Evening star., 1925-09-07
.JERbA LAND HELD
RICH IN ROMANCE
Isle Where Greek Treasure
Galley Was Discovered Has
Historic Background.

JeTpd, the NOrIn African island
where an ancient Greek treasure gal
| ley was discovered recently. is not
| listed as a stopping place on Mediter-
| ranean cruises. although it possesses
q background of rich historic and ro-
| mantle interest. Tradition places on
| this little Tunisian island, almost mid
| way between Gibraltar and Suez. the
home Of the lotus-eaters. of whom
| Homer tells in one of his sea tales.
THE preSent-day natives, mostly
| Berbers of the Kharijite sect. would
| probably tell you they have never
| heard of the tabled sweet forgetful-
ness that was said to come to the
| Lotophagi as the eaters Of the lotus
plant were called" says a bulletin
from the Washington headquarters of
| the National Geographic Society.
| There is nothing today about their
busy little palm-shaded towns, or har-
bors full of fishing boats, that lends
the atmosphere of "a land always after
dinner Secure in their insularity
against the attacks of nomadic Arabs.
the Jerba islanders tend their fruit
groves and vegetable gardens, vying
also in industry with their kinsmen,
the Mozabites. as traders to all the
seaports of the Orient.
Sponge and Polypus Fisheries.
'"The sponge. poIypus and other fish
cries. and the oyster beds in the Canal
Id'Adjim, the ship channel through the
narrow sweep of wJer that separates
Jerba from the mainland, are produc-
tive. Every NOR y" the queer-look-
ing craft of the o sponge fisher
men put out fro ..ie long wharves,
with flags flyl for the great
stretches of sha. water that eX
tend in all directions from the island.
Large steamers must be met by native
sailing craft and rowboats, as ii is i'm
possible for most of them to approach
within ora miles of the shore.
"Jerba has been made, through the
efforts Of it's inhabitants. one OF the
most fertile and prosperous spots
along a great stretch of sun-baked
Mediterral. can -coaStline. More than
million date-palms wave their
fringes over the white-roofed towns
and villages of this island oasis, which
is approximately twice as large as
Malta, it's British neighbor $50 miles
to the northeast. In addition there
are extensive groves of olive, orange.
lemon and peach trees.
ITO the stranger coming from the
bleak and parched TuniSian mainland
this fertility seems a, miracle. There
are no rivers on Jerba, no streams
worthy of the name even, and rain
fall is as scant and infrequent as on
the mainland. The answer to the
riddle is underground water, obtained
through arteSian wells in the same
manner that the natives of the Yucca
tan peninsula in Mexico secure a
constant supply of fresh, cool water.
Roofs Like Inverted Saucers.
Hunt -Suk. the capital and princi-
pal city, lies on the sandy north coast
about half a mile from the sea and
5 miles from the anchorage of steam
ers. Its countless little buildings of
one or two stories all have domes and
from the roof tops the city looks like
an array of inverted saa1cers. with the
graceful minarets of the mosques
breaking the skyline like slender
lighthouses. Public gardens and a
number of wide curving streets show
the beneficent influence of the
French. Down by the sea is the spot
where a great mound of Christian
bones, called The Skull Fort stood
for centuries. The bones were those
of several thousand Spaniards who
were massacred by the pirate Dragut,
in 1860. They We're collected and
buried in the Christian cemetery
nearby, in 1S4S.
"All over the island are Roman
ruins, decayed causeways, baths, tenn
ples-the subsoil of all the Mediter-
ranean world. But aside from the
mausoleum of Bergho nothing re-
mains intact of this one-time impor-
tant Roman colony, the birthplace
of two Roman emperors, Vibius
Gallus and Volusenus.
Resort of Jewish Pilgrims.
"Hara -Serira, a village of / 500 in.
habitantS miles south of the cap
ital, is a resort of Jewish pilgrims
from southern Tunisia and Tripoli-
tania. The Gheriba, or synagogue.
is built on the spot where, according
to tradition, one of the tables of the
law of Moses was found. 1t is much
revered also by Catholics and Mos
lens. Not far away, at Iallala, is
an uneXploited Eden for photogra-
piers This is the center of pottery
manufacturing, where all day long
the StatueSQue native wor len, TWEEN
tieth century Rebeccas, carry grace
full white water jugs to the stone
trimmed wells.
French call it, there are few rem
nants. There has been much disa-
greement as to the Identification of
the Homeric lotus. Lotus is a pop
ular name applied to several plants,
and whether the one that the Greek
poet had in mind was a tree a bush,
| a flower, or the seed of any of them
mas not been determined"