Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-07-20
S4ce,al j te pese Ng On Frank carbentr

months the reputation OF That port has
been greatly injured because II has no
merchants at hand ready 10 buy out q
large caravan when 1t arrives. The
caravans often carry goods 10 the value
~ tens OF thousands OF dollars and
o big capital is required 10 handle their
trade. Tho last caravan which called
at Gahcs had TO put Its wares upon
the steamers there and ship them 10
TrIpol
m Trjpoltana, al such companies
must have their armed escorts, and
every Individual ] see IN this part of
the desert has a gun strapped to his
back. ] passed several caravans com
ing IA ana going out. during ride
which J took on camel along one Of
the caravan routes a few days ago. The
only roads I could see We're the fresh
camel tracks. but these must be obliter-
atsd by every sand storm. and, In some
places, for quite a long distance there
We're no tracks at all. Nevertheless
the Arabs and Bedouins cnn travel two
thousand miles over such wastes, and
not once lose their way. The journey
10 the Soudan takes many months and
the freight must be valuable TO stand
the cost
IN THE FEzzAN.
! have heard much about the great
oases centers from the merchants OF
horrors Of the desert, and Of the gloomy
villages scattered through it. Between
here and the Fezzan there is a wide
plain OF hot stones upon which travel
ers almost roast as they hurry across.
This plain, known as the Hammada. Is
about as big as Kentucky and It's alti-
tude Is near that of the Blue Ridge
mountains in Virginia.
The Fezzan. which lies on the other
side of the Hammada, also covers a
large territory II is shallow depres-
sion in the desert, spotted here and
there by GASES. II lies Just about
eight hundred miles north of Lake
Gn9d. and the chief caravan route to
huka and Bornu pass through 1t.
The trans-Snhara trade of the past
mas largely consisted of slaves. and
slaves are carried from the Soudan
by that route through the Irezzan to
Tripoli today. From here they are
snuggled to Tunisia Algeria and Tur-
key. finding ready market I'm the
hareins of those cities. They are often
taken on the steamers. az the nominal
wives OF tlIeir masters No Mohalnme-
dan Will tolerate any inquiry into his
family arrangements, and such a state
ment prevents investigation Not long
ago the number of slaves carried across
the desert through the Fezzan amount
ed 10 as many as 10000 per annum, and
Lake Chad can even now be followed
by the bleaching bones OF the human
beings who have died on the way. The
capital of the Fezzan Is Murzuk a
gloomy city containing about 1000 peo-
pie. 1t depends almost entirely on the
caravan trade.
CHAT AND GHADAMEs.
Another important caravan center Is
haa "a gt 10 ltnt ,tot, lI,-
OF dry river, and a third is Ghadames,
In another dry river some distance
away Chat is famous for its great
fair. which Is held once a year, bringing
together traders from all parts of the
Sahara. in ordinary times the town
has only about 1000 population, and the
fair has to be held on n great plain out
side. The city is surrounded by walls
and entered only by gates. Its streets
are dark passages, with houses built
over them. so that going through It Is
Ike travelling through the tunnels of a
mine.
Gha-dam-es--I hesitate to write the
word, II sounds so much like swearing
is another oasis center of about the
same character as Chat. 1t has been a
trading place since the days OF the Ro-
mans. and the caravans of the Fezzan
Tuat Timbuktu and Lake Chad all
pass through 1t. Ghadames is twice as
big as Chat 1t is surrounded by a
wall three miles In length, but the peo-
pie live In only one corner of the in
closure. The houses are so laid out that
the women can walk from one to an
other on the roofs, which are reserved
for their use.
CAPTURED BY THE AMERICANS.
Some of the most interesting parts of
this region are along the Mediterranean
sea. Here in Tripoli we have $4,000
people. Farther eastward, in Barka, is
the town of Benghazi which was
thriving city In the days of the Phoen-
icians and Romans, and still further
east Is Derna, the only place on the
African continent ever occupied by