St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-08

the great attraction" for the Moham-
medans
There was formerly on the African CONT
nent race of Djins. Under the name of
Bou-Chebris, these Djins occupied vast
territory situated on the borders of the des-
ert of Hammada; between Tripoli and the
kingdom of Fezzan. They were power
full people, fearless and feared. They were
unjust, perfidious, aggressive, inhuman. and
no African monarch had been able to sup
press them.
There came day when the prophet
Suleyman attempted, not to attack, but to
convert these Djins. And with this object
he sent one of his apostles to preach to them
the love of good and the hatred of evil.
Vain effort! The ferocous horde seized the
missionary and put him to death. The
Djins showed so much audacity because
their country was isolated and difficult of
access, and they knew that no neighboring
! ruler would dare to venture there with his
armies. Besides, they thought that no
messenger would carry to the prophet Suley-
man the news of what they had done to his
| apostle. They were mistaken.
| In The country were a great number of
| stOrks. AS we know, storks are birds of
good manners, of unusual intelligence, and
above all things of great common sense, for
| the legend affirms that they never inhabit a
, country the name of which appears on
piece of mOney-for money is the source of
all wckedness and the great power that
draws all men to the abyss of their evil pas
sionS.
These storks. then. seeing the perverse
| way in which the Djins lived, mustered one
day in deliberative assembly. and decided to
dispatch one of their number to the prophet
Suleyman, so as to procure his just ven
geance on the missionary assasslns.
And so the prophet called the hoopoe, his
favorite courier, and ordered him to collect in
the upper zones of the African sky all the
stOrks of the earth. This was done, and
when the innumerable fiocks of these birds
were gathered before the prophet SuleyInan
the legend says they formed a cloud which
put in shadow all the land between Media
and Mourzouk.
Then each one, taking stone in its beak,
| flew towards the country of the Djins. And
| from above they stoned to death the I'M
| happy race whose souls are now imprisoned
| for all eternity in the desert of Hammada.
| Such is the fable which has given rise to
the festival of the day. Many hundreds of
| stOrks have been got together under huge
nets stretched over the surface of the plain
| of Soung- Etteate. And there, for the most
part standing on one leg, they waited for
| the hour of their deliverance, and the click
| ing of their beaks caused sound in the air
as of the beating of tambourine. At the
given signal they would be set free to fly
off, dropping harmless stones of clay among
the crowd of the faithful, amid the cheers
of the spectators. the uproar OF the instru-
ments. the reports Of the musketry, and the
light from the torches with colored flames.
| Pescade knew the program of this festi-
val, and it was from it that he received the
suggestion as to the part he intended to
play, and by the aid of which he was to OBJ
tain admission to Sid Hazam's house.
| AS soon as the sun set gun from the
fortress of Tripoli gave the signal so impa-
tiently expected by the people on Soung-
Etteate. The doctor, Pierre. and Luigi
were at first almost deafened by the fright
ful noise which arose ON every side, and
were then nearly blinded by the thousands
of lights that sprang up all over the plain.
| When the gun was heard the crowd of
nomads were still busy at their evening
meal. Here the roast mutton. the pilaw of
| fowls for those who were Turks and wished
| it to be seen; there were the cous coussoh
for the Well-to-do Arabs; farther off a sim
| pie bazina, sort of barley-flour boiled in
| oil. for the poorer people, whose pockets
| contained more mahboubs of brass than
metals of gold; and everywhere the lag
| BY" the juice of the date-palm, which,
| when it is taken as an alcoholic beer, is pro-
| ductive of the worst excuses of intoXication.
A few minutes after the gun had been
| heard men, women, children, Turks, Arabs.
and negroes had finished their meal. The
| instruments of the barbaric orchestras neces-
sarily rejoiced in alarming sonorousness to
make themselves heard above the human
tumult. In places horsemen were leaping
about discharging their long guns and their
saddle pistols, while fireworks were thrown
about amid an uproar it would be impossible
| to describe.
Here in the torch-light to the rattling of
the wooden drum and the information of a
monotonous chant, negro chief. fantastic
| ally dressed, with rafting belt of bones.
and his face hidden beneath a diabolical
mask, was exciting to the dance some thirty
blacks, grimacing in circle of CONFUSION
| airy women who beat them with their hands.
| And these savage Aissassouas, in the last
stage of religious exaltation and alcoholic
| int0xication with froth ON their faces, and
| eyes from their orbits, were biting at
| wood. chewing iron, gashing their skins,
| juggling with live Goals, and wrapping them
selves with the long serpents which bite
| their hands, their cheeks, their lips, and
| like them devoured their blood.
But soon the crowd hurried with extra
! ordinary eagernesS to the house of Sidi
| Hazam. as though some. new spectacle had
attracted them.
Two men were there, one large the other
| small-tWo acrobats whose curious feats of
strength and agility amid quadruple row
| of spectators were calling forth the most
noisy cheers that could escape from Tripoli-
| tan threats.
| There were Point Pescade and Cape
Matifou. They had taken mp their stand
only few PAGES from Sidi HaZam's house.
Both on this occasion had resumed their
| characters as foreign artistes. With their
| dresse, devised out of Arab materials, they
| were again in quest OF success.
You have not got rusty?' Point Pescade
had previously asked Cape Matifou.
mol"
And you will not shrink from anything
| that may amuse the imbeciles?"
ME! Shrink
IF even you have to chew pebbles with
your teeth and swallow serpentsW
Cooked" asked Cape Matifou.
mo. raw?"
''Raw?"
''And living"
Cape Matifou made grimace, but if
necessary he resolved to eat snake like
simple Alssassou.
The doctor, Pierre, and Luigi mingled in
the crowd of spectators, and did not lose
sight of the two friends.
No! Cape Matifou was not rusty; he had
lost nothing of his prodigious strength. At
first the shoulders of five or six robust Arabs,
who had risked fall with him, were laid
ON the ground.
Then following the juggling, which aston
ished the Arabs. above all when the flaming
torches were launched from Pescade to