Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-07-20
II I'll NJ
- nIpotl i90I--I haye lpNI &C y.

>~ RIPOLI 1901 have JUST re-
nirncS fson Meehia. the great
oasis which lies on the edge OF
tlbyan desert. east Of Tripoii. it
eocss Tho Mediterranean and Is an vs.
land Of green on the edge Of tAls misu'S
ocean OF sand. 1t contains more tnnn
million date palms, fully as Inaiy oiiFe
trees and vast groves OF oranges ana
lenous The oasis 81 cue UP - t7ads
much like the streets OF q city Each
little farm has walls six or clshs iest
high. and everywhere arc 60 be sen the
tal framework OF the wells by which
the land IS irrigated. The motive pow
err for raising the water Is COWS. cninelB'
monkeys aud women. In many piaces
tunnels or long inclined dltches. DC
ginning at the wells ana sloping DOWN
ward for several hundred feet. have
been dug. and in these az tracks the
Govt, monkey camel or woman trots up
and down. drawing the rope running
over wheel on the top OF the frame
work. which raises the water. AZ the
end of the rope is a hugh bag OF SKIN
open at both ends. This Is dropped IN
10 the well. and, when II fills, the lower
end Is pulled MP, thus forming q closed
bottom, and the whole Is dragged high
up into the air. The bottom is now re-
leased. and the water pours out into q
trough. which carries II OF into q reser-
voir. One OF these buckets Will hold
about 20 gallons: and MS the work goes
on all day. the supply raised Is enor-
nous.
During my stay | visited some Of the
gardens. They are OF all sizes, and are
beautifully kept. One I remember was
cut by cement conduits- running along
on the top of the ground. so arranged
that every little tract could be irrigated
MT VIII. Under the rich orange groves
beds OF beautiful flowers were TO be
seen here and there. and In most places
three crops were growing on the same
SOL. over the whole, rose date palms.
with their ragged trunks, their wide
branchcd fan-like leaves quivcring In
the breeze and their yellow fruit shin
ing like gold under the sun. the trees
below with oranges. pale yellow lemons,
Naming pomegranates and even Win
peaches and pears. on the ground
itself vegetables were growing, and |
saw even alfalfa and grain of different
kinds, This garden was In the charge
Of Bedouin and several of his wives
The women were boiling dates IN a pot,
about the size of an apple butter ket-
tie. over a fire, out in the open. don't
know whether they were making date
butter or date honey, or whether they
were merely cooking dates. for sale In
the markets. The women were loaded
with jewelry / bribed one with franc.
and she let me take photograph, the
others were more bashful. and they
wrapped themselves up in their shawls
whenever the camera was pointed their
way.
THE GASES OF BARBARY.
The GASES OF Tripolitana. or Barbary.
as 1t Is often called, contain practically
It's whole population. They are scat
tered over territory one-ninth as
large MS the United states, and they
have altogether about one million peo-
pie. A large number Of them, such as
Mechla, are found along the shores OF
the Mediterranean; others are further
south in the desert, I'm great depres
sion known as the Fezzah, and In adj
dition there are others In the beds Of
dry rivers. where the water supply
comes from springs or artesian wells.
There are caravan routes leading from
Tripoli TO all these cases. and also
routes crossing the desert to the Soudan
from oasis to oasis.
TrIpol is, in fact the commercial me-
tropois of the eastern Sahara. 1t lies
almost directly north of Lake Chad and
It's routes across the deseret are the
shortest; although by no means the
safest. The roads over the Sahara lead
not only to Lake Chad, but also TO
Tuat and Timbuktu. so that Tripoli
gets much of the trade of the French
Sahara as well
The French decidedly object to this,
and they are now making special In
ducements for the caravans to land
their wares at Gabes in southern Tun-
isIa. They have policed the Sahara
with their camel soldiers. and are now
sending escorts with such of the cara
vans as pass that way. So far they
have not created the reauisite market
at Gnbes. and within the past few