Evening star., 1944-02-13

thc NuttOHut IcUyTupHC OOCISIy
for The Sunday Star to inform
readers about the regions 1uhere
American SerUicemen are sta
toned. An article ,oiH appear in
The Star each SundayJ
To find the giant apes, the plat
ter-lipped women, the Hottentot po-
tentates and other trademarks of
Africa and the circus, visit the tro-
pical jungleS south of the broad
Sahara. There lies the Dark Con-
tinent of Stanley and Livingstone.
North Africa is region apart,
as hordes OF crusading Americans
have learned first-hand since No
vember 8, 1912 1t has its share of
sights strange to the YankS. but they
are such as to prove that the re-
gion's destiny through the ages has
been shared with Europe and Ara
bia. not with Africa south of the
Sahara barrier.
The North Africa known to to-
days A. E. F. is bordered by 1000
miles of Mediterranean and Atlantic
coasts. Ridged with the chains and
spurs of the Atlas Mountains, it eX-
tends from southwest of Casablanca
to the Marine hymned shores of
Tripoli.' For 200 miles opposite and
east from Gibraltar, it recedes from
the coast, leaving Spanish Morocco
to neutral" Spain. Centered on the
fertile coast of Algeria, it includes
French Morocco to the west and
TunlSia to the east.
Cities Are Largest.
Bordering the Mediterranean from
its Gibraltar gate to Tunisias Cape
Bon is the Tell, backed by the coastal
Atlas Range. Because it is we'll
watered and fertile the Tell is the
prize strip of North Africa. It's grain
fields, vineyards, olive and citrus
groves are of the finest Its cities
are largest and most numerous
Here are Algiers and Oran, Tunis
and Bizerte.
This is the Barbary Coast. where
in 1904 and 1915 Commodore Stephen
Decatur