The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-14

Tripol ' WRITE these notes in the city of Tri-
 poll. II is the capital of Barbary, 1 that vast country of oases and desert. lying between Tunisaia and Egypt on the Mediterranean sea. l came here from Sfax passing around the Gulf of Gabes md slirting the desert of Libya the great CT part of the way. our boat was little Italian steamer which sails frob Genoa to Tunis and then goes on around to Tripoli and back 10 Naples via Sicily and Malta. We came to anchor in the harb9r this morning, and were brought to the shore by boatmen as fierce looking as the pirates who fought here against our American sailors 1o0 years ago
 It was in the harbor of Tripoli that Uncle Sam had his first great naval en- eagement, after the conclusion of the war which made him independent of Great Britain. This town was then great piratical stronghold. It levied it's tribute on all the ships of the Mediterranean, and It's soldiers not infrequeni1y captured Christians and either held them for ran som or kept them in slavery. They had committed outrages upon our shipping during the last days of John Adams uresidency and 1t was in 1901 that We formally declared war and sent Gommo- dore Decatur across the Atlantic and over the Mediterranean to punish the pl rates. Decatur recaptured and burnt the American frlgate Philadelphia in the haf- bor here in February, 1894, and We then taught these semi-saVages that although they might take their toll from the nl- tions of Europe our own little republic across the Atlantic must be left alone.
 1t Belongs to the Sultan.
 This land of Barbary now belongs to the Sultan of Turkey. It has a governor general appointed by him. and there is an army of 10000 soldiers in the barracks on the edge of the city which he has sent To keen order. The country is so large that the army can police little more than Iri- polt itself and the result is that every man who goes into the desert earfles gun with him. and that all the caravans must have their armed escorts Neary every one who comes in from tlle lhterlof has a gun strapped to his back. During tourney which l have made to one of the oases, l met many men so armed, ana ar told that the country is everywhere unsafe
 TripoH si for the most part nothing but Eand 1t is as long as from New 1ofk to Detroit as wide as from Philadeiphia 10 Buffalo. and it contains altogether an area ten times that of the state of ohio. The only cultivated portions are mar row strip of land along the Mediterra- mean sea and the oases, which are found Hcattered here and there through the Desert of Libya. The population is seahty. If numbers altogether not more than million or about half as many as there arc in Chicago, and these are made Up o1 wild Arab tribes. many of which are at war with each other.
 The foreign trade of the country IS with the Soudan and Europe. Tripoli lies directly north of Lake Chad, and it is the rhlef starting place for the caravans which cross the Sahara. There are half a dozen routes over the desert from here 10 the rich lands of Central Africa, and great deal of ivory, ostrich feathers and skins are brought to Tripoli camels from those countries. The trip takes several months and the caravans often