripolitans , who

returned their fire and did great damage . Such were the first gleanings of my search for local traditions concerning this event which made such a profound impression in both Eu A rope and merica , and which Lord Nelson “ said w as the most bold and daring act of the ” age . More specific results came through a chance

acquaintance . Dur ing my wanderings through the maze of narrow alleys within the walls of

old A -el Tripoli I fell in with an rab , Hadji

O uachi of , from whose combination lingua Franca and broken English I gathered much

. one information During drowsy siesta time , as we sat over the muddy Turkish coffee in the

ad a us of sh y sp cio court my lokanda , I questioned

him regarding the lost frigate . El - O uachi stimulated his recollections with a pinch of snuff . “ m There is a tradition among y people , he “ a o said , that many years g there came to Tripoli

A markab harbi a big merican [ship of war] , and

ou Arfi one -Ali when I was young , like y , , Hadji ,

old A an man , told me that the mericans came at night and burned her in the harbor and she [ 105 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA sank by the Lazaretto near the end of the Mole ” toward . the sea . “ But are there no old men now among you hi P” who saw t s ship I asked , by way of testing the accuracy o f his knowledge . “ ” Lah ! He shook his head . For that was in the days of my fathers . Then the Arabs were ! a strong people But I have a friend , old Hadji

G abroom Mohammed , whose father often told h n him about it . If we find im owat his coffee ” - - off Suk el . S P the Turc , he may tell us hall we go Passing out into the hot glare of the early after

a mi Suk noon , few nutes walk brought us to the ,

one S where , just before enters the treet of the

of Tailors , and the shops the workers in silver ’

cofl ee . and brass , we came to a small booth

Here , back in the farthest corner , wrapped in the

of his numerous folds brown baracan , squatted

i - G abro om -u Hadj Mohammed , a dried p, sinewy old his man , stroking scraggly beard and sucking

- at a long pipe stem . Looking out from under the heavy overhanging brows , and almost lost in

of - the wrinkles his tanned , sun parched face , a pair o f black beady eyes glittered like tw o sand beetles . After several salaams we drank of proffered coffee and El - O uachi stated our mis [ 100 ]

THE FRIGATE PHILADELPHIA sion . The fascinating little eyes glowed like

of live coals , as with almost a look hatred they searched me through . For a moment the fire died out of them and the old man seemed to lose the sense of his surroundings as though groping

- . i n in the long forgotten past Then , the slow ,

of A measured manner the rab chronicler , he spoke “ Many times has my father told me the story ‘ : of 1 21 8 thus In the year the Hegira , , during aw asit [the second ten days of the month] of the

son of S month Rajah , my , the sails strange hips are seen to the north where the Khafk an and Khafikin [the eastern and western horizons]

ta . am r meet The [rains] have begun , the nights are cold , and few people walk abroad . In that

w a A time , there comes from Bengazi y an merican hi one . s p, which chases a felucca with mast gone The Arab Rais [captain] knows many passages through the reefs and invites the big ship to A ! follow where the water is shallow . llah wills and the big ship is aground . All the corsairs , feluccas , and many small A boats filled with armed rabs swarm around her ,

on uk -e - as the S l Thalat when the market is held . The Americans fight with their small guns and [ 107 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHAR A A wound six of our people , but the rabs are too many . Soon they capture the ship and bring many Nazarenes to the castle , and it is a great tara n b [jubilee] i Tripoli . Yussef Bashaw putsthe

of officers in a dungeon in the middle the Castle , under the terrace . The sailors are bastinadoed and driven like the black mamluks [slaves] ; they

of of are empty wallets , apparent poverty and destitution , with no means of sustenance save the

' loaves of black bread giv en them by their mas ters . In the cold water for many days these

l Suk Nazarenes shove sand from a wreck , by the el - u Thalat , build p the broken places in the

v . Castle , and carry hea y loads ‘The Arabs bring the big ship from the rocks of Bogaz - el - Kebir [theBig Harbor] andanchorher i O ff the Fort and Lazaretto . Wh le the people loot

his Busha our A her , from small boat , one g , an rab hi sailor , sees a white t ng in a big gun , and finds two bags of silver medjidies [probably Spanish dollars] ; he puts them back quickly . When the night is black he takes again the money in his boat , buries it in the sand near where lies the

to Lazaretto , and goes back the big ship, where he is a guard ; three days later he buys unto himself two houses . 108 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

’ 1219 for ca da of the Hegira we fear an attack , we see strange sails when the sun is high ; I am

e a special guard at the gat of the Castle . One

evening , shortly after the sun has gone down in

the land of the west , there is seen a ketch standing into the harbor . We think she brings goods from A Malta, but on her deck are merican men dressed like the Maltese and her hold is full of men .

They know the gates of the city are shut , and that the Rais-el -Kebir [Captain of the Port] will not give them practique [quarantine clearance] until the morning . Long after the muezzin has called the faithful to prayer , and the city sleeps, out of the stillness of the darkness a great cry comes over the water . They attack and slay certain of our guards in the big ship, the rest flee in fear for themselves . They start fires with gourds and bottles filled with spirit and oil . Suddenly flames like the tongues of evil spirits rise from the A A merican ship. These mericans have wise s heads ; when they lose their ship, they lo e it to e ev rybody .

‘ ‘ Our town is soon in great confusion . Men cry aloud , our women screech , and the great cannons from the Castle ramparts boom . Many v think the Castle is fallen . E erybody runs into [ 1 10 ] THE FRIGATE PHILADELPHIA the streets with his gun ; some rush into the gar

a dens t the back of the town , only to meet many coming in from the country and Bedaw i village camps . I climb on a housetop better to see this

old -el matter, and with me is Mohammed

u O ayti. Soon many hundreds of people pour in frOm the Black village at Sciara-el -Seiut and

u from Tajura and Zanz o r . Below us the people are rushing through under the Inner Gate of the

-cl - Bab Bahah, crowding to the water front to meet the enemy, like a great wadi rushing to the sea .

he Together we watch the fire of the ship. S begins to burn first in thé middle ; then much powder explodes . The great smoke cloud spreads its W ings like some evil bird over the harbor and sc ars of to the upper regions the darkness , its red talons always taking something from the face of the earth , which it carries toward the outer sea .

az arenes The N , fearing for themselves , turn back in flight , and we watch their ketch disappear in the darkness through Bogaz Jeraba out to the

Middle Sea . Soon the harbor is light as day and redder than the sands of the Sah-ra [Sahara]

l ow when the sun is in the west . When the A breath of llah blows back now and again , the [ 1 1 1 ] THE G ATEWAY TO THE SAHARA big tongues change their course and lick out at the Castle, making its walls and ramparts red

as as blood , like some monster dragon it spits back its fire guns . ‘ For three days the ship burns and the sky at night is like this brass on the handle of my

rflas ff khanijar [dagger] . G a afar O on the desert

it— be see yea , even plenty of people see it from

Fassato yond the Jebel Tarhuna, , and the farther

’ Jebel , four days journey as the camel travels . For many years after this she yields her iron and brass to the Arab and Maltese fisherman ; for everything that is an object of search resteth

S . not . uch is the story of the Nazarene ship

Know , then , what I tell thee , my son , and keep A ! A !’ 1 it in thy memory . llah wills llah is great

The old hadji tapped the kief out of his pipe ,

s reefin u slid off the seat into his lippers , and g p his skirts about him , mounted his small donkey and disappeared down the Suk .

1 It has been a much-mooted q uestion whether it would have De a ur een o e t o a e the Phil ad el hia om the a o . c b p ssibl t k p fr h rb r t , “ h o i om an w the o e e ad no c o ce . P ocee t o Tr n c h w v r, h i r d ip li p y ith ” ’ “ Siren un er Lieu enan S e a e e e o e en e a d t t t w rt, r ad Pr bl s rd rs, t r th t ar or in t he n oa the Phil adel hia urn her ma e oo h b ight, b rd p , b , k g d h n cer n the c ance our re rea t e Intre id . One is y t t with p thi g tai , h s ere evi en a a n the ucce s of uc an un e a n as mu w d tly g i st s s s h d rt ki g, st he roun I do be evident to any one who has actually been over t g d . not believe it would have been possible under the circumstances . [ 1 12 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

of o to and the dirt dado the uter walls , so that enter one must descend “ Arfi one These houses, , he continued , this with the hand print over the door to keep off the ‘ ’ Busha our evil eye , and the one next, g bought with the two bags of money . Within their walls eac h has a large court and good rooms . His

’ children s children live here now, but we cannot enter, for the women are there , and these people

. S like not the Christians ome years ] ago there was a great explosion in this fortification where the powder was stored , the walls of the whole town were shaken , part of this fortress was broken in many places , houses fell and people ” died , but these fell not .

As -el - El -O uachi we reached the Bab Bahah ,

- pointed his lean , henna stained finger in the direction of the remains of the Mole .

B e ond the Mol ehead Ar the tradition o m y , fi, f y

eo l e sa s the w reck o the bi American corsair p p y , f g

” 1 l es i .

Foll ow m g this clue , early the next morning ,

12 f orenoon breez e July , before the usual could

1 On my return to the United States I investigated the original a a re a n t o the ca ure and u n n of the Phil adel hia and d t l ti g pt b r i g p , further corroborated the Arab tradition from original and official sources om the re or of Commo o e e e who ue the ; fr p ts d r Pr bl , iss d orders to destroy the frigate; Lieutenant Decatur and Midshipman [ 1 14 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAH ARA

which , like some gorgeous spectrum , vibrated in

unison with the grasses , or turning upward its

scaly side, darted like a shaft of silvery light

through the green and opalescent depths below . In less than an hour my search was rewarded by seeing the broken ends of the great ribs of a

— - s vessel protruding through dull colored eel gras , I noticed that this grass seemed to follow the line

to of the ribs , and carefully noted its character,

further aid me in my search . Examining these

closely , no doubt was left in my mind but that they belonged to a large vessel , and I ordered the boatman to let fall the rough stone which served

as an anchor . The lead gave us two and a half

and three fathoms .

Hastily undressing , we dived several times . Riley first succeeded in buoying the spot by going down with the line and slipping it over one of the ribs . While on the bottom I carefully examined the timbers . These were honeycombed in cer tain parts in a peculiar way . The continual sea Swash of a century seemed to have made its inroads at the softest places , and they gave every

of . appearance , in form, partially burned stumps

The wood seemed almost as hard as iron . Much

of it was enclosed in a fossil crust , and only by [ 1 10 ] THE FRIGATE PHILADELPHIA repeated efforts I succeeded in breaking off a small piece . The many winds from the Desert and the shifting shoals of sand had filled in and around the frigate , and her keel must have lain buried nearly two fathoms deeper than the pres ent sea bottom . The freshening breeze made further investigation impossible ; so after taking

re bearings and leaving the spot buoyed , we turned to the shore , landing amid an awaiting,

A . curious crowd of Turks , rabs , and Blacks

Six days later , through the courtesy and inter est of the officers of the Greek war- ships Crete and

’ P aral os W , a ship s cutter and machine boat ith divers were placed at my disposal . On this second expedition my principal object was to determine more carefully the size , position; and

i location of the wreck , which are g ven on the chart reproduced on the next page . My third and last expedition was on the morn ing of August 3 . The divers managed with pick

off s of and axe to break piece her fossilized sides , and from her partly buried timbers brought to

- - 1 the surface an eighteen pound cannon ball , together with part of the wood in which it was

1 This solid shot corresponded in diameter to the bore of some of the discarded guns at the Battery and w as found in the port side

or ar . It i now in the Na a f w d s v l Museum at Annapolis . [ 1 17 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA embedded . The ball and adjoining wood were

of completely incrusted with an inch fossil matter . Several other pieces of wood brought up con

Map of the T own and Harbor of T ripol i

A— Posi i n of the P hi l ade hia w att k e a ur Dot and as t o lp hen ac ed by D c t . d h lines indi ate the ours e o f the I ntrepi d o n ente ring and leav ing the harbo r Feb c c ’ m r 1 6th 18 4 . Heav d otte d lines in i at e the P hi ade phia s cou rs e as she a y , 0 y d c l l d rif ted af ter being fi red . — B Pres ent si ion f the P hi ad h on as ines in i ate her bearin . po t o l elp ia. L g d hl d c gs

tained i iron bolts , also copper nails , wh ch prob ably held down the sheeting below the water line of her hull . There her skeleton timbers will [ 1 18 ]

CHAPTER SEVEN

T H E GRE E K S PO NGE D I VERS

’ F Tripoli s principal industries three stand

re- - es out p eminently sponge gathering ,

-S parto picking , and the trans aharan caravan trade through which the pri ncipal resources re s ectiv el p y of sea , coast , and Desert, including the

S . udan , are made marketable exports Besides these , great quantities of cattle [in good years] , eggs , mats , old silver, woollen cloths , and other local products are shipped annually , going mainly

i to Great Brita n , France , Turkey , Italy , Malta ,

T . S unis , and Egypt One article only, udan S skins , finds its way to the United tates , which supply depends upon the security of the trade routes . These skins go to New York for the manufacture of a cheap grade of gloves or shoes . Tripoli Harbor affords better protection to vessels than many on the North African coast ; but because of dangerous reefs and shoals it

f to is a most di ficult harbor enter , particularly [ 120 ] THE GREEK SPONGE DIVERS

f or in stormy weather, the Mediterranean is as varying in her moods as are those peoples w ho inhabit her shores . Under the gentle zephyrs and clear skies of summer she is as peaceful as Hadji under his awning in yonder Suk ; but in

of Wi winter, when , under the spirit the north nd ,

i i i she comes r pp ng, lashing southward , foam ng down in a seething froth on the reef-lined shores of Barbary , she is as wild and fanatical as some mighty horde of Moslems driven by the spirit of the Jehad . O ff some of the Barbary ports vessels frs quently lie f or weeks awaiting fair weather before they can discharge their cargoes , and the list of casualties for the amount o f Shipping off

A . 1 904 the North frican coast must be large In , 543 sailing vessels and 271 steamers entered

of Tripoli Harbor . Some the risks which these vessels i ncur in these waters may be noted from s the following , which I quote from two letter received from Tripoli . The author writes :

D m r 6 1905 t O n Wednesda ece be a P . M. we were y, [ ] , r u s a I saw a rock u n at the T u kish Club as u l . et go p a d “ s S i ri ce r S . an n e ec m ome a d T e e is the S . e i , h yr P xp t h ” when you see me went aboard and stayed there until Sun a Decem er 10th rew overboard abou 620 ons of d y, b th t t car o an r 3 un I a s va e d ot he off a 1 5 A . M. a l t S . h d the a g g , d y g ’ steamer Denmark here to wing at her had five hours [ 121 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA rest the whol e time w e all work ed like devil s to get her 0 3 e ore bad ea er came on hic did come el e our s b f w th , w h tw v h a er and one our of oul ave ma e a o a rec of her ft , h it w d h d t t l w k have done nothing el se but se e into recovering the jettisoned car o sell n auc on and wr in re or s to Ll o ds and the g , i g it by ti it g p t y Lon n T - . o l ree mas s ee Sal a e Co d . en a beau u e l v g , h tif , th t d t barkentine Of 220 tons has gone on the rocks at Zl eiten down the

coas and s means or . t, thi w k A following letter written shortly after this reads

Hav e had no time to write as I had a steam l aunch smas hed u and on D ecem er 22 1 905 a Br s s eamer the C ollin p, b [ ] iti h t , g ham r H a e sal a s amer ere an am or n ot on a ee . e e d , g f v v g t h w ki g

da an n . . I o r ff u s is ama ed . d t he o . b t he badl d y ight g , y g

Such is the record for one month off the port of Tripoli alone . The seaboard of Tripolitania can well afford to boast of its share Of maritime destruction . The dangerous quicksands of the Major and Minor Syrtes of the ancients are in the bight of

- : her coast line sands whose fatal suction , down

- ward drawing , has claimed many a Roman

of trireme , many a caravel and stately ship the

of . T o line , and many a modern vessel steel the treacherous reefs off Tripoli harbor we ow e the

s of Phil adel hia Off i los the p , and it was Tripol , in

S Dr D ew e a gale , that the United tates y Dock y , on a to Phi her f mous voyage the lippines , came near meeting disaster . [ 122 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

11 8 leading exports may be obtained when one 1 9 04 c considers that in , for instan e , out of a total export trade of about sponges

o am unted to or over a fifth , esparto grass to or over a third , and goods from the trans-Saharan caravan trade to or

- over one sixth . The other remaining three tenths of her exports were comprised of the products of the oases and towns on or near

the coast . The methods of gathering and marketing these three leading exports are as interesting as they

are unique and hazardous , and the men engaged in them as picturesque and dirty as they are hard working and fearless— the sponge diver on his restless sea of brine ; the esparto picker in his waving sea of sun - dried grass ; the caravaneer on

n of . his shifting , bur ing sea sand

of In the eastern half the Mediterranean , along

to the coast from Tunis the Levant , including the

ZE ean Sea islands of the g , stretch great regions

f or of sponge colonies . Those extending three hundred and fifty miles along the North African

to coast , from the Tunisian frontier Misurata on

the east , are known as the Tripoli grounds , and here with the last north winds of the rainy season 124 ] THE GREEK SPONGE DIVERS come the sponge fleets from the Greek Archi T pelago . I well remember the night at the urk ish Club that I obtained my first insight into the

1 A of life of the Greek scaphander . party us , as

one of e usual , sat about the tabl s after tennis and throwing the discus by the shaded court under

the southern lee of the town wall .

- of Near by , the dark sapphire blue walls the ancient Castle of the Bashaws stood silhouetted against a west of yellow amethyst . Its great shadow had crept across the garden to where we

of sat , on over the dry bed a neighboring wadi ,

Suk -cl - finally lengthening across the Thalat , where the distant Arab houses stood out— a level golden line from the dusk shadows of the purple twilight . “ ” u ! Yes , sewn p in a bag The speaker was “ was one of the Greek naval officers . It in the ” “ A S . Gulf of irte , two years ago , he continued diver from one of the machine boats had gone down for sponges , and crawling over the bottom P of the sea came upon a large bag . erhaps the thought of sunken treasure caused him to rip

- open more hastily its half rotten threads .

1 D ers who use the sca handra or mac ne air- um su iv p hi [ p p, it, e me and u e . h l t, t b ] [ 125 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

of Well , there were two them in it ; both were ” found to have been sponge divers . “ ” Buried at sea P I queried . A peculiar smile played for a moment around

- hi of . the w te teeth the olive skinned Greek Yes , ” but we could find no record of the burial ! “ And that case of the diver in a sponge boat ” “ off Derna P added an Englishman . Paralysis

’ didn t creep fast enough , and he was only dead

s o hot wood aboard , they buried him alive in the sand of the Sahara . Even after he was dead ” some thieving Arabs stole his clothes . “ of Well , there may be cases foul play , the “ Greek admitted , yet they are insignificant com pared with that deadly enemy oi the scaphander ’ — out diver s paralysis . Why, of the seven hun dred scaphanders working on this coast , from sixty to a hundred die every year , and , sooner or later , hardly a man escapes from it in one form

or another . Of course these conditions are due , in great part, to the ignorance and brutality of the men engaged in the industry . On the other

ZE ina hand , there have been captains from g , who have been in business f or fifteen years and

have never lost a diver . With those two vessels ” in the bay yonder , and he waved his hand tow [ 120 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA contracted and the blood is driven from the cen

tral intestines , causing congestion , with or with

out hemorrhage , minute balls of air expanding

e o c and rupturing thes vessels, the great danger

curring when the balls develop and las t. They consist of azote [nitrogen] dissolving in the blood and becoming free when the pressure is with

drawn , sometimes preventing circulation in the

ro lungs or , blocking it in the nervous system , p

ducin ae i g local an m a . If these balls of azote are

large and many, death usually occurs through paralysis of the heart ; when small they are car ried by the c irculation of the blood to the brain and medulla, causing paralysis in one or more P of its multitudinous forms . art of the cure is

by immersion and gradual ascending, stopping

one minute every five metres .

' ’ The character of the phenomena of diver s pa ralysis may be seen in the following instance

A S al os scaphander , Michael yg , descended to fift - m b a depth of y two etres , remaining elow

fifty minutes, and making a very rapid ascent , descending again in an hour and a half to the

‘ -fiv e same depth , where he remained for forty minutes , and again made a very rapid ascent , but felt no ill results . In an hour he descended once [ 128 ] THE GREEK SPONGE DIVERS more to the same depth , where he remained for k i thirty minutes , ma ing for the th rd time a very rapid ascent . For a few minutes he felt no ill ’ efl ects , but as the helmet was removed he was seized with a terrific dizziness and fell uncon scious to the deck . Later he revived , feeling a congestion or pressure of blood , as it were, in his legs , preventing him from standing alone . This condition lasted until midnight when he was a t ttacked by comple e paralysis , losing all his senses and power of movement save the ability to slightly move his head . He lingered through the hot summer until the middle of August .

Many paralytics are incurable, and death

r through paroxysms often esults , though many are partially and some permanently cured .

not One hot day , long after our talk at the

’ Crete s Café, we stood out in one of the whale boats under a small lug-sail to meet the deposit b P - ana ea . oat y Close hauled , she bore down upon us , her rakish rig with big lateen sails and jib straining at every line and spar . On she came , painting two long diverging lines of foam

he ing white on the sparkling blue . S crossed our

fla ed bows , her great sails pp , she came into the wind ; and as she filled away I climbed aboard , [ 129 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

Of and we stood to the edge the sponge grounds , which extend from five to twenty miles off the

Tripoli coast . So began my acquaintance with the Greek

’ ’ sponge divers , whose day s work is the season s

work and who, for six months of the year , from A pril to October , labor from sunrise to sunset, generally on a rough sea and under the scorch

in o g rays f an African sun . We scudded by some small harpun [harpoon]

“ an ara boats and g g [trawlers] , near enough to the former to see their small crews , of from three to

five men each , at work . They carefully exam ined i the sea bottom , somet mes to a depth of twenty metres , with a special glass of their own , and pulled up the marketable sponges with har poons attached to the ends of long poles . The slightly larger gangara— the gargamel eon of the

— ancients slowly trawled for sponges , dragging their destructive nets along the bed of the sea to

-fiv e a depth of seventy metres , tearing and accu

ul m ating everything in their path . But these methods have practically been abandoned along this coast for the more productive grounds of

Cyprus and Crete . A sponge fleet consists of the five and Six ton [ 13 0 ]

THE GATEWAY T O T HE SAHARA

Experts have stayed as long as four . The best divers are from Kalimno and Symi . A few years a o -fish g that hideous black creature , the dog , bit a diver in two and desperately wounded sev eral others . One of the most thrilling escapes

who ever recorded is that of a diver , , as he de

scandli en scended , holding the in front of him ,

scandli tered the mouth of a large shark . The being edgewise prevented the huge jaws from fi w closing, and the diver with dif culty riggled

a u S out and was h uled p. The hark, ejecting the scandli , pursued him to the surface , and was seen by those in the boat to leap for his prey as d the crew hauled the diver aboar . By careful nursing the wounded man recovered from the

’ long , deep scratches of the monster s teeth on his chest and back . Now virtually the scaphanders alone remain to claim the profits of the industry , the proceeds of which in a single year have amounted to almost a million dollars .

the Reaching grounds , we were transferred to

— the machine boat El Pish . The greater number fl of the sponge boats y the Greek flag, and are manned by Greeks hailing mainly from the

islands of Hydra and n ina, while a few fly the crescent flag of the Ottoman Empire and come [ 132 ] THE GREEK SPONGE DIVERS

l of S from the Turkish is ands Kalimno , ymi , and h A K alki in the rchipelago , whose crews are made up of subjugated Greeks from those islands .

l i w D ring the long, cold inter months the sponge fishers spend most of their time ashore in their island homes . When the first balmy airs of the African spring are wafted across the Medi terranean from the oleander-fringed wadis and S oases of the ahara , the little seaport towns of the sponge fishers bestir themselves , the last ut boats are p in commission , and the final con tracts among owners , captains , and crews are u drawn p.

a For equipment , provisions, and advance p y

t i men of the crews , each captain is requ red to provide a capital of forty to sixty thousand drachmas— being approximately but at present much depreciated . Capitalists advance this money at a rate of from two to three per

er cent . p month , for the season , which is deducted at once from the capital . The novice receives from three to seven hundred drachmas for the

one season , the experienced diver from to three thousand . In some instances the diver shares in the profits , but it more often happens that his ’ a season s earnings are less than his advanced p y, [ 133 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA in which case he must work out the difference

. S the next year hould he be injured or disabled ,

a his p y continues on the same basis , and in case

of death his heirs receive his money . After the final haul is made and the sponges

ar m e sold , the commission to the Turks , who ain t w ar- ain a ship here , is first taken out of the pro

ceed s ca , a third of the remainder goes to the p ’ tain for ship s expenses and equipment , and from the remaining two-thirds must be taken the ex

pense for the provisions . Of the final balance , one and a half shares go to the captain and

supervisor each , four shares to each diver , and

ne o to each sailor .

