Evening star., 1943-11-14

Il have just ~
returned from a
To-day trip by MAJ Fehr.
truck, auto, jeep and return by plane
In the course Of which I managed
to see Constantine, Tunis, Bizerte
Sousse, Kairouan (the Arabs most
sacred city in all North Africa, hav-
ing the biggest mosque outside OF
Mecca, an dother places made Ia
nous in the Tunisian campaign.
Our party on this trip consisted
of the most remarkable assortment
of all varieties and conditions OF
men ever assembled. I got better
acquainted with the son of the late
Lord Howard (who, you will recall,
was with the British Ambassador
to America in the Coolidge era, then
known as Sir Esme Howard). Il am
rooming with his brother, Capt
Howard)
Another man was for many years
head master sergeant, holds a Pm
D. from the Sorbonne, Paris. The
others, too, had eminent preWar ca
reers in the field of letters as au-
khors OF books on various subjects,
and as journalists, or were promi-
taent in European politics. You can
imagine what interesting conversa-
tions we had among ourselves.
Roads Exceptionally Good.
Because one can see so much more
OF the natural beauty and living con-
ditions of the people when one trav-
els by road, we started out in a
truck. We went over hills and
through dales, and over mountain
ranges besides. The roads are not
quite as good as ours in the States,
but for this part of the world we
found them remarkably up to stand
ard. The mountain scenery was
absolutely gorgeous-so reminiscent
of the Rockies out in Colorado and
Utah.
Several of the canyons reminded
me of the Royal Gorge in Colorado
and our canyons in Utah. Then, on
the other hand, some of the flatter
country we went over was just as
desolate looking as some of the wide
open spaces of Western Texas or
Arizona. We even saw patches OF
vegetation now and then that looked
like purple sage and herd after herd
of sheep and goats, both on the hill
sides and on the plains. Nor have
I ever seen so many cattle since~I
have been in North Africa.
Now and again we would go
through some Arab village that
looked ever so much like one of
those Pueblo Indian villages out in
New Mexico, and in the mountains
and on the hiusides as well as out
on the plains we saw Arabs on the
move with their heavily laden cam
els. I think that this is the time
of the year when such groups Of
nomads start vending their way
into the desert country to the south.
In between towns and villages we
saw scores of donkeys and burros
with Arab men riding them (some-
times two on one animaD while
their women folk walked along be-
side the animal.
Recalls Biblical Characters.
did you ever read Robert Louis
Stevenson's account of travelling
through Spain atop donkey? Those
donkeys and burros also remand one
of famous biblical stories, i,e., Mary
and Joseph going to Bethlehem. Je-
sus going to Jerusalem Con Palm
Sunday. etc. And whenever I see
women and girls filling their earthen
lars with water or carrying them
over or on their shoulders or heads
I think, instinctively, of Isaac meet
ing Rebecca at the well.
THE first night of our trip we
stopped in Constantine, whose
founding dates back to the early
Christian era. Next morning we
opened the window and got dizzy
looking down into the deep ravine
We found that our hotel was built
right into cliff overlooking the
ravine. The city is on both sides
of a winding ravine connected with
swinging and other bridges. Con-
stantine is undoubtedly one of the
II1OSU JlCUul CS4uC CltACo al elAA AVA VA
Africa.
Last Sunday some of us went to
see the ruins of ancient Carthage.
We enjoyed the trip immensely
spending several hours walking
among the ruins and recalling les
pecially in the amphitheatre and
in what looked like miniature
Colisseum) the days of the great
Hannibal. You, of course, know your
ancient history we'll enough to know
that Carthage was eventually de-
stroyed by the Romans, and that
the city has never been rebuilt.
"On our return from Carthage we
went through wealthy Arab town
by the sea and loitered there long
enough to walk up and down some
Of the quaint, narrow streets and
to chat with Arab children playing
in the streets. I don't know wheth-
er you have ever been in North
Africa on your travels, but this par
ticular Arab town, nestled as it is
on the cliffs by the sea not far from
Carthage, looked ever so much like
some of the small towns on the
Riviera in Southern France"
FeIlu A h