Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-01
Copyright. 1907. by Frank C. CarpenterJ

Copyright. 1907. by Frank G. Carpenter.)
TUNIS.
Take a seat upon one of the magic car
pets OF the Arabian Nights and fly across
the Atlantic ocean and over the Mediter-
ranean to the shores of North Africa. D-
rect your genii to set you down beside me
on the top of the Kasbah IN this snow
white city of Tunis, and let travel to-
gether through this. one of the oldest
populations of the oriental world. Before
we start cast your eyes over the vast ex-
panse of buildings below you. We are
high above the city and 1t stretches about
on all sides. looking like great blocks of
ice with here and there the white dome OF
marabOut or Mahommedan saint and the
square marble-faced towers of a mosque
rising above them. That reddish brown
section Of buildings, 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 built to bring the
great ocean steamers right up TO the town.
There are blue mountains right
with whit buildings upon them; and away
on at the left over the lake we see the
snowy houses Of Sidi Bou Said and the
white cathedral which marks the site where
old Carthage once stood. That was mighty
city more than twenty-five centuries ago.
but this town, above which we are stand
u,
and it throve until 1t was supplanted by It's
Phoenician rival.
Cosmopolitan Tunis.
The Tunis Of today is rapidly growing.
and II is now one of the most cosmopolitan
towns Of the world. 1t contains. with its
suburbs. In the neighborhood of th-se hun
dred thousand souls. 1t has something like
fifty thousand Italians; II has fifty thou
sand Jews. far different in costume and APP
pearance from the Israe!ites OF our coun-
try: and also thousands of Maltese, SC!l-
fans and Spaniards. Its French are some
what fewer than the Italians. but they in
Clude large garrison of soldiers, dressed
In gay uniforms, who form striking figures
wherever they so.
The most important part OF the Tunisian
population is the Mohammedan ele
ment This numbers 40 least one hun
the chief inhabitants OF old Tunis.
the great snowy town under
feet. They are orientals of the Orientals.
and they live in a world of their own. They
do not like Christians and tolerate only
because they must. Their town is shut off
from the rest OF the city by an enormous
wall. and the French rule IS such that they
allowed to have their own customs and
do about as they please One dare not
enter any one OF the hundred old mosques
where they go daily for prayers; he must
not visit their schools. and he who would
attempt TO go into one OF their houses
without permission might be killed, and
doubt II the French would object
have visited most OF the great cities OF
the oriental world: have Travelled through
India, Turkey and Egypt. and l have yet
10 find n section so strictly eastern as the
streets OF old Tunis. They are narrow
and winding. H. some of them YOU can
touch the walls on both sides. and others
are so narrow that the fat Tunlsian Jewess-
es have 10 suck In their breath in order
10 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 field glass would
not enable one to look in. They are also
covered with meshes so small that a lead
pencil would not go through them. The
doors are Kept closed. and outside the bust
ness section there are nothing but blank
white walls on both sides Many of the
houses are built over the Streets and one
goes through vaulted passages from one
part Of the town TO the other.
In the Bazaars.
But let US step down into the city and see
for ourselves. We shah spend most OF the
time In the bazaars. They are stranger
t--u those Of Constantinople or Cairo and
Of greater extent than the bazaars Of Da-
uasCus or Fee. There is an entrance right
near the kasbah and a three minutes walk
viii take US out of the sun and into
mammoth cave far stranger than that OF
Kentucky This Tunisian cave is composed
of a labyrinth of covered passageways lined
with stores and filled with Arabs buying
and selling We shall meet all the char
acters Of the Arab ian Nights and shall see
them doing business in the same way as in
the past. The streets of the bazaars are 50
rooted that they look like mighty vaults
extending on and until the eye Is lost
IN following them. The roofs are of stone.
only by grated holes which have been cut