Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-04-28
,u..h,,a.nt n Mobammedan coun-

hang around nls uu"ao'io. eaA
some day form part OF the sacred
Koran itself. Besides ell this, here are
ostrich feathers (for which Irlpoll is
specially famous) from the great central
plain. SIENNA from the border OF OAR
four. dates and muskmelons from tez-
ian. embroidered girdles and saddle
cloths from Sokoto, oranges, piums,
apricots. and pomegranates from the
fertile uplands of the Mesheea, ana
other wares too many to name.
Through this chaos comes bursting as
recklessly as a Malay running "a-muck .
a wild figure almost wholly devoid OF
clothing. clutching q Moslem rosary IN
its bony hand, with its shaggy. black
hair tossing like name around face rs
hollow and fieshless as that OF a skele-
ton, in the sunken eyes of which burns
the sullen glare Of unmistakable insan-
ity. 1t is falatical "dervish OF the
desert, who either is or pretends to be
crazy, and thereby enjoys great
reputation for ssnctity among his
! fellow believers, who are almost
as prone to admire q fool as
the most civilized nations of Europe.
Fortunately, this excitable gentleman
passes too quickly to notice what would
otherwise heat his religious zeal to the
boiling point-viz., an opposition rosary
/ In the hands of brown-irocked monk
from Southern Italy, Who has come over
here to preach the doctrines OF the Cross
beneath the shadow OF the Crescent, and
possibly TO ascertain at the same time
| how the Tripolitans would be likely to
think and to act IN the event OF an Ital-
ian annexation Of their country-a pro
ject which is now rapidly assuming a
very definite shape indeed.
A little apart from this motley assem-
blage, and surveying it with q look OF
quiet professional contempt upon his
hard, stOlid, wooden-features. stands q
o tall, gaunt, wiry-Turkish soldier, who,
in his scarlet cap aud close-6tting uni
form of dark blue, looks very much
| like bottle OF wine with red seal
See how savagely the "sons OF the
desert" eye him from beneath their
black, scrawling brows, and with what a
murderous impulse their hands clutch
instinctively at their dagger hits for
here as in Arabia, Mesopotamia, and in
fact every other province OF the Otto
man empire, the Turk and the Arab, CO.
religionists though they are, hate each
other with perfect hatred.
But in this case their hostility goes no
further than frowns and muttered curses,
for these low, dark points that bristle
like the tops Of gigantic artichokes along
the crest of the ridge above us are the
tents OF Turkish camp, from which
would swarm out against them, at the
first call for help from this man who
stands alone in their midst with such
calm disdain, hundreds Of stalwart
grenadiers, as stout az those who faced
Skobeleff at Plevna and Shenoyo or
charged into the death fire of the Spi-
ka Pass with Suleiman Pasha. But
these staunch Osmanh warriors, nu-
merous and valiant though they
are, are not moro than enough to keep
down the turbulent inhabitants of this
wild region. Every man oil the motley
crowd gathered in the market-place to-
day has knife in his belt and long
gun upon his shoulder and well knows
how to use both. In fact, the strength
! of the Turkish garrisons maintained here
, is Of itself sufficient indication what the
/ Ottoman Government thinks Of the tenn
per of its Tripolitan yassals. Although
the province OF Tripoh has population
OF barely 10000 souls, the Turkish
troops quartered there number fully
5000 men OF all arms, proportion of
one soldier to every thirty inhabitants
As the Turkish grenadier moves Otto
ward his camp follow him In order to
have a look at it, and am agreeably sur
prised to find the orderly instinct of the
trained soldier predominating even over
! the ingrained carelessness and apathy Of
| the Oriental. Within the low earthen
breastwork that encircles 1t the tents
are ranged in symmetrical rows,
the arms are neatly piled and APP
parently in good condition, and Que
or two Of the officers quarters have even
tiny gardens around them, which are
very neatly and prettIly arranged
| Clothes, futtering ike pennons IN the
morning breeze along an outstretched
rope, show that these thrifty fellows are
able to do their own Washing, while the
gaping mouth of a well in each angle Of
the intrenchment from which three or
four sturday Osmanis are drawing
bucket after bucket OF water shows that
the greatest necessity OF African life has
been well cared for
Wells are in truth the most charac-
| tertistic features ofthis riyerlcss country.
Look where you will, you see in every
direction the two upright posts of white
washed stone or clay that mark the
wells mouth, and the wooden cross
piece from which the bucket hangs out
lined against the sky like a primeyal
| gallows. The very fields, with their
| high earthen embankments, form natu-
raj tanks, within which, thanks TO small
! trenches and tiny dams of earth few
| inches high, the whole surface IS cut
/ into miniature reservoirs (nOt unlike the
squares of huge chess-boad), in which
the torrent rains which fall at short in
| teryals from November till March are
retained and allowed TO sink into the
ground, instead of running to waste, As
in South Africa.
These embankments give quite Pc
culiar character TO the whole landscape
in these parts In following any local
road you find yourself from first to last
struggling along the bottom OF q very
deep dusty, tortuous ditch. shut IN by
huge banks of earth, crested with the
spiky shields of the terrible "prickly
pear" At times these banks are re-
placed by high, blank, white walls OF stone
or baked clay, from the top OF which
wolfsh Mohammedan dogs bark at every
passing Christian. What with the walls
and what with the banks you see as little
OF the surrounding country as if you
were in tunnel ; but in truth you have
quite enough to do in picking your way,
for ever and anon the whole breadth Of
the road is taken up by a nionstrous
puddle of half liquid mud Ga relic of the
winter rains), leaving tiny isthmus a
few inches broad between it and the wall.
Should you be unlucky enough to en-
counter at one of these critical points a
freighted camel or a file OF laden donkeys,
| IL ia Ekelv IN 90 hard with Won for