The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-01-01

this paper, md Will be my object to
hunt out the new, the wild and the
| TRANCE.
The Morocco Complications.
In these letters / hope to give a live
picture Of the Africa Of today. The
black continent is rapidly changing.
Dead for ages, it is 10Y one Of the
news centers Of the globe. Big things
are going on in all parts of it, and the
conditions as they exist today are not
to be found in any Of the books or
magazines of the past. My first letters
viii be from Morocco. That country
is IN such a wild and unsettled state
Just now that | do not eXpec to get
far inland. The Berbers are on the
edge of a revolution, the sultan cannot
control his people. and briSand chiefs
men il I%eaisuli, who kidnapped
PedicariS-are in control. / shall go
from Gibraltar across to Tangier. This
is the chief port of the country, where
the foreign ministers and cOnsuls live,
and the news center for all matters
relating to the Moors and the foreign
ers. RaiSuli is operating near there,
and / shall be able TO give live pictures
of the situation as it is today. I shall
write a letter about the young sultan,
who is one of the most e~xtraVagant
rulers on earth, although his people
are among the poorest, and shall tell
you about his harcnl and his slave girls
and wives. L shall rave also a story
about Uncle sam in Morocco, showing
the queer features Of Moorish business
and trade and how our goods can be
sold there. l will describe the extor-
tons of the government and at the
same time give live pictures Of the tur-
bulent people.
In African France.
Leaving Morocco [ shall next make
my way eastward into the great
Erench colonies. france has more
and in Africa than almost any other
European power She owns something
like four million square miles, or
more than one-third of the continent
A part of this extends from Morocco
clear along the Mediterranean to the
Libyan desert. 1t embraces Algeria
and Tunisia, lands which for ages
were the ~granaries of the world; they
fed the PhOenicians and the Romans
and are now feeding the French.
France has had control Of these
kapAlElG@svf just about tnree-auarters
ofTd cef4ury, and she las there shown
what She can do in the way Of cOloni-
zaflon. / understand that Algeria has
excellent roads and that I shall be able
to get to almost any part Of it by
train or by carriage. l want to visit
the famous ruins of North Africa to
tell you how old Carthage looks today
and to get down to q ruined city, as
old as Pompeii, which the French are
now digging out of the sands of the
Sahara. That city is Timgad. 1t was
twice as large as Pompeii and It's ruins
are IN many reSpectS far more Won
Gerful.
In the Sahara.
One would naturally think that the
desert of Sahara could never change.
Ihat vast region of sand and rock,
3araer thar the whole Uritcd states
Woul appear to be unalterable-for-
ever deserted, and forever dead. This
&c ~o+ ~ >~~n NJ e
the Sahara is now Under the control
Of France. It's GASES are being in
creased by means of arteSian wells.
Roads and railroads are being built
into it. and it has become accessible
as never before. The French have es-
tablished a large number of military
stations in it, and they lave o a
camel police, which protects the cara
van tracks. I shall first go down into
this desert on the edge of Morocco,
where the nger are now greatest.
and later shall visit the GASES there,
and those Of the regions farther east.
After l leave the Sahara I will de-
scibe desert life in Tripoli, in tho des-
ert of Libya, and also in the great
Arabian desert which lies east of the
Nile. In the GASES I hope to visit the
date plantations, which furnish the
chief food of these arid regions, and
to show how they are now being in
creased by the new means Of French
irrigation.
The Sultan in North Africa.
Turkey still has some possessions
in North Africa, although Egypt has
been gobbled up by the British. Trip
oil is still untouched and it is the
most Mohemmedan of Mohammedan
lands. 1t is about ten times as big as
the State of New York, and its CAPT
tai is the chief center of the araVan
trade of the Libyan desert and q town
81 49, A Yn i iorh tc 1Nnn1sn orn n
casional boats going there from NAL
ia. and [ shall be able to visit it. /
am not sure that I will not be able to
reach it from Tunis by the coasting
! steamers which go along the Gulf OF
| Gabes. visiting such little towns as
| Sousee and Sfax. If I do this I shall
be able to explore kairOuan, the holy
city of North Africa. This is a place
to which theqpjjpjpjp jp jp jppppJpp
| grimages just as they do to Mecca and
Medina in Arabia. It IS Impossible
for strangers to enter Mecca, but |
understand that n can see Kairouan
and that without an armed guard.
Travels in Egypt.
I expect to find many new things in
the land of the Nile. Egypt is now
under the control OF the British and
the country is booming. Irrigation
projects involving millions are under
way, schOols are being established
new railroads are building. and, for
the first time since the days of the
Pharaohs the F'allaheen are having
an honest government and moderate
taxation. The cotton lands are being
rapidly increased and plantations are
being set out by an American capital
ist far up the Nile valley on the edge
of Abyssinia. I expect to visit these
plantations and to tell all about how
cotton is raised by the Egyptians.
understand that they have now abou
q million and a half acres planted tt
fl hat crop and that their cotton is bet