Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-27

called table dates These are delicious
when eaten fresh from the trees We
and served at breakfast with the coffee
and rolls They fat yellow date. as
sweet as sugar and plump as a prune
before 1t IS pressed.
The Gases of Tuat
Among the GASES fed by dried rivers
those of Tuat produce about the best
dates, although their product is not so
good as the dates of Tablet, which lies at
some distance from here in Morocco.
Tuat Is now controlled by the French
1t has Tuaregs on camels. under the en-
ing 1t to keep order, and it's people have
become peaceful and thriving.
1uat Is not one oasis only. 1t is COM
posed of five large groups of bases In the
very center of the Sahara comprising
three or four hundred petty states 1t is
scattered over region as big as Indiana
and 1t has altogether a population of 100, J
600 Arabs. Berbers and blacks The peo-
pie Of Tuat govern themselves much as
do those Of Figuig. Each oasis has its
own officers. and altogether they are a set
OF little republics with united council
over the whole. and all subject to the
control of the French.
Tuat produces opium tobacco and cotton
and some wheat and barley. A large part
OF its date crop is brought by caravans up
the valley of the Saoora by way of Igeli to
the railroad at this point and shipped from
here northward to Oran and thence to
Europe.
These GASES are a great center of the car
AVIAN trade. They lie about eight hundred
miles from Timbuktu in the Soudan and a
like distance from Mogador on the Atlantic
from Tangier opposite the Strait of Gibral-
tar and from TripOli on the Mediterranean
The French now trying to divert the
Irlpoli caravan trade to their Tunisian port
OF Gabes, the route to which is much
shorter.
A Great Morocco Oasis.
About the best. dates known to the world
come from Tablet, situated west of here In
Morocco. They are very large and sweet
and they are shipped in great quantities to
Europe as It'd bits for the holiday season.
TABLET, like Tuat, comprises a number of
separate GASES, having altogether three hun
dred fortified villages Its chief town Is
Abuam, which has the largest market of
the western Sahara. 1t is great caravan
center and it sends two immense caravans
every year TO Timbuktu, which lies almost
a thousand miles directly south of it. In
the past there was considerable trade be-
tween Tablet and F'guig, the dates coming
there and then going on to the north; but
this has now been diverted to BENZ Ounif
and Colomb Bechar to take advantage of
the cheaper railroad rates.
Inc people of Tablet are independent and
warlike; they are fanatical Mohammedans
to the Sultan Of Morocco. The governor of
the oasis Is said to be preaching holy war
and to be organizing raids to cross over
into Algeria and assault the French. The
Algerian papers are full Of the schemes of
these war preparations and the troops here
are preparing to give them a hot reception
A caravan was attacked by Tablet brigan
few days ago and an invasion seems i'm
mlnent Sooner or later the French will
have to take possession of Tablet or the
powers of Europe will have to control its
people. 1t has with it's surroundings pop-
ulation Of more than a million and It's peo-
pie are about the worst in Morocco. The
family of the Sultan comes from that re-
gion and the Taflettes have a great in
nuence over all parts of Morocco.
Inc GASES there are due to several causes.
L understand they have both springs and
wells, and that the southern portions of the
country are watered by underground rivers.
led by the inner slopes of the Atlas.
Railroads Versus Caravans.
This town of Colomb-Bechar is at the end
of the railroad, and caravans from all this
part of the Sahara bring their goods here
TO be shipped north. l understand that the
railroad is paying and that Notwithstanding
1t was built as military necessity About
three years ago plan was proposed to
push the line on to Timbuktu, a distance
of eleven or twelve hundred miles further
III THIS Is done. the French will have rail-
road clear across the Sahara, and much of
the trade which now goes on canels to
Tripoli and TO the Atlantic will be carried
over this road. The road is a narrow gauge
but 1t Is well built and II carries consider
able freight. The trains are slow, but they
are Infinitely superior to cames, which
make only two or three miles an hour and
with which eighteen or twenty miles Is a
days journey. AS ii is now great deal of
the caravan trade of the Sahara has been
diverted to the Atlantic. The products of
the western Soudan are carried up the
Niger to Timbuktu and Jenne, and thence
sent overland TO the railroad which the
French have built from the port of St
Louis on the Atlantic to Hayes on the Sene-
gal river. That whole region is now con-
trolled by the French and there are French
soldiers stationed IN Timbuktu. The south
ern part of the Sahara is poiiced from that