Not only to increase the proceeds , but to come

out i even on the outfit, the capta ns are obliged

to treat the divers with great severity , and hire overseers who devise most brutal means of forc

ing them to fish at any cost . On the other hand ,

the divers give much cause for complaint . They come from all parts of Greece and the Archi pelago ; many are nondescripts who have never been sailors and are persuaded to go into this for

of easy gains , failing to realize the dangers the life ; for once they are injured or disabled by their

’ nu arch enemy , diver s paralysis , they become [ 134 ]

THE GREEK SPONGE DIVERS

for for fitted any other work , and are provided by the captains during the Winter .

of El -Pish The deck the , where I slept , save

di not of for its rt and confusion , was unlike that A the ordinary fishing schooner . t daybreak I threw off the dew-soaked canvas that served as m A of y covering at night . number sponge boats disturbed the placid rose surface of the water ; high up in the air several white gull forms overhead broke the tender blue , mingling their cries with the voices of the men and the creaking

o blocks . The first rays f the sun lit up the

of to bronzed features the overseer , as he stopped

- c lin examine the air pump, in which are three y

- drical . , leather lined compartments Through

to . these the air , is pumped the diver below The warmth of this air which is often blown from the h of eated sands the Desert , is increased by fric tion in the compartments , and is obviated by

- coolers supplied every half hour with cold water . On the deck by his side was a rubber tube which

of must resist the pressure twenty atmospheres , and is consequently re-enforced on the inside by coiled W ire . Screwing one end of the tube to the air- pump and the other to the back o f a heavy brass hel [ 135 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA met, the overseer ordered the two sailors into the “ ” - main hatch , to stand by the big pump wheels of the machine . On a board placed across the

Pteroudiz for deck sat Basilio , a diver , preparing

the descent . He had already donned the main garment, which was made of strong , double

- of water proofed cotton cloth , with an interlayer

rubber ; around his neck was a collar of rubber , to which was attached the brass collar of the r helmet ; at his wrists , which we e soaped to aid

suction , the garment ended in tightly fitting

rubber wristbands , and under his garment he

wore heavy woollen underwear and socks . The buoyancy of ‘ the suit when inflated necessitated the addition of a seventeen pound lead weight

attached to each shoe , while about his chest and back were fastened a ten and a seven pound

weight respectively. With assistance he staggered to the forward

rail , where a ladder hung by which the divers

descend to the water . A sign from the overseer

and the men gave way at the pumps , a sailor

seized the helmet with its four glass windows ,

of Pteroudiz placed it over the head , screwed and

be bolted it to the brass collar . The suit at once

came inflated as far as the waist , where a rope [ 136 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

- of fishlike half lights the sunlit sea water , the

El-Pish shape of the rocked on the. surface ; and as he sought new spots she followed him , her four huge finlik e sweeps stirring and churning the water as though breaking and scattering myriads of jewelled braids . Sometimes the shadowy form of a huge shark or dog-fish glided danger ousl th y near him , notwithstanding e repeated piping of the air whistle on deck— though as yet their attacks have been confined to the common diver . In the helmet to the right and behind the head was a valve , against which he pressed his head from time to time in order to expel the expired air , which rose to the surface like magnified wob

of bling globules quicksilver , assisting those above in locating his position . The descent gen erall y takes about two minutes , the diver staying down occasionally as long as fifty , and sometimes reaching a depth of over sixty metres , absolutely disregarding the limit of thirty- eight metres set by the laws of the Greek Navy Department . About tw o minutes are occupied in pulling him u b p y rope , but usually he buoys himself to the surface in less than a minute , ascending more rapidly than the rope can be hauled in ; and to [ 138 ] THE GREEK SPONGE DIVERS

’ this cause in particular can be attributed diver s paralysis and other common injuries . Suddenly Pteroudiz made his appearance at

off l the surface , the water rolling his he met and shoulders as from some great amphibious crea

of S ture ; and the bag dark , heavy ponges , drip ping and streaming with ooze and sea water ,

o was hauled aboard . N sooner had he appeared on deck and removed his helmet than another i d ver , dressed and waiting , at once made his

s o hot . descent , and it goes on through the day It was not without some persuasion that the cap tain acquiesced to my request to go down in one o mi f . one da the suits But at last y , when five les out to sea , I donned the suit and the heavy brass helmet was screwed down and locked to the col A f lar . t first it was with great di ficulty that I managed to control my heavily weighted feet

S and walk across the rolling lippery deck , during which experiment the barefooted Greeks gave

as me a wide path . The sensation the helmet was locked and the pumps started was one of

to slight compression only , about the head , which

one . at once becomes accustomed The overseer, despite my signals from the vision of opalescent

s to refracted lights into which I had sunk , refu ed [ 13 9 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

pay out sufficient rope to allow me to make bot

tom . He feared the dangers which attend the

too ar novice on great a depth at the start , and p ticul arly when no preparation pertaining to diet has been made . Many captains and overseers pay practically

. no attention to depth and time , compelling the diver to descend again at once if his sponges are

consid too few or of inferior quality . Often no c e as ration is given the defenceless div r , , stagger

he ing and almost overcome in the depths below,

u signals to come p, and if he buoys himself to the

is . surface , he forced to go down again

Overseers direct the descents , deciding the

’ divers time below , and frequently take com mand when the captains are ashore . Sometimes the overseers not only secretly fix the pumps so that less pressure is indicated , but instead of using pure vaseline they grease the

old oil machines with lard and , which leak into the tube , sending foul air down to the diver . The coolers are so neglected that the water be

n ho t comes u bearably to the touch , and the air forced down even hotter . The suit is sometimes neglected and twice in the year preceding my visit the helmet became detached while the diver [ 140 ]

T HE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA out to intent by the trawlers , from

do not the Male sponges , which abound on

Tripoli coast, are worthless . Notwithstanding the importance of the sponge industry the season after I left Tripoli the fol

: lowing was received from Mr . Riley

A short time since the Gov ernor G eneral issued orders that all machine bo ats had three days to get their provisions and cl ear o ut f T r r r T s u se n s a an o ipoli Ha bo and T ripol i Port. hi p t thi g bit d ’ mean ru n to some and ou sands of £ s l oss to o ers so I saw t i th th , his E cell enc and in tw o our s had fixed u at l eas un he x y, h it p, t til r ns n n A er ar I saw him a a n and the wi ed to Co ta ti opl e . ft w d g i n is fi ed u f or his season at l eas and no bo her n hrou thi g x p t t, t i g t gh C n the o sul ates .

Often great strings of sponges bleaching and drying in the sun cover large portions of the standing rigging of deposit boats when in port .

W u hen dry they are worked p in sand , then packed in boxes ready f or shipment ; a third to

of a quarter the crop is sold direct from Tripoli , mainly to England and to France and Italy ; the

of bulk the crop, unbleached and unprepared, is taken at the close of the season to the islands

a ex eri from which the bo ts came, where long p ence , manipulation , and cheap labor prepare them f or the European market . At sundown , after the last descent had been

ut the made and the sponges p over the side , ma [ 142 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

At the end of the season , when the wind sweeps down from the north , and the jagged reef lined coast of Tripoli is lashed into foam , these

of sea who not men the , have already weighed

f or f or anchor unknown ports , set sail their island

’ homes , carrying with them the season s haul ,

out though a few remain , going when the weather permits , or fishing in certain protected parts of A the rchipelago . o I was alone with the watch on deck . Thr ugh the criss-cross of the rigging and spars I could “ see his dim moonlit form as he gave a spoke at the wheel now and again . Over the side the phosphorescence mingled in the quiet water with the silver star dust of the blue night . I gazed down into the dark , mysterious , and seem in l t g y bot omless sea , where I , too , had felt the f first su focation and tight congestion , that strange sense of entire isolation and chance— then the

o depth and wonder f it all . So it is with some of the men who go down to the sea in ships .

[ 144 ] CHAPTER EIGHT

T H E ES PA RTO P IC KERS

UNRISE shot over the limestone range of

the Tripoli hills . Back of them and to the south canoned out by numerous wadis the plateau lands of the Sahara stretched away . Northw ard forty to ninety miles to the sea ran a tract of country sprinkled with oases: About r A these and along the river cou ses where rabs ,

Berbers, and Blacks cultivate the arid wastes , at harvest time golden grains wave under the hot

Desert winds , and here and there green patches of olive groves darken the clayey , sandy soil . A night mist still hung tenaciously in the valleys

- and over the low foot hills along which I rode, and the heavy dew-bejewelled blades of esparto grass 1 drenched hoof and fetlock as my horse scattered myriads of water diamonds from its

wiry clumps .

1 E ar o— a S an name en two or ree n of a s sp t p ish giv th ki ds gr s , more particul arly t o the marcrochl oa tenacissima indigenous to South ern Euro nd N pe a orth Africa. THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

Suddenly from over the brow of a dune a d strange , bulky apparition lifte indistinctly from the great solitudes . Then another and still oth ers of these gray spectres moved silently toward us through the mist film , and a caravan of heavily

s ud ed loaded camels q g silently by , their great incongruous shapes almost lost beneath the huge bundles of esparto grass which were thrown across their humps . As the night mists dispelled before the heat not a tree or a shrub broke the monotonous yet im osm e e p g harmony of the landscape . My y wandered over mile upon mile of an immense

1 plain covered by halfa, nothing but halfa , over

of which the soft , hot breeze the gibli played in lazy wantonness , rolling , ever rolling in long bil lows its undulating tops .

So P S from ortugal and pain , along the sandy A regions of the tlas , as they range through the western half of Northern Africa until they finally

the dwindle away into Desert sands of Tripoli , at intervals great seas of this waving broomlik e weed grow at the bases of the mountains and on the plateau lands . While in Spain and the Bar bary States it is an object of commercial enter

1 ar o a l or By Arabs esp t gr ss is called ha fa alfa. 140

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

stems , tough and fibrous , radiate from the large

a - t p root of each plant . Here the hired picker ’ puts in a long day s work for starvation wages of h per aps twenty cents a day . When he has picked a quantity of grass he ties it up in bun dles with bits of esparto rope , ready to be packed into large nets . Despite the fact that the esparto is considered nonreproductive and is incapable of cultivation ,

A u I noticed that the rabs pulled it p, root and all . This is the custom among the esparto pickers in A Tripoli , and was so in Tunis and lgeria until the French put a stop to this disastrous method of gathering . Now they require it to be cut, and

r thus the g eat esparto districts of Oran , Bougie , P hilippeville , and Oued Laya owe their preser vation to the foresight of the French colonial government . Under the moonlight of early morning these

’ Arabs began the day s work . One or two had discarded their woollen baracans as the early

off an ut on chill wore , d had p the fantastic

- S broad brimmed esparto hats of the ahel , as a protection against the intense heat which had k already hushed down on the landscape . I new that later the majority of them would again [ 148 ] THE ESPARTO PICKERS

on throw the woollen garment, which in this sun scorched land is worn to keep out the heat as well as the chill . Sandals woven from esparto grass or the broad-soled Desert slippers pro tected their feet from being scorched and cracked

- by the sun baked ground . But the heat and the chill are the least dangers which beset the es parto picker . With careless case he gathers the longest of the wiry stems from the most matured clumps . Suddenly with a catlike spring he jumps aside

of and eludes the thrust his arch enemy, the deadly Viper , whose nest he has disturbed in a

of tuft matted halfa grass . But even the sharp eye of the Arab sometimes fails to discern the v i

’ per s lair , and he plunges his bare arm into the

of very nest this poisonous reptile , only to with draw it stung and bleeding from the fangs which have buried themselves in his flesh . In the halfa clumps as well as in crevices under

o stones lurks another enemy, the great rock s or pion of Northern Africa— a noxious creature e som times ten inches in length . Its peculiar aversion to light and desire f or warmth make it a much-feared night Visitor A rise , let us make morning, sounds over the [ 149 ] THE GATEWAY TO T HE SAHARA

not camp, and the esparto picker infrequently

out shakes of his baracan a scorpion or tw o . Perhaps he neglects to dislodge one from his

- broad soled Desert slippers , and , thus cornered , the scorpion with the lash of his venomous tail attacks the intruder . The consequences depend greatly upon the size of the scorpion and the constitution of the

. not victim While the sting is necessarily fatal ,

’ A of s o yet the rabs sole idea treatment , far as I

to off could ascertain , was either cut the injured part at once or bandage it tightly above the wound . Then far back on the throbbing Desert the poisoned man is left alone with his wild de

r m li iu and burning thirst . In many case s the corpse is soon cast out to the vultures and car rion crows , whose shadows likely enough have already for hours been passing to and fro over the body . In the shadows of the shacks the women and children not employed in gathering were braid ing ropes and making them into immense coarse ff meshed nets . Each net when stu ed with halfa

for contains enough a single camel load , and this e unwi ldy bulky mass , often four feet wide and

’ twelve in length , is balanced across the camel s [ 150 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

across their backs , and their senses are ever on the alert for Desert thieves who may lurk in the

or shadows lie buried in the sand beside the trail . Snap!! Over in the shadow of a dune a flint

an lock has flashed in the p , but it is warning ! ‘ ! enough . Bang Bang red Shafts o f light like lurid meteors light up in fitful glares the esparto pickers as amidst the conq Ion some bunch the

s . animals , while other repel the attack But the enemy , as is his custom , has withdrawn as sud denly as he appeared . A wounded esparto picker is lifted on to a camel ; a bunch of halfa lying on the Desert a short distance O ff tells the

of tale of a successful raid , in which the profits the cargo have been wiped away in a moment by the stampeding to the enemy o f a valuable camel ; but Allah wills ! and the garfla takes up the

to - march , soon pass along the hard packed cara v an road through the palm groves o f the oasis of Tripoli to the Suk -cl - Halfa [Halfa Market] with o ut the town . A cursory glance at the Suk - el - Halfa will im press even the stranger with the importance of h the esparto trade , and a few words wit any Tri politan merchant will reveal the fact that no t only ’ s of is it Tripoli s leading export , but in year little [ 152 ] THE ESPARTO PICKERS rain and scant harvest , with practically the ex

of - S tinction the trans aharan caravan trade , it is the only natural resource which the Arab peasant

of can fall back upon . In years full harvest little k halfa , comparatively spea ing , is brought into

for i market, Hadj Mohamed , having reaped his

not i i wheat and barley , has only made prov s on for S for his imple wants the year , but has even brought back from the town bazaars silver orna ments f or his women . Consequently necessity does not drive him to the tedious process of halfa gathering , with all its attendant risks and the

to on s o long journeys the coast camel back , often unproductive of satisfactory results .

not t Esparto is an agricultural product, and i seems fitting that the leading export of that no madic people should be a product of their ow n

o f . arid land , wild and incapable cultivation

S 1 868 of ince , when the first shipload esparto was

to sent England , vessels have borne away thou

f o Yo or sands o tons yearly t that country . u I pick u - p a heavy looking novel , perchance , and marvel

of at its lightness , and the reader some London newspaper peruses its columns and then casts aside the finished product of the esparto pickers . 1901 In , which was an average year , [ 153 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA camel loads came into the coast towns ; nearly passed through the gateway to the Suk el - the of Halfa , total export the country amount

to ing about tons . That from the town of Tripoli , tons , brought which

’ was over a fourth of the amount of Tripoli s

s total export .

’ Not ten minutes trudge through the sand from the heavy battlements which surround Tripoli is the big square - walled enclosure of perhaps three

— - - f acres the Suk el Halfa . The scenes o this great suk have left an indelible impress on my memory . I but close my eyes and see that great

o f t e panorama h heat, the sweat, and the toil float across the horizon o f my imagination like some

- vivid mirage of that far away Desert land . One day I loafed across the Suk - cl -Thalat and

of ll r followed in the shadow the wa , lagging afte some esparto camels to the arched gateway of the

' - - the carav an Suk el Halfa . Here halted and the

A S leader was accosted by an Arab guard . hort

o f parley, and the guns the drivers were handed

and over , the leader tucked the greasy receipt in a leathern money pouch beneath his baracan . Each camel entirely blocked the gateway as with his load of grass he pas sed through . Following [ 1 54 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

Each picker as he enters depos1ts his esparto ' l ot off unw ei hed to in one , which is auctioned g P the highest bidder . rices fluctuate , due to the

m of co petition the buyers , but the year I was in Tripoli six francs per hundred kilos was a fair

for price the raw material . When the bidding o opens in the early spring , the competiti n among the buyers is very keen , reaching sometimes as

£3 - 83 - 6 ha high as d a ton . But it sometimes p pens that there is not a corresponding increase in its value in England , and the buyers at times

’ sell at a loss . From the topmost bale of a pile of heat-soaked halfa near one of the scales I watched the day’ s work . These scales were huge levers . Through a loop of coarse rope suspended from the cross

of - w m point two rough he n bea s , a third hung lazily balanced . At the larger end a chain and tackle containing a scale dangled to the ground . Near by the flapping broad-brimmed hat and officious manner of an Arab at once stamped him as one in authority , a public weigher . By word and gesture he would order a bale rolled out from

the heap where the owner had deposited it . It was noosed in the tackle ; a yell from the w t s eigher , and a number of s rapping Black [ 156 ] W - — e ighing es parto gras s in the Suk el Il alf a

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

- - - rough hewn levers in the Suk el Halfa . Many a time I diverged from my objective point to watch the great beams lift and clip on their ful cra . The timber had come , perchance , from the

t e — P neighboring oasis , but h idea Could it have travelled through the long reaches of cen turies from the times when men first had occasion

r to lift g eat weights ? I venture an opinion . Could this be a modification of the device by S which the ancient emites and Ethiopians raised ,

of P tier upon tier , the great blocks the yramids ? S of Egypt imply constructed , easily shifted , admitting revolving the weight when once lifted through an arc of almost it might well have

o been adapted t such a use . Now th at the esparto is weighed the Arab from whom it was bought must have his drivers load it again on to their camels and dehv er 1t into

o s the private esparto yard f the buyer . A each driver enters a private yard , a clerk checks and countersigns the ticket given him in the Suk -el

one Halfa ; then , having deposited their nets in n heap, with u loaded camels they present their A tickets to the cashier and are paid . long the outskirts of the halfa piles I watched them load up the groaning camels . [ 1 58 ] THE ESPARTO PICKERS A lways remonstrating , an occasional beast more defiant than the rest refused to lie down to

one be loaded . Near me vicious brute had twice

off now shaken his heavy burden, and a third I t time had prematurely lurched to his feet . finally required the combined efforts of five men to land the unwieldy net of esparto securely across his hump. My sympathies were with the camel . It w as shortly after one siesta time that I ac companied Signor Cortugna to one of the private

o As f . esparto yards , which he was manager we

of turned into the main street Tripoli, which leads through an outer gate , a man , breathless and excited , dodged and jostled through the

S C or leisurely moving crowd , approached ignor

tu na A . S g , and addressed him in rabic ignor

C ortu na g hailed from their stand , near the

one of the market gate , quaint little rigs , several f “ ” o . S which Tripoli boasts tep in , he said ; “ the Arab informed me of an accident to one of m y men . We rattled and bumped over the

o caravan road t the esparto yard . We passed through the gate and were joined b w ho w a y the foreman , led the y through lanes of to loose halfa a long inclined structure , over [ 159 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

which from sunrise to sunset during baling peri ods an endless tr aveller with its ceaseless noise conveyed the sorted esparto to the upper floor of

- a two story building .

Now a deathless silence hung over the scene, which but an hour ago was alive with the drone

of industry . The foreman stopped at a pit at the base of the traveller in which a Black con

stantl y watches and controls the endless chain . A few remnants of cloth left in the cogs were least among the evidences which told of a lapse

’ of vigilance or a moment s d oz mg on the part of the lone watcher in the heat and din of the nar row pit . Followed by several Blacks we turned away A ’ from the sickening sight . woman s moan floated out from a distant part of the yard ; as it rose and fell other women added their wails to the crescendo in a great pitiful cry to Allah f or

con the dead , as the good and the bad angels

l ow - s old tested for the soul . In a lying hed , an

f or l a of sack a shroud , y what remained the poor fellow .

not S Cor We were Mohammedans , and ignor tugna paused respectfully at the entrance . The

col voices hushed , the women from under their [ 1 60 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

with white , glistening teeth and cheeks scarred with the marks of their tribe or their s ervitude ; men with skins of ebony as polished as patent

er leather , down which rolled great beads of p An spiration . y day they might forsake their palm-thatched zerebas in the oasis for the jungles

of the Sudan from whence they came .

The simple white cotton clothes predominated , but many wore nondescript rags and garments of

colored stripes which , with the bright notes of the red fezzes spotting here and there among the

esparto hats , served to enhance the color setting

of the scene . From the great heaps of loose esparto where A a the r b pickers had deposited it , some of the Blacks with crude short-handled forks pitched it A into high windrows . long these , in irregular

— order , others sorted it into three qualities hand

picked , average , and third , the qualities depend ing on the length and condition of the grass ; at

the same time all roots, stones , and foreign sub

stances were discarded . Then the grass which

had been thoroughly dried w as ready f or baling . My use of sketch-book and camera caused some

of to the sorters show an ugly disposition , and

S Cortu na even after I was joined by ignor g , who [ 1 62 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

been deposited and was being pitched into a deep - it twelve foot p at one end of the loft , where an Arab and two Blacks grunted and bobbed in

unison as they trod down the grass into a big case .

u When it was full , at a given signal they drew p

their legs and hung suspended , while the case belo w swung its cargo of esparto under one of

the heavy presses .

Down came a pressure of six hundred tons , mashing the grass into a hard-packed bale of six

-w and a quarter hundred eight . While the great jaws of the machine held it at this tension , strong steel bands were quickly strapped about it ; then , rolled off and weighed , it lay ready for ship

’ ment . Work in the esparto yards begins at six in the m morning and ends at six at night , with a idday

Mohamme rest ; but during Ramadan , when all h a dans fast throug the day, the Bl cks prefer to And work from six until five without let or sup. now, as the lurid sun disk painted red the inter stices of the tracery of the date-palms which feathered over the neighboring walls , the rattle of the great baling press ceased , and down the long windrows the workers seemed to be con verging in a human vortex toward one point [ 164 ] THE ESPARTO PICKERS the quarters of the cashier . Here the clerks and m foremen, who received fro two shillings and sixpence to four shillings a day , had already been

of paid , and some the pressmen their fifteen and eighteen pence .

I halted on the outskirts of this virile crowd . They seemed to surcharge the very atmosphere with a sense of healthy animalism and good nat

of l a ure, under all which I well knew y the fierce

one and cruel nature of the savage . One by they ' ofl were rapidly paid , great burly carriers col l ected each his ten pence , and at last a lone sorter tucked into a bit of lizard skin his meagre eight

on out o . pence , then hurried thr ugh the gate I watched the gray herd patter through its cloud of sand dust until it lost itself toward the oasis in the dusk of the coming night . I knew that it would wind a short half-mile through the

of shadows the palm groves , and empty into its native village— then each man to his own com pound which enclosed his zerebas . Here little balls of ebony with ivory settings would tumble

o laughingly t greet him . The aroma of the coos coos would make his broad , flat nostrils dilate as

’ he neared his hut and his w w es — black wenches

of these , with the heavy crescents silver sagging [ 1 65 ] THE GATEWAY TO T HE SAHARA

’ of from their ears , and perchance a piece red

coral shoved through a nostril . While most o f the tribe work in the esparto yards , many find employment m and about the T town . hey live after the manner of the life in the interior from whence they had drifted across

the Great Desert . Under a marabout they con

form to their tribal laws and customs .

But a few days previous , accompanied by my

Brin ali o f S e man g , a hybrid native udan se and

A a rab stock , I had wandered long the paths of

b of their village , hard packed y the tread many

feet , and had .ventured here and there a peep into a compound . Discretion prevented me from seeking a crawling entrance to their primi

tive dwellings . I well knew that jealous eyes

out were peering from the small , dark openings

o f - - the hive shaped , palm thatched huts , and vicious dogs with an undeveloped sense of dis

crimination lurked in unexpected places . It is not the safest thing f or a stranger to enter their

as can to village alone , be attested by a German , who recently nearly paid with his life the penalty

of idle curiosity . I parted from Signor C ortugna near where the

of S d a e mosque i i H m t backs into the bazaars , [ 1 66 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

- the remembrance o f Mr . Vice Consul Dickson of Great Britain only a bark and a sloop from A merica have ever made port here . The sloop brought petroleum . Before the esparto is shl pped from the yards all dampness must be thoroughly dried out , and often when it is held over through the rainy sea

s on . Not , is reopened for that purpose only does

dampness cause the halfa to rot, but increases the danger of spontaneous combustion , as was the case in the cargo of the B en Ledfi of North

S h Zl eiten hields , whic , under full steam from , suddenly made her appearance off Tripoli and

for signalled assistance , which was rendered by

the Turks . The heavy bales are transported from the

on - yards two wheeled carts drawn by horses , and then dumped on the stone jetty,which is suff er ing greatly from the action of the sea waves and

the inaction of the Turkish authorities . Here government dues of twenty paras [tw o cents] a

bale are levied , as the wharf is government property . Often I have sat on the hard-packed bales which lined the jetty and watched Arab and Black stevedores hook the cumbersome weights [ 168 ] THE ESPARTO PICKERS aboard ponderous lighters which had been warped alongside . Transporting from the shore to steamer under sunny skies and on summer seas has a certain monotony . But when the wind and the storm ri p across the Mediterranean from the north , and whip the great yeasty combers across the

of or reef rocks Tripoli , it ill becomes the lubber man of little nerve to make venturesome trips in the heavily loaded unwieldy lighters . Occa sionall not ar y a barge is swamped , which is p ticul arl to the of y disastrous stevedores , all whom can swim like ducks ; but when a lighter rolling and lurching turns turtle it 1s a more serious

for matter, then with a sudden lurch the cargo ' without w arnin shifts , and g the great ponderous

u lighter turns bottom p, sending hundreds of tons of esparto bales crushing down upon the crew , and fortunate is he who may appear bobbing to the surface . The steel hooks used by the stevedores are charged up to each vessel on account of the pro pensity of the natives to steal everything they can carry away . On one occasion they knocked off or unscrewed all the brasses which locked the

o f ports a converted passenger steamer . These [ 1 69 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

trinkets proved expensive luxuries , and a few days afterward found all concerned imprisoned within the grim walls of the Castle of the

Bashaws . A striking instance of a man hanging himself

by his own rope was that of a stevedore who ,

of down in the dark hold an esparto vessel , came across a short length of chain . Stripping him t self to the wais , he wound the steely links round and round his black body , and , donning his shirt

on again , appeared deck and started to descend ! over the side of the lighter . Splash Men ran to the side of the rolling half- emptied barge a column of spray and some bubbles , that was e all . Wh n they found him he lay anchored se curely by h1s prize down among the sponges

- and sea coral . Forty—fiv e years ago the trade of Tripoli was

of diminishing , chiefly owing to the suppression the slave trade with the interior by which the l n Turkish markets were supplied . This was a crativ e form of 1nv estment to the Arab merchants and others ; but as the great caravans with their black , human merchandise grew scarcer and

u scarcer , there sprang p a larger , more important f S tra fic between the udan and Tripoli , in which [ 170 ]

THE ESPARTO PICKERS

for Manchester goods were bartered gold , ivory ,

o f s and feathers . But the profits this oon began to leak out by the way of the new water routes from the Sudan to the east and west coasts . Already the esparto trade had come to the

’ - di front and to day it is Tripoli s lea ng export . But back in the jebel the halfa picker still with ruthless short- sightedness tears and rips it root and all from the sandy wastes . Each successive

now to year entails longer journeys the coast , with increased labor and cost of transportation .

Each year brings smaller returns , three pounds per ton being the selling price in England as com pared with twelve pounds of former times . A decreasing demand f or esparto grass has followed the introduction of wood pulp into A England from North merica and Norway , naturally resulting in a decreased value l n the

An re English market . d many pickers have p ferred to leave the gathered grass to the sun and the sand-storm to transporting it at little profit

. Not and, perhaps , loss many years hence will ,

li of in all like hood , see the passing the esparto

of o f of trade Tripoli , a labor big and primitive , A swarthy rabs , heavily burdened camels , and

A o f sweating Black men . few camel loads halfa [ 17 1 THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA li will now and again be brought into Tripo , lVIisurata n , and other coast tow s , to be used in the

for weft of mats , and shoes , hats , and cordage ; and , perchance , the traveller may now and then

or tw o meet one lone esparto pickers , as with

’ empty nets thrown over the camels humps in

to front of them , they lurch , lurch , homeward the plateau lands of the jebel where the wild grass and the sand lily nod to the Desert breezes of the South .

[ 172 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA S south to that country called the udan , Land of

he t Blacks . Here its teeming millions form the great negro states of Bambara , Timbuktu , and Hausal and in the west ; Bornu and Baghermi around Lake Chad ; Wadi , Darfur , and Kordu A fan in the east , extending from byssinia to the

Gulf of Guinea .

Of these trails , their trade , and the men who escort the heavil y loaded caravans little enough has been said ; still less of the innumerable dan gers which constantly beset them as they creep

w a their y across the burning desolate wastes , on their long journeys to the great marts of the Su

— dan , Timbuktu , Kano , Kanem , Kuka , Bornu , and Wadi .

