The Coolidge examiner., 1937-09-23

Prepared by National Geographic Society.
Washington. d. C.-WNU Service.
IIUNISIA, its fertile vineyards
and olive groves clustered be-
tween the Sahara and the
sea. is an African suburb of
Europe. Lying across a strait from
Sicily. it almost divides the Medi-
terranean into two great lakes.
Overnight steamers run from Ira
pani, Sicily. to Tunisia's capital.
which has more Italian residents
than all Lioia.
No mere group of palm-draped
oases is this warm, sunny land. Its
wine and oil challenge the growers
of France, Italy and Spain. An
other Punic war, this time econom-
ic, is on.
After an absence of 13 years a
teacher returned to Tunis, which
brings the oriental life, the Moslem
veil. shady souks, and peaceful
mosques within honeymoon distance
Of European capitals.
But Tunis, no mere curiosity shop.
lives in the present. At the corner
Of the Avenue Jules-Ferry and the
Avenue de Carthage - tree-shaded
Times square of the Tunisian me-
tropolis-part of the city's $4,000
Italians watched red, white, and
green flaglets mass closer on map
of Ethiopia. Representatives of the
80, 900 Frenchmen of Tunis saw. be-
hind bulletin board news flashes,
German feet goose-stepping back
into the Rhineland.
Down in southern Tunisia, motor
trucks were rushing oil and grain to
Ben Gardane, whence silent-footed
camels, forgetful of sanctions, :"
carried provisions across the Libian
frontier toward Tripoh.
Neither the Casino, nor the cleo
trio cars to Carthage, the Viennese
lady orchestra in a cafe. nor the
animated promenade along the tree
lined avenue held you for long. You
want to mingle again with the lean
and slippered Moslem: Berber, Bed
ouin, and ZlasS.
Buy Jewelry in the Slave Market.
Strolling through the Porte de
France at Tunis, from the European
quarter of hats and shoes into the
native precincts of feZZes and slip
pers, you enter another world. Out
side is the cathedral; inside is the
mosque. Outside, tables of machine
made merchandise, soliciting trade
on the sidewalks; inside, tiny shops
which entice possible patrons of
handicrafts with the insidious hos
pitality of the coffee cup.
In the heart of the souks, where
concentrated perfumes and hand
carved candles, bright slippers and
brighter silks, mellow carpets and
lustrous copperware hide the naked
ness of mere holes in the wall, you
seek out little square with red
and green columns, falling arches,
and an optimistic array of coffee
tables-the slave market
In the former slave market of Tu-
mis-, you watch American visitors
buying jewelry.
The United States was the first
Christian nation to win immunity
from the depredations of Barbary
corsairs. The Philadelphia ran
aground on the Tripolitan coast, and
William Eaton made his spectacular
march of 600 miles across the Lib
ian desert, trying to re-establish a
friendly Bey in Tripoli.
Tripoli's name formerly appeared
in the legend on the colors of the
United States marines, and still is
familiar in the song, From the
Halls of Montezuma to the Shores
of Tripoli."
Another point of pilgrimage is the
burial place of John Howard Payne
Home, Sweet Home" doesn't
stand translation, for the French
don't write songs about their homes.
They stay there.
Payne's body at last came home.
On the simple monument in the
cemetery Of the little English
church at Tunis are these words:
In the tomb beneath this stone,
the poets remains lay buried for
80 years. On January 5, 1883, they
were disinterred and taken away to
his native land where they received
honored and final burial in the city
of Washington, June 9, 1888"
Silk Shops and Noisy Cafes.
Visit the sun-slashed SIOUX and
the shadowy shop. Here bearded
Moslem gazes at a chrome of fair
skinned girl. There a yelled woman