The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-07-31
AN AFRICAN METROPOLIS
AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE CITY
 OF TUNIS,
Oriental Bazaars at Their Best, or WOrst-Where the Author of "Home Sweet Homen Was Buried.

WOTbL-w here the authOT Ol
 Sweet Home" Was Buried.
 Especial Correspondence of the Journal
 and Courier)
 Tunis, June 23d, 1901.
 This busy metropolis, with its inn
 mense home trade and foreign com
 merce, it's motly population of nearly
 two hundred thousand, and it's swarm
 ing bazaars in which everything un-
 der the sun is exposed for sale in the
 open street, presents series of sur
 prises to the stranger. Like most Ori-
 ental towns, "'Tis distance lends en-
 chantment to the view" Seen from
 the Gulf of Tunis ten miles away as
 the crow flies, and sixteen by the rail-
 way-it is a veritable, dream city,
 With battlements high in the hush of
 the air and the turrets thereon"; it's
 white houses rising in tiers with a
 background of dark hills and olive groves. To the southward, a broad and
 fertile plain, cultivated to the utmost
 with wheat, corn, cotton and tobacco,
 stretches to bold range of mountains;
 and close by, on either hand, glsten
 the waters of the great salt lagoons,
 between which the city stands on it's marrow isthmus.
 The Tunis of other days had a cir
 cumferance of about five miles, encos-
 ed within double walls, the outer ram- parts pierced by four imposing gates;
 the inner walls, which were very high and massive, by six gates. The greater portion of these ancient defences long since disappeared, The Marine Gate stands all by itself-a lofty and pie turesque landmark, but of no possible use, since the walls on both sides, which once gave it raison d'etre." The other gates, grim monuments of the past, are the Bab el Abd-es- Salem, Bab el Hathers, and Bab es Sadjen, towards the Bardo Palace, which is the present seat of government, two miles from the city proper; the Bab Sidi Adulla, under the citadel; the Bab sid Alewa, on the road to Zaghouan; and the Bab es-Soueka, on the coast road. All these gates are guarded by soldiers, and one never wearies of watching the strange processions that are constantly filing through -them-camels, dromeda ries of the desert, donkeys laden from head to tail wonderfully caparisoned Arab chargers, Greeks, Turks, Moors, Nabians native Jews and Europeans, each in the peculiar costume of his na- tiOn. The narrow canal, cut across the strip of land which separates the Gulf of Tunis from Fl Bahira-the shallow lake on whose farther shore the city is situated-is commanded by strong castle and several detached batteries. lThere are also the three forts built in the time of Charles V.--Bord Manou- bia Bordj Filfila and Bordj er-Rebta the latter an extraordinary specimen sof mediaeval military architecture The twinN Nhills back of the town are each crowned with the fortress-that of Sidi bel Hassan being the oldest and quaintest, and therefore most interest ing although modern munitions of war fsfc~would no doubt knock it to pieces Ike an egg-shell. The other hill, called 'Belvedere, was the first position occu- pied by the French troops in 1881, and | the remains of their intrenched camp on the summit are still distinctly visi- | ble from a considerable distance.
 The streets of Tuns are mostly mar row, irregular and excessively dirty | and the houses of dull exterior, inter- spersed by handsome mosques and | RdldCcS Ol DdIdCtIllC dlCullGCluIe, lIIp | city is divided into quarters, distinct | and separate, occupied by the respec- l tive nationalities that comprise it's opulation-Italians, Maltese, Greeks, | French, Moors, Arabs, Turks, Berbers and Nabians, numerically in the order named, fully one-f1fth of the whole number being native Jews The Flu rcpeans live at the southeast end, 'where the streets are wider, cleaner and better paved, and the whole aspect l of things more modern. The Palace of | the Bey, with its beautiful marble courts and galleries is not more inter- esting than the ordinary Moorish houses with their prison-like exteriors Each covers a large space, being built around a quadrangle, in the center of which is a small fish pond, or fountain. To visit the Castle of Bardo a permit is necessary, which the traveller can obtain only through his consulate. The European quarter, between the Marine Gate and the lagoon, is rapidly taking on a too cosmopolitan air. Its one wide avenue is bordered by stately houses, including the French Resden- cy, the principal hotels of Tunis, the Roman aCtholic cathedral, several banks, club houses and the inevitable cafes From this avenue wide streets are gradually branching off in all di- rections. One of these leads to a fine market place. which reminds one oddly of the Fulton Market in New York-ex- cept in the latter place dromedaries are not seen, nor women wrapped from head to foot in white sheets, like stage ghosts! Another street leads to lovely public garden, which the Italian railway company has recently laid out Just north of this European quarter, the Maltese are congregated in num- bers so great that their habitat has come to be known as Malta esSegheira I or Little Malta" They are said to be the quetest and most industrious peo- ole of the province, always working hard and living frugaly, with the one end in view-of getting rich enough to '. go home to their native island The over part of the city and the fau- oourgs nearest to it are given over to Christians and Jews; the upper DOT : ion being reserved exclusively for the population. This Mos ! em quarter is built in the form of an | crowned by the Kaska The square in front of it named Somk | -I Islam, contains the Pey's palace | tvrp hon af cho l [