S - outh west from Tripoli , twenty days as the

on camel travels , the direct route from Tripoli to - of Timbuktu , lies the little sun baked town a Ghad mes , which has figured largely in the his tory of the caravan trade with the interior . From Ghadames also runs the route to the Sudan b of a s o of y way Gh t ; , by reason her location , Ghadames erected fondfik s and became a stop ping place for caravans , and her merchants , pioneers of the caravan trade . Many years ago they established themselves in [ 174 ]

THE CARAVAN TRADE

of a the town Tripoli , with agents at Gh t and the big trading posts in the far Sudan . To these caravans conveyed periodically large consign

of for ments goods which were exchanged ivory ,

- to ostrich feathers , and gold dust , be sold in Tri

of poli , and eventually , in the form finished prod u cts to of , enhance the wealth and display

Europe . Through their superior intelligence and honesty the merchants of Ghadames enjoyed for many years the monopoly of the trade which they had created . But the Tripoli merchants could not indefi nitely withhold their hands from a trade within their grasp and upon which the commercial pros

ri f n e t o ow . p y their city depended However , it was not until some thirty years ago that they seriously entered into competition with the h A G adamsene . t a times large profits are re ped , but frequently enormous losses are entailed— not so much through the rise and fall of the Euro

en route pean market as through the dangers , in hi w ch attacks and pillage by Desert robbers , and reprisals to make good losses incurred by tribal

no . warfare , play small part The merchants who fit out a garfla must stand all losses ; consequently great care 18 gl v en to the [ 1 75 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHAR A

selection of both the camels which carry the val uabl e merchandise and the men who accompany

them . The respect paid to the adventurous car av aneer is no small criterion of the fatigues and

dangers which attend the traveller . Caravans

of vary in size , from that some lone nomadic

who trader or esparto picker , trudges beside his

few camels on his way to some local market , to the great trans- Saharan trade caravans with

not thousands of camels , to mention donkeys ,

. S goats , sheep , and dogs uch a caravan is rarely met with ; it takes a year or more to outfit ; thousands of dollars are invested by Arabs and in Jewish merchants . Its numerical strength is

be creased by smaller caravans , whose sheiks , lieving in the safety of numbers , often delay their own departure for months .

Moving south from Tripoli , it must cover some fifteen hundred miles of arid Desert before it reaches one of the important marts of the Sudan . After numerous stops and leaving many am

to mals and some men the vultures , the caravan , if fortunate , reaches its destination . In its heavy loads are packed the heterogeneous goods gener

of ally taken , consisting cotton and wool , cloth ,

box waste silk , yarn , rings , beads , amber , paper , [ 1 76 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA great courage and endurance , but must be trust

of no worthy and shrewd traders , diplomats small calibre . Many of the sultans and chiefs , particularly the Tuaregs , through whose terri

arfla tories lie the g routes , exact not only hom

rfl age but tribute from the ga a sheiks . To bring this tribute within a reasonable sum and secure a safe conduct requires extraordinary skill and ’ afl orded tact . The opportunities for dishonesty

arfla the g men are many , and occasionally men and goods are never heard from again .

Preliminary to making up an outfit f or trav

ri olitan S firman elling in the T p ahara , a [pass port] from the Porte at Constantinople is con sidered ob necessary ; but this , if eventually in n ta ed ev e ears . , takes time , y The influence of friends and the courtesy of

Red ed P dif j asha circumvented this ficulty , and the privilege to travel s ans firman was rather re l uctantl to y extended me by his Excellency , after I had told him the exact ground I wished to

. not cover This was by any means easily secured , owing in part to the indiscretion of the last Euro

a who had s pe n traveller , a German abu ed this privilege tw o years before This man had di [ 1 78 ] THE CARAVAN TRADE verged from the route over which he had asked

mi to hi of per ssion travel , w ch breach faith led him into serious difficulty . It reached the ears of Red ed P who not j asha , declared he would again allow a foreigner to travel beyond the oasis of Tripoli . The next thing was to secure that great essen tial to the traveller in Oriental countries— a re A d liable dragoman . ragoman generally fills the

of position head servant and guide , superintend

to ing all meals , and a great extent , making

fondfik s i res on arrangements at , and is d rectly p sible to his employer for the character and good

Ar behavior o f the other men . Many abs there were in the town who would gladly have risked

of m the dangers the Desert as dragomans , but as y

to of object was obtain information Desert life , a man w ho could act also as an interpreter was

i : Muraiche Ar ind spensable and , an ab about

ol d to sixty years , proved be the only available man . It is true that he had an unsavory record ; and I was s o warned by members o f the little

English colony there . But his broken English

lin u a F ranca and g were valuable assets ; besides ,

s o forewarned is forearmed , it came about that

Murai he c became my dragoman . [ 1 79 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

tw o He soon picked other men . One , by the

i A of of Al . name , was an rab the lower class He

l on was a supple , wiry fe low and , the whole ,

- . Mo willing and good tempered The other ,

of A hammed by name , was mixed rab and Ber

— ber stock , heavy and muscular and predis posed to rest .

’ Mohtar Haarnsh s One morning found us at ,

Suk - el the horse trader , whose stable faces the

Moh ar of T hal et . t was the embodiment all that a horse trader should be , with a little more thrown

for in , , like his twin brother , he had six fingers on his left hand . A number of horses were brought out and run

of Moh up and down the sand stretch the Suk .

’ bo tar s y , at my request , mounted one and was forthwith deposited in the sand . I finally se l ected tw o l s - horses and a arge , fa t walking pack

’ to con donkey ; then , proceeding Riley s house , a tract was drawn up and the men and animals

— Muraiche hired . Before I left Tripoli taking

’ with me— I deposited all my money in my friend s

M raiche . u safe I advanced half his wages , tell ing him to carry enough with him to meet our

expenses and f or me to borrow in case of need . A caravan was to start on the morrow at the [ 1 80 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAH ARA by scattered tribes which the Turkish garrisons cannot well control— or become too interested in S the country . afety over part of my route was

Mufta doubly secure , for Hadji , a Tripoline acquaintance , had spoken to his friend , Rais

G a- - e wah j , and I was assured of all the hospi tality and protection which these nomads could

ff — o er that is , after we had broken bread to

- - gether . Mohamed G a wah je was among the most trusted of these leaders , having at times conveyed large sums of money along the dan n gero s coast routes to Bengazi , and it was a com mon thing f or him to carry or more l n

. Arbib Nahoum i gold for Mr , , and other lead ng Tripoli esparto merchants for their branch houses in Khoms and Zl eiten . So one August night I found myself a part of

S ae of mon a aharan caravan , one of the vertebr a ster sand snake which wormed its way through the oasis of Tripoli toward the Great Desert . The distorted shape of the moon bulged over the horizon through a silent forest of palm groves ; the transitional moment between twilight and moonlight passed , the heavy dew had already

to arfla begun cool the night , and the g had struck its gait . 182 THE CARAVAN TRADE Across the moonlit roadway stretched the long shadows of the date-palms lifting and wriggling themselves over the great dun- colored camels

don and their heavy loads , over little trudging

of keys , goats , and sheep, over the swarthy figures

or men , some heavy covered in their gray white baracans , some half naked, a law unto them selves , its power vested in their crooked knives ,

d flint- knobbe clubs , and long locks whose sil vered trimmings caught the moon glint , as in the distance they scintillated away like scattered

fireflies .

S on ilently the great snake moved , save as some hungry camel snatched at the cactus hedge and gurgled a defiant protest as its driver bela bored it about the head ; or as the oboes and tom-toms in barbaric strains broke the stillness

. or of the night Then , to ease the march soothe

arfla to the restless animals , the g men from time time would take up the wild peculiar chant , with

em has1z ed of its p second beat , and the songs brave deeds in love or war would echo through

off “ on the palm groves far the Desert sands . a We passed Mal ha , a chott [dried lake] where salt is obtained . About midnight the garfla halted . [ 188 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

' ” ondfik - el —T o F ajura , remarked one f our

. o r men Here we made u first halt . S erving as places of rest and protection , and in some cases supply depots , the importance of the fonduk to caravans and the trade is inestimable . These are usually rectangular enclosures with arcades along the sides and open in the centre , surrounded by the palm and olive gardens of the

w ho keeper , may supply fresh fruits , vegetables ,

and . one en other. domestic products There is trance protected by heavy doors , which are barred at night . Usually , either town or coun try caravansaries occur so frequently on the

nec trails that long , forced marches are seldom A essary . bout four cents per head is charged for camels and a nominal price for goats and sheep : at fondiik s green fodder and other Supplies may generally be obtained .

‘ Fonduk-el -Tajura was typical of those found

r A . s throughout No th frica The impatient beast , hungry and eager to seek relief from their heavy

to amt hrou h loads , tried j g the single portal wide l enough f or but one camel and its burden . Al was dust and confusion . Midst yells , curses , “ ” t to extri and hike , hikes , heir drivers sought cate the animals or save the goods from being [ 184 ]

T HE CARAVAN TRADE ripped from the loads . The inside of the fondfik was a square open enclosure bordered by a cov ered arcade as a protection for the men in the

. o rainy season When all were in , the heavy d ors were closed and barred against marauders . All about me the great beasts were dropping to the earth , remonstrating and groaning as vigorously as when they were loaded . The packs taken off, their saddles were carefully removed and scoured

for with sand , the hump must be kept clean , healthy , and free from saddle sores . The camels were soon given their green f od

f ondfik s fooa der, which at generally consists of

-to or k siib [madder p roots] barley, the [guinea corn] , or bishna [millet] , while that cheapest and almost indispensable food , the date , finds its way to the mouths of men and beasts . The mainstay of the caravan men is dried dates and bread made with guinea corn . On long voyages the day’ s fare is often con

on and sumed the march , halts at such times are nl A made o y to rest and feed the camels . t fon dfik s or oases longer stops are made ; there groups of men may be seen squatting about a big

of or - wooden bowl bazine coos coos , their na tional of . dishes , made chiefly cereals [ 185 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

The quick-mov mg form of Ga-wah-je ap peared here and there with the manner of a man

used to command , and after he had brought out

0 of the confusion an informal order , I had an p

portunity to meet my host . Under the portal of the fondfik a charcoal fire glowed red in an

A i - earthen Arab stove . bout it nthe candle light

— Ga- - e we seated ourselves Rais wah j , the fonduk

Muraiche keeper , my dragoman , and myself . To G a-wah-je my dragoman presented my gifts , seven okes of sugar cones and fifteen pounds of green tea . Some of the tea was i mme diately brewed and mixed half with sugar and

a touch of mint . We drank the syrupy liquid and broke bread together— then Ga-wah-je bade me welcome . From my bed on a s1ngl e stone seat at the side of the entrance I looked through an open door across the passageway to the only room of the place , used as a prayer chamber , in which was the kibleh . In the dim light of an oil lamp the indistinct forms of several devout Moslems A knelt or prostrated themselves before llah ,

o - he fondfik en l w droning their prayers . Out in t closure all was quiet save for the peaceful chew ing of cuds , or an occasional sound as a camel [ 186 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA enough for him to pass through . This is not f di ficult . A quart or two of vinegar occasionally applied not only assists in disintegrating the wall

- of sun dried bricks , but renders his work noise less as he digs with his knife . Inside , he sneaks

arfla among the g , keeping always in the shadow , t stealing here a baracan , there a gun or wha ever it may be , and frequently , unobserved , retreats as he entered .

’ After a scant three hours sleep a lantern

G a- - e flashed in my face , wah j passed , and the u fond k was soon astir . The camels once more took up their heavy burdens and passed out .

- - A en The last to leave was Ga wah je . t the trance he and the keeper kept tally of his ani

s u mal , after which he paid the fond k fee of ten paras [one cent] per head for camels and d on keys , and a nominal sum for goats and sheep. The charge for my horses was twenty paras apiece .

The gardens were soon left behind , and the l anelik e roads lost themselves in the sand which carpeted the palm groves through which we now travelled . The night dew which nourishes the scattered Desert plant life lay heavy jewelled on bent blades of rank grass and sand lilies . The [ 188 ] THE CARAVAN TRADE date-palms through violet ground mists showed indistinct and softened against the brilliant rose dawn of day . They ended , and suddenly in the orange-gold of the morning sunlight the sand billows of the mighty Sahara rolled away south over the horizon .

For days we travelled over these hills of sand , dl sometimes over en ess level reaches , through c distri ts of clayey , sandy soil , over which Desert grasses undulated softly in the hot wind ; there the trail was hard packed and easily discern ible . Once I looked across a valley to where the d i l trails seemed to tumble over a istant h l side , like a series of cascades losing themselves in the ocean of sand below . Where it descended into the dried river beds , the tread of generations of camels had worn ravines ten or twelve feet deep.

These interlaced like the paths of a maze , and passing through them with a caravan was lik e

- - for a constant game of hide and seek , every man ,

his . camel , and donkey took own course During the greater part of the year these river beds are

o f be veritable ovens heat , but in winter they come raging torrents in which men and animals

“ frequently lose their lives . In the sandy areas the trails are often mere directions , and the only [ 1 89 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

for guides are the sun and the stars , the passing

- not ui sand storm only q ckly obliterates all tracks , but sometimes a single one changes the topog

ra h o f p y the landscape .

of hi During the season the warm rains , w ch sink into the porous surface until they are

no arrested at great depth , vast subterranean

o f sheets water are formed , which could almost anyw here be brought to the surface by sinking

. flow artesian wells Many streams inland , where A hi they are lost in the sand of the salt lakes . t t s time whole sections of the parched Desert seem almost over night to have been changed to an

other land . Mountains and valleys blossom , and the banks of the wadis seem afire with the mi fla ng oleander . By these streams or springs are the oases where date- palms and gardens are

A fondiik s or planted , and rab houses , , towns are built which determine the course of the caravan

or of routes . At intervals are wells f the use car

avans , and a great danger lies in missing these

wells . One very hot summer some men nearly

of o no reached the gardens Tripoli , but could g nl ! farther . When found they could o y say , Ma ! l ma [water water ] . It was given them ; they

drank and died straightway . [ 1 90 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA the way of clothing and trunk . In its loose folds the native carries anything from his shoes to his

. At coarse staple food , barley bread one cara v ansary I found Mohammed r1nsmg my dishes in some stagnant water and carefully wiping them on - his baracan , which bore all the hall marks of a family heirloom . In winter the baracan is a hi protection against the c lling winds , in summer against the intense heat . When the midday halt is made , the men cast off the loads from either side of the recumbent camels and with their baracans construct improvised tents propped up with stick , club , or gun . Under these in the suf focating heat their owners snatch what is some

f or times the only rest of the day , they often

- travel twenty hours out of the twenty four . A Passing caravans were scarce . dust cloud would appear in the distance , grow large , and

B edaw i of a caravan of , those nomads the Des ert , in all their barbaric paraphernalia would pass by , erstwhile eying us suspiciously with

or c unslung guns , holding in leash alling to their savage wolf hounds in order to avoid a mix-up

ou ar For of with r g fla dogs . many their tribal wars and feuds have started under less provo cation than a dog fight . [ 199 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

In the spring of the year the Bedawi ap

or proach Tripoli , pitch their tents on the plain

o sometimes in the oasis itself . There they s w their corn , wait until they can reap it , and then disappear until the year following . During their stay in the oases and vicinity the women weave and sell their work . When the fine weather and corn fail them in one place they immediately travel on to a more fertile spot with their families ,

. A horses , and cattle family of distinction among them will pitch four or five tents , which present a most striking picture with their varied shapes

- sometimes against a background of date palms . The women wear the same kind of a coarse brown

omm baracan as the men . They put it on by j g the two upper corners with a wooden or iron bod l kin , afterward folding the rest gracefu ly about their figures . They plait their hair , cutting it

of straight above the eyebrow , and many the

- - l n black eyed , white teethed girls are pretty their

d o racti wild , picturesque way . The women p cally all the labor of the camp : fetching wood and drawing water ; pitching and striking tents ; milking the she goats and camels , and preparing food . They are divided into a prodigious num

b of ber of tribes , distinguished y the names their [ 1 94 ] DESERT INCIDENTS

c sheiks . Ea h tribe forms a village and each family has a tent or portable hut . In Tripoli each sheik is answerable to the Turkish Pasha f or the actions of each individual of his tribe . One evening I saw some dozen male members of a tribe driven in to the Castle Prisons by a

of Turkish guard . The arms of all them were

1 of securely bound behind with a single p ece rope , and their arrest was due to the Turkish suspicion which had centred about one of them .

Bedawi The , unlike the Moors , frequently

’ one visit another s domiciles , taking their chil

t e dren with them , but h life of these wandering

one . Desert waifs , at the best , is a hard The women soon become wrinkled and leather skinned , and the men are old almost before they have had a chance to be young . Sometimes I would ride forward with my b dragoman , anticipating a longer rest y making a f ondfik several hours ahead of the slowly mov

arfla . ing g On one of these occasions , as we

- of ascended a sand hill , the advance guard a homeward- bound caravan suddenly loomed up

. v before us Ele en months before , they had

of started from the great trade mart Kano , the

n to f or tw o first carava arrive from there years , [ 1 95 ] THE GATEWAY T o THE SAHARA

owing to the general insecurity of the roads . Three months they had held over at Zinder and

r a month at both A1 and Ghat . It took us all the afternoon to ride by the twelve hundred and twenty camels . They carried a thousand loads of Sudan skins from the famous dye pits of

Kano , destined to find their way to New York f or the manufacture of gloves and shoes ; two hundred loads of ostrich feathers , and ten loads of ivory , besides odd lots of rhinoceros horn ,

- gum arabic , and wax , valued altogether at over two hundred thousand dollars . Ostrich eggs , worked leather and basket , work dangled

or from the loads . Here and there a leopard e che tah skin , shot on the way , was thrown across a pack or hung from the shoulders of some big

. too negro Black women there were , , slaves ,

f or i perhaps , or concubines some of the r ch

As arfla Moors or Turks . the g neared Tripoli , runners would be sent ahead , and there would be great rejoicing among the men who had waited several years f or the return of their goods . I well remember one day in mid August : the ° d o not mercury stood at 155 in the sun . I

f or know what it registered in the shade , there

As our ow n . was none , save shadows the sun [ 1 9 6 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAH ARA

of the latter first saw Tripoli when they were driven up from the Sudan under the crack of

c om l the slave whip. Rarely p aml ng m the in tense heat , they moved forward , long guns slung across their backs and often native fans in their h n hands . Usually t e me go barefooted : some times over stretches of soft sand they wear broad e soled Des rt slippers , and on rocky ground sandals are worn . Most of the Blacks have their

of tribal marks , a certain number deep slashes across the cheeks and temples , made by their parents with sharp stones when they were chil

. As one dren Black trudged along beside me , his splendid calf muscles played underneath three stripes cut in the black skin . Early one morning I had ridden some miles in

f or he f of advance of the garfla . Save t soft scu f my horse ’ s hoofs and the stretching of my leather

untram trappings , a great silence hung over the

- melled sand hillocks , and their blue pervaded

A o mysterious shadows lengthened . rounded t p here and there broke the silver moon as it mel lowed toward the horizon . Suddenly my horse shied , nearly unseating me . Instinctively I

- no searched the sky line of hilltops . Had it t been for the black spot of a head I might not [ 198 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

arflas - g , there springs from the south east a gentle l wind , the gibli , which playfully spins ittle eddy

o ing whiffs f sand into miniature whirlwinds .

hi for In t s manner it may blow days , evaporating the water in the goat- skin bags and sometimes

- mi . ter nating in a sand storm Then , when the camels , craning their long necks , sniff high in the

arfla air and utter a peculiar cry , the g men know well the ominous signs ; far off on the horizon ,

re creeping higher and higher , the sky of blue

a of treats before sky brass . To the hoarse cries and curses of the men as they try to hobble the fore legs of the excited camels are added the uncanny guttural groan ings of the jamal , the braying of the asses , and the pitiful bleating of the goats and sheep. High in the air great flames of sand reach out, then

cov erl n the lurid sand cloud , completely g the

arfla . con sky , comes down upon the g In the fusion some of the water bags are broken and the precious liquid disappears in the sand . Turning tail and driving down before the blast go some

the unhobbl ed dr of camels , maybe carrying a iver with them , never to be heard from again .

arfla In the deep yellow gloom the g , back l to the storm , lies hudd ed together ; the men , [ 9 00 ] DESERT INCIDENT S

u hu wrapped p completely in their baracans , g

- T he close to the goat skins of water . whole air is surcharged with suffocating heat and fine powdered sand dust , which finds its way even as far as Malta and Sicily . It penetrates every

inflames of where , the eyes and cracks the skin the already parched tongues and throats of the

r indescrib ga fla men . The torment at times is able , and some poor fellow , like the camels , will

h rr n run maddened into the u l ca e . The sand- storm lasts from a few hours to six or seven days , and during it the men lie thus , occasionally digging themselves to the surface as they become partially covered with sand .

r m n Frequently all the e al m g water dries up. At such times camels are often sacrificed f or the sake of the greenish water which may be ob tained from the honeycomb cells of the reticu

fiv e or lum , a mature camel yielding about six

: quarts and , strange as it may seem , this water

- is cooler than that carried in the goat skins . The

arfla of storm over , the surviving g emaciated men and ammal s staggers on to the nearest oas is or town , over plains which before were sand

- now . hills , and sand hills which are plains The first st0 p of any length made by the [ 901 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA south - bound garflas is at Murzuk with its eleven

o of th usand inhabitants , that desolate capital

— of the Fezzan Murzuk , the horror Turkish exiles , where a man is fortunate if the deadly climate takes away only his senses of smell and

o taste . Here a thorough rest is given t camels and men . Fresh supplies are obtained , the gaps

out in the ranks filled , and again the wearisome march is resumed . Some fifteen hundred miles south of the coast they pass over the undefined boundary line of Tripoli through the dangerous

o D amer h country f the Tuaregs and the g us . From time immemorial slaves suffering in conceivable torments have been brought across

S S f or the ahara from the udan , those regions ex tending from Abyssinia to the Gulf of Guinea have furnished an almost inexhaustible supply . Particularly from the Central Sudan has the Arab slave- trader gathered in his human harvest to the chief depots of Timbuktu in the west and

Kuka in the east . You will find an occasional Arab who will tell

ou of to S y a route known only the enusi , that large fraternity of Moslems located in Tripoli

w ho tania , make proselyting wars and expedi

o A tions from Wadai t their capital . long this [ 9 09 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

and that he had asked permission for us to sleep under the olive- trees within the mud walls of his garden— which was no small favor to be granted

o m t strangers . The keeper was sufficiently i ’ ol d pressed with the rascal s yarn , spread mats f or us under the trees , and later brought us some

f ondfik fruit and eggs , then returned to the and the great doors were bolted . Well knowing that not one of my men would stay awake during his watch , I slept lightly . Toward midnight the creak of my pannier aroused me . Turning my head cautiously I dis tinguished a large wolf- dog m the dim moon light ; under the shadow of a near-by pomegran

- out ate tree , I made the form of a Desert thief

o quietly directing the d g in his plundering . Jumping to my feet and g iving Mohammed t [whose watch it was] a hear y kick to arouse him ,

disa I ran after the retreating marauders , who p peared among the rushes of a neighboring marsh .

re Knowing better than to enter their lair , I

to to n turned camp, find Mohammed bemoani g

- the loss of a pair of broad soled Desert slippers . T o make up much - needed rest I delayed my start next morning to some fiv e hours behind the

ar g fla . 204 Mur aiche and men descending a desert defile

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

either tribute or homage f or passing through the

of territory . It was at the end the dry months ,

and some of the wells contained no water . We

! were all weak and suffering and a number of our

- men had the sleeping sickness . We made haste

’ to of reach the wells Farok , not two days jour

ney from D amerghu itself . We had almost reached them when narrow ravines obliged us to

n r am fall o e behind the othe . Suddenly from bush the men of D amerghu furiously attacked

o us in great numbers . The character f the country prevented us from bringing our men to

— . A gether We fought hard and well , but llah

willed . Two hundred and ten were killed on

o b th sides , among whom were twelve Tripoli

of fa tans , some them being among the most

rfl mous ga a leaders in Tripoli . Twelve thousand

o f f or Air one camel loads guinea corn destined ,

of thousand camel loads ostrich feathers , ivory ,

S s udan skins , and mixed good , with the entire

f D m r h o a e us . transport, fell into the hands the g “ of Arfi Near the end the fight , , a big man broke through my guard with his tw o - edged sword . It was night when I came to myself and

I had been stripped of everything . With great

f he e fort I reached t wells of Farok . Near where [ 9 06 ] DESERT INCIDENTS

I fell I found half buried in the sand my pistol ” r — withits charge unfi ed but that is anotherstory .

T he of total value these goods lost , including

of to the animals burden , amounted more than

of ca and the wells Farok , where the p

- ture occurred , lie in an air line about nineteen

- hundred and fiv e kilometres south west of Tripoli . The opening of new routes southward and de flection of trade in that direction still lessen the prospect of inducing it to return to the shores of

Tripoli , and except as regards Wadai and part of the Sudan the bulk of the trade may be said to be lost to Tripoli . T ribal feuds on caravan routes unexpectedly change the aspects and dis concert traders . Long before the royal caravan of the ! ueen . of S heba , with its heavy embroidered trappings , brought gifts to Solomon ; long before that

S A out of emitic nomad , braham , came Ur , caravans had crept their patient , steady way

hot across the sands and deserts of the East . But the days of the T ripoli caravan trade are

of numbered , and the single wire telegraph line which has already found its way to [ Murzuk is but a forerunner to herald the coming of the

of r iron horse into the land the ga fla . [ 907 ] CHAPTER ELEVEN

CA M E L TRA ILS

FTEN in the narrow streets and open suks of many North African towns I had met

l umberm not the great g jemal , but it was until

fon I had eaten in his shadow, slept by him in dfik s b , and travelled with him day y day along

of r S the caravan trails the no thern ahara , that I began to understand and fully appreciate this incongruous model of ugly usefulness . Through a sweep of saffron sky the glowing sun spilled an aureola of golden light over the

- heat swept sand of the northern Sahara . Before me , as I rode , the sand ripples were broken only by big heart- shaped footprints of a solitary camel — then beyond the rounding sand hillocks the great beast silhouetted his gaunt shape against the afterglow , dignified , patient , defiant , imper turbabl e of , a creature the vast wastes ; revered ,

- b valued , and ill treated y the Oriental ; misun derstood and surrounded with mystery by the [ 9 08 ]

T HE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

Mongolia ; the Arabian picks his trail westward across the heat- soaked rocks and sand reaches

of the Arabian and African deserts .

Not long after my arrival in Tripoli , I took

-m Brin ali our with me y man g , and together we j ne ed o fondfik of y t a on the edge the town . “ ” ! Brin ali ad O camel driver spoke g , as he dressed a muffled figure squatting in the shadow “ ” of ou ? the wall , have y two good camels “ ” T o ! f or thy eye , O merchant [judge thyself] , replied Mahmood , the driver , as unrolling him

out o f self his baracan , he led the way across the f ondiik to where tw o heavily built draught cam els lazily chewed their cuds and with their short tufted tails flicked the flies from their rumps .

