Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-08-10

Of Fezzan, q collection OF GASES In |
country and desert. Fezzan forms |
wedge of sparsely inhabited land INFO the |
great Sahara.
1.-The coast Of Tripoli, which extends |
over a length of 1,1Oo miles, offers few |
natural harbors. The harbor of Tripoli |
itself is dangerous, because OF the many |
rocks which lie at the entrance. It Is only
on the eastern coast of Cyrenaica, which |
Is sometimes called the Marmarica. that
we find two harbors Of the very best
quality: Bomba and Tobruk; but as
neither has hinterlaud their value Is
more strategical than commercial To-
bruk is less than a hundred miles distant
from the Egyptian frontier.
What is the population now inhabitine
Tripoltana, that immense area of AGO.
coo square miles (more than half the
size of the republic OF Mexico? No ex-
act census exists, hut all competent OBJ
servers agree that It hardly exceeds 500
OCo. That means about two inhabitants
to the square mile. The settled popu-
lation inhabits an aera of 1900 square
miles about one-twenty-fi part Of the
whole land.
I'm Tripoli every native calls himself
with pride an Arab. As a matter Of fact
n certain number of Arabs came into
the country with the Mohammedan con-
| quest of North Africa In the sixth CEN
! fury A. d. But tho peninsula of Arabia
| was never so densely populated that it
| could send away many emigrants. The
| Arabs conquered North Africa and con-
verified Its population to their religion. A
| few of the conquerors remained in the
| country and these are still fairly pure
| representatives, of their race they live
as nomads, or Bedouns, in tents. and
move with the season from one camping
! ground to another Their number is dlf-
ficult to estimate. hut it Is about 5000
The rest of the population the settled
part, are Berbers: their blood is mixed
with that of Arabs. and also of negroes.
The negro element, which We find every
where in Tripoi, has its origin in the
slave traffic of former days, which
brought thousands of Sudanese to the
coast of the Mediterranean.
agriculture and cattle-raising are the
chief resources of Tripoi, but they -four
ish only in small patches fertile land
we find on a narrow strip along the
coast. in the region of Jebel GhHrian and
in Cyrenaica. The product is barley
which in the last few years has SUPPRESSED
ed wheat olives figs and vines Barley
Is shipped mainly to England. but the
crops are subject to great variations,
owing TO the uncertainty of rainfall.
Much has been said in the press by
Italian political writer's about the
grandiose prospects of the country. These
prospects are mainly based upon the sup
position that Tripolitania was, under
.L az
shing agriculture and enormous wealth
There can he no doubt that Tripoli once
saw better DAYS although the accounts of
some Of the ancient writer's seem to be eX-
aggerated The cause of the decline are
manifold and far from clear The decline
commenced when Romes power begar
to weaken. The wild tribes Of the des
ert. which had been kept down by force
took advantage of Romes weakness anr
, attacked the hounda ries of the colony. The
elaborate system of irrigation could only
work when there was absolute security
When peace was no longer assured, thu
sgriculturist was hindered in his work.
"A second cause of the decline OF the
country-whch is. however, still poin
Of controversies change in the eli
matte condition of the region There i!
.
6 Every man who has seen. in the nds
Of the desert, the ruins of Roman castle!
and villas comes to the belief that SOM.
, mightier power is responsible for sucl
a change great tragedy has beef
: enacted here.
4. "A local tradition says that the bat
. behavior Of the women prevents tn
. clouds from giving rain Apart from tn
drouEhts. which are some times of tlVe
seven and even ten years duration, w
find in the invading sand dunes anothe
o great enemy of agriculture. Quite nea
: to the palm gardens around the cit,
. OF Tripoli one can see sand dunes to
Il height of about 20 feet.
Some fifty years ago Tripoli deserved
!, with certain right, the Erandiose name
( of the Key to Central Africa and IN
Queen of the Sahara To-day thes
glo,ies are Of the past. once Tripod
was the great emporium Of the trans
7 Saharan trade. Not far from Europe
and by It's situation in the Syrt neare
. to the heart Of Africa. it was the gatewa,
Il Of the trade with Central Africa. Larg
caravans arrived laden with the good
= Of the sudan and the Niger countries
:. These goods We're ostrich feathers. ivory
skins minerals and slaves. The slav
traffic was the most remunerative ar
iclc Of that trade.
The decline Of the transSaharan trad
O began when the representatives of I'll
r European powers protested against slav
trade.
;: But more important than all thes
. causes Just mentioned was the adven
= of European control Of the Niger Coun
+. tries and Hausaland. shipping was start
3. ed on the great rivers Niger and Binue
l and the communications with the ives
| coast OF Africa were greatly improve
The new route. by ship and rail is safer
| cheaper, quicker than that Of nearly -"
II miles across the sahara where water
g scarce and robbers abundant
THEY'LL BE RIPE SOON.
r This heightened thing they call
Ih I,ntn