The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-05-16

very dark and crowded. The win
dOWs we're holes about foot square
and admitted only very little light.
Our guide stated that here in these
small, dark, i'll smelling rooms, often
lived as high as twenty-five women
and children. Here in this atmos-
phere thick with dirt and dust were
hideous old Arabians smoking their
pipes, while children of all ages and
sizes played about the streets, the
older ones caring for the younger.
They fastened up to us when they
saw us and holding out their little
dirty hands begged for money. Many
of the children had their toe nails
and finger nails painted red in COM
their family, such as a marriage,
birth or death.
On each side of the streets We're
little dark dens used as stores, in
front of which fruits, meats and
other foods were offered for sale,
black with flies and dirt. Turning
from the main street we passed into
even narrower streets, where the
upper story extended over the street
SO low that we we're not able to walk
under them with heads erect. At
one place we passed grOupe of men
smoking through long tubes attach
ed to bottles. The smoke was filter
ed through the liquid in the bottle,
and was said to be very poisonous.
We were glad when we reached the
bottom Of the four hundred and
ninety-seven time worn steps and
found ourselves again surrounded by
modern life.
We found our carriages awaiting
US and were driven to an old Mo-
hammedan Mosque which was 1000
years old. We went into the build
ing, and as wesdesired to visit their
prayer rooms we were given our
choice Of washing our feet or wear
ing pair of Turkish shoes. so we
choose the shoes as they seemed the
only way out of an embarrassing sit
uation. Their prayer room is divid-
ed into three divisions as follows:
The first division at the front of the
hall for the rich people, middle divis-
ion for the middle class and the last
for the poor people. These divisions
are designated by strips Of carpet
reaching the entire length of the
great room which show by their
quality to which class they belong
This room contains no seats or chairs
and is devoid Of ornamentation. Each
person who worships here must wash
his face, hands and feet before going
to prayer. After his prayers are
over he often lies and sleeps in the
Mosque. There were several sleep
ing there when we visited it and we
were asked to be very quiet more in
order not to awaken the sleepers
than for fear we would disturb their
prayers, I Judge. They have certain
days set aside for the women to come
here and pray.
From the Mosque we went to the
Governors magnificent palace. This
building was formerly the home of
the Sultan. The floors were inlaid
in beautiful designs and the rooms
were gorgeously furnished The,
room where the Sultan received his
seven wives was very interesting,
containing some beautiful paintings
and candelabras. Many of the doors
were hand carved and were claimed
to be $40 years old.
BY this time it was noon and sight
seeing in sunny Africa had given us
splendid appetite, so we headed for
hotel. There were eleven in our
party and one of the gentlemen who
had Travelled a great deal suggested
that all arrangements as to prices
must be made before we ate, as some
how foreigners had notion that all
Americans had more money than
they knew how to spend. Well, all
arrangements were made. so We rest
ed easily and enjoyed our dinner.
But our precaution was of no avail,
for when we paid the price agreed
upon for our dinner they put in
big bill for the use of the table linen,
which of course we were obliged to
pay. The afternoon was spent in the
shops and cool parks amid luxuriant
tropical vegetation. Fruits were
very cheap and delicious here. DR..
Jeffries bought as many ripe dates
as he could we'll carry for twenty
cents. 1t was tired crowd of sight,
seers that the tender carried back to
the boat that evening, but crowd
who felt that the day had been we'll
spent Our boat did not leave the
bay until after lamp light, which en-
abled us to see Algiers, the white
City," in a different light. AS we
steamed slowly out of the harbor the
lights of the city of Algiers, like so
many twinkling stars, which began
at the very edge of the water and
reached high up the mountain side,
babe us kindly goodbye, and we
were soon in the open sea headed for
Naples.
We reached Naples about 9 o'clock
the following morning, where We left
most of the steerage passengers and
the greater part of the ships cargo.
Here the ship pulled up to the quay
where were gathered beggars of all
descriptions and peddlers with all
sorts of trinkets. It was here that
we encountered the only bad weather
on our journey. 1t was cloudy and
dense smoke lowered over the city,
obstructing our view of the top of
Mt. Vesuvius which we wished to see
very much. However we had to be
contented with seeing only it's base,
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