- for One was a moth eaten looking beast , it was moulting time , and the owner plucked here and there a handful of the soft hair from its shaggy hide . The other was closely sheared , as is customary when the hottest weather ap

ro p aches . After some bartering I hired them

r and the driver for the afternoon fo sixty cents . “ ” ba a ers They were draught camels , gg g , as

T he Tommy Atkins calls them down in Egypt . “ ” Arab calls him just plain jemal . While there are many different breeds of cam [ 9 10 ] CAMEL TRAILS

t e of A els , h most distinctive the rabians are the

- heavy , slow moving jemal and his cousin , the mehari , a tall , lightly built , swifter , and more

for elegant creature , used almost exclusively rid

or . ing , known as the riding running camel Much confusion has existed as to the word drom edar y , which many have considered a distinction

Ar m 73. e. between the abian and Bactrian ca els ; ,

no the one and tw o humped . Dromedary is t

of of . a distinction species , however , but breed

to The name , though generally applied the finely

A to bred rabian , may be applied an equivalent breed of Bactrian . The word dromedary is um doubtedly , in the root at least , derived from the

dramas di ffi er Greek [running] , fin ng its su x , p

A mahari haps , from the rabic word (mehari), the name of a swift breed of camels raised by the b tribe of Mahra . This name was given y the

of or X to Greeks , about the time Cyrus erxes , certain breeds of swift camels . One has but to try the experiment of riding a baggager to realize that there is not only a dis di tinction with a fference , but a distinction with a vengeance ; and any Christian w ho willingly substitutes the rump o f a jemal f or terra firma

s for A deserves all he get , even an rab will often [ 9 1 1 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA prefer walking to the lumbar vertebrae of a jemal . My intention was to ride three or four miles into the Desert and back . “ ” Arfi Brin ali Mount , , said g , and I strad dl ed a straw-fill ed sack thrown across the hind quarters of the recumbent jemal , who uttered a fearful protest the whole length of his long throat , turned his head squarely round and looked me full in the face , twitching his mobile upper

- - li . p with a half cynical , half deprecating curl The Arabs ride back of the pack- saddle for easier motion and often to be out of reach of the jaws of a biter .

“ ’ ” U — -r- ! p, thou tick of an ass s tail ar rah and with a vicious whack the Arab brought his heavy

’ stick across the beast s jaw . I lurched forward ,

t re back , and then forward again ; wi h a final monstratin out g grunt , jemal straightened his numerous joints and was on his feet . We were soon foll owing between mud walls and palm trees of the oasis o f Tripoli to the Desert . “ ! !” Hike hike yelled Mahmood , whereupon

o . the brute broke into a lumbering , racking j g

’ The camel s natural gait , both in walking and

to s o running , is said be a pace , but , far as I was concerned , it might have been a centrifugal back [ 9 19 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

’ after the muezzin s call from the minaret of the

—el - D aru neighboring Djema j , I would wind my way with soft- scuffing Arabs through the narrow by- ways o f Tripoli to the great sand reach o f the

Suk - el - Thalat beyond the town walls . In the

u ffl o f obsc re light , shacks , mu ed figures , heaps produce , and camels humped themselves over the sand stretch like the promontories of a miniature

of mountain range , and the feathered palms the oasis to the east were traced in violet against the forthcoming rose of early dawn . Then the sun rose over them and painted out the dim mono

’ tone of things in strong contrasts of lights and shades .

Everywhere was the jemal ; late arrivals , heavily loaded , carefully threaded their way

of along ; others , relieved their loads , stood singly

or s or l a . in small group , y resting on the sand , often acquiring most inconceivable and distorted

s out of po itions , bearing the remark a Tripoli friend that the camel with his stiff legs and supple “ neck was a combination of serpent and lamp ” post . With every group of camels was at least one

to caravaneer left guard them , and he was usually

o f found seated by the guns his comrades , chat [ 9 14 ] CAMEL TRAILS ting perhaps , with neighboring caravan men . His camels were hobbled by short ropes tied

of or under the fetlock the fore legs , , in the case of the more obstreperous , a fore leg was doubled

u . Now p, and in this position securely lashed and then the caravaneer rose leisurely and tossed into the centre o f the caravan [for the camel st are usually facing one another in a ring] some green

— or shtell fodder bishna [guinea corn cut green] , or other herbage with which they are usually fed in the suks and oases . To the stranger the greater portion of the Suk

C to might well appear a amel market, but go that section beyond the esparto jetty, bordering the coast roa d which leads to Sciara - el - Sel ut and

' li in - . ou v dun Tajura Here y find a g , colored sea

ol d of camels ; and young , male and female , pure

- breeds and hybrids , well conditioned and ill seasoned , ranging in color from the rare black camel through the various values o f dun colors and browns to snow white . This is the camel market . Far back in the Jebel and plateau lands of the Desert the various Arab and Berber tribes breed

of and raise large herds camels , pasturing them on the wild esparto grass , mimosa bushes , and [ 9 15 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAH ARA

of the dry camel thorn of the Desert , from all which the camel derives nutriment , remarkable to me until I once saw a camel devour with relish a piece of dry wood . The principal Tripoli

of e S camel raisers are the tribes J bel , ert , Zin

- Bu -Sef tan , Orfella , and Weled , who , with the small owners , have , it is estimated , brought the total number of camels to four hundred thousand , or one camel to every one and a quarter square miles of the vilayet of Tripoli . From these far off arid breeding grounds 1 have passed on the trail herds of camels travelling south toward

u Murzuk , there to be sold to fill p the gaps in the ranks of the trans -Saharan caravans or other h erds being driven north toward the great coast , trade centres , Bengazi and Tripoli , where , in Suk the jemal of Tripoli , they fetch , generally, from ten to thirty dollars per head .

But follow yonder thickset merchant , he with the scarlet haik and six fezes under his tightly

- wound gold embroidered turban . He is in

- search of an exceptional , full grown male draught camel ; one with a weight of close on to twelve hundred pounds ; which can stand the strain and carry his goods safely the six to eleven months across the deserts to the Sudan . At [ 9 16 ]

CAMEL TRAILS

- last he stops before a superb looking beast . T he top of its great shoulder is on a level with

’ exammes the Tripoline s turban ; he the mouth ,

- tail , feet , and skin , and runs his henna stained fingers through the long woolly hair to the top of its hump, seven feet from the ground ; this he

finds full and firm . “ G edash ! of O brother many camels , is this ” one of thy herd ? “ Ma A y llah lengthen thy age , O wealthy

one , replied the swarthy man from the wadan ; “ f ” thou hast truly picked the jewel o my eye .

one of f or Jewel , sayest thou , but ill omen ,

truly he is darkish in color . “ B P y the rophet , throw him into the river and ” he will rise with a fish in his mouth ; and thus they bartered with all the nal v eté and leisure of

to i s 1nV1sibl e the Oriental trader , whom time ,

but medjidies may be held in the hand . It was not until the morning waned and they both trod upon their ow n shadows that the sale was effected

to the amount of sixty dollars . “ ” Bal euk ! came a warning cry as Riley and I steered our way one morning through the

narrow channel ways of the Suk . “ t That was a close call , said he , as the grea [ 9 1 7 ] THE GATEWAY TO T HE SAHAR A jaws of a biter swung by me with a snap like a “

. of our steel trap In the cold , rainy months

’ ne to s n winter o has be con tantly o one s guard . Onl y a short time ago I saw a Turkish soldier lose half his face in this very Suk ; another had the end of his elbow torn off . Watch the reverse

’ of rotary motion that camel s chew , and the fear ful results of the grinding nature of his sharp incisors and canine teeth , in both upper and

ma s o lower jaw , y be realized , often mashing the bones that amputation of the limb is neces ” sary . In passing recumbent camels the stranger

nl on need watch the head o y , but when their feet , “ ” f or ow its heads and tails , a camel can be a p erful kicker . Such are the means o f defence with which nature has endowed him that one blow of out w his foot , and straight behind , ill drop

to on most animals the earth ; then , kneeling his victim and using his strong neck as a leverage , he tears him to pieces with his huge jaws . Biters

of are often muzzled , as are always camels cara

or a to vans bearing guinea corn b rley, keep them

a o from biting through the sacks . The m jority f

s b no the camel are y means naturally vicious , and much of their uglines s is due to the lack of [ 9 18 ]

THE GATEWAY TO - THE SAHARA

hob l . W un b ed n plain ell fed , , and u burdened ‘ for save his saddle , he had every reason to be happy, but there he stood with mouth agape ,

of belching forth , so far as I could see , just out pure cussedness . The noise rolled away over the Desert in great volumes of sound— a voice crying in the wilderness . “ ” A 1s The horse , say the town rabs , a gen tl eman , the camel a boor Not only has the latter been loaded with literal burdens heavier than he should bear and with the unjust igno

of has miny a mean disposition , but he also been

res on saddled , figuratively speaking , with the p sibilities of the vindictive tempers of certain

A . rabs , because of feeding on his flesh To me

, to r he seems be , in one espect at least , like his

— Arab master a fatalist . In one corner of the Suk a camel doctor sat beside a forge of hot coals held in a native earth

, enw are o ccas1onall stove , y blowing them with his bellows and adjusting the heating irons . Now and then an Arab approaching him with his camel would consult him , perhaps about lame - a ness or ophthalmia . One Hadji came leading

. As limping camel firing was considered the cure ,

for as many ills , it was first necessary to render [ 9 90 ] CAMEL TRAILS the patient powerless . The doctor called from the neighboring coffee-booth a number of men ; the owner ordered the animal to kneel

of on across a piece rope stretched the sand , whereupon the fore legs and a hind leg were se curely lashed to his body . Two o f the men sat u pon his muzzled head ; the lame leg , to which

[ a rope had been fastened at the hock joint, was

to its pulled ~ full length and the injured tendon seared by the “ doctor

i Turn ng from the distasteful sight , I followed the edge o f the sand . Not many yards from the

of shore the gurgling , groaning sound a jemal mingling with the swash of the Mediterranean attracted my attention to where tw o Blacks had

- forced a half submerged camel to his knees , where they scrubbed and scoured his hide .

off Suk f or This is a common sight the Tripoli , camels not only can be made to enter water , thus making excellent fording animals , but are fine s r m mme s as well .

We on continued toward the town . Its green topped minarets which spiked the blue sky seemed gradually to telescope below her bastion walls , and we passed under the Outer Gate to lunch and Sl esta . [ 99 1 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA Ever and anon there would float in through

of my window the blatant sound the jemal , whose defiant , gurgling groan outvied all other noises as it echoed down the narrow street . One early morning a pandemonium below my

“ 9 , B ! - - ‘ window awoke me . al euk Bur r ro rose above the din of men and beasts as tw o drivers

one battered another with their camel sticks . It was the ol d story of a head—on meeting in a

. of narrow way Finally, by order a town watch

one of man who happened along , the heavily burdened camels was made to lie down, thus

to enabling the other squeeze by .

A turnl n nother time , g quickly toward my win dow as a flash of light [ chased across the walls of s to my room , I was ju t in time see the silvery point of a spear head undulate by the window

. As to ledge I surmised , it belonged a mehari mounted Arab from the south . He was a pictu res ue o f q figure , this bronzed man the Desert , in

’ white burnoose , and turban bound with camel s

— a of hair cord , as he lurched along , part the

. or tall , majestic beast he rode The mehari , rid

s o ing camel , was rare in northern Tripoli ; ,

on seizing my sun helmet , I followed his trail through the town . 999

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

slender character of its legs below the knee , it is wiry and muscular and can average thirty miles a day under a weight of three hundred pounds

of rider and outfit for long distances . On account of its speed it is often used as a transmitter of important despatches— the tele B d graph of the Arab . The e awi of the Egyp tian Sudan still remember Gordon for the fast work of his last memorable ride of four hundred and three miles in nine days , including halts , and Burckhardt gives an account of a mehari doing one hundred and fifteen miles in eleven hours , which included forty minutes occupied in being twice carried across the Nile . I followed the mehari out beyond the city walls ’ A to its owner s camp in the Suk . Here the rab “ Kh !” let go the rein , at which it stopped . “ !” . Kh [kneel] , he ejaculated at the same time gently striking its right shoulder with his san

dall ed . foot , and dismounted My acquaintance with the camel in town and Suk had inspired me with a constantly growing respect and interest long before I struck his trail

be in the Desert . Many a night I have ridden side him , seen him pass noiselessly through the palm groves , watched their moonlight shadows [ 994 ] CAMEL TRAILS wriggle snakelike over his gaunt , dusky form , or , out under the stars in the open Desert , sensed his vague spectre as it merged itself into the tone of night and the sand . I have listened in the darkness to the peaceful chewing of cuds in the

fondiik s av 0 1ded Desert , the mad rush for water

- at some long scented pool , or in the heat of day seen his undulating shadow creep along beside

of that my horse , and then , from under my sun

u helmet , have looked p at him slouching along with his great load , ungainly, disproportionate , a connecting link between the ruminant and the pachyderm .

For be hours at a time I have ridden before ,

e fasc1nated side , and behind him , ev r by the study of his strange temperament and stranger struct ure ; a structure which is impress1v ely adapted

A — a to his needs , making him like the rab creat h ure of l s environment .

His small nostrils , which seem to heighten the benign expression of his ever- twitching upper li to out p, can be so closed as keep the finest sand

o f . P too the terrific gibli rotected , , by their long , heavy lashes are his dark , protruding eyes , over shadowed by their beetling brows which . break

of the fierce rays the sun glare overhead . On [ 995 ] THE GATEWAY TO T HE SAHARA those parts of his body most subjected to con tact . with heat and friction great callosities are formed which act as sort of buffers ; the largest

one on on his chest , each elbow and knee , and

tw o on . each hock View him broadside , and the contrast in his build fore - and - aft must impress even the casual observer , for he seems to fall away behind . S ometimes , when the monotony of heat and

' a sand bec me unbearable , I would sift back through the caravan until I found Sarabi and ' Hallil - - n - o e . S a ben Hassam , her eyed driver ar bi

Ha lil ndkat . l was a beautiful white [she camel] , so to it was rumored , had destroyed an eye avoid E conscription in gypt ; then , wandering across the

Libyan Desert and the wild , dangerous regions

of S a . Barca , he at last , with ar bi , reached Tripoli Mile upon mil e I would watch her great nail

s l tipped cushioned feet squdge noi eless y , along ,

s reflect lift and fall , lift and fall , the under ides ing the sand , like lighted orange disks glimpsing

- on in her violet blue shadow . The hinder ones their delicate leg shafts would let into the shadow a streak of sunlight which reflected on the

s heavier , stronger fore leg which seem in all camels to be bent the wrong way at the knee . [ 99 6 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

This was an important matter , for a light load ill balanced is more disastrous to a camel than

- a well adjusted heavy one . Where loads are not easily balanced Arabs will use stones or bags of sand as a counterweight . So important is it that the loads do not gall or chafe the shoulders and hump that a careful driver will ever be on hi the alert to arrange the cus ons , often using green fodder when nothing else is availabl e .

’ S a Hallil ar bi s load had shifted forward , and proceeded to pull from the open end of the cush ions under the pack- saddle great handfuls of f straw , which he stu fed into the forward cush

of ions . The wooden frame the saddle itself is dl fashioned after the primitive sad es , which were made from the shoul der-blades and bones of animals . So wonderfully is the camel adapted to his environment that he not only is provided with

- his own water bottle , so to speak , but also with his own larder through that strange protuber di hi ance of a pose tissue , the hump, w ch on long journeys is absorbed into his system , so that lit “ erall A on . y, as the rabs say , he feeds his hump During months of rest or little exercise the hump increases in size and even flops over and some [ 9 98 ]

THE GATEWAY TO T HE SAHARA are in daily use for all manner of strange pur

. or for poses Time death , instance , is compared to a drinking camel :

Dee w as the firs drau dee the ne no s n was p t ght, p xt, ti t here t , When T ime gulped down the great of al -Aswad and of ” Attab .

While a tribe bereft of its chief by plague is

of likened to Death with a herd camels , to whose ' f ondiik they must all come home , some sooner, some later .

And to -da he w ander a rembl n herd e r k nsman y t y t i g , th i i

Death .

O ne s eeds awa to his res at eve one s a s ll dawn. p y t , t y ti

nd v - A so , as goes a camel hea y laden , even ” “ ” paced , the baggager moves onward , at times to the song of the march or the wild resonant

of imbr h note of the oboe and the beat the g e . He can carry from three to s1x hundred

to hl s Si pounds , according ze , being usually

- loaded with about one third his ow n weight . “ ” S ! Hallil one Look , ahib said forenoon , as he pointed to a far-away distant hill where fiv e dark spots broke up its so omth surface and slipped

1 rom the amasa an an o o com e in the n n cen F H h , th l gy pil d i th bu T mmam D . A u A . a t ry, , by CAMEL TRAILS

of to . out sight , appear again an hour later Five

Ha li . l l mehara passed us , the last a black camel

or muttered something under his breath , a curse

w ot not a prayer I , then , turning , he looked at “ ’ ” on me . Tis written the cucumber leaf [known everywhere] “ that a black camel is P surely a sign of death . erhaps I detected a slight satisfaction in the blink of the one eye of

- this owner of a milk white camel . Camels when in caravan are sometimes driven

to and in Indian file , tied headstall tail , occa sionall of y , as is practised in some parts Egypt , by the rope of the nose- ring to tail ; the cruel consequence may be easily imagined if the for ward camel falls or perhaps stampedes . But usually , particularly in Tripoli , they are driven in droves or string out irregularly over the Des e ert , which is a more natural and human way, besides being the most practical . At times it is necessary to punish a fractious camel ; then his driver falls upon him with a large flat club and beats him unmercifully on the

of neck , just back the jaw , until the poor beast

to rolls the ground and remains motionless . It has been estimated that one out of every tw o camels dies before it reaches five years of [ 981 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

’ -t age . The camel under man s care would un '

doubtedly thrive in almost every country , but it

to is the tropics that he seems best adapted .

on h There , the long marches , everyt ing must be

f or on sacrificed to his welfare , him depends the success of the caravan or the safe arrival of his

’ master at the journey s end . Over stony ground or rocky mountain paths his soft- cushioned feet become cut and bruised ; but it is on slippery

or ground in quicksand that the camel , feeling

or himself slide beginning to sink , loses his head and flounders about . Sometimes he splits himself u p, or , struggling in the quicksand , breaks a leg or disjoints a hip. Then the heavy load is

off dragged his back , a crescent blade flashes in

! flint- the sunlight, or bang goes a long lock , and another victim is added to the unending death roll .

' S A -Arsat ometimes , following down the rbar ,

b - I would turn into a narrow y way, and , passing

hot from the street, would enter a small , dark building used as a corn mill . Ensconced in a

Na eeb dusty seat in a far corner , I would watch g plod softly and uncertainly round and round the pivot of the millstone . A few dim rays sifted down from the roof through a drapery of cob

’ on to Na eeb s webs g gaunt, mangy hide and shed [ 989 ]

CHAPTER TWELVE

’ A N IGH T s RID E W IT H A RAB B AND ITS UCH of my travelling was tiresome and

. As monotonous a rule , the Turkish and A ffi rab o cials were courteous , and the people in both towns and country were rarely deliberately annoying . Most of the people worked at hon est labor , and it is not these that the traveller as \ a rule has to fear , but certain hostile Desert tribes , marauding town and Desert thieves . There is a saying in the Sahara that unless a ” man is killed , he lives forever . By Desert law the act of passing through those wastes practically entails forfeiture of goods to whoever can seize them ; so highway robbery is not only practised , but is , by a large class , generally conceded to be right .

In Tripoli , as in most semitropical countries , too careful consideration cannot be given to

’ one s mode of diet and dress . Easily digested foods and boiled water are essential to the O cci [ 984 ] A NIGHT ’ S RIDE WITH ARAB BANDITS

dental traveller . From experience I found that

of a suit khaki , a thick flannel shirt , light under

wear , and the indispensable flannel cholera belt [to protect the stomach and back from the sun] and sun helmet were the most practical and com

f r b o ta l e clothing . To wear an ordinary straw hat in the Desert would rashly 1nvite sunstroke .

I carried no tent , but frequently needed my blanket at night . Once when camping by a m small lake near the coast , y men improvised

’ out m a tent of Mohammed s baracan , y sketching umbrella , and the rushes . Under my rug was always spread a piece of palm matting to render less direct the attacks of sand fleas which abound in the oases .

of A My meals usually consisted rab bread ,

. S fresh eggs , tea , and fruits ometimes we bought ' these and occasionally chickens from f ondiik

or B aw o keepers ed i. When we had occasion t carry a watermelon for half a day on the d on

’ key s pack , the melon became heated through

on and through by the sun ; but , cutting it open ,

how hot the slightest breeze , no matter , caused

or immediate evaporation , and within ten fifteen minutes the melon would actually seem cool to

’ one s taste . Water was boiled when feasible , [ 9 85 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA and we took as large a stock of it as we could

l n conveniently carry , sometimes coolers , some

- times in a goat skin . The wells were occasionally dry or foul , and water contained in earthen jars

f on k s or l at dfi was often stagnant i l cared for .

Mohammed usually acted as cook . Not only our menu but our culinary outfit was a simple aff air— a small earthen stove and a few dry palm leaves for fuel . Over this he brewed tea , boiled eggs , and even roasted chicken . Often at ev enl n on g , I would stretch out my rug and watch the l ow glow of the embers trace a line of crimson down his profile or a flicker illumine his swarthy face , and cast his big shadow on some

fondfik . too tree trunk or wall Then , , I had

ae for other than sthetic reasons watching him ,

’ for chopped horsehair in one s food does not go

’ well in one s insides , and is no more conducive to good health than poisoned ground-glass parti

’ cles surreptitiously deposited in one s shoes . u Many a night I would lie awake , looking p at

-off the silver stars into the far silent night , then

l — fall as eep to sleep lightly, as was my habit when in the Open— and lack o f sleep more than anything else was the most trying part of my travelling . [ 986 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

One day over hot rock wastes of the Jebel Na gahz a we rode our exhausted horses fifteen long hours , trying to cover their heads as much as possible with our own shadows . Al most every step was a stumble , for we had little hope of their surV1v 1n g the hard , staggering pull over the last stretch of mountain trail . It was a test not only

— on of endurance , but of ability my part , at least

—to appear unobservant of certain circumstances , f or Mural che I had suspected , suspected him of an indefinite something ; but the workings of his A wily old rab mind , its reasons and its purposes , were to me as mysterious as the great wastes of S the ahara over which we had been travelling , and ’ as elusive as the noxious sand lizards which now

’ and again scurried from beneath our horses feet .

em The long , hot caravan trail at sundown p tied us into the little Arab town of Khoms .

Here we parted with a caravan , forty camels

f or strong , bound Misurata , with which we had travelled for the last three days . Mohammed

and Ali were on - foot and drove the big pack

Muraiche donkey ; while , like myself, rode an

now A . rab stallion His bent old figure , ahead

of now me , by my side , seemed lost in the folds

of his baracan . [ 988 A NIGHT ’ S RIDE WITH ARAB BANDITS S ince sunrise , as we approached Khoms , a change had come over Muraiche ; he no longer obeyed my orders with alacrity , and when , sev

f or eral times , it was necessary me to repeat them sharply he seemed to awaken with a start from deep meditation . This at the time I attributed to the fatigue of our journey and an tici ated f or p relaxation , a rest had been promised at Khoms . Following the custom of the coun

to try , I reported the Turkish governor on our arrival , and saw my men and animals comfort

in f ondfik ably fixed a , with orders to have every thing in readiness to start the following after noon ; then spent the night at the house of Mr .

Tate , the only Englishman in the place . This night in mid July and the following

f out night , strangely di ferent , stand strongly in my memory— perhaps for the contrast with the

of dusty, monotonous travelling other days and

f ondfik s or the sleeping in dirty ; , perhaps , in contrast with each other . If you would know

of of the pleasure bathing , sleeping beneath the

- of snow white sheets a bed , travel day after day on - of the burning , scorching , yellow red sand S the ahara ; fill your eyes , nose , and ears , your very soul with its fine powdered dust ; tie your [ 989 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

of handkerchief , after the manner the Tuaregs ,

across your mouth to prevent evaporation , that \ your throat may not parch too much . Travel early and late to make the most of the cool of the morning and evening . Sleep lightly if you are

uncom a lone stranger , and do not mind the fortabl e lump of your pistol-holsters under your arm ; they are better in your hands than in the

’ So - other fellow s . when , sunburnt , saddle sore ,

ou and tired with long riding and little sleep, y

of t find , what I did , a bath delicious cold wa er , brought from an old Roman well still used by

A w- the rabs in Khoms , and a sno white bed , give

to praise Al lah . Then let the barbaric noises of a wild Sudanese dance in the distance and the musical chant of the Muezzin melt away with your thoughts into the quiet of the African night . Bright and early the next morning a Turkish soldier brought to the house an invitation f or an di au ence with the Governor , and I was ushered into his official apartments in company with

Muraiche hi of P - and the C ef olice , a half breed

- A . rab Negro Our conversation was translated ,

tw o through interpreters , from English into A A v rabic and from rabic into Turkish , and ice versa . [ 940 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA P and majestic buildings . ortions of these still

o f remained , including the ruins a large Roman

. 1s palace But gone this legacy , scattered over the plain and destroyed by ruthless Arabs and f . S too o more ruthless Turks ome sections , , the great stone quays remained ; but where were the thousands of Mediterranean galleys which once moored to those piles and ring - bolts ?

Where are the moving , breathing crowds , in A Roman toga and rab baracan , which once thronged those quays in the shadow of their classic architecture and the awnings of the little booths P Wonderful capitals and other fragments were l i y ng broken and marred about the plain . I smuggled a few fragments of marble details into

- to my saddle bags unbeknown the guard , for so

’ opposed are the Turks to a Christian s acquiring or even interesting himself in antiquities that the most beautiful sculptures and relics are often deliberately destroyed . Recently a statue which was taken from Khoms to Tripoli f or the gardens of the Turkish Club was first deliberately mu til ated off re by knocking the head and arms , p s umably that it might not attract the covetous eyes of some d og of a Christian . [ 949 ] A NIGHT ’ S RIDE WITH ARAB BANDITS

Had it not been for a casual stroll through the Suk later that afternoon my men might now be recounting a different yarn over their smoking

- kief and coos coos . Threading my way among men , animals , shacks , scattered garden produce , grains , and wares which covered the ground in interesting heaps , and pushing through a small crowd which had gathered about me, their curiosity and cupidity aroused by a gold filling

one o f m for . in y teeth , I stopped a moment

For of there , in the middle an open space , beside

’ ’ a Marabout s [saint s] tomb Muraichewas en grossed in a low conversation with one of the A irregular guards , an rab in the Turkish em ploy . Disappearing unobserved to another part of Suk the , I should have thought no more about

for the matter , but the fact that when , later in the morning , these two met in my presence , by ’ mi the Governor s palace , they o tted the custom

’ ary b s al aams and eff usive greetings of Moham medan acquaintances , and by no word or sound betrayed the least recognition . Reminding Muraiche of my previous orders to ’ have everything in readiness by two o clock ,

’ I sauntered up to lunch at Mr . Tate s . The

to m of route y next point destination , the little [ 948 ] T HE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA town of Kussabat , was not only over the rough mountainous range of the Jebel Gharian , but it was considered by the Arabs dangerous on account o f thieves . Being under the necessity of making the journey that day, I was anxious to

b . arrive there y sundown Consequently, when ,

- of ut [ by half past two , none my outfit p in an

one of appearance , the house servants was des patched to learn the reason .

