The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-10-12
The Tunisian Embassy.

In view of the visit of a Tunisian en-
bassy to the United States, q few facts
i'm regard to their country will not be
amiss. Tunis is one Of the Barbary
States, situated OH the Mediterranean
coast Of Africa. 1t has an area of 72,OOO
square miles, with population OF two
or two and half millions, of whom
about $50, 900 reside in the city Of Tunis.
The Government Is Mussulman, yet
liberal. All sects enjoy a perfect tolera-
ton. The Bey and all his chief officers
have but one wife each, and divorces are
discouraged and discountenanced. The
city is situated almost on the site of an
cient Carthage, and scattered over the
country are many iteresting relies and
ruins of ancient cities, among which
may be mentioned the city of Carthage;
Utica, celebrated as the place where
Scipio died; Hydrementum, where
Caesar landed and attacked the forces OF
Scipio. Jugurtha, it is said, resided i'll
the immediate vicinity of Tunis.-
Among other remains of ancient Car
thage still to be seen are immense els
terms, which are ut least two thousand
three hundred years old, and are to this
day in such good state Of preservation
| as to be used for their original purpose.
Piracy was abolished in 1915, andslavery
in 1916. The soil is very fertile. The
principal vegetable products are wheat,
maize, barley, millet, olives, dates,
grapes, &C., all of which come to perfec-
ton with little care OIL the part OF the
cultivators. Cotton and indigo have re
Gently been introduced, and opium and
tobacco are grown in small quantities.
Copper, lead, silver, and salt abound in
great abundance, and recently a quick
silver mine has been found. The Gov
eminent is nominally subservient to
Turkey, but is in reality quite indepen-
dent, with standing army OF twenty
five thousand men and fleet of thirty
gunboats.
MoHAMMEDANIsM-ITs TENETs.
Mohammedanism as the term indi-
Gates, was founded by certain Mahom-
ct. He was born at Mecca, in $40, and
endured considerable privations in his
early DAYS, his family being poor. His
parents died when he was yet a child,
and he was taken charge of by an uncle.
Having attained his twenty-fifth year
he made the acquaintance of a young
man who had maiden auntof probably
forty summers, at least so she said her
self. She had money, he had none 81
they were married, and the newly-madt
husband retired from public life; he had
been shepherd, and prepared himself
to live happily on his wife's income.
Not having anything else to do, ne
| thought he might, after the manner OF
: the modern spiritualists, receive commu.
nications from the spirit world, and II
was so. Hewas taken with commissions,
in the course Of which the Angel Gabriel
appeared to him and recited the cele-
| A.c&oJ Korav, Tl,so hCO1x Ia n tho Me-
hommedans what the Bible 10 to thu
Christian. At first he could only ge
!, his wife to believe him, but after SOM
, time several of his relatives became con
, verts to him. While preaching his doc
, trines he met with considerable persecu
,, ton. Several times he had to fee 10
his life; but the more the doctrines wer
opposed 30 much more were they believes
in. In 622, plot having been made 7
assassinate him, he fed, and from tn
: commencement of his flight the heglr
dates. During the first years of the ne
gira the number of converts that Ma
Romet received were large. He bull
several mosques, and finally had SO man.
followers that he proclaimed war agains
his enemies. In almost all his battle
he was successful, so that he began to b.
, feared, and in the ninth year of the he
gira he conquered Mecca. This estab
lished the new religion in Arabia
whence it spread far and wide. In tn
following year he died.
The followers of the Mob ammedal
creed do not call themselves by tina
title. They call their creed Isldn,
which means "full submission to God,
and choose for themselves the nam
Moslem, or "the people of the Islam.
This term has since been perverted int
Mussulmans. The religion is strang'
ism. BY heathanism 1t must not be in
ferred that we mean idolatry. God il
worshipped by the MOslems, but in
different way from that in which we
as Christians, acknowledge Him. The
Mohammedans do not lay claim to any
3 regular confessions of faith, except the
one "There is no God but God, ant
Mohammed is His prophet" He Is ONT
snirit,ial eternal-the attributes of wis
dom, omnipotence and mercy. TIN
X oran is His word. The account in tn
X oran of the creation greatly resemble
that in the Old Testament. OF the pro
I phets, Adam, they say, was the firstan'
Y Mohammed the last. The dead are sub
t iected by the angels Munkie and MAXI
P to an examination, which is followed b.
a an examination by God himself. The.
:, hold there is a heaven and a hell, an
u that a bridge as thin as hair over IN
It latter has to be crossed before enterin
the former. The devil they style Eblis
= He. they say, was condemned to daatf
|. hut his sentence deferred for executio
'e till the final resurrection.
d MANNER OF WORSHIP.
Every Moslem is bound to offer u
T. PRAYER or rather repeat passages frol
D. the Koran five times day-at ia!
a break, at noon, in the afternoon, at SUI
4 set. and one and quarter hour after
,e Tn every town the faithful, as they al
termed, are invited to prayers by u
public cryer, or muezzin, whose cal
contain short passages of the Koral
4 &c. In the morning he adds to b
n general cry the wholesome exhortatiol
"a 3 PRAYER is better than Sleep" Frida,
Or as has been stated, is the Mohmameda
M Sabbath. The eating OF pork is TO
hidden, as with the Jews the same
the case with the drinking of win
-, The Mussulman may perform
-, PRAYERS in a house every day but Fl
~ day. when he must go to the mosque.
az These are few of the principal Law
y, Nv relating to the religion OF the Mosler
y, Each country, of course, has its pee
ee liarities, and in Tunis the practice
the religion is not quite so strict as ell
where.
Officers of the United States Cove