Morris tribune., 1911-11-03

summer and as cold in winter as that
of New Mexico; a surface which
varies between the aridity of the
Staked Plains and the fertility of the
San Joaquin Valley of California; so
sparsely populated that its fanatic.
turbulent, poverty stricken popula-
tion averages but two inhabitants to
the square mile-that is Tripolitanla.
Bounded on the west by Tunisia and
the French and on the east by Egypt
and the English. the hinterland of
the regency stretches into the Sahara
as far as the Tropic of Cancer. Its
100 miles of coastline set squarely
in the middle of the North African
littoral; it's capital almost equidistant
from the Straits, the Dardanelles. and
the Suez Canal; and half the great
ports of the Mediterranean not twelve
hours steam away. the strategical,
political, and commercial position of
Tripolitania is one of great import
ance.
Tripolitania, as the regency should
properly be called, consists of four
more or less distinctly defined divisions
Tripoli, Fezzan. Benghazi, and the
Saharan oases. The districts of Tri-
poll and Fezzan form Turkish vilayet
under a vail, or governor-general
Benghazi is separately administered
province under a mutessarif who is
directly responsible to Constantinople; ;
while the oases are not governed at
all. The district of Tripoli, which
occupies the entire northwestern por-
tion of the regency, is for the most
part an interminable stony tableland,
riverless, waterless, and uninhabited
save along the fertile coast. The
stretches of yellow sand which the
passing traveller sees from the deck
of his ship are not, as he fondly
imagines, the edge of the Sahara, but
merely sand-dun blown in by the
sea. such as may be seen elsewhere
on the Mediterranean coast.
Sloping from these costal sand
dunes up to the barren interior plateau
is zone. averaging perhaps five miles
in width, of an altogether remarkable
fertility, for it's deep ravines, filled
with considerable streams during the
winter rains. continue to send down
supply of subterranean water even
during the dry season. By means
of countless wells, round and round
which blindfolded donkeys and oxen
plod ceaselessly, the water is drawn
up into reservoirs and conducted thence
to the fields. In this coast oasis it
is harvest time all the year round.
for, notwithstanding the primitive
agricultural implements of the ma
tives, and their crude system of ir-
rigation, the soil is amazingly produc-
tive. From April to June almonds,
apricots, and corn are gathered in. in
July and August come the peaches !;
from July to September is the.vintage
season, and the Triploitan grapes vie
with those of Sicily; from July TO
September the black tents of the no.
mad date and olive pickers dot the
fields, though the yellow date of the
coast is not to be spoken of in the
same breath with the luscious, mahog-
any-colored fruit of the interior GASES !;
from November to April the orange
groves are ablaze with a fruit which
rivals that of Jaffa; the early spring
sees the shipment of those "Malta
potatoes which adorn the menus of
every fashionable hostelry in Europe;
while lemons are to be had for the
picking at almost any season of the
year.-From Tripolitania: The Ital-
ian white Mans Burden, - in the
American Review of Reviews for