First by wily excuses , and then by an open mutiny , my men delayed the departure until

- half past five , when , by threats to appeal to the Turkish Pasha to have them thrown into prison and engage new men , we were finally ready to start . “ Arfi ? Muraiche But a guard , Twice had a sked the question , and twice I answered him that the Turkish officials had been notified of my ’ in intention to depart at two o clock . Had they tended to send a guard they would have done so .

of mi to However , being desirous confor ng cus

’ tom Muraiche to , was sent the Governor s palace

to our with instructions report departure , but not to for ask a guard , as I personally shared in the common opinion that often the traveller is safer without one . [ 9 44 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

Gharl an re 1on to the Djebel , the g I had hoped enter and pass through by day .

on o f Resting the site ancient Lebda , my

’ golden city of Khoms lay nearly an hour s ride behind us , and as yet no guard , to my entire sat

- isfaction . This was short lived , however , for soon a yell , such as is rarely loosed from the

of to throat a human being , caused us suddenly draw rein . Down the steep, rocky incline , where an ordinary horseman could but carefully pick

out to his way, on the sandy plateau upon which we had just ridden , riding wild and giving his lithe animal free rein , dashed a guard , and when

of u out of abreast us , drew p short a full run , after the manner of Arab horsemen .

Muraiche to , and a nod of the

to me head , which was slightly reciprocated ; yes ,

f or out very slightly , before me was the one man of all the Arabs I had ever seen that I would have chosen last for a companion that night .

o f There , in the glow the late afternoon sun

of n light , the stock his short carbine resting o his saddle , and the sweat making bright the high

on - lights his evil brassy bronze face , sat the worst cutthroat it was ever my fortune to look

’ — - Muraiche s . upon friend , he of the market place [ 946 ] A NIGHT ’ S RIDE WITH ARAB BAN DITS

Muraiche During a short conversation with ,

’ the guard s peculiar eyes scanned me from the

to rowels of my spurs to the p of my sun helmet . Evidently the main objects of his searching glance were in my holsters , covered by my

of jacket ; meantime , however , I lost no detail his weapon , a hammerless magazine rifle of modern

“

. A make Then he addressed me in rabic , but

Muraiche . not speaking the language , I turned to ”

s . He tell us to start, the latter replied This sudden assumption of leadership came

seemm most unexpectedly, his g intention being A n u . Now i o to bring p the rear rabs , though g

re rant , are daring ; but like all Orientals , fully

one spect only thing , and that is a just and strong

a reci hand , which they must feel in order to pp ate . Consequently my course was plain . “ Tell the guard to head the caravan and that ” if he goes with me , he goes as one of my men . As we got under way the guard rode slowly ahead , meanwhile taking sidelong glances at me out of the corners of his villainous gray

of Mos green eyes , filled with all the hatred the lem for the Christian . I realized that never in my life had the assets and liabilities of my s tatus

uo q received such careful auditing . [ 947 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

to the Djebel Gharian , the region I had hoped enter and pass through by day .

Resting on the site of ancient Lebda , my golden city of Khoms lay nearly an hour ’ s ride

no behind us , and as yet guard , to my entire sat

- isfaction . This was short lived , however , for soon a yell , such as is rarely loosed from the

of to throat a human being , caused us suddenly draw rein . Down the steep, rocky incline , where an ordinary horseman could but carefully pick

out his way, on to the sandy plateau upon which

i his we had just ridden , riding wild and g ving lithe animal free rein , dashed a guard , and when

of u out of abreast us , drew p short a full run , after the manner of Arab horsemen .

Muraiche of to , and a nod the

to me head , which was slightly reciprocated ; yes ,

f or out very slightly , before me was the one man of all the Arabs I had ever seen that I would have chosen last for a companion that night .

of There , in the glow the late afternoon sun

o f n light , the stock his short carbine resting o his saddle , and the sweat making bright the high

on - lights his evil brassy bronze face , sat the worst cutthroat it was ever my fortune to look

’ — - Muraiche s . upon friend , he of the market place [ 946 ]

THE GATEWAY TO T HE SAH ARA

When the great red lantern of the sun disk w had sunk beneath the earth line , from ithout

l - the deep, mysterious val eys crept the blue violet

mi of st films twilight shadows , absorbing and leavening into their darker tones the brighter

hi e afterglow , against w ch moved the dark shap s

of horses and men . Suddenly they bunched i themselves and the guard d smounted , then hIohammed and Ali went on with the pack

donkey .

“ ’ l - Mu The guard s sadd e girth is broken , raiche informed me . But we wil l fix it and you ” can ride on very slowly . “ ” B m . ut ou I will wait , was y reply y ride on , ” “ ” i

Muraiche . h The girth was soon fixed , w ch consisted in a vain effort to cinch it up another hole . S teeper and more rugged grew the trail , and

As we entered the range of the Gharian . day di an light mmed , uncomfortable darkness hung over the mountains f or a short space ; then the moon glow appeared in the east , and soon the di moon itself lifted its pale , storted shape above

and f the horizon , su fused everything with its

- s o s o i to pale blue green light , cool and satisfy ng the eye and mind in contrast to the hot sun glare [ 948 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA knobbed club , which usually he had kept stuck in one of the packs . Each carried a long Arab

Muraiche knife , so was ordered to tell the men to keep alongside the donkey . Down the other side of the moonlit valley a caravan was coming toward us heading for

- Khoms . Taking a small note book from my

: S pocket , I wrote hould any accident occur to me , thoroughly investigate my men , including the ” guard , and signed it . Tearing the leaf from the book , and folding it , I watched the great lum bering camels approach us , and dropped a little i farther behind , intending to give t to the head man of the caravan for him to bear to the Muchia

[governor] at Khoms . Then deciding that , fi under the circumstances , there was not suf cient evidence to thus prejudice the Turkish author

u ities against my men , I chewed it p and spat it into a patch of sand lilies . From the distance came the faint report of a gun . Every one of my men heard it, but no comment was made , and we pushed deeper into the mountains . On our left , looking toward the moon , objects were indistinct in the half

a tone and shadow , while seen from there , we p peared in the moonlight . Now and again I sensed [ 950 ] A NIGHT ’ S RIDE WITH ARAB BANDITS

moving shadows from that direction , but it was some time before I was sure that they were living

forms following us , perhaps hyenas , jackals , or

some sly cheetah . As we made sharp turns at times in rounding

the mountains , and their sides stood out in sil

’ houette sk l ow against the y, I bent on my horse s A n neck and watched intently . t o e of these turns

cu t where the sky deep into the mountain side ,

no leaving every irregularity in relief against it , I

u u ticed that men were following s . First, away p

on of n the side , a fezzed head and the barrel a lo g Arab flint-lock bobbed against the sky f or a sec

ond , as , dodging catlike amongst the rocks , their w o ner rounded the side . Then a second and a

third appeared , and I knew we were followed by

. not thieves This was comforting , but if we were

’ ’ Muraiche s ol d - attacked , the guard s rifle , fash ioned fiv e- tw o shooter , and my revolvers would be more than a match for them in point of arma

ment .

One thing puzzled me , however , until later . The manner of these Desert thieves being inv ari

not ably to attack from the rear , I could account for their seeming to forge ahead of us . Watch

too of ing my men , I saw that they, , were aware [ 95 1 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

BIuraiche the thieves ; and , who had been watch h ing me closely w en we occasionally rode abreast , “ remarked : This is a bad country here ; I think

robbers are foll owmg us .

“ Mural che off Yes , ; there are men there . I ” have seen three . “ A of llah knows , everything is in the hand ‘ nor Allah . There is neither might power save in

’ 1 A . Arfi ou llah , the High , the Mighty La , , y ” o must not ride behind ; y u had better ride first . “ Muraiche f or Then I will ride last , , mine are

the best weapons , and I shoot better than any ” of you . After a sharp turn we wound along a valley

e of an side . Just below us the dens foliage an cient olive grove shut out every gleam of light

ol d from its black interior , the gnarled branches reaching out as though to drag into their depths

who i any might come w thin their grasp, and the same weird sensations of awe passed over me

’ which I felt as a boy when I pored over Doré s illustrations of the wandering Dante and Virgil m that wonderful , grewsome nether world .

My sensation was complete when , as though it was the most natural thing in the world for

1 n rm n o This saying is used by Moslems when a ything ala i g ccurs . [ 959 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

of had taken a shorter route , there was no sign him until we had passed a hundred yards beyond

the grove and halted . As he emerged I heard the faint click of his car bine as he pulled the bolt to a full cock , upon h which , alf turning my horse , I awaited him ; as he neared us I saw that he had been running his horse , which was breathing hard and sweating . Then the truth flashed upon me : my men were

w 1th recon in league the thieves who , by a p certed hi arrangement , had gone ahead and dden l n the grove , there to set upon me in the dark

confidenCe ness , relying upon my in the guard to follow his lead . Failing in their end , the guard had stopped to parley with them and then made up time . Had their place of ambush not been i so ev dently dangerous to enter , they might have been successful . Nor would it have been the first time a guard and outfit had returned with “ ” o ut Arfi how the , telling a good story of they were attacked by thieves and escaped , while he was kill ed .

N ow of here in front me that picturesque ,

- i - venomous look ng devil sat , his rifle full cocked

of across the pommel his saddle , my other men at a little distance to my right , and I a good mark [ 954 ] A NIGHT ’ S RIDE WITH ARAB BANDITS with my white sun helmet— but my revolver n resting o my saddle covered the guard . “

Muraiche to his . , tell the guard uncock rifle ” It might go off by accident . With a sullen look the guard obeyed . “ Now tell him to ride first to protect the goods .

Let the men with the pack donkey follow , then

’ an ‘ thiev es you behind them . I ll ride last . If y hi approach wit n gunshot, warn them away at ” You P once , or I shall fire . understand “ ” - Arfi out . Yes , , and we strung in single file My purpose was to place the guard who pos sessed the most effective weapon where it was practically of no use against me ; for this gave me a screen of the men and animals . The dan ger from Mohammed and Ali depended entirely t hi upon their abili y to close in on me , so w le in hi that position there was not ng to fear from them .

As Muraiche r for , he was under my di ect sur v eill ance i , w th the advantage all my way, as I rode with drawn weapon . But I knew the Arab well eno ugh to know that so long as he is not excited or his fanaticism aroused he will not risk his own skin while strat egy will serve his ends ; and also knew that I

no one had to depend upon but myself, and that [ 955 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

mamtainin my safety lay in g , as far as possible ,

o a normal condition of things . S I watched ; watched my men in front and watched to the

of side and behind for signs the thieves , of whom

’ no I caught glimpses w and again . My Arabs conjunction with these men thwarted , it was but natural that they should communicate with each other to further their plans , and in various ways

hi . they sought to do t s While caravan men , when marching through a safe district and many strong , often chant to ease their dreary march or to pacify the camels , in our circumstances the less attention we coul d draw to ourselves the better . So when Mohammed started to chant in a loud i voice by way of giv ng information , he was ordered to be quiet . A Ali gain , as we rounded a sharp bend , made a break for the brush , but he started a second

his too soon . I saw him and called name sharply ; he halted and returned to the caravan . When we passed within gunshot of objects which might conceal a foe I rode abreast of

Muraiche to , using him screen myself, know n well that they would attack only from the side which , from their position , placed us in the full

. And moonlight in the narrow ravines , though [ 956 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

u med , who , stealing p quietly behind me with

sandals removed , had intended to strike . “ ” - - - Eu r r ro ! [go on] I said . Lowering his

Si club without a gn of embarrassment , he took his place in line , the others apparently having been oblivious to the whole affair A fter he left me , and the excitement of the

an moment had passed , cold chills chased one other up and down my spine . From then on there were no sign of thieves . For four hours I had ridden with my finger on the trigger of my pistol covering my men . For four hours I had sensa tions which I do not care to experience again .

’ A n u bout one o clock in the morni g, high p on the hilltop we sighted the white walls of Kussa bat, and after some hard climbing we came into full view of the silver city, glistening in a bath of silver as Khoms had shone in a flood of gold . A w few words ith the town guard , and the great

- el - doors of its main gate , the Bab Kussabat , creaked and groaned as they swung open . We

u entered the city and clattered p the steep, nar

l ow on row streets , where , from the housetops ffl either side , sleeping forms , mu ed in baracans , awoke and peered over at us , and big white wolf hounds craning their necks set pandemonium [ 958 ] A NIGHT ’ S RIDE WITH ARAB BANDITS

one of loose from end the town to the other , as

our they snarled and yelped in very faces . ' Soon we were in a small fondl ik with doors heavily bolted . The other occupants were a selected stock of camels , goats , sheep, and fowls taken from the Arabs by the Turks in lieu o f a taxes ; in fact , the fond k had been converted n into a sort of pou d . On the roof were a dozen A or so of rabs and Blacks asleep , and I preferred their company in the moonlight to that of my four men under the dark archways . To prevent

Muraiche scheming , I took with me , the cause of all the trouble . Some o f these Blacks and A rabs raised up out of their sleep to see , prob

for o ably the first time, an appariti n in khaki and a white helmet . Then we lay down and , thanks

’ to the previous night s rest, I managed to keep awake most of the night . When Muraiche

or rolled over in his sleep, a neighboring Black muttered in his savage dreams , I would start from my dozing .

True , I gave my men no baksheesh at the jour

’ ney s end . I might have had them thrown into

of the foul Turkish prison the Castle ; but , after all , it was the life of these men of the Desert they had only tried their little game and failed . [ 959 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

And the stakes ? My revolvers and ammuni

thel eather of i tion , t my saddle and rid ng leggins ,

and perhaps a gold fil ling in my teeth . They

n no for k ew I had money , in the presence of

Muraiche Mu I had deposited it at Tripoli , and raiche hims elf carried only the necessary funds

ro for the journey . But modern weapons are a p

hibited for import , save the Turkish army, and

are worth their weight in silver to the Arabs .

f or ? Why such a risk such small stakes Well , why will the Desert thief risk his life for a bara

or A u can , an rab scavenger dig p the corpse of a plague victim for the miserable piece of sack cloth that girds his loins ? The next morning by half-past three the fon dfik was astir and we breakfasted . While the horses were being saddled and the donkey l r0 osal Muraiche to oaded , I seconded a p p by

look about Kussabat . It was evident that both he and the guard who had accompanied us were dispos ed to inveigle me into dark and out- of - the way streets and I soon retraced my footsteps to

u f or , the fond k , paid the keeper the stabling of my animals , and left Kussabat through its other gate . Descending to a plateau we soon passed the [ 9 60 ]

A NIGHT ’ S RIDE WITH ARAB BANDITS outskirts of some extensive olive groves . Here the guard left us and we entered the mountains again , often following through gorges which shut out every breath of air and where the heat was stifling . Sometimes we camped in these gorges

o f at night , and the bark the jackal or the idiotic laugh of a hyena would echo and reverberate from the rocky walls . The day was one of the

for A hottest , it was now frican midsummer and the sun beat down relentlessly on our sufl ering

n - horses . Beside me o the dapple gray stallion rode old Muraiche . His hooked nose resembled

’ a more than ever a vulture s be k , and his crafty eyes looked out from a bronzed and wrinkled physiognomy . Ahead Mohammed and Ali

- hot trudged wearily, ankle deep in the sand over

- a sun baked plateau . Noon came and I saw to it that the animals were at once unsaddled and fed ; then we ate , and the men prepared to

- stretch out f or their hard earned siesta . But this was not to be . I meant that by the end of that day’ s journey they should find themselves more ready to sleep than to scheme . “ ” Saddle up! I ordered . My only concern

th had was e horses , and they had already an hour since eating . However , this unusual cur [ 9 6 1 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

tailing of the mid- day rest was resented by all

Al . three , but particularly by Mohammed and i “ ” They say they will not go ! repeated Mu raiche , the sly old fox not caring to openly take the stand himself . “ Then let them stay here in the Desert without i water , food , or guns ; we w ll take the pack ” donkey with us . The double-faced old rascal would not openly side with the mutinous pair, and the result was , they sullenly saddled up. We did a day and a

’ half s journey in one , but they slept that night so did I .

[ 9 69 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

rov1nce of the p , from which high walls squared themselves about the seclusion of his seraglio and gardens ; the other a small building at the corner of the wall neares t the castle . This served fre W quently as a lokanda for belated ayfarers , but primarily as a rendezvous where the garrison A could exchange their few paras , and the rabs

w adan earmn s f of the their scant g , for co fee brewed in little brass utensils and poured into

of A cups British make . broad stone seat lined

of the walls the single room within , and outside n one fla ked the entrance on either hand .

Muraiche had , upon our arrival , made ar rangements with the Black who ran the place to quarter there for the night , and to provide green fodder from the neighboring oasis for the

anl mal s . By hard travelling the following sunset should

find us at the end of our long, tedious journey, hi back again in the town of Tripoli . T s near

to approach civilization made me realize that, out of consideration for my friends in Tripoli , certain neglected duties must at last be met face to s o un face, and the last glow of waning s light

bel athered found me outside the lokanda , , razor

eerl n I in hand , p g nto a small pocket mirror [ 964 ] A DESERT EPISODE balanced uncertainly against a bar of the iron window grating . Some dozen Arabs and Blacks stood about or

on squatted the ground , eying me with native k curiosity , thin ing likely enough that only a fool

Christian would shave his beard . One in par ticul ar of con , a nephew the Bey, engaged me in n versation o the subject . He was dressed in a scarlet burnoose of beautiful texture and wore

of a tucked back his ear, fter the manner of the

of . country, a bouquet small blossoms

A tw o gain the figures appeared in the mirror , passed across the crack in its surface, and moved

. r beyond the rim One, d essed after the manner

- of A . in a high class rab , was the Bey But my terest of lay in the taller the two men , a Turkish officer in command of the garrison . For it was he w ho had joined me over my coffee upon my

to arrival , and had sought in French adroitly cross -examine me under the guise of a persua sive affability . A I told him I was an merican , that we had come from over the range of the Gharian and were headed for Tripoli . “ P” But your clothes he queried , as he eyed suspiciously my suit of khaki . [ 965 ] THE GATEWAY T O THE SAHARA

I bought them in Malta . We lay over a

f or s o accommo day and I was pressed time , an dating tailor on the Strade Reale refitted these ” from a previous order . You see , I continued “ for jokingly, my jacket was at first intended a captain in the British service, and by rights these trousers should now be adorning the legs of an army surgeon . But no trace of a smile lit up his bronzed face . “ ”

firman . Your , he demanded I will see it . The courtesy of your Turkish Pasha at Trip n oli has rendered o e unnecessary . “ NO firman ou , he ejaculated ; y are travel ling through the territory of the Sultan s ans fir

man . , and abruptly left me I was not again aware of his presence until the silver disk reflected the two figures as they “ strode back and forth behind me . Gharian firman Tripoli drifted to my ears , and suspicious glances in my direction left no doubt that I was the subject of their discussion .

Dusk was now settling over the Desert . Mu raiche poured from an earthen jar a thin stream

f or of water into my hands , I washed after the

of A em manner the rabs ; then , leaving me , he [ 966 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

1 Ol d -fin ered Mohtar less at the merc es of six g , l the Tripo ine horse dealer , with whom the contract for my animals expired the following day . An hour later a Moorish lantern which the Black had hung over the lintel of his doorway cast its uncertain light over the swarthy- visaged

who men sat about , engaged in guttural conver sation or quietly smoking their long kief pipes .

By its light I had jotted down a few .notes of the

’ had day s journey, and now settled comfortably back and watched the curling smoke wreaths , A ’ like the fumes of so many laddin s lamps , twist and curl straight up toward the darkness and the stars . “ But in place of the evil jinnee again ap

eare p d the assiduous Turk . “ ” of Come , said he , standing in front me , and we will drink mastica together at my quar ters . “ You decline ? Then take a promenade and I will Show you the castle Under the circumstances I was not keen to visit this particular Turkish stronghold at ten

’ so o clock at night , replied that I was tired from

’ the day s journey and was just about to turn in . [ 968 ] A DESERT EPISODE

— dix mmutes But just a petite promenade , he urged . “

to . Monsieur , I wish be left alone

’ Within the flicker of the lamp s rays his man ner changed , a red anger flushed over his face , his sinewy hand shot out and seized me strongly ”

. ou to by my wrist I order y the castle , he A hissed in my face . Some of the rabs sprang

u . to p My free hand had dropped my holster , while with a twist I freed my arm . “ ” MonsIeur to , I said , springing my feet , if this is an invitation to spend the night as your

ou guest at the castle I thank y , but must decline ; but if you have orders from Redj ed Pasha to that l l effect , show them to me and I wi l glad y com Ply

mal . Bah , he jeered , vous faites When ” do you leave— in the morning P “ P erhaps at three , perhaps at four . ” I go with you , he added and disappeared from the arena of lamplight in the direction of the castle . n The Black mounted the sto e ledge , unhooked the lantern , and disappeared inside the lokanda . He at once closed the heavy window shutters

en inside the bars , and when the last one had [ 9 69 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA tered threw over the heavy bolts of the door .

The natives , casting off their baracans , spread im them along the stone ledge , upon which they mediately stretched themselves for the night . Kicking Off my riding leggins I lay down on my rug .

P f ! his i f The Black groped his way to place , and soon only the heavy animal- like breathing of the sleepers broke the stillness of the darkness .

For t dl some ime I slept, soun y , but finally the hi heated closeness of the place , w ch was among

o f the least its detractions , became unendurable , s o u , picking p my blanket , I quietly unfastened “ !” the door and slipped out . Halt rang out the chall enge of a guard from the nearest corner of the castle . Lying down on one of the stone seats at the side of the door , I pulled my blanket over i me , vaguely heard some one sl p the bolt of the baracaned door again , saw a dusky figure emerge around the corner of the lokanda and occupy the other seat, then fell asleep in the refreshing

o cool f the Desert night .

It must have been two o ’ clock in the morning that I was shaken awake by a Turkish soldier . ffi The o cer , by having placed my three men and [ 970 ]

A DESERT EPISODE

myself all night under the surveillance of a

to guard , had seen fit forestall any premature

now departure , and came in person , greeting me “

is to . with the remark , It time start

too I was in none gracious a mood , having

been so unceremoniously aroused . Further

of sleep, however , was out the question , and other travellers were already bestirring them

selves . “ I am travelling for my own pleasure and in ”

1 . my own t me , I said curtly The next half-hour was spent over our break; n fast while he stood insolently by . The Mo hammed and Ali secured the kit on the pack

Muraiche donkey, and I swung into our saddles ,

and set out accompanied by the Officer . It was a glorious morning as we rode over hillock after hillock of moonlit sand : one of those Desert moods which leave their indelible impress upon the traveller who seeks her arid nd wa stes . A I rode slowly that I might drink in ff all that these great solitudes had to o er , too

for - slowly my self imposed escort . His restive A m rab ount was a superb animal , and the officer

tired , as I meant he should , of my slow pace . Long before the pinks and greens of the sand [ 971 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA appeared in the early dawn he had given rein to

s to to his hor e , ordering us follow the next army

’ post , a half day s journey ahead . The order ,

Bedaw i however , was unnecessary , for only and Desert thieves dare leave the main caravan trails . The sun was scorching down on the Desert with a wilting heat when we slowly drew up at t the outpost , ypical of those which here and there are scattered along some of the mai n trade routes to protect caravans and prevent smuggling .

of There was no need dismounting , for our m co panion of the early morning came toward us , followed by two Turkish infantrymen , each of whom carried a loaded magazine rifle resem

c Ol d a bling losely the Lee of our n vy, while belts filled with ammunition sagged heavily about their waists . “ These two soldiers , said he , will escort

ou . A y to Tripoli dieu , Monsieur , and a ma licious smile lurked about the corners of his pointed mustache . He addressed a few words in Turkish to the

one soldiers , handed the younger a heavily sealed document which he tucked in his belt ,

out . the two men saluted , and we set [ 9 79 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

of regarding my use the camera , despite the fact that I eventually persuaded them to line up with my own men before it . On this occasion the veteran proved himself every inch a soldier . As time wore on they slung their guns across their backs , unslinging them occasionally as I halted to use my camera . When I changed the

films they watched , catlike , every movement . I could not resist the temptation to discard and

‘ surreptitiously bury in the sand with my foot the slip of paper containing the developing formula . Then the veteran would as surreptitiously slide

‘ u behind me a aIn W Ith p , dig it out g his foot , and stow it away in his pocket . In such a manner he secretly stored away in the recesses of his

- clothes some half dozen of these slips , later to be produced as documentary evidence against me . I still wonder what sort of work was made of them when they came to translate those chemical formulae into Turkish . A Hour by hour passed slowly . gain I made

sto as of no , is customary in the middle the p , day , and the Turks with their heavy shoes and weighty accoutrements began to show signs of fatigue.

The veteran , however , was still game , despite [ 974 ] A DESERT EPISODE

of the lagging the recruit , whom he naggingly

admonished with all his surplus energy . But at last the pace proved too much f or even

r h w ho Mu aic e . the veteran , growled to “ ” to o Arfi He say stop, g slow, , interpreted

c a Murai he . My pl ns were working well . Mohammed and Ali on foot beside the pack

donkey set the pace in front . I well knew that

- of these half naked , barefooted men the Desert

to . So ni could walk the Turks a standstill , tur ng “ to Murai che : l him , I said Tel my men have

’ f or marched many camels journeys days past .

~ Ask him if an Arab can outwalk a T urk P There is no love lost between the natives and k their Tur ish conquerors , and I knew that the

question would be put with a relish .

We stopped a space at a Desert well . I now

on sent the men and donkey ahead , and let the

of Turks take their fill water and rest , while I studied the route carefully from a French officer ’ s

a m p which had been loaned me . Three kilo metres away there was a double turn inthe trail as it descended through a rocky sand-fil l ed

ravine . hi If anyt ng was to be done , it must be done

soon and at that place . lVIy men with the outfit [ 9 75 ] T HE GATEWAY TO T HE SAHARA had long since disappeared from view among the

- sand hills . We at first rode slowly to give them

or a good start , at times gradually increasing decreasing our lead . We were approaching the

u turn , and had almost imperceptibly Opened p a

of hundred yards daylight between us . “ Halt !” echoed over the sand as a hillock shut “ ” Ar-r- us from their view . rah ! yelled Mu raiche as he dug the corners of his steel Arabian ’ d stirrups into his horse s si e . We gave the ani mals full rein , swerved around the second turn , and dashed down the ravine . And it was here that the hardest riding must

A o be done . portion o f the gully was exposed t n n the highest part of the trail . A d I was ot over

not sanguine that the Turks might fire upon us , either by reason of their excitement or deliber

of ately through a too rigid interpretation , their

’ officer s orders .

too for This stretch was cleared none soon , as

o f we disappeared behind the wall the ravine , the red fezes of the T urks silhouetted over a

- distant sand hill against the sky . N ot until we reached a point a mile away where the trail shelved on to a coast route did we slacken speed . Here , deep parallel and inter [ 976 ]

A DESERT EPISODE lacing camel paths were worn into the hard packed surface by centuries of caravan traffic . ’ T he clifl s paths followed over clayey , literally

of the edge the great Desert , which seemed here to pause before it emptied itself into the S ea .

