Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-07-28
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
OUR TIES WITH TUNIsIA

OUR TIES WITH TUNISIA
"a visit to a fruit store with it's
dates, oranges, lemons and almonds;
the singing of Home, Sweet Home;
the theological background of the
services at any Christian church
these are some of the links that bind
an American, though he may be I'M
aware of it, to desert-frfnged Tuni-
! STA"
With this introduction the Nation
al Geographic Society issues from its
Washington, d. c., headquarters a
bulletin on the regency of Tunis, one
of the three North African countries
J which the French contemplate plac-
ing under a single administrative
control.
I'm Oak Hill Cemtery in Wash
ington lies buried John Howard
Payne, the homeless actor and au-
thor of Home Sweet Home whose
first resting place was in the City of
Tunis, where he died while he was
American consul at the Tunisian
capital. A tomb like that erected
to him in Washington marks his for
merN grave in Tunis.
Agriculture is the chief industry
of the region, about the size of the
state of Mississippi, which lies be-
tween the Mediterranean and the
Sahara, and projects farther north
than any other point in Africa. Cit
rus fruits. almonds and pistachio
nuts form a large proportion OF its
exports. Cork and henna are other
important products.
Some ten miles from Tunis are
the ruins of Carthage, cradle of
Christian theology, where ST. Aug
Justine, most %infleutial of the fathers
- A. 1nIrx n -&i- C1rrh {a,robf
rhetoric and produced important
dogmatic writings. The practical
lady traveller who assured her COM
panions that the site of carthage
was bound to come back because 1t
afforded excellent sits for hotels and
such splendid opportunity for a golf
course between it and TuniS was
more accurate in geography than
imbubed with reverence. The har-
bors which Appian described still are
to be seen; the rest of the city I1as
succombed to Cato's edict, 'Delenda
Est Carthage
1.-THE present thriving City of
Tunis, however, is reputed to be old
er than Carthage, one-time rival of
Rome both in importance and or-
ruption. Indeed, to the Roman world
the littoral Of Tunisia was Africa.
The very word Africa is a Latin
lied form of the Berber name for
this region, 'Ifriqa.' The gypsies of
Africa, the Berbers, still are to be
found in Tunisia, practically I'M
changed and Interchangeable as when
they defied Roman power and Aug
ustinian persuasion. Even today
Tunisia is an unconquered country,
since France assumed a ~protectorate
upon native invitation.
"Tunis might be called a roofed-
over city. Many of its streets are
wholly or partly arched over, and
it's famous bazaar is a vas market
place under cover. The women folk
of the city are striking to h first
time visitor, whether they be ro-
tund Jewesses, with p~antaloons and
.funnel-like hats, or ladies of. the
Arab harem, completely obscured by
clothes, or the bronzed, 1.-THE figures
of Berber girls. The attire of the
men often is more colorful. Their
love of colors, especially of lighter
and more delicate shades, gives a
chromatic impression of an Ameri-
can city's Easter parade.
"A physical curiosity of Tunisia
are the salt lakes, on the edges OF
Sahara, which, at a distance, have
the appearance of placid sheets of
water, or i~ce-covered ponds, If ones
Imagination could free itself from
thought of the blazing sun. Closer
inspection d~iscloses dried mud, VEN
crusted with salt. Fol several
months in the year rainfall con-
verts these glazed areas into impass-
able marshes"