The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-15


 Tripoli has 90 mosques and p syna-
 gogues, but until within a few years l Il had no schools whatever; the chil- 1 aren receiving smatterng of letters and Koran texts in the mosques. II is better now; there are eight public schools | of various grades. elementary normal l technical and military, whose good et- fects are already 10 be seen on the young l CT generation.
 In the local stir of it's streets and mar
 ket and bazars, Tripon seems alive | enough: but commercially. politically, II lies in coma. Save as regards the re- cent impetus given 10 public instruo-
 ton. tlis city. alone Of all the cities l of the Mediterranean. has failed .o re- 1 srond to the quickenings of modern civ l ilIzation. In lO1-500 years-it has made 1 the slightest progress. taken scarcely single step forward in the betternent Of its agriculture. it's industries. its trade.
 Tripoli's Eastern Neighbor To the east lies Tunis. This great prov inee, of size and importance almost rival ling it's neighbor. Algeria. stretches far southward into the Sahara desert Its eastern boundary like it's northern. is the sea coast, for the Mediterranean makes here a sudden dip to the south. and on this eastern line of coast are several venerable seaports of unusual in terest. Steamships ply from Tunis to these points. continuing on to Tripoh in Turkish Barbary; and there are few moro novel and less known trips in the entire Mediterranean basin.
 First of these ports is Sousse aneiently Susa. one of the oldest of these old Tu nisian cities. Those inquisitive and en- terprisng navigators. the early Phoeni- clans. setting sail from Tyre and Sdon al about the time when Hiram, king Of those cities, was supplying to Solomon cedars and frs from Lebanon for the great Temple in Jerusalem, worked their way adventurously along these unknown shores. Some of them landed here at Susa and settled. a hundred years be- fore others settled at Carthage and two hundred before the founding of Rome. Their galleys. creeping along these sandy coasts. trading here and there with the nomads. had reached the then 'farthest westward" /" Of it's 5000 years. many have been of a quite animated kind of sue eessive captures by Romans, Byzantines, Moslems. Spaniards. Mentions and French. For time. under the Turks. it was even pirate stronghold. It looks peaceful enough today. sleaming in the golden sunlight, it's white houses occupying a gently sloping site behind picturesque crenellated walls, a quarter of mile from the quay.
 Tn the ancient native town scenes are much like those of Tunis; perhaps more simple, for Susa is nearer 10 the life or the native countryside or hinteriand Nisi- tors are regarded with great interest and curiosity. though with the utmost respect. A purchase at some bazaar at once draws a friendly and absorbed crowd
 We unprotestingy pay a whole plaster for q penny drink of hot coffe, sweeten- ed in the making, and served unstrained, thick with the fine powdered grounds; buy quaint earthenware jar at d pot ters. a bunch of shining dates al fruit ereI $, leather money bag or pouch at another bazaar. end multi coiored Das- ket to hold them all We wander up the sloping lane to the citadel, which. as in Tunis, is gaIrisoned by French troops: witness a brisk Zouave drill in the bar racks yard, and climb the citadel wall for view over land and sea-
 The next port of note on this eastern Tunislan coast Is sfaX, town like Susa, of Phocnician origin. It is now a city of 5000 inhabitants. Within the walls Arabs in their white burmouses throng the winding passages or sit in groups sipplng cafe Turque. Jews crouch on the mating in their diminutive shops, with their goods temptingly displayed around them silks and woolens and embroidieries. ,'uss, leather work, silver, and brassware. per fumes, fezzes. and gandouras. Sfax lies flat. unlike Susa. which rounds itself upward Passing through the western gateway. we come upon the sandy reaches of the open country. Here are numerous caravan encampments. with their tents their camels, and donkeys, and pictures que Bedouin life. There are also squadrons of French cavalry. manoeuvring in the great open spaces in front of their bar racks. There are primitive rope walks where the process of rope making Is car ried on in native fashion, unchanged dur ing the eras.
 Steaming stil farther southward. the vessel anchors off Gabes. and the tray eler is rowed ashore Here, at last. is the true desert. Gabes is even more Saharaesque than is Biskra It is a cluster of three small oases where orange and apricot threes and tall date palms grow beyond the low earth walls running water gurgles along the side of the sandy roadways, and primitive little square mud houses mark the abodes of the dwellers of the desert turned townfolk The air sparkles with the delicious freshness of an April morning. We drive from oasis to oasis; listen to the songs of flocks of north bound birds; taste the unfer- mented native wine fresh made from