We soon caught up to the outfit . Not far

o f of ahead us three mounted zabtie , a sort rural constabulary who patrol the routes in the vicinity of u the coast towns , were drawn p across the

o ur . T he s o trail awaiting approach sergeant,

Muraiche of S informed me, was a nephew idi

to of Hassan , the rightful successor the throne the deposed Arab house of Karamali . A satis

to e factory reply their questions , and we wer permitted to continue on our w ay . T he zabtie would soon meet the tw o hurrying

s who to oldiers , might enroll them apprehend us

or to . So carry in the letter , as we passed the

of a f or to salt chotts Mal ha , I left word the outfit

out follow , and we set at a steady canter along the Etreig- el -Kh eiber [T he Big Road] toward the fiv e miles of palm groves and gardens of the oasis An of Tripoli . hour before sundown the horses

to Mohtar er and outfit were turned over , as p ’ contract , before six o clock that night , which

hour is the beginning of the Mohammedan day . [ 277 THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

’ Sunset found me over cofl ee in a cool chamber

Red ed P . with his Excellency, j asha

As I passed out into the dusky street I en countered the escort:! Handing them some

baksheesh , I trudg ed over to my lokanda . It was but an episodeof Desert travelling in a land where the Occidental v oyageur is not en

an i couraged . But in spite of Mohammedan t p

athy, it was the single annoyance shown me by

ffi . ffi a Turkish o cial The o cer , I afterward

of A c learned , was rab birth , but edu ated and trained in Constantinople for the Turkish ser

temerit ~ ma vice , and his y y, perhaps , be ascribed

to the enthusiasm of an overzealous proselyte . The prismatic rays of passing wedding lan terns lit up my room and drifted like northern lights across the ceiling from the street below . But I was oblivious to the weird night sounds

which break the quiet of a Desert town .

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

s s e like a cimitar , flashe in phosphorescent str ams of silver fire . For a thousand miles along the eastern half of N A orth frica the Desert meets the coast , and its golden sands blend green with the sapphire of the middle sea . But here nature , as though timid of thus baring the Desert to the men and winds of the north , has shrunk back the coast line three hundred miles from the main high ways of water travel , and lined the barren shores with hidden reefs and dangerous quicksands . The Desert eagle soaring far above the tawny S surface of the ahara looks down on great, won derfully shaped sand reaches ; here merging softly into broad expanses of Desert grass , or

r1v er creased , where dry beds have been etched into the plains ; there vignetting among the foot

of - hills heat soaked mountain ranges , whose loftiest peaks are crowned with turbans of snow . The fertile littoral and the mountainous region of Barbary, which extends as far back as the high

A Tell . plateau lands , are called by rabs the It

- is a remarkably rich grain producing country . Then comes the territory which they designate ' the S ah ra [Sahara] — a country o f vast table lands , over which is sprinkled a veritable archi [ 980 ] THE DESERT

of of . pelago oases Here , under the shadow

- their date palms , the inhabitants grow gardens and graze flocks and herds on the open pastur

o of ages . Due t the imperfection geographical S knowledge , the name ahara was erroneously applied by Europeans to the entire region of the

- of Great Desert . Beyond these table lands the

S to A ahara lies what, the rabs , is the real desert ,

Guebl a or S called , outh , a vague term applying not only to the arid wastes which we call the

S to S . ahara , but also its hinterland , the udan It is a m1stak e to consider the Desert one great waste of hot level sand . Sand there is in abun

t oo : dance and heat , but there are those rocky

mountams - areas , high , and table lands , over

of which in the north , through the regions Bar

of bary, sweep the cold , penetrating winds the

African winter . Snow even has been known to fall in the highlands ; but after the rains in the spring the whole country seems to burst forth in a wealth of flora .

As w ho u in Tripoli , the native races make p the thirty to forty million people scattered over these three great natural divisions of northern Africa may be classed under the same three

— A . heads Berbers , rabs , and Blacks The Ber [ 981 ] T HE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA bers have settled throughout the mountains and plateau lands ; the Arabs mostly in the towns and deserts , and the Blacks generally where fortune favors them most . Nearly all these peo

l e p profess Mohammedanism , and intermarrying to some extent has gone on for centuries . The Berber race is best represented in Bar A bary by the wild Kabyles of the tlas , and in the heart of the Sahara by the fierce Tuaregs . Moor and Bedaw een best typify the Arabs ; the Moor

- A Bedaw een is a town dwelling rab , the a no mad . Of the Blacks there are two classes , the bond and the free .

of On the rocky slopes the mountains , among the parched , thorny shrubs , sparse tufts of rank , yellowed grass , and poisonous milk plants , can be a traced the nocturn l wanderings of the hyena ,

too by the huge doglike tracks he has left ; there , , the jackal howls as the moon lifts over a moun tain crag ; or the terrific roar of the lion suddenly

of breaks the stillness the night , as though to shake the very mountains from their foundations and send their great boulders crushing down on

A douar er some sleeping rab [village] which , p chance , lies at their base , like a great glow worm in its stilly whiteness . [ 989 ]

THE DESERT

In the sunshine , low down among the patches of of halfa and grasses the plains , the swallows eternally skim and the wild gazelle feeds . Here , too , the jerboa nibbles at the roots and grains , and the sand grouse and crested Desert lark hide away their nests from the watchful eyes of kites and falcons which here and there stain high against the clear vault on outstretched pinions . N ow and again in barren stretches the lone sand lily nods its blossom in the soft wind , and little Desert snails hang like racemes of white flower bells to the under side of the tamarisk bushes and blades of rank Desert grass . The daily aspect of the Sahara is the reverse o f of our that country, for in the Desert the land

sk scape is generally light against the y, which in color so nearly complements the orange sand as to intensify greatly the contrast . When day breaks on S of the ahara , the sun shoots long shafts roseate light through the interstices of the palms ;

‘ their dark red v iol et shadows wriggle and blend away over the gray-pinks and greens of the dew

o wet sands . Soon the violet mists have turned t

da on gold , and y has spread its brazen mantle

- the sun scorched Desert . One feels the strange weirdness , the uncanny solitude , the oppressive [ 988 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA heat and monotony which make the day’ s work t a cons ant fight against fatigue , ennui , and some times sun madness . Watch the sun sink and the color of its light sift through space as through

: hot gems there , where the blue sky lowers to the fil sand , it might have tered through some green peridot of the Levant . Such are some of the

of aspects the Desert , whose charm places one under a spell which it is beyond the power of words to make real to the imagi nation of one who has never seen it . It is little wonder that the ancients saw in the S ahara , dark dotted with oases , the graphic ’ of simile of the leopard s skin . The call those limitless reaches is as subtle and insidious as must be the snow fields of the Arctic . Listening to it , one is beguiled onward against the gentle

- pressure of its capricious south east breezes , under which date-palms nod their graceful crests over the murmuring oases ; and to-night as I write I look out in imagination on that Leop

’ ard s Skin from under the broad lip of my sun

0 f of helmet . N sound but the soft scu f our horses and the creaking saddl e leathers breaks the stillness ; no shadows except our o wn paint A splashes of azure upon the orange sand . gain [ 984 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

far- vigils on the off pasturages , multitudes of sombre-garbed Orientals troop in from every path , driving their flocks and herds . Here these human streams converge : toward the suks to mingle with their more brilliantly robed breth ren of the towns . Inside the town gates they drift along the narrow streets , into which the

S sunlight ifts through a rainbow of sand dust . At these markets , town and country meet to

— A trade Berber , rab , Turk , Jew , Ethiopian , and

European barter their products , while Black women , their heads covered with woven plates , haggle and banter over their wares . Water may be struck in almost any region of the Sahara and brought to the surface by arte

1 sian wells , which are destined to be important factors in its development . s The presence of water there , is perhap , not f di ficult to explain . One follows a river, which gradually lessens as the distance from its source increases until it is finally lost- drunk up by the

1 f runn n . C ar es Ro nson the Af can a e e r es o Mr h l bi , ri tr v ll r, w it i g a across an artesian well in the Desert south of Tunisia. He s ys : Pitched our tents at an oasis which had been formed by an artesian he a e om c e 2 e con ruc e . d e Le e t 5 w ll st t d by M ss ps, w t r fr whi h ris s ee in the air and ma e t o a e 400 to 500 ac e of an on f t is d irrig t r s l d, c are ro n a e- a ms ome rana e oma oes on ons and whi h g wi g d t p l , p g t s, t t , i , e ou to he ons ruc on of s we the w o e o cucum e . v t c f b rs Pr i s t t”i thi ll h l the oasis was nothing but barren sand . [ 986 ] THE DESERT A sands . fter disappearing , it follows under ground courses and with other streams helps to form vast subterranean lakes . Such is the case with many rivers which flow from the southern

A . slopes of the tlas These, in all probability, eventually find their way to that vast d epres sion of which the salt wells of Taodeni are the centre .

Water, of course , is an important feature of the

c ases caravan trade . Where distances between are great , Desert wells are sunk at intervals along the trails , and in Tripolitania I have seen wells

I faced with a stone curb . It IS ncumbent on the last traveller who quenches his thirst in the Des ert to cover the well , and failure to do so is the greatest breach of honor and custom . However , careless drivers do leave wells uncovered , and the pursued will drink and then destroy the well , for life as well as water is sweet . The next arriving

or caravan finds the well filled with sand , the water fetid with the carcass of some dead animal ;

’ and , in consequence , perchance another tragedy

of the Desert is written on the sands .

of In some parts the Desert , particularly in the

[

country of the Tuaregs , there are many hidden

wells known to them alone , These they conceal 287 THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

i o f h w th a cover wood , brush , or skins , upon whic they again spread the sand . The concealment of wells in that land has be come an art . The Tuaregs place secret land marks about the Desert , and it is said they will find a hidden well within a day or two ’ s journey im from any point in the Sahara . Wells play an portant part in Desert warfare , and the control of a well has more than once been the determining

In factor a Desert fray, the besiegers being , forced

f or to retire water . To wash with water in the

to A Desert would be wilful waste the rab , who performs his ablutions there with sand , as his

. S In law prescribes ince , all lands , riches consist of the possession of that which is the greatest

not . universal need and desire , it is strange that,

’ in some parts of those arid wastes , a man s wealth is reckoned by the number of wells that he controls .

re Fatiguing travel and little sleep, with the l entl ess sun beating down from above and the

u everlasting , vibrating heat waves wriggling p from beneath , will , in the end , try the soul . The

of very watching men and animals as , step after step, they sink ankle deep into the sand , is weary ing . Sometimes it is o ver naked plains contain [ 988 ]

THE DESERT

ing nothing upon which the strained and roam

e e t da d a OVer ing y can rest ; hen , y after y, rolling

of dunes sand , unfolding , ever unfolding , phan

tomlik e one . S on , away from ome take shapes

: weird and picturesque here , like fossilized

of waves the sea ; there , crossing and recrossing

each other in endless monotony . Even its

one grandeur oppresses , and feels as though a

heavy curse had settled over this land , from which marvellous fables have arisen from the

loneliness o f its inhabitants . Watch a light zephyr from the south -east as it playfully picks up and twirls the whiffs of sand dust swirling about legs of men and ani P mals and stinging against their faces . erhaps it dies down as quietly as it came ; perhaps the w ind increases and brings the terrific suffocating

T er sand storm in its wake . hen after a week, p

of f haps , the yellow , su focating gloom , the sur

v rvm of er g remnant the caravan emerges , p chance to struggle on over a different country from that which surrounded it when the storm

shut down on the landscape . From the level

of to stretches sand , which vary from a few feet

u three hundred in depth , this wind will pile p

or dunes a thousand feet high ; , from those [ 989 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA standing , it may twirl and twist out huge pillars - — A or sand devils due , say the rabs , to the caprice of passing demons . P assing caravans always excite curiosity . A dark mass appears on the horizon ; it seems to disintegrate as it comes nearer , and one soon discerns the great, lumbering camels . It may be a big trade caravan , taking the greater part of the forenoon to pass , during which the cara v aneers and your men exchange news ; then It

f or passes , its tag ends flapping in the wind , the fluttering rags of its caravaneers and the rents in the loads are the homeward- bound pennants

- - P r of the north bound trans Saharan caravans . e haps the dark spot proves to be a caravan of

’ Bedawi - o - - , who , like the will the wisps that they are , sweep by with all their barbaric parapher nalia . Some of the women are hidden from

- view by wide spreading , gaudily striped palan quins . At night they camp in a sunken spot where grow the spiny cacti and the withered camel thorn ; by daybreak on the morrow they n are a speck o the horizon . The Desert as an obstacle to communication has , in many cases , been greatly exaggerated .

However , the numerous bones which strew the [ 990 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

and systematic aggrandizement of the sands , will soon be the owner of the Sahara . Perhaps the day is not far distant when one may purchase

to a railroad ticket from Tangier Timbuktu . The central part of the Desert does not seem to have any great intrinsic value , although the high steppes between the Sahara and the Sudan ' could be converted into pasturages with a dis

o tinctly economic value . Such use is made f the plateau lands of northern Tripoli and southern m Tunisia and Algeria . Tunisia has but a illion and a half inhabitants ; under the Caesars it is said to have supported a population o f twenty millions and still had enough cereals to stock A Rome , acquiring , with lgeria and Tripoli , the proud distinction of being the granary of the

Roman Empire . Few now give credence to the theory that the

now sea once flowed over where is the Desert , and there seems to be little doubt but that in prehistoric ages the Sahara was a veritable

h now Garden of Eden . Rivers w ich traverse it In their underground beds originally flowed upon its surface and probably formed huge tropical

for of streams , unmistakable traces the existence of still living crocodiles have been discovered [ 9 99 ] T HE DESERT

Wi thin recent years in a small lake in the very ” heart o f the Sahara .

to There also seems good reason believe that,

the while Desert sands encroach northward , there is following in their wake the fertile , tropical vegetation of the Sudan— that the Sudan is en

croachin on S . g the ahara Thus empires depart, races dissolve , and religions change ; but the great work of the Al mighty on the eternal hills n and trackless sands goes o . Night everywhere transforms the commonplace

of on into the realm beautiful , but night the Desert bewitches the imagination and allows all

’ of the romance and vague fancy of one s nature

o to run riot . G out after the dews have chilled / the air and stand alone on the moonlit billows ; hold communion with those mighty impulses which seem to issue from its sands ; sound the fathoml ess depths of that dark blue African sk mi y, resplendent with its llion glittering stars ; let your eye wander on and on over the undulating

to o f hillocks , ever rolling away the horizon the m of i agination , until the mysterious spirits the Desert are rising dark and ghostlike out o f the shades of the dunes . Then find your way back to — your rug spread , perchance , under the [ 9 98 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAH ARA

branches of some gnarled Old olive tree— and fall

to asleep, wander among the enchanted cham

of Ali bers some Baba , through the mysterious

mazes of a thousand and one nights .

But of the morrow of the Tripolitans ?

Through drought , inertia , and unbearable

’ taxation , Tripoli s agricultural resources barely keep her inhabitants from starvation . Her cara v an trade is leaking out to the south by way of the Niger , and what little intermittently trickles northward is unstable because of the insecurity of the routes . Thus the great decrease in her leading exports reflects unfavorably on the gen eral commercial prosperity of Tripoli , but more saliently emphasizes the need of developing her agricultural resources . Turkey seems not only indiff erent but averse to improvements of any kind , apparently not wishing to encourage either native or foreign interests , thereby attracting attention to the country . Yet with a jealous eye Turkey guards this province— perhaps that she

to may continue squeeze from the flat , leathern money pouches of the Arabs more miserable ver ghi and tithes ; perhaps that she may maintain a door between Constantinople and the hinter [ 994 ]

THE DESERT

re land of Tripoli , through which to secretly

plenish her supply of slaves . Al ong the rough trails back in the plateau lands and the mountains of the Jebel Tarhuna

and the Gharian , I have occasionally run across

- r- A great broken down cofl e dams . long the coast I have ridden for the greater part of a day over the fine-crumbled remains of Roman

towns , now and again clattering over the tessel lated pavement of all that was left of some RO man vill a which had overlooked the blue ex

panse of the Mediterranean . The dams tell of the prev ious conservation of vast water supplies which once irrigated the fertile hill s and pl a teaus upon which a great Roman and native

population depended . Other evidence is not wanting which tells us that in those days much hi of the land was t ckly wooded , largely culti

y . ated , and populated It is claimed that since those days great cli matic changes must have occurred to so alter the

to face of the land and convert it its present arid ,

- sun dried condition . In those times it is said that the rainfall was perennial— far in excess of f the present , and apparently su ficient for all

‘ purposes of agriculture ; so much so that s ome [ 995 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA modern travellers have sought to ascribe the construction of these dams to the ne cessity of

providing against periodical inundations .

ffic It is di ult, however , not to believe that the works in question which were thrown across wadis at different levels served as reservoirs for

I i i - purposes of rr gat on , as is shown to day by the existence of remains of similar dams in eastern

Palestine . There is every reason to believe that it will be a Christian European power which will Open for the Tripolitan that sesame which will arouse him from his inertia and usher him into fields where he will take new heart and courage ; and

Tripoli will be reclaimed from the Desert, not so much through the reconstruction of the coff er

dam of the Roman as by that modern agency,

the artesian well . Virtuous Europe no longer steals Africans h A . u from frica Her civilization , honesty, and manitarianism have frowned upon that ; so no w she reverses the order o f things and steals Africa from the Africans . A little over twenty years ago , just as Italy was spreading her wings over Tunisia , France

an alighted on the quarry . Chagrined and [ 9 96 ]

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

LIB IA ITALIA NA

NE mid-afternoon Tripoli l ay shimmering

in white , peacefully basking under the A glare of the North frican sun , gleaming from skies of clearest blue . Through her streets and suks the quiet drone of voices and soft scuff of sandalled feet bespoke the peaceful industry of the townsman who sold and of the country h man who came in to buy . Outside t e walls little was astir in the Tuesday Market and the

-b f ondfi k s near y , while the tillers of soil and drawers of water in the oasis and the neighbor ing wadan worked to inveigle the sandy soil beneath the palms or in the open reaches into

l . a more abundant y ie d In fact , peace reigned

t It in Tripoli , jus as had within the memory of the third and fourth generations . The sun had begun to tinge to saffron and the shadow of the Old Castle to paint its w ay in blue across the little garden of the Turkish [ 998 ] LIBIA ITALIANA

A . rmy and Navy Club The long, level edge of the horizon was broken by a humping line of imposing Italian battle-ships under slow head w ay . Boom ! a column of white smoke belched from where a hostile shell struck the Spanish fort . ” Thus the progressive aggression of a Christ ” the ian power began , and the cabled news of daily paper hastily announced : Tripoli Taken . ” The Last Ottoman Rule in Africa at an End .

w as 3 19 1 1 . A This October , Christian Eu ropean power had got in its deadly work . The city was demoralized , and within a month , in the little garden of the Turkish Army and

— Navy Club , where we Christians European A — and merican as well as Jew and Greek , through tthe courtesy of the Turks , had sipped f A un mastica and drunk co fee , rabs now drank flinchingly the cup of death and spilled their red blood against the blue walls of the Old Th Castle . e graceful palms of the oasis waved g sands red - over devastated ardens and ’ drenched with the blood of the Bedawi and Arab farm ers cholera , introduced from Italy , decimated

the rest , those escaping being driven into the

I) s e ert . [ 299 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA In seeking the cause one is led into the seem ingly inextricable y et fascinating maze of Eu

A da b ropean politics . lmost y y day that my s terious European equilibrator , the balance of

i the power, is insidiously sh fting, in which control of the Mediterranean and its littoral ’ will ever be an important factor . Britain s control of Gibraltar , Malta , and Cyprus , the

u S the b ilding of the uez Canal , the crossing of Af Frank into North rica , the bottling of Rus

all t f t sia at the Bosphorus , have a direc e fec on the status quo and were interwoven in the European -Mediterranean policies and in certain subsequent treaties , more particularly the Ber

1 878 A - lin Treaty of , the nglo French Treaty 19 04 A of , the lgeciras Conference , and the late

- Franco German Treaty . Those new motive powers of steam and elec tricit y , the parents of machinery , applied sci ence , and organization , have , through transpor t ation and communication , bound the nations in a world-wide network of intercourse and ex change , and thus have made the cause of na tional developments and ambitions essentiall y industrial . In their understanding , develop ment , and vigorous application , Germany . has [ 300 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA ancient granary of the Romans , Tunisia and Tripolitania— market gardens at her kitchen door . Tunisia had irretrievably gone to France

as just Italy was reaching for it , so , disappointed , Italy naturally turned her attention to Tripoli

a her re t nia , where interests , though small , p dominated over any other European country except one— Turkey — the owner and sovereign power of Tripolitania . This fact complicated ’ Italy s cause . Tripoli would have been more easily plucked had it been under an indepen

be dent y , as was Tunisia , or a heterodoxy of warring tribes under a nominal sultan , as was “ ” Morocco . But certain powers owning North African colonies containing millions of Moham m dans S e as subjects , with the ultan of Turkey i e as their spiritual head , were not anx ous to hav “ The Sick Man of Europe stirred from his lethargy , arouse Islam and possibly leave a Holy

War upon their hands . b Even Germany , at heart , y reason of her prestige and friendship with Turkey and her desired Turkish concessions and interests , had no desire to encourage her ally and was not averse to acquiring a slice of Tripoli for herself .

ar W in Tripoli , too , might reopen the entire [ 302 ] LIBIA ITALIANA

Mediterranean problem and even the Turkish

question itself . At the extreme east of Tripoli , within eighty

l a miles of the Egyptian frontier, y a large , shel tered ba y where . the golden sands of the Desert mingled in emerald with the sapphire of the

Mediterranean . On its shores clustered a few Arab houses on whose white walls the sway ing

- date palms brushed their blue violet shadows . S t uch was sequestered Tobruk, and Grea Brit

not ain was pleased that it was so , for it did take the practised ey e of an engineer to see that Tobruk Bay could be converted into a second Biserta and become one of the greatest naval harbors of the Middle Sea . ’ Just prior to Italy s attack , the rumor gained s trength that certain portions of the eastern C section of Tripolitania , known as Barca ( y renal ca B a ) including Tobruk y , were about to m be leased to Germany by Turkey . This ay have had much to do with Great Britain ’ s con

’ os ceding Italy s position , for Tobruk in the p

of session Italy , while strengthening the naval power of the Triple Alliance in the Mediterra

nean , would be the lesser of two evils . But

Great Britain , through Kitchener, promptly [ 3 03 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA coun teracted this by shoving that movable

- A quantity , a European North frican frontier , as

s l many mile toward Tobruk as it cou d , saving the port of Sollom to Egypt and thus in a large measure neutralizing the menace of an Italian Biserta at Tobruk which might eventually have placed Alexandria at the mercy of the fleets of the Triple Alliance .

’ ma i This rumor, too , y have precip tated Italy s action in her attack on Tripoli . But there were i other mpelling forces , possibly the faith in the “ ” S i old h bboleth that trade follows the flag, for 1870 li Italy , in , saw the dawn of an Ita an eco nomic renaissance . It is , perhaps , the craze for conquest in Africa which has disting uished chiefly the successive administrations at Rome — stimulated and almost brought to a culmina tion by the greatest Italian statesman of his time , Crispi . The spirit he had stimulated and the eff ect of the propaganda he had so definitely launched continued to whet the Italian appetite for colonial extension . It has been claimed that Italy was moved to launch her Tripoli adventure by certain advances

of and promises the Triple Entente , possibly in thus awarding her this Desert which nobody [ 304 ]

t seemed to want , to offse the German move ’ regarding Tobruk and so win Italy s favor and A thus weaken her loy alty to the Triple lliance , as the y ounger member of which she had fallen A heir to nothing . ustria had acquired Herze

ov ina g and Bosnia , which Italy desired for her ’ self , and some considered Italy s coup a reprisal f or this much coveted . territory . Italy had seen Germany reach a number of

A - times into the frican grab bag, and , following

the sudden , unwarranted occupation of Fez

’ b P anther s y France , now , with the sudden s A pring at gadir , making a fair bid for a slice

of Morocco . If Italy was to have any thing

she must take it , and there could not be a bet ter time than when Germany and France were

- in dead lock over the Moroccan situation , for

Germany , having less in compensation from A Italy than ustria , might less readily sustain

the Latins . Although France had undoubtedly “ ” given Italy a hands - off assurance regarding had Tripolitania , Italy reason to know how little French North African promises redounded

to the benefit of the promisee . So Italy reached

out s across the Mediterranean , seized the p y chol ogical moment with one hand and Tripoli

with the other . [ 305 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

a t It ly had , with patient impatience , kep vigil across the Adriatic on the derelict Ottoman i Empire , watch ng its decay , but the moment of i dissolution fa led to come . Italy , like the rest nf of Europe , had co ounded the Turkish people with its sovereign and the energy of Turkey w ith the acts of its government , and so , after “ ” a S lethargy of half a century , the ick Man , through the ministrations of the Young Turk P mi P arty and the Com ttee of Union and rogress ,

e u i turn d over, sat p in bed , and , after be ng fed again on the spirit and traditions of Sul eiman P li o asha , the first conqueror of Roume a , ast n ished Italy and the rest of the world wit h the proof that it was and probably would remain a European nation and power .

