New-York tribune., 1909-10-24

X =
he author from paintings In coIor. drawings in
black and white and photographs Svo, pp- XIV
3et Charles Scribner's Sons
Books about the desert have been numerous
enough in recent years, but the authors of them
have been travellers in Morocco or Egypt AL
Ee-ia Tunis. They have neglected Tripoli
Mr. FurlOng interestingly repairs the omission
IN the current literature of or less con-
Nenuonal exploration His volume on The
Gateway 10 the Sahara is a lively collection Of
Incidents and Impressions particularly to be
commended for its freedom from the perfervid
I1ssaGes in which books Of this sort so often
abound His sketches Of exotic scenes are vivid
without being overcolored. They possess nat
Urally, certain wild attractiveness but it can
not be said that they illustrate a land of charm
land in which il is delightful 10 wander They
suggest binding heat. hardship and cruelty
The TripOlitans are grim race
Agriculture and caravan trade are their chicf
resources, but they are backward people. AMI.
Ia MI FNlrioIig's opinion, only European nterven-
ton win accomplish anything Ike an ADEQUATE
ana conclusive reclamation Of the country
Meanwhile he notes that under Turkish rule the
IoA and property tax and the agricultural tithe
nave on the average annually squeezed over half
million dollars out Of the people What the
squeezing process IS like may be gathered from
this instance:
vs ne ona5 n heard tSno550E 1 r5 and wi Will
Turkish tax collector Gil -Ai"O I"iHlef say TO
Then give me your camel"
sSIle and her foal were sold a Ranadan IannlIal
H Ha thou kafir IunbelieverI. thy baracan viii
teJeh LITTLE enough" and without q nurlnur the
Violence is rife in Tripoli and with if there
80 to-day fewer of the primitive virtues which
once distinguished the native Mr. FurIong
quotes saying Of q friend of his. resident
in TripoH. that the good old Arab is fast diving
nj few
He goes On 10 describe an incident illustrating
the dishonest trickery which. we gather, is only
too familiar among the people. His chapter on
slavery takes the form of a brief biography Of
Salam, a Hausa who was for a time in his
employ, and told Mr.. F'urlong some of his ex-
Ieriences. It is customary to keep the slave
caravans in order by fastening ten or twenty
men together, one behind the other, with their
heads showed through holes in a wooden yoke.
If a slave thus situated coilapses from exhaus-
ton he hangs limp by his neck and is carried
along by his companions. AT such times"
says the author, unless near market, the sick
are dispatched by their drivers, who, not wish
ing the trouble Of unshackling q wretch, resort
70 the simple expedient Of decapitation, thus re-
leasing soul and body at one cruel stroke. -
every phase OF mis- subject Mr.. Furong sooner
later exposes the prevailing spirit Of Tripoli,
q spiri; Of barbsrism persisting through all the
developments OF Oriental civilization He has
a "a pital chapter the picking and preparation
for the market Of that espartO grass which is
useC in the making Of paper. You or T. he
saws "Et x up a heavy looking novel, per-
chance. Id marvel at its lightness.' The fair
white paper has had its origin in back-breaking
and even perileis labor under the burning Afri-
can sun Vipers nest in this grass, do terri
be SCORPIONS and il is a common thing for the
Arab picker TO be poisoned as he pursues his
task But life is cheap in TrpOn, and it is a
kind Of caIlous struggle for existence that Mr..
Furlong describes.
He has put its atmosphere into his book,
which gives us. indeed, very realistic sense
II tie Trpolitans and their ways. He is mat
1.-r-of-fact traveller, whose chief purpose is to
set down il Straightforward terms the things
that he has seen. He is. therefore, the more
couyincing But he has had his somewhat novel
adventures. and OF one Of these, a night spent
in the company Of bandits he writes with fairly
dramatic point He is appreciative, too, of the
mystery Of the desert, and some Of his pages
wen reproduce IT'S fOrbidding and yet fasehnat-
i'm, character. One merit of this uneom-
monty readable book Of travel springs from the
authors faculty Of taking the rough and the
smooth IL his experiences with the same cheer
fr,I shirt He writes throughout in tine easy