Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1912-01-24
I'm THE PARCHED SAHARA
ON EARLY HISTORY
OF AFRICA'S NORTH COAST
General Rogers Tells of the Ancient
Peoples Who Struggled There
for Supremacy


ashore and rode along the streets of
the old town and saw the mightiest of
all Notifications "a rock, reared by the
great power Cf subterranean heat, in
the ages of formation. The course is
there towards Algeria, where we dis
embark to see the old Moorish town of
Mauritania and ride to the Garden of
Allah. The tcwr is q standstill from
the seventh century, when Isam took
It while enroute to Spain and placed
the banners of Isam m the continent
of Europe, then passing into darkness.
The French have cor rolled the province
for many years, and in French quart
ers we see the French villa. Here
see the electric cars. hear the ring of
phone, see the auto, and see a tribe
with camels from the oasis in the Gar
den of Allah, ladened with dates. The
camel and the dates were the first
gifts to the people ofSttfe desert. We
entrain in a good French car and ride
towards the Atlas Mountains, the great
barrier between the desert and the sea.
| realize | am passing over a land cul-
tivated by the people when the Phoen-
lcians were squaring cedars for Solo
mons temple. / see sheep, goats, cat
tie, asses and camels grazing and carry
ing burdens. | see wheat, alfalfa and
barley growing, and tribes lazily jour-
neylng to market their wares, dirty
from the dust of the desert. We now
upgrade and tunnel, when an Edison
light Eliminates the car. Now down
towards the great Sahara, the great
sea of sand that stretches three thous-
and miles from the Atlantic to the In
dian Ocean, with many oasis, obstruet-
ed only by the Nile, which ages and
ages ago cut its way to the sea, made
the delta and taught the people the
system of irrigation by natural law of
overflow from the rain fall during juno
in Abyssinia, and this before Abraham
left the land. We look far as the Wis
ion will carry ever the great sand des-
ert. We see tie mirage which places
the travelling tribes in the heaven
above. l realize this expanse before
me is an uplift of the sea in making
the continent of Africa. | see the
NumidiEns in the enjoyments of the
Isiam fsith wherein no other people
has SO sublime n belief in religion and
the prophet Mohammed.
Here, excepting some French mod
ernism, history is st standstill. No
autumn, no winter, no spring, all sum-
mer time; oasis with date and palm re-
producing without cessation. The des-
olate is ell that is left of a prehistoric
antiquity, once great kingdom, where
the Hannibals marched by the shores
of the Mediterranean with an army of
bowmen, spear and axe men, with ele-
plants, to conquer Roms. No Vine
yards here; the Mohammedan is tenn
perate. Mohsilmed placed in the Kor-
an the order to abstain from wine.
He ea~ the Christian and aew in the
vineyard drunk and reveling in ideness,
when God, the God of Abraham spoke
to him, the humble OK driver, as he
had spoke to Isaiah, and then came
the law to abstain. He spoke to the
issue of Hagar, the Ishmaelites, the
people of the desert who are so num-
erous, and who take great pride in be-
ing defendants Of Ishmael, while the
branch of Sarah are scattered over the
world. still waiting for the fulfillment
of prophecy. What a mighty history
has been written of this shore. The
actors are resting. They have been
| for three thousand years. Founded
from trireme and ships with purple
sails that came this way, when the Jor-
dan rolled back and stuou back, while
Joshua crossed TO plant the seed of
| Abraham in the destroyed homes OF a
brave people, wgfshippinR the Goddess
Ashtoreth, the same Goddess that Sol.
chm wives kneeled before; sacrificed
70 and saw the infinite in the smoke Of
the incense. Far away to the east in
Egypt they founded in bronze, they
moulded in clay, they carved in wood,
and cut in ivory, they engraved on
plate and granite, they embossed and
lncrusted in gold, they inlaid in metal,
they wrought in mosaic, painted in
! fresco, as no other people; now perish
ing through the natural law of decay,
the masterpieces in ruin. Time has
been more gentle than the barbarians,
Christians or Mohammedans.
They dealt in great monolith, now in
the cities of Europe, which shows the
University of their power. Their pyr-
amids were gigantic masterpieces that
defy the DESTROYING hand of man.
We return to the old town and walk
the narrow streets to note the life,
busy in shops and sidewalks. The ma
tive women mask their faces, custom
that has prevailed in the Oriental race
for all time; they airdle around their
form white cloth that tucks and
ops, requiring no buttons or hooks.
The men wrap their heads in white,
green and red pieces of cloth, the color
denoting the lineal line of decent. We
sail into the harbor of Naples, crowded
with ship. unloading returning Italians
from the UNI ! States and the Argen-
tine, who re Il D to help the govern
ment in its 's4r with Islam; ships are
loading with soldiers and supplies, and
| see hospital ship, encircled with
green stripe and at the place of honor,
the Red Cross IL is ship of mercy,
and no Mohammedan dare fire on it
lest the nations of the earth call halt.
The Red Cross knows no enemy; it
stands for humanity.
Naples has a beautiful harbor On
the left is the Island of Ischia, vine
clad rock, where the people are happy
and make merry. On the right is Ca
pri, with it's blue grotto, small rocky
island which a chronicler has said:
Looks like part of paradise had fall
len there. Vesuvius smokes beauti-
fully by day and reflects red glare on
the heavens above by night. Vesuyius
has overfIown and blown off many times,
which has worn down many feet.
Soon off for Rome, to again see the
ruins, the antique, the palaces and
great cathedrals. E. M. ROGERS.
NAPLES ITAfYsF