Turkey , convalescing rapidly , augmented her army and planned to enlarge her naval pro i gramme . Th s carried out would enable Turkey to transport troops and war supplies to her Tri politan colony and to interfere with the trans

ortation s t i p of tho e of I aly , and , above all th ngs ,

’ woul d interfere with Italy s conquest of that territory . B i y progress ng , Turkey not only made the taking of Tripolitania more difficult for Italy [ 806 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

the f t ter dose , overlooking the most di ficul part

’ of the operation— holding Turkey s nose— and

Italy , after y ears of careful planning , launched into a war for a Desert . It was little to be wondered at that during my sojourn in that romantic land I was not only frankly accused of being a spy by certain

but members of the European chancellories , as such was under constant s urveillance by the Turks until my delightful associations with

Re e d P . t j asha , the Military Governor The fac that I was an American and had no political axe to grind did away to a great extent with that suspicion . ’ The Turks knew of Italy s methods and that she was constantly sending spies , commercial and political agents to Tripolitania , under the guise of merchants and scientists , to investi gate the problems and possibilities and to map out the country ; that the Banco di Romahad established branches in Tripoli and Benghazi to sy stematically buy Arab farm lands from the impoverished peas ants for a few lire per hectare , which ultimately quadrupled in value at the landing of the first Italian soldier ; and that inducements were offered Jews— in whose 308 LIBIA ITALIANA

’ hands was the bulk of the country s trade— to ’ become Italian subjects , thus furthering Italy s plans for the foundation of her claims of impor tant interests in Tripoli . Little wonder was it that certain scientific expeditions were not permitted and certain Ital ian business enterprises not encouraged . Fur thermore re , Turkey well knew that the least p text of harm to an Italian citizen might be

e l seized upon as a casus b l i. So great care was exercised in the protection of the few hundreds t of Italians residen in Tripoli , particularly when

certain Italian correspondents were sent there ,

some months before hostilities broke out , and carried on an insidious newspaper campaign

against Tripoli , magnify ing unimportant inci

dents . ’ Regardless of the merits of the dispute , Italy s

aggression upon Turkey in Tripoli , particularly

the act and manner of opening the war, was in

disregard of The Hague conventions , to which

she was a party . Neither can the stigma of this disturbance of the peace of the world rest lightly on those governments which readily consented t o recognize the annexation of the territory in

Tripoli , without first insisting on reference of [ 309 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA the dispute to arbitration . From a moral v iew

a i n point , It ly had no just fication for attacki g

Turkey in Tripoli . P t olitically , I aly was justified even more than her European neighbors in thr usting her hand

- into the African grab bag . Besides a common cause , the success of her newly developed army and the extension of a new Italy — an Italian empire— woul d do much toward wel ding together li the disconnected elements of the Ita an nation . ’ li - t was From a mi tary stand point , I aly s move an admirable one . Turkey was resting on Ger

s t e in man as urance against a tack, ther was an terim between governors in Tripoli , and Europe

wa was looking the other y , and so there was ’ spread out before us a two years wild and blood

- letting campaign . Within forty eight hours the coast of Tripoli was blockaded . The only Turk ish vessel on the entire coast of Tripolitania was

hi Se adider a cov the old garrison s p y y , which , ered with barnacles , had been swinging for years at her chains in Tripoli harbor . ’ Turkey s entire navy comprised on paper

- first - about five old battle ships , a class cruiser , ’ and some twenty smaller craft , as against Italy s

- seven modern battle ships , five older ones , seven 3 10

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA was the natural centre of attack and subse quently formed the base of operations for the

Italians . The defences were most inadequate ,

. f t for , besides small , ine fective ba teries at the

Hamediah S re and ultana forts on the coast , s ectiv el t t p y to the eas and wes of the town , there were only the Inadequate bastion walls t of the Cas le , when the blockade began at sun 0 down the night of September 3 .

k - in- Nechet Be The Tur ish commander chief, y , ffi an able o cer and a man of strong character, l we l knew the defence of Tripoli was impossible . A single Italian bat tle- ship could have wrecked the city without a shell of the meagre Turkish batteries ever reaching her . Consequently , a ’ gun s battery or two of Turkish soldiers were ’ left to draw the Italians fire , while the entire Turkish force evacuated the city and took with ’ them ~ their Dem a s supplies , including the cargo, and withdrew into the Desert . Before withdraw ing it would have been good strategy and a justifiable military move to have razed Tripoli to the ground with fire and bomb , thereby leav ing to the Italian soldiery a heap of smouldering

um ruins for barracks . In fact , this move was doubtedly contemplated , and only through the [ 3 12 ] LIBIA ITALIANA secret meeting at night of certain members of the consular corps was Nechet Bey prevailed

. N e upon to relinquish this plan aturally , ther was some looting by Desert Arabs who had

of worked into the town , but European residents

’ Tripoli were protected to the best of the Turks b A ability , and later y the rab police under the

of P chief police , Hassuna asha , of whom we shall hear more .

The Italian forces , under General Caneva , were soon ensconced in the town and among the palm groves , secure behind intrenchments , wire

- fences , batteries of machine guns , search lights , t and , to a grea extent , under the guns of their

- battle ships . Where the oasis edged the Desert ,

S - el -Sciut two miles eastward as far as ciara ,

- they maintained a nerve racking , defensive campaign . Bey ond , somewhere in the Desert ,

A f or were the Turks and rabs , ever watchful an opportunity to rise like phantoms from the sand- dunes and pounce upon the intruders ; thus were the benefits of civilization bestowed upon Tripoli .

. t A France , in her Nor h frican wars , had a country infinitely more fertile , mountainous , and b with water supplies , inhabited y a people [ 3 13 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA divided to some e xtent by internecine strife ; from the start she was able to enlist many of

an these , and y one familiar with French North African history knows the important part Zou S aves , pahis , and Tirailleurs play ed , and still play , in the maintenance of the tricolor there . B oth France and Great Britain in their North African conquests fought against natives unused to organized warfare , with practically no modern

“ weapons or artillery and ignorant of the . out side world . The Turks had armed the majority of the

- Arabs with breech loading rifles . With the A Turkish troops as a nucleus , the rabs , to some t exten organized , carried out plans carefully arranged by the Turkish oflicers . Many of these officers were educated at the best military schools

e in Europe , kn w internal Italian sentiment and

financial resources , and , through that wonderful , my sterious grape -vine telegraph of Moham medan countries , had their fingers on the pulse of Europe . Great Britain in its Egyptian conquests had the Nile and the Nile Valley for its highway and subsistence , making possible a very definite and sy stematic control of the territory acquired by [ 3 14 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

O - nly certain sand blown or clay ey , rocky trails of a few trade caravans were available routes S for penetration into the Tripolitan ahara . Thus the opportunity for strategy by an in vading army was limited . The character of the Tripolitan Sahara greatly interfered with flank movements , rear attacks , deploy ing , or work in any extended open order by the heavily ac coutred et invading army , y all these military phases could be carried out to advantage by the Turks with the assistance of the lightly accoutred

Desert Arabs versed in Desert life and warfare .

a Furthermore , the inv ding army would have to follow the depressions and valley way s of the sand-dunes of almost dust -like fineness mto which the weary troops , under a scorching sun ,

ankl edee at ro sank p every step, practically p hibiting marching in column formation . The winding route would shut one section from View of the other , placing the invading forces in an exceptionally disadvantageous position to repel sudden onslaught. The only available means of Italian trans port would ‘be the army mule ; but the camel is the only animal in Tripolitania adaptable to

Desert transport , and every camel worth taking [ 3 16 ] LIBIA ITALIANA was well behind the Turkish lines . Even water would have had to be carried over certain por

of tions the march , not to mention ammunition supplies and light artill ery . Without adequate transport , the campaign into the interior was impracticable . Even under the most favorable conditions there was alway s that terror of the

- b Desert , the sand storm , brought y the gibli , which has taken its toll of many a caravan as the white -bleached bones of the death -strewn

. A nu trails bear witness Visions of dowa , too , doubtedly made Italy cautious , with the result that the army of over one hundred thousand men sat down on the edge of the Desert in the coast towns and oases . Her plan of letting the enemy attack at her strongly intrenched bases of supplies , where she was under the protection of the guns of her

- w a battle ships , was the most effective y to de l ’ ete . ad p the enemy s strength However, the v isability may be questioned of keeping a force fi l in nitely superior numerical y , as well as in point of equipment and organization , on a de fensive campaign for over a y ear on the out

of skirts a vast territory . To the troops in trenches the cold winds and rains which swept [ 3 17 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA down from the Mediterranean in the winter

‘ season , and the chill of nights with the sudden changes to the baking heat of mid-day and the

-fill ed - sand winds , were all nerve racking and

‘ demoralizing to health . Those long vigils at the edge of the shadowy palms caused desert phantoms to rise out of the sands . But those

out in the field have pointed that , outside of t the occasional skirmish or pitched bat le , the Italian troops did not have to endure the ex treme hardship of an aggressive campaign . The prow s1on1ng and sanitary arrangements were far better than during the annual military manoeuvres at home . At night the cafés were run as gay ly as in Naples ; moving-picture shows filled the hearts of the soldiers with delight and the pockets of the proprietors with centesimi . One novel feature was an advertisement in Naples for all friends and relatives— sweethearts and wives in particular— to pass in review before a motion camera . The film shortly appearing in

Tripoli proved a bonanza , as the place in which it was shown was daily and nightly packed with soldiers anxious to pick familiar faces from the passing throng on the screen . Even tanks of wine were shipped to Tripoli for the troops , [ 3 18 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

Not only Tripoli , but Khoms , Benghazi ,

Derna , and Tobruk had been taken early in the war but no advances undertaken . Italy pur

a l sued po icy of waiting, and even nearly a y ear and a half after the war had begun was still only along the littoral , where she was forced to maintain five thousand men at Khoms ,

-fiv e at e twenty thousand Benghazi , sevent en thousand divided between Derna and Tobruk , and about fifty thousand at Tripoli and vicin it y , an army of over one hundred thousand provided not only with inexhaustible munitions of war but greater luxuries than any army which we can call to mind ever had while eu gaged in a serious campaign . Turn to the Turks and Arabs somewhere

- bey ond the sand dunes in the Desert wilderness . On paper , Turkey was supposed to have main t ained an army of twenty thousand men in

but m Tripoli , to y knowledge the actual force did not exceed ten thousand men and , a few ’ l months prior to Italy s attack , ha f this con A tingent had been despatched to Yemen , rabia , t o ut A p down an rab uprising there , leaving in Tripolitania a meagre contingent of five thou s and poorly clad , underpaid Turks to protect [ 320 ] ZLIBIA. IHH¥ LIADLA

the province and to face a great modern army of over one hundred thousand Italy firmly believed her show of military force would not only impress the Arab and alien ate him from his Turkish conquerors , but ally him to the Italian cause . Italy failed , however , to understand t he Arab mind or that spiritual

Pan- bond of Islamic union , and was bitterly disappointed that the Arabs failed to welcome her troops as liberators from the Turks . It was but natural that a courageous and charac t erful people like the Arabs should prefer to side with their coreligionists and still recognize

Mehmed V, Caliph of all Islam , temporal and spiritual head of two hundred and twenty mil lion Moslems . So the Turkish forces were aug mented b A y the rab constabulary , formerly used

- to patrol the coast routes , the Kol oglu , a sort A A of rab militia organized under rab chiefs , and the larger contingent of Arab farmers of t the wadan , a contingen numbering, perhaps , t for y thousand , admittedly some of the finest

fighting material in the world , with wonderful t mobility , powers of endurance , and tha valuable k asset , nowledge of the great Desert . Then there was that ultra -Mohammedan se [ 321 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

S u cret sect , the en si, whose influence the French t found so hard to comba in North Africa . This t li t sec had its origin in Tripo , and its grea cen tral headquarters in the interi or of the Libyan t Deser in the wonderful Kufra Oases . Among

it e many tales , fascinating and weird , has b en rumored by some authors that no non-Moham medan could ev er enter and return alive from fin t their towns , within whose con es were vas t arsenals for the manufac ure of war munitions , to be used ultimately to repel and drive out the Christian from North Africa . While some writers will recount in a positive manner these t facts , they inconsistently admit tha the secrecy of this order has never been penetrated by an “ ” infidel .

t t ffice Be — Tha valian o r, Enver y now com

-in- — t mander chief of the Turkish army par Turk, t A par rab , in whose veins flows blood of the

Abd -el - famous Kadir, undoubtedly drew from that sect and the Kufra Oases much of the Arab contingent which fought the Italian troops so t bitterly in Barca . At cer ain strategic points the Turks have Desert forts ; at these and cer tain oases they encamped , established behind their lines field-hospitals and a daily caravan [ 322 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA b P b Italy , was made y Captain avoni y auto u mobile , do ble rear tires being used over the sands . Practically throughout the entire war the conquering army was besieged on the coast ,

b . affected y sickness , and fed from home Italy was forced to seek reprisals along the Turkish coasts to induce Turkey to close the issue in

Tripoli , indicating she had failed in her purpose to seize Tripolitania and oust Turkey by a mm n . co a sudden , powerful move The Turkish der in Tripoli conducted , under tremendously disadvantageous conditions , a remarkable mil

r ita y campaign . Severe engagements occurred Y t with large losses on both sides . e Turkey consistently refused to sue for peace , and Italy , it and later the Balkans , had very definitely impressed upon them that they were fighting the great -great - grandchildren of those who had

A A con defeated the llied rmies of Europe , the

uerors Neco olis q of the day s of p , Varna , Kos i i St . S nd sovo , and y g , those who vanquished the

Knights , Huny adi , and others , but who , as “ Le J eune Turc expressed it , are novices in the application of this new régime , because , after six y ears of absolutism and thirty - two years of [ 324 LIBIA ITALIANA a terrible despotism, we have only three y ears of parliamentary experience .

hostili One late afternoon , over a y ear after ties had begun , at the hour when the tables on the verandas of the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel at Ouchy were filled with guests at afternoon tea and the orchestra enlivened the scene by the strains of a waltz , the Turkish and Italian peace

a delegates passed through the g y crowd , after one hundred day s of arduous work conciliating f two extremes , and a fixed their signatures to the preliminaries of a peace treaty . But after t all , it had aken the foreboding shadow of the

’ Balkan War to force Turkey s hand and obtain P her signature to the eace of Lausanne .

’ However, Italy s policy was to keep the Tri politan question distinct from the complex Bal

’ kan problem . Italy had need of Turkey s good will and that of the Arabs in the new régime i in Tripol , not to mention its relations to her

e L vant trade , and , technically and politically , Italy acquired the Hesperidian apple of her

— dreams Tripoli in Barbary .

Turkey could not , according to the Koran , recognize the cession of Mussulman territory

’ to the infidel s and did not recognize Italy s con [ 325 l THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA quest . Consequently , according to the terms of ’ did ’ the treaty , Turkey not impose Italy s rule on her subjects , but , on the other hand , did not

. She au impugn it simply ignored it , granted t onom li it to y to Tripo tania , and left its destiny ; but with the proviso of free exercise of religious authority by the Caliph . In place of the call of the Turkish sentry on the Castle ramparts , to which I had so often listened in the garden of the Turkish Army and

Navy Club , when guard was changed , peace was 20 19 12 proclaimed on October , , also from the t o p of the fountain southeast of the Castle , and the decree of King Emmanuel solemnly con firmed Italian sovereignty over Tripolitania and

Cy renaica . Turkey agreed to withdraw her regu lar troops from Tripolitania , discountenance every and any assistance which Ottoman sub

ects A j might give to the rabs , assume responsi bility for every form of contraband of Otto in man subjects Tripolitania , and make certain guarantees for the Christian peoples of the It islands of the E gean . was the last ebb of the great tidal wave of the Jebad which had ' once flooded over half of Europe , reaching the 5 P . very gates of oitiers On November , Roy al 326

CHAPTER SIX TEEN

TH E PRICE O F A CO LO NY

E find Italy now possessed of a wild desert province with its burdens and re li B sponsibi ties . ut at what a price ! Besides her original war cost , Italy must return the islands of the ZEgean to Turkey ; instead of an indemnity from Turkey , which was expected , the treaty terms entirely absolved Turkey from

a such payment , and Italy agreed to p y an amount equal to the value of all government properties which existed in Tripoli before the war as well as that part of the Ottoman debt b ’ guaranteed y Tripoli s revenues , deducting from this sum the cost of maintenance of the several thousand Turkish prisoners . The Ottomans have effected by the terms of this treaty a most profitable real - estate trans

’ t f or ac ion , , aside from Italy s pay ments , Turkey is released from the maintenance of troops in a non -profitabl e province ; these troops she can 328 THE PRICE OF A COLONY use to strengthen her army at home , which she is fast reorganizing under the new German ré gime . Turkey can now concentrate her whole attention on the maintenance of her connected hi im empire , w ch , even el inating the territory lost during the Balkan War , has a maximum width equal to the distance between Cape Hat A teras and Los ngeles , with a coast line equal

S en to that of the United tates , without the p insula of Florida , and a boundary line almost equal to the maximum combined length and width of the continent of Africa . The cost of war is not to be reckoned alone in li f terms of money . The kil ng off o the large proportion of the flower of the nation for both v ictor and vanquished , the withdrawing of

a i labor for milit ry purposes , the disorgan zation n of commerce , the sufferi g and hatreds engen dered and the long aftermath needing recupera tion , are only part of its toll . In consideration of of - t the money cost the Turco I alian War,

Turkey was under but a nominal expense . At the beginning , certain Italian newspapers esti mated the war cost t o Italy at but within a y ear the special war fund of 000 had been sunk in the sands of Tripoli ; the [ 329 ] THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

lr n people , a eady taxed four times as much as a y u u other co ntry in E rope , had additional tithes

saddled upon them , and only on last New ’ Year s Day (19 14) advices from Tripoli told of nearly one hundred Italian casualties in one

fight on those burning wastes . It is reasonable to as sume that the cost to Italy of the Tripoli campaign amounts to at least and a y ear and a half after the war had begun and half a y ear after the peace treaty an additional was ap

ro riated li p p to carry on the war with Tripo . While we know little of the expenses of the past fif u teen months , the total expendit re will prob ably eventually reach The monthly mortality rate rapidly rose from twenty -eight per one hundred thousand men from ill ness before the war to one hundred and i f th rty , and o ficial statistics admit that during the first twelve months nearly twenty -four thou sand were sent home , that nearly one thousand k five hundred were illed in battle , and over four thousand two hundred wounded : during the first fif teen months nearly two thousand died b 19 13 y sickness and nearly one thousand in ,

e A u whil in the ten months preceding ug st , [ 330 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA ture , as well as that on the development invest m u ent , wo ld formidably raise the expenditure

’ and go f ar to swell the world s money cost of fif war and armaments during the last teen y ears , which has been estimated at One cannot but regret that Italy could not have expended this cost m developing her un

in s productive regions , lightening the burden of her overtaxed people and investing it in her educational and commercial sy stem . For nearly thirty y ears prior to the war Tripoli had a total average annual commerce of about a mere bagatelle , exports and imports balancing with remarkable regular it y , sponges , esparto grass (from which paper is made), and the caravan trade forming seven tenths of the export trade , the other three tenths being made up of the products of the oases and live stock brought to the coast -town suks . The sponge industry can hardly be called indigenous , the esparto grass is becoming scarcer and its sale affected by wood pulp from Norway A and North merica , while the caravan trade with the Sudan is practically extinct and now

out b w a leaks y y of the Niger , so that Italy

the goes into a country which , at time of her [ 332 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

e can sand squar miles of land , much of which be used ; but the unwise and indiscriminate slaughter of numbers of Arab farmers and Bed aween of this littoral not only greatly depleted the labor supply upon which Italy could have drawn but left a hatred and resentment ran kling in the survivors which will undoubtedly affect the labor question . Only l ast y ear a mi large gration to Tunisia occurred , includ In ing thousands of Tripolitan agriculturalists . ducement s offered by a special commission of Italians sent to mee t them at the border failed to stem the tide . Latest reports indicate that over forty thousand Tripolitans have migrated to Tunisia from the coast region of Tripoli alone and many other nomadic agriculturalists may prefer to withdraw to the innermost oases of the Liby an Desert or to the Nile Valley .

Many ,however, will remain and after a genera “ tion or two may be induced to take up the ” shovel and the hoe in the most approved Ital ian agricultural methods . But it is upon the Italian emigrants that t t Tripoli an developmen must depend , and they

be should picked for energy , sobriety , and far sightedness . But special inducements will prob 334 THE PRICE OF A COLONY

ably be offered by Italy favoring cheap labor

and, in many cases , perhaps the least desirable and ffi least trained men , and di culties will arise when these men labor side by side with the A rab , and the prestige of Rome will stand for naught . If there is but little Italian emi ’ ration g , Libia will be a white elephant on Italy s

not . hands , and foreign money will be invested

not er Italy is overpopulated , p capita to the mi square le , but because so much of her coun try is not inhabited ow1ng to the rough moun ’ tain lands . One of Italy s primary motives for her aggression was to obtain Tripolitania as an outlet for this surplus population ; but it is all important that the administration of this col

on - y be eliminated from a cramping , hard and fast rack-and-ruin policy of centralization that

swells and eddies about Rome .

Italy , politically and economically , was jus f tified in seeking a new colony . The question o her wisdom lies in her choice and methods of ob

taining it . But of the three hundred thousand

Italians who emigrate from her shores annually , S S A mainly to the United tates and outh merica , how many will prefer to be diverted from those fertile lands— where comparatively high wages 335 THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA and ultimate success are assured— to the sun scorched Desert reaches of Tripoli to indulge

hi at in an agricultural undertaking w ch must , m least for so e years to come , be an experiment .

t e In fact , one direc r sult of the war has been the

his hard times in Italy , and that t condition has been foreseen by the laboring classes is evi deuced from the fact that during the last six months of 19 13 over one million immigrants

li Gov left Italy ; but , to the dismay of the Ita an ernment N , their destinations were orth and S A outh merica , save for a few thousands who straggled down to the new colony . The ques tion of labor for many y ears will be one of the great problems confronting Italy and her new colonial venture . Let Italy learn of her Roman forebears how they caused the Desert to blossom like the rose A and made the region now known as lgeria ,

Tunisia , and Tripolitania famous as the gran ary of the Roman Empire . The crumbled rem nants of Roman civilization with tessellated pavements of Roman villas laid down two thou m sand y ears ago , over which y horses clattered m on y journey to Khoms , and the ruins of the ancient coffer- dams of the Caesars in the low [ 336 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA down natural barriers , then rush across the Desert and in some cases have actually swept through the town of Tripoli , demolishing houses and taking lives . The precious water spills into the Mediter ranean and is lost ; the tree - denuded land is

a- soon bake with scorching heat , save where de pressions form shallow lakes , lagoons , swamps ,

dr u - or marshes ; these y p, leaving a mud cracked ,

ui mosaic bottom , upon which certain fr ts or t f vege ables are sometimes grown . The water o t the marshes , instead of being lef to stagnate

e and evaporat , should be drained to feed the falling flood in the rivers , thus increasing the volume of water available for irrigation and leaving in place of the marshes greatly improved pastures . m It is y opinion that , while the artesian well will serve its purpose admirably during the sea

of u t sons good rain , it is for times of dro ght tha

t v cons ervation Italy mus prepare , invol ing the of these innumerable millions of gallons which

‘ of f orest s t o the absence and , in many places , p

in . soil , assists their hurried rush to the sea

Italy should appoint an engineering commission , whose specific purpose should be to make a care 338 THE PRICE OF A COLONY ful survey and to study conditions of the pl a teau lands of the Tripoli Hills and the coast strip with its cany ons and river beds . The ulti mate result of this work should be to complete the construction of a system of reservoirs from which the entire littoral could be irrigated in time of drought . Careful consideration should be given to cer tain natural economic features m dam construe tion . There are some natural reservoirs in Trip oli Hills which need comparatively little in the way of artificial construction to perfect . From these vast reservoirs the s10 pe of the land would greatly assist in the distribution by canals and sub -channels over the great productive plain lying between the hills and the sea . It would probably be feasible to construct reservoirs on the southern side of the Tripoli Hills and to de l v e op much of the Desert country to the south . In heavy rainfalls the fertility of the country is quickly evidenced , for much of it springs into a paradise of verdure and flora . Italy will find a leading product in the y ield of the two mil lion date palms of Tripolitania and will rapidly

increase the numbers of these regal beauties . Under them the thrifty Italian market gardener 339 THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

W l ll grow the trees of the orange , pomegranate ,

i- and lemon , and raise from the sem shaded soil t leeks , red peppers , beans , tomatoes , and o her

- vegetables and fruits , and on the hill sides and l valley s they will rehabilitate the o ive , to the growing of which the country is particul arly well adapted . Ten years ago the heavy Turkish tax on every olive - tree and the fruit thereof resulted in the Arabs cutting down the trees and selling

fire- de riv m the them for wood , thus p g country

t ce the l of one of its bes products , sin o ive will

li - sustain itself in time of drought . O ve oil will be extracted and oil -presses established in Trip but oli , on the plateau lands and open reaches

ts e wheat , oa , and barley will undulat under the hot breezes of the south and y ield a great in crease , and laws regulating the picking and pres erv ation of the wild esparto grass w ill be insti tuted and this indigenous product preserved .

