The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-07-22

"%RIPOLI, the highly-infammable
land OF Arab and Berber, has
exchanged its peace-time in
ANN dustries for the industry OF
war, and according to statement pre-
pared by the National Geographic So
ciety, the newer industry adds little
to the normal hazard of Tripolitan
life.
Danger is the daily bread and meat
of the dweller in Tripoli, and, in this
country fiecked with occasional cases
and fringed with narrow strips OF
coastal vegetation, even the principal
native pursuits for wealth and hap
piness are accompanied by hidden ter
ror and grave risk. The principal
sources of income to Tripolitans are
those of sponge gathering, OF esparto
picking and of carrying on the trans
saharan caravan trade.
Whether the native SON seeks to
make his pile searching the Shiny
bottom of the Mediterranean for
sponges, or gathering espartO grass In
the morning mists of the desert, or fol-
lowing the caravan of thousand cam
els back from the coast through LOU
miles Of Saharan desert to the distant
Sudan, he takes not only his labor
and capital for profit but also his
health and life More often than not
he reaps disability or death as his
reward
PeriIs Of Sponge Gatherers.
The wild seas that now and again
boil over the northern coast Of Africa
are the smallest part of the sponge
divers hazard. Paralysis is always
Just ahead of this venturesome laborel
who, day by day making foolhardy
rapid ascents from the sea bed undel
press of keen competition, sooner OF
later experiences the return to ship
board in terrific dizziness, which forms
the usual prelude to partial or com
plete paralysis. Strange as 1t ma!
seem, many partially paralyzed diver
are able to continue their calling, ant
the untitled, helpless cripple in tn
upper air feels normal circulation re
turn to arms and legs when lowere'
into the sea on the sponge grounds
And the Arab divers of Tripoli. belies
ing the disease indispensable to tn
vocation, and Injured to hazard in thei
peculiar fatherland, dive phlegmatit
ally through few fat seasons unit
crippled or killed by their chose
trade.
Back in the plateau lands Of til
Z Sahara, behind the coastal green's
the silent, treeless, untenanted desel
wastes, where the alluring mystery {
the desert broods under the blightin
heat Of day and beckons in fancifl
shapes over the dunes at nigh
stretch vast fields Of wfry espart
grass, from which paper is manufa
tured in great mills in England.
these fields. working for the starvatic
wage of twenty cents day or les
picking the grass and tying it In lart
bales to be loaded on camel trains II
Tripoli City, the port Of Tripolitan1
is another corps Of workers who a
venture their safety in their work.
Picking the Esparto Grass.
Day begins for the esparto pick
in the moonlight of early morning.
the chill of desert morning the pick
leaves his nearby shack for the fiel
and begins his rapid task of breakil
the longest why blades, leg high. fro
the most matured clump. And in {
heart of these clumps ever and aga
turks his danger in the form Of /
arch enemy, the deadly viper. In t
clumps, also, are hidden the veno
GUS North African rock scorpion
whose stings now and again prove
tai. 1t is the poisonous vipers, no
ever. that make the work of espal
picking a sporting game with death
or the $2,000,O00 OF export trade
joyed Ivy Tripoli before the war. Of
fifth of it was produced by the spon
divers. more than one-third OF 1t
the esparto pickers and consideral
more than one-sixth was brought OF
the wide, treacherous desert from
Sudan Many caravans, some OF
few and some of thousand camels,
ted out in Tripoli, undertook
danger-fraught journeys to the or
marts of Sudanese trade-Timbul
Kano. Kanen, Kuka, Bornu and Wa
These Journeys sometimes lasted
years around, and brought their unc
takers into every species OF dan
that the desert affords. Robbers
fest all the lanes across the des
and, besides these, all the inner des
lies subject to the vengeful caprice
the masked Tuaregs. the strange
pie who are at war with all who or
their paths and do not pay suffici
tribute.
The bones of the camala and mar