The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-02

1 would not enable one to look in. They are also covered with meshes, so small that lead pencil would not go through them The doors are kept closed and outside the business section there are l nothing but blank white walls on both sides. Many of the houses are built over the streets, and one goes through vault ed passages from one part of the town to the other.
 In the Bazars.
 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 Constantinople or Cairo and of greater extent than the bazaars of Damascus or Fez. There Is an entrance right near the kasbah, and three minutes walk will take us out of the sun and into a mammoth cave far stranger than that of Ken lucky. This Tunisian cave is composed or a labyrinth of covered passgeways lined with stores and filled with Arabs buying and selling. We shall meet all the characters of the Arabian Nights and shall see them doing business in the same way as in the past The streets Of the bazaars are so roofed that they look like mighty vaults extending on and on until the eye Is lost in following thsm. The roofs are of stone, coated with whitewash These are lighted only by grated holes which have been cut here and there through the roof but the sun is so bright that there is plenty of light. and the white roof itself shines like the stalactites of the cave of Luray. Some of the passageways are roofed with boards. They remind one of the old cov- cred bridges of Venice or Florence which had shops upon them save that the Tunisian bazars extend for long distances and their shops are like nothing to be found outside the orient. In addition there are smaller bazars running off in every direction, and the whole is a sort of business Rosamond's bower In which l 'ose myself again and again in trying to md my way out.
 Old Carthage in Tunis. Before I go on with my description of the bazars, let us look at their con structicn. The pillars and stones of old Carthage have been everywhere used. At the sides of each little shop are mar ble columns some of which have beau tiful capitals. There are hundreds-yes ] venture, thousands-of these columns here to be seen. and strange to say the Arabs have painted the snowy mar ble with stripes of red. green and black Many are in green, and some in bright yellow. Similar columns are to be found In the residence quarters and it is true that large part of Mohammedan Tunis mas been built from the ruins of that old Punic city
 In the bazars, each trade has it's own quarter. There are long streets, filled with cells, where the Arabs make noth- II but shoes, and others in which the shops are devoted to weavers. In some silk thread is sold and in others only perfumery or groceries. There are also bazars of coppersmitA booksellers and talors.
 Bazar of the Talors.
 The bazar of the tallors is not far from the Kasban. We push our way through the white-gowned, fez-capped. turbaned Mohammedan crowd and take a look at It. We are in covered street about twelve feet in width, which is paved with Belgian blocks worn smooth by the bare feet and slippers of thou sands. It is walled with shops which ex- tend fifteen or twenty feet back on each side.
 The average shop is not more than eli. t feet in width. Its floor is about two feet above the street, and the tailors sit cross-legged, upon it before tables ei-at inches high. upon which they are cutting and sewing. They wear gowns and voluminous trousers They have fez caps or turbans. Many of them work