P t too in as oral development , , will greatly

t the l crease , toge her with agricu tural products hi in both variety and quantity . T s will call for direct and rapid transport to the markets of the Mediterranean , as a consequence of which railroads and steamships will be a necessity . Already one hundred kilometres of railway have 340

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA hi - -dr gh and y beds and lofty embankments , like t ghos s recalling the past , form one of the strik ing features of the Desert . To a great extent the Arab of the Desert tribes has been a victim

i Al of c rcumstances and of environment , and geria and Tunisia prove that the Arab is not the hopeless person he is so generally supposed to be and that he may become a source of strength to the government . To -day we find the whole country from the

a ure b mount ins to the sea sco d y Italian troops ,

e e and ven bey ond the mountains , n arly half w a a l a l y to Ghad mes , whi e over Ghad mes itse f the Italian flag has been hoisted with the ap n hi proval a d invitation of the c efs . The entire country is occupied as far as Orfella toward the it Fezzan , being reported that many of the chiefs have submitted and Residente Italians been appointed and preparations almost com pl eted for the journey to Murzuk and Ghat . But in the province of Barca resistance has

uite t i been q marked , and the I al ans met with severe defeat last May (19 13) and were com

ell ed t hi p to retrea to Derna , after w ch reverse the Italian Chamber of Deputies approved an appropriation of the additional [ 342 ] THE PRICE or A COLONY

before mentioned , to continue the war in

The road between Benghazi and Derna is now in complete control of the Italians , and many of the chiefs are tendering submission . t Italy , patterning after Grea Britain and France , has already established the nucleus of a native t A colonial army of about eigh thousand rabs , well contented with the two lire a day and uni ’ Da forms , and the New Year s y despatch of the

l re batt e in the neighborhood of Murzuk, p v iousl y referred to , showed that these colonial troops stood by the Italian soldiers of the column and , after five hours of fierce fighting , routed the An 9 14 . 1 enemy engagement in Barca , March , , also proved the loy alty of the native troops . The proposed establishment of chairs of Mus sulman law in Italian universities is one w ay Italy is seeking to foster friendly relations in

Libia , while the Cadi of Tripoli represents there the Shiek-ul -Islam and will superintend all Mo hammedan religious functions and appoint the

naibs co - local chiefs , the , thus operating with the Italian Government in helping to bring about a better understanding . In Tripoli City many Arabs have been sworn into the police [ 343 1 THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA service and present a splendid appe arance in their attractive uniforms ; mounted Arab con stabul ar co - caraba ie y operate with the n ri . Has ffi suna Bashaw, a former o cer in the Turkish A A constabulary , an rab , heir to the rab Bashaw lic of Tripoli and direct descendant of Yusef

Karamauli Bashaw , the last of the Bashaws , b 1835 deposed y the Turks in , was one of the few Arabs who had at the beginning of the l li war identified himse f with the Ita an cause . Now the city of Tripoli is run by a commission P of three , with Hassuna Bashaw as resident , mf and , I understand , with a co ortable salary from the Italians of three thousand lire per month . ’ Italy s plan is to expand the civil zone as ’ reco ni rapidly as possible . With the powers g tion of Italian sovereignty all extra- territorial rights of foreigners have ceased and resident consular officials no longer exercise any judicial prerogatives . For this zone there is a civil and penal tribunal and a court of appeals f or

tw o n the provinces of Tripoli and Cy re aica , into which Libia is div ided . Outside the civil

b t r of zone , cases are to be tried y the ibunal w ar t o t b , or justice is be adminis ered y the [ 344 ] cents a quart . These elements are particularly fatal in southern Italy , where existence for the masses has alway s been a sort of hand- to -mouth

' routine , and when this equilibrium is destroyed starvation and lack of shelter ensue , and the present situation will involve the appropriation li of several millions , at least , for re ef work during the coming y ear . As a result of the war the cost of living has quadrupled , but that of garden truck has decreased since the Italian farmers have begun to grow vegetables . The sanitary work in the city is a primary consideration . Within two hundred y ards east ward from the old Turkish Club a local board of -health building rai ses its white walls ; the

be new quarantine station , costing will one of the largest and best equipped of the

Mediterranean . The additions to the city hos pital , costing nearly a third that amount , are

b A not already appreciated y the rabs , who only hi patronize it but even take their women , a t ng

rocl never heard of before . After the peace p a mation thousands of starving Bedaweens came into the city and a sanitary camp was es

lish t ab ed . Here they were fed , given clothes , medical attendance , etc . ; the majority were [ 346 ] THE PRICE OF A COLONY

but was provided with seed for barley , peace declared too late for a successful crop that y ear . One of the most interesting phases of the educational development is a school established for abandoned Arab boy s by a captain of the

Bersaglieri in the oasis of Tripoli . One hundred and twenty -fiv e or more boy s are provided with

da food twice a y , running water and baths , a h ve military drill , athletic exercises , element

r i a y instruction and instruct on m agriculture . For this institution the government provides an appropriation .

thm s Naturally , one of the first g to be done was to tear down the shacks about the old

A A i ur rch of Marcus urel us , where I once p chased some supplies for my expedition from its occupant , a vender in dried fish and other commodities . The accumulations of y ears , Des ert sands and rubbish , were cleared away from t its base , so tha this remnant of ancient Rome

a now st nds impressively in the heart of Tripoli , and museums for archaeology have been estab lished in both Tripoli and Benghazi for the pres erv i at on of classic antiquities . The maritime department has begun work on e t ov r fifty projects , mos of which have been com 347 THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

l eted r p , so that now new piers thrust their p o boscides into the harbor ; along the water-front great electric cranes have sprung up and the

iv inner corner of the harbor will be filled in , g ing more wharf and quay accommodation at

sels will be able to dock .

arge space , when filled , will entirely 1904 cover in the spot where , in , I located , sur v e ed y , and charted the skeleton remnants of the old United States frigate Phil adelphia . In con nection with this there has recently been some agitation in Congress to make an appropriation to raise the hull . This would not be feasible and the few remaining timbers woul d not seem hi to justify the expense . But it is well wit n the function and duty of Congress to perpetu

co - t ate , with approval and operation of the I al ian Government , some adequate form of monu ment and tablet— a long- delay ed tribute not only to Decatur but to all those heroes who play ed so gallant a part in de fence of the fl ag

in Tripoli. What more appropriate spot could be chosen than over the very grave where the

Phil adel hia li b p es buried , consigned there y

Americans . “ The most important harbor project is the [ 348 ]

THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA

' A it years to pacify lgeria , and is hardly to be

Darma hu expected that the Tibbus , Tuaregs , g ,

e t un and oth r wild , independen tribes in the

c conquered fastnesses will peacefully apitulate , and Italy will undoubtedly be put to no little embarrassment and heavy expense before com

ti n i pl ete pacifica o s assured . B ut the condi tions do not warrant their prolongation as in the Algeria conquest . It has taken over three-fourths of a century f or France to see some actual returns on her A t lgerian venture , and when the wild Deser tribes and Arabs eventually understand that their interests lie side by side with those of the

’ era Italians a new of peace , wealth , and pros

erit w u at t A p y ill Open p, leas for the rabs , for Tripolitania— Libia— more expensive of occu

ation l s t p , less productive , es wa ered than Tuni t sia , cannot be expec ed to yield a commercial ’ t 8 t profi into Italy pocke when we consider that , with all the frugality of the Frenchman , Tuni t sia , next door, has been an insatiable aby ss in o which France has poured millions in capital . B ut nations play for a long game ; their for eign policies must not be considered in the light t of the events of a y ear or a decade . I aly has [ 350 ] THE PRICE OF A COLONY one wedge in Italian Somaliland and now has

he Libia . S has been thwarted in her scheme

ali -A of an It an frican empire , for the Gaul and the Briton have shut her off from contiguous S communication with the Central udan , and di verted the Sudan trade from Tripoli to their own

“ N S a d ports , to the ile , enegal , n Niger, which leaves Italy dependent on the pastoral and agri f cultural products o her colony . S trategically , Libia gives Italy a certain con

S -A S trol of the icilian frican trait , through which f all Mediterranean tra fic must pass , and in the distant future its possessron may be the first ’ step toward Italy s recovery of Malta and the first growth of a colonial empire — who can tell? The new Italy is a y oung nation in the family of Europe and a novice at colonization ; but f l her wonderful acu ty for adaptation , scientific tendencies , willingness of her people to labor, her

ur new enthusiasm, greater unity , common p

t - increas pose and interes , well organized army , in g navy and economic growth , all will go to ward making for her ultimate success , for Italy has found herself . What a transformation within the old Arab

! W he town here one walked before , now rides ; 351 THE GATEWAY TO THE SAHARA autos , with raucous warning , swing through the streets ; the steam-roller adds its grinding on the Via Azizia ; and boy s shouting the Nuovo

Italia , which arrives three times a week , mingle their cries with the cracking of whips and gen eral hubbub . The thousands of new—comers might divide

- their time between the moving picture shows ,

- - a skating rink , a new opera house , or at the cafes which line the Via Azizia from the Turk

- l - ish Club . The old Suk e Turc has been over

al nted u hauled , p , and spruced p, and as one wanders by the old Arab and Turkish booths

d e one sees merchants of a strange caste and y , l for amidst the si ks , cloths , and curios sit mer P chants from the East , and the ersian , Indian , and Japanese vend their wares to Italian officers and the inquisitive passenger who knows little or nothing of the Tripoli that has passed . In

’ ’ the Tripoli of y esterday the Turks and Arabs stores were few and were closed at sunset . As there was no business done in the evening lit there was tle demand for lights , and the few there were sputtered or gleamed softly from oil lamps . N f ow , as the last touch of sa fron catches the 352

GLOSSARY

a m father u in rule

Adan the call to ra er. , p y

Addax a Nor A r can an elo e . , th f i t p H usa bl ack rs Akawali a a o e . , [ ] h - F r m Arbar Arsfit S ree of the ou Colu ns . , t t — Ar mas er used in a res s n C r s ans . fi, t dd i g h i ti r-r-rah ! sed to s art a orse A u t h .

As ben a n dom us sou of Air sou ern Sahara. , ki g j t th , th

Asbenawa eo l e of Asben. , p p

As ars Tuare s of the As ar r be . g , g g t i ''

Awasit the second ten da s of the Mohammedan mon h. , y t hee h u Baks s a ra . , g t ity T ns Baracan w ooll en ou er armen of r ol a . , t g t ip it

Bashaw or B asha Ara c f or o ernor rul er . , , bi g v ,

Berbers des cen an s of the w e abor nes of Barbar Berber . , d t hit igi y [ y] i h s na m ll e . B , i t ’ B is sal amahl O n eace ! , thy p B ro n u fi o o et o t . r , g , g us m l n am s Cha a Ha a a e l a ed w c owr e . c , g b i g g p y ith i

Chott dr ed l a e . , i k Cow ries beau ul w e s ell s a ou an nc l on used as our , tif hit h b t i h g r ne in u an e y S d . Damer hu a l ace and a r be in e treme sou ern Sa ara on g , p t i x th h Et- an r u Gh K o o te . D w us r a a Ha a d . , [ ] b ea

- - D ema el Dam Mos ue of the S e s . j j , q t p D iba H us C m D na a a the l ace of the e e er of the o . j , [ ] p t y g Douar v l a e . , i l g E s arto or al a a rass nd enous to Barbar . p , h f , g i ig y Firman T ur s a ass or re u r n a s ec al e c of the , [ ki h] p p t, q i i g p i di t T urk s so r n ran n rm ss on o ra l c e e e t e et . i h v ig g ti g p i i t v , Fondiik a cara ansar , v y. Gan ara r s G ee on e boa s ch use the ra l . g , [ k] p g t whi t w [ 355 1 Gatrun s eo l e of Ga run a own in central Fez z an on Murz uk y , p p t , t an m ra n K e ca va route . Gedas h how much ? Gibani ! n n of s a excl amatio urprise . Gibli or ibl eh sou -eas Deser nd h ch o ten erm na es in , g , th t t wi w i f t i t - the sand storm. Gul hor a room in a sera l o f or the e cl us ve u f he s r se o t ma te . p , g i x i H ad i Ahmed a camel ra ser and the mas er rom om Si lam y , i t f wh

escaped . H aik an ou d rm n of colored r s r s e a e o t ed cl o . , t i g t ip th H r Ar or f r s ar o ss al a o al a ab d o e ra . f f , w p t g H al a S a h Hal a Mar e ere es ar o or hal a rass is auc f , f k t wh p t f g

tioned or sold .

H ashis h an n o ca n re ara on made rom t0 s of ender , i t xi ti g p p ti f p t In m s r u sm n r n in n ns d an e o s o ed dra o a e co ec o . i h p p t , k , k , t k f ti m n u u H ubba ! an excl a atio sed by Ha sas .

J amal camel s drau camel s . , [ ght ] J ebel un s r m un n r n mo a n o o a e o . , t i t i gi J e e h N a M un ns in nor rn Thi oli b l N a a z a a hz a o a e . g , g t i , th p

J ebel Gharian G ar an Moun ains in nor ern T r ol . , h i t th ip i J W r ehad a Hol a . , y J m emal camel dr au ca el . , [ ght ] J innee a Mo ammedan m cal order of be n s ood and bad , h ythi i g , g s r s pi it . K r un r a bel e e . fi , i v

Kani ar da er k n e . j , gg if m s u n am the rea e ro ol of the S da . K , g t t p i Kasrul l ah nobbed s c carr ed b T r ol ans r nc all at , k ti k i y ip it , p i ip y

Kelowis T uare s of Kel owis r be n ab n v c n of Air , g t i i h iti g i i ity , r southern Saha a . ibleh sacred n c e in a mos ue l aced to nd ca e the d rec ion K , i h q p i i t i t f cca o Me .

ie dr e em l ea es smo ed in es . K f, i d h p v , k pip ’ mar u ouba a sa n s ouse some mes call ed a abo . K , i t h , ti t

Lah , no . kb r bi La o la a alm ine . y g , p w ’ L v i s r - - w asun ad Sil am b o er in l a . , th ’ m 1\1 rk s n Lakoo a i h ca . , dy L z retto I n u r n n a a al a a a e . , [ t i ] q ti r m tu r f I al an i Arab c Turk s etc I/in ua anca a e o . g f , ix t i w th i , i h , [ 356 ]

GLOSSARY

Tuare s a fierce con edera on of r bes who occu and control g , f ti t i , py rea sec ons of the es ern al of the Sa ara T he g t ti w t h f h . r nc al r bes are the Aweelimmiden Ho ars As ars and p i ip t i , gg , g , K l owis e .

rr m n U a a an e cl a a o . y , x ti er hi n m ose b Tur s V oll a d ro er tax d k . g , p p p ty i p y W dan un r a co . , t y W i r r r ad a r e o dr r e bed . , iv y iv We - - r l ed bu S e a T r ol an be . f , ip it t i Y h mm n a udi a Mo a eda e he . , h pit t Yuse Bashaw the l as na ve ruler of T r ol and of the l ne of f , t ti ip i i ramal Ka i . Z abtie or z a tiah a T urk sh uardsm p , i g Zintan a d s r ct a T r l b ck of o . , i t i ip i

Zinder a Deser own sou h of the Fez z an. , t t t Zereb na as ve huts . , ti

[ 358 ] INDEX

- - Abd el di 322 . c 2 4 322 342 343 . Ka r, Bar a, , , , ,

f he O 323 . A o 3 17 . tt e o t d wa, Ba l asis,

[E ean Sea 124 134 311 326 tt e 324 330 331 342 343 . g , , , , , Ba l s, , , , ,

P ce ote 325 . 328 . eau e B Rivag ala H l, Bedawi 35 39 192— 195 237 282 A c 296 . fri a, , , , , , , 290 2 9 333 3 A 305 . 9 3 7 346 . gadir, , , , , — A cul tu e 354 1 48 78 193 e 7 8 16 . gri r , , , , , B ggars, , 194 294 295 3 08 333 334 en 93 107 308 315 320 , , , , , , B ghazi, , , , , , — 33 343 345 34 336 342, 346 , 347, 350, 351 . 7, , , 7 . — Air 80. e e 8 9 39 85 . , B rb rs, , , - 32 e n T e t 300 301 . Air 3 . ships, B rli r a y, ,

A e ndr 304 . 53 57 237 283 . l xa ia, Birds, , , ,

e ta 303 304 . Bis r , , 0 - A e 1 148 285 299 336 350 . c 8 1 52 71 72 88 156 lg ria, , , , , , Bla ks, , , , , , — — Al e 123 . 157 160 161 163 165 166 gi rs, , , , , — — Ame c ort and Sout 336 167 281 282 . ri a N h h, , ,

8 osni 305 . 34 . B a,

Ame c n 308 348 . o o u 300 . ri a s, viii, , B sph r s, - An o enc T e t 300 . n n 10. gl Fr h r a y, Bra di g,

An m W il 237 261 282 . i als, d, , , Ant u t e 13— 15 241— 242 291 C me din me r or me iq i i s, , , , a l, ri g [ ha i hara],

295, 347 . 43 , 65, 66 , 68 . A 8— 9 39 C me 16 18 146 151 1 59 177 rabs, xxiv, xxv, xxvi , , , a ls, , , , , , , — 281 , 282, 299 , 3 13 , 314, 316 , 319 181 , 208 233, 29 1 , 3 16, 3 17 . 3 3 325 326 3 1 6 0 C n 2 33 34 34 35 . e ener 313 . , , , , , , a va, G al, ' - A Arsat 6 13 . C n oute 4 54 78 79 80 rbar , , arava r s, , , , , , — — A en 61 . 173 174 189 243 244 277 285 sb , , , , , , A moun 8 6 8 0— 9 2 1 t t in 4 3 51 14 2 7 29 2 1 95 3 6 . las, a s, , , , , , , ,

279 282 . C n t e 82 1 20 124 170 , arava rad , , , , Au t a- un 301 0 1 1 — 7 294 3 5 . 7 173 192 28 . s ri H gary, , , , , Au mo e 323 3 n 1 - 1 — to 24 . C ee 77 78 197 198 bil s, , arava rs, , ,

205, 256 .

n e C t n 10 C n Garflas 50 5 5 1 . 4 5 56 Bai bridg , ap ai , arava s [ ] , , , , , 3 — n 24 325 329 . 61 62 79 81 151 195 196 205 Balka s, , , , , , , , , , nc m 8 206 216 8 — 1 o 30 . 238 2 9 29 3 17 332 . Ba a di R a, , , , , , C 4 121 123 146 ns e . S ee Fondiiks . Barbary, xxvi, , , , , arava ari s 281— 282 29 1 . C rt e i . , a hag , xx ii [ 359 ] INDEX

C t e of the s 2 19 20 E 1 2 61 — 157 158 304 3 14 . as l Ba haws, , , , gypt, , , , , , 21 68 100 125 195 259 298 En e B e 322 . , , , , , , , v r y ,

299 3 12 326 . E to 48 120 1 24 332 , , spar grass, , , , . — — C e emon e 25 26 71 72 . E a to n u t 124 145 172 r i s, , , sp r i d s ry, , . Euro e 1 C L e 80 . 9 had, ak , p , , . Eu o ean occu t on r p pa i , xxiv, xxv, — — 37 45 46 234 278 297 . 4 296 297 . , , , , xxvi, , Eu o — C o e 3 19 . e n o t c 300 305 h l ra, r p a p li i s, ,

C m te 30 196 281 . Euro e n 16 . li a , , , p a s, in 8 16 - 35 45 53 62 E e e 18- 19 C oth 9 34 59 . l g, , , , , , , , vil y , , 71 72 89 98 103 149 19 1— 192 E o ts 120 123— 124 167 171 , , , , , , , xp r , , , , , — — 6 74 96 216, 234 235 , 265 26 , 273 , 2 . 1 , 294 . Comme ce 44 45 61 62 79 81 r , , , , , , , — 196 , 206 207 . et c e 19 85 99 . F i h s, , , Committee of n on and ro es U i P gr s, 0 3 6 . e n 4 42 315 342 . F zza , , , , C on o 61 . g , tin 3 1 60 64 75 81 82 Figh g, , , , , , , u na n 159 . C ort g , S o , — — ig r 1 10 1 12 152 205 207 . , , - Co e e , 58 59 . m n. S ee P wri sh lls Fir a assport . - Créte ( hi ), 1 17, 127, 129 . — war s p tte e e t on 86 87 . Fla rs xp di i , C , 304 . rispi oo s 23 24 337 338 . Fl d , , , , 8— C u enc 35 45 5 59 . rr y, , , m- o 5 Cu to use . H , — — s 188 203 204 259 263 264 . , , , C u tom T n 49 o ta . s s, rip li , oo 39 41— 4 2 48 98 185 234 F d, , , , , , C u 300 . ypr s 235 292 . ,

C en ic or C ene 307 326 327 . yr a a yr , , , nce 1 291— 292 296 300 305 Fra , , , , , ,

313, 343 . m — a er h 81 205 206 350. D g u, , ,

D nc n , 240 . a i g m — in 58 59 . - — G , D te m 41 42 285 339 . a bl g a pal s, , , en 188 299 340 346 . — G , , , , Decatu L eut . 100 101 112 ard s r, i , , , arfl . ee G as S C v ns . 348 . ara a s 80 Gatruny , . Ghadfimes 65 68 77 82 83 323 Dem 3 15 20 2 34 , , , , , , , 3 34 3 . a, , , , 342 . Derna, 3 11 , 312 .

Ghfit, 77, 81 , 342 . S . Dr 122 . Dewe . Doc y, U y k, m n 301 302 305 310 3 9 e 2 . D c on ce-Con ul Alf e G r a y, , , , , i ks , Vi s , r d, ta 300 1 Gibral r, . 02 .

eat ta n 1 300 303 343 . Gr Bri i , , , , D c on Dr . 14 . . Ro e t G i ks , b r , ee s 6 . Gr k , D e 131 . iv rs, eetin 9 . D 1 1 Gr g, n 3 132 . ivi g , ,

D om n 179 . rag a , — D e n 6 27 30 194 . or 1 61 . w lli gs, , , Hadj hadj , - - a al Ouchai 105 . H dji , - E ton ene W m . o mmed Gabroom, 106, a , G ral illia , xxv Hadji M ha

E uc tion 343 347 . 1 12 . d a , , [ 330 ]

INDEX

— e on Lo 105 . Rom n Em e iii 13 15 N ls , rd, a pir , xx , xxiv, , — e 294 332 351 . 24 1 24 2 292 295 Nig r, , , , , . - — t tchm n 24 25 . Ro me and thin Rom n 335 336 Nigh wa a , gs a , , , 3 34 e 14 3 351 . 337 347 . Nil , , , , 104 r . m en M . u 306 Ro e . Niss , , lia, o t A c 2 245 279 280 301 Ru 300 0 3 1 . N r h fri a, , , , , , ssia, ,

3 10, 3 13, 3 14 , 3 15, 322, 329 . S e c me 67 223 228 addl s, a l, , , . O e 40 41 67 85 145 190 281 S or e t De ert 54 63 65 as s, , , , , , , , ahara, Gr a s , , , , — 284 285 315 317 322 . 77 85 86 1 3 , , , , , , , 7 , 189 , 193 207, — — O t al m 7 8 . 234 239 277 279 297 305 308 ph h ia, , , , , , , — Ottom n Em e 306 329 . 3 12 3 13 3 15 3 17 320 321 323 a pir , , , , , , , , — 333 339 , 342 , 350 . 0 m 29 5 — anther 3 5 . Si 2 76 9 3 P , la , , , . - m Paralos co ette 1 17 1 27 . S n to or e 199 [ rv ], , a d s r [gibli gibl h], ’ - P a i e 126 129 . 201 229 3 17 ar lysis, d v r s, , , firm n 5 266 e A o t a . S un . In u t o ct on. Passp r [ ], , a d rs, Mr r d i - - P on C ta n 324 . Sc el Sciut 28 1 1 1 181 313 av i, ap i , iara , , , , . e ce T e t of L u nne 325 Sc entific e e it on 309 P a r a y a sa , , i xp d i s, . — 326 328 329 . Sco ion 149 150 163 , , rp , , . eo e 8 16 44—45 61— 62 222 Senu 93— 94 202— 203 322 P pl , , , , , , si, , , . — — 2 Se o 28 . 234 278 281 28 . , ragli ,

Phil ad el hia . S . te Se adider a 3 10 3 11 . p , U friga , xxv, y y , , — S o 8 15 17 352 100 1 19 . . h ps, , , , S di n or un a i Hassa , Hass a Bash w,

nt 237 282 283 . 277 3 13 344 . Pla s, , , ,

l of 4 . teau 4 . S a u Pla s, idr , G f , — iren . . 1 9 0 S . S S 1 2 . Poet 22 23 . ry, , U , o u t on 15 173 281 333 S e 29— 30 52 54— 56 59 63 P p la i , , , , . lav ry, , , , , , - P i one 328 . 65 69 88 170 202 203 r s rs, , , , , . — 34— P on 21 22 . Soc e 35 . ris s, ial lif ,

So oto 56 60 61 . k , , , m 304 R 340 341 So o . a . ilways, , ll , — - Som l n 35 1 n 190 295 296 337 339 350 . . Rai , , , , ali a d, - - o me Ga e 181 S e 309 . Rais M ha d wah j , , pi s, on e i 1 20— 14 S e 1 1 4 . 182 186 . 7 , p g d v rs, , m n 38 50 109 S on e 124 137 139 141 142 332 Ra ada , , , . p g s, , , , , , . 12 6 te t L eut . 1 . Red Sea 1 279 . S , , war , i ,

Red ed P 5 68 100 142 178 St eet 6 12 15 17 . j asha, , , , , r s, , , ,

1 9 6 0 Su an 10 52 6 1 94 174 35 1 . 7 26 269 278 3 8 . , , , , d , , , , , ,

Re on 27 33 3 19 321 325 326 Sue C n 300. ligi , , , , , , , z a al, k The Tue et 1 343 353 . Su 2 , , [ sday Mark ], , — 1 e t e 149 . 43 5 . R p il s, — — Resid entes 342 . Su 42 51 79 285 286 337. , ks, , , , - m n P 306 m F. Sul e . R e C o n ul Gen. W il y, s illia , i a asha, — Int o uct on 5 116 142 . Su e t t on 18 19 23 1 . r d i , , , p rs i i s, , [ 362 ] INDEX

T u 1 1 Tu e 4 294 297 302 306— 3 1 . 29 . aj ra, rk y, , , , , men 306 T Mr . 243 o e n t 324 325 te . . a , , G v r , , , — T t on 36 38 40 55 59 60 62 3 10 3 1 1 . axa i , , , , , , , Navy, , T o e enc f 32 78 259 294 340 . e o 2 . , , , rip li d f s , - Te u r T u 80 350. T o o c of 3 10 3 1 o 3 . b s, ibb s, , rip li p li y , T oo in Te e 323 . T o of 306 3 14 l graph, r ps rip li , , , — — — — Th e n 17 18 26 27 30 3 1 46 320 322 3 26 . i vi g, , , , , — — T 47 187 188 198 199 204 234 oun ur t 306 . , , , , , Y g k par y, — A m an 250 252 260 . Tu d C u 19 , rkish r y Navy l b, , T m u t 7 292 20 125 24 2 98— 99 326 u 7 . 2 2 346 i b k , , , , , , , , — To u 303 0 352 . 3 5 320. br k Bay, , — T e cent e 61 63 1 74 195 . Tu e il e 21 . rad r s, , , rkish x s, T n o t t on 1 0 42—43 61 Tu 1 1 45 240— 241 244 265 ra sp r a i , , , , rks, , , , , , 50- 1 6 — 1 51, 3 1 , 3 17, 351 , 352 . 270, 272, 273 275, 29 1 , 299 , 306, T A 0 — — e nce 3 1 303 305 . 3 12 3 19 323 345 . ripl llia , , , , T e En en e 30 305 . C cte of 324 32 t t 4 5 . ripl , , hara r , , T o to of to c rip li, His ry , His ri al

ote . N n te St te 335 348 . U i d a s, xxv, xxvi, , A at 4 . rrival , o f 3 10— 31 c e o 2 . Bl kad , n Va dals, xxiv . C é of 318 . af s , Vi nabl es ’ W ' H ! 1 15 ° C t of 1 — 51 173 285 297 i y , , , , , V1 ers 149 . p , 309

C cte of count 145 hara r ry, , W e 165 335 333 334 ag s, , , , - - W te con e t on, 286 288, 295, 337 340 , a r s rva i

296 345 350 ~ Con t on of c f , , t o Oct . 3 di i i y , , — — — We on , 62, 89 90, 95 97, 98, 99, 1911 298 299 . ap s , — 247 249 250 257 272 . De ence of 3 1 , , , 2 . f s , We 5— 6 35 40- 4 1 236 286 m n , , , , , Gov ern e t of 302 . lls ,

938 337 . o of 101 120 121— 123 , Harb r , , , , m 2 283 33 W ni 28 . , , , 7 299 348 349 . ld a als , , i ds See S n - to m O of 181 1 82 a d s r asis , , , a Wl l ‘el eSS 3 1 1 P f 1 , c o 2 4 . ashali , , , W ec s 101 1 15 121— 122 31 1 War in o of , , , , , 302 . r k asis , 348 T o n c t c e 3 19 333 342 . rip li a hara t r, , , T o t n i 1 2 4 294 297 rip li a ia, xxii , , , , , , 0 m 302 303 305 306 e en 320 . , , , . Y , u e or u e a 104 Anne t on of 309 . [ , 28, xa i , Y ss f Y s f] Bash w , - Tu e 43 62 64 77 99 282 108, 109 . ar gs, , , , , , 287 88 , 2 , 29 1 , 350 . Tun 193 Z t e 24 1 277 . is, ab i , , Tun l 4 61 148 292 Z n e 64 isia, xxiii, , , , , , i d r, . 296 302 323 334 336 2 350 Zo . A 34 . u u te 14 . , , , , , , lia, M g s ,

[ 3 63 ]