The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-06-02
PERFUMES WORTH
WEIGHT IN GOLD
Facts About the Habous, or the
Great Arabian Trust-Casino,
Where Audience CANDLES
Between Acts-strange
Customs Of an In
teresting People.
BY FRANK c. CARPENTER.


carpets of the Arabian Nights and ny
acrosa tho Atlantic ocean and over the
mediterranean 10 the shores OF North
Africa Direct your GENT to set you
down beside me on the top OF the has-
bah, in this snow white city of Tunis.
snd let US travel together through
this one OF the oldest populations OF
the oriental world. Before wc start
cast your eyes over the vast expanse
OF buildings below you. We are hgh
above tho city and 1t stretches about
on all sides. looking like great blocks
of ice, with here and there the white
dome of inarabout or Mohammcdan
saint. aud the square marbie-f faced
towers Of n mosque rising above them.
That reddish-h brown section OF build
ings. lying beyond on the edge OF the
water. is the new French quarter: and
that wide. glossy avenue, running
across Lake Tunis. is the canal which
has been recently hunt to bring the
great ocean steamers right up to tho
town. There are blue mountains on
our right with white buildings upon
them. and away off at the left over
the lake we see the snowy housaG of
Sidi Bou Said and the white cathedral
which marks the site where old
Carthage once stood. That was a
mighty city more than twenty five cen
turtles ago, but this town, above which
We arc standing, was founded even
before Carthage. and II throve until ii
was suppIanted by It's Phoenician rival
Cosmopolitan Tnnis.
The Tunis of today is rapidly grow
ing and 1t is now one OF the most
cosmopolitan towns OF the world. II
contains. with it's suburbs. in the
neIghborhood OF 80 hundred thou
sand souls 1t has something like fifty
thousand Italians; it has fifty thousand
Jews. far different in costume and APP
pearancc from the lsraelites of our
country; and also thousands of Nal
tese. Siclians and Spaniards. Its
French are somewhat fewer than the
Italians. but they include large gar
lison of soldiers. dressed in gay unit
forms, who form striking figures wher-
ever they go.
The most important part of the 1'u-
nissan population Is the Alohammedan
element This numbers ut least one
hundred thousand, and Its members
form the chief inhabitants of old Tunls,
the great snowy town under our feet.
'rhey are orientals of tho orientals.
and they live in a world of their own
They do not like Christians and tole-
rate us only because they must. Their
town is shut off from tho rest OF the
city y an enormous wall. and the
French rule is such that they are
allowed to have their own customs and
do about as they please. Ono dare
not enter any one of the hundred old
mosques, where they go daily for pray
ors he must no. visit their schools,
and he who would attempt to go into
one of their houses without permission
might be killed and I doubt If the
French would object
have visited most of the great
cities of the oriental world: ] have
travelled through India, Turkey and
Egypt, and T have yet to find a sec
tion so strictly eastern as the streets
of old Tunis They are narrow and
winding. In some OF them you can
touch the walls on both sides, and
others arc so narrow that the fat Tu-
nisian Jowcsses have to suck in their
breath In order to pass. The white
houses which wall these streets are
almost without windows. and the few
windows which exist are so high up
above the street that a field glass
would not enable one to look In. They
nre also covered with meshes so small
that a lead pencil would not go
through them The doors are kept
closed and outside the business sec
zion there are nothing but blank white
walls on both sides. Many of the
houses are built over the streets. and
ono goes through vaulted passages
from ono part of the town to the
pther.
In the Raznnrs.
But let us step down into the city
and see for ourselves. We shall spend
most of the time In the bazaars, They
are stranger than those of Constants
nople or Cairo and of greater extent
than the bazaars of Damascus or Fee.
| There is an entrance right near the
kasbah and a. three minutes walk Will
take us out Of tho sun and into mann
| moth cave. far stranger than that OF
Kentucky
This Tunisian cave is composed of a
labyrinth OF covered passageways
| lin ed with stores and filled with Arabs
buying and selling We shall meet all
the characters Of tho Arabian Nights
nnd shall hee them doing business IN
the samo way as In the past. The
streets of the bazaars are SO rooted
that they look like mighty vaults eX-
tending on and on until tho eye Is
lost in following them. Tho roofs
arc of stone, coated with whltewash
These are lighted only by grated holes
which have been cut here and there
through the roof, but the sun is sc
bright that there is plenty of light
and tho white roof itself shines like
the stalactites of the cave of Luray
Some OF the passageways are roofet
With boards. They remind one of tn
old covered bridges of Venice or Flor
ence, which had shops upon them
save that the Tunisian bazaars extent
for long distances and their shops ART
like nothing to he found outside the
orient. In addition, there are smaller
- II 3 4