The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1943-05-06
HOLMES COUNTY MEN
IN THE SERVICE
Robert Swittenberg
Writes From Africu

Readers of this newspaper will be in
terested to read a letter from Robert
S~wittenberg. son Of Mrs. Effie Switten-
berg, of Lexington, who is now on duty
with Uncle Sans men somewhere in
Africa. Robert attended school in Lex
ington and Southwestern and Ole Miss
and was, at the time Of his induction
into the army last summer, employed at
the Capital National Bank in Jackson.
His letter follows:
North Africa, March 20, 1943.
Dearest Folks:
Made a little trip in the country on
my afternoon off duty. 1t was a typical
African day with an extremely bright
sun-warm enough for a field jacket to
be just comfortable. The near cloudless
sky was an intense blue and the moun-
tains in the distance seemed to fade
from light greens and yellows to somber
purple.
As we hiked along the road, past olive
trees, vineyards and orchards, we Won
dered whether the farming methods had
changed at all in the past centuries.
The plows were crudely fashioned of
wood and pulled by just any combination
of two animals. They seemed merely to
scratch the topsoil.
Soon we came to an old oasis, a stop
ping place for centuries as a watering
place. Tall date palms grew around the
natural hot water springs. Other smaller
palms and trees were in abundance. TIL
water from these springs is utilized to
the fullest extent. The Arabs battle in
the springs, wash. their clothes by
placing them on rocks and pounding
them with a stick, wash their horses,
and eventually get around to drinking
from the stream. The country for miles
around is irrigated by water from this
oasis. So far rainfall has been fairly
steady, but l understand that the dry
months are just ahead. Large concrete
troughs lead out from the oasis in all
directions carrying water to the farms.
A titanic engineering project is now
underway. A ditch is being dug from
town out to here to carry water in. For
such a job back home we would use
jack hammers and steam shovels, but
here the only implements are picks and
shovels. They go along through the
half rock ground at an amazing rate of
speed.
Legend has it that st. John the Bap-
fist performed baptisms here and some
say that he was buried in this same
spot. The nearby cemetery is a mass
of small rounds of stones and clay
used as grave markers. Out of the
small children's graves a lock of hair
sticks out. 1t seems that the head is
shaved except for this lock on top so
that Allah can reach down and pull them
up to above. The funeral professions
are most depressing. The body is wrap
ped in yards and yards of cloth, much
the same as the Arab dresses when
alive, and carried by a chanting, wailing
group who are either relatives or the
creditors of the deceased. l never could
decide just which they were, but they
seemed very unhappy about the whole
thing.
Taking a slightly different route back
we passed a tent group Of natives. The
the homes CD were holes in the ground
covered with whatever was available for
~tentage. Burlap, cane, odd pieces of cloth
or leather were woven together in some
mysterious manner. These houses were
about IL feet in diameter and housed
innumerable quantities of people. If
the man of the house was lucky he might
rave more than one wife, and a pro-
~portionate increase in the rest of his
family. The number one wife is the
one who first produces a male child. II
the first wife has a girl and the number
five has a boy, they change priority. In
the native scheme of things the women
are only chattels and are often used as
beasts of burden. I've seen little donkeys
loaded with a tremendous burden with
an Arab man seated atop, while the
women staggering along behind with
almost as heavy a burden. No fools,
these Arabs.
Animals are the most valued posses
sions of these people. Quite often they
build mud huts to house the animals,
and live nearby in the squalor and filth
of the tents. That seems to be the only
concession they make though, cause
they beat the beast numerically all
during the day. Except for the better
stock, hardly a one is free from sears
and sores caused by constant pounding
with a heavy stick.
Getting back to the wives. The usual
purchase price of a wife is between 40
and 60 dollars. One Of our janitors,
about IS years old and the possessor Of
six wives already, recently bought him.
self "a beauty with plenty of meat on
her arms" Incidentally, she was only
II years old. Divorce is simple. The
man only has to pay the wife the amount
of the dowry in front of witnesses and
tell her to scram. She usually goes
back to her relatives if they will take
her in.
Know | couldn't fill another page, so
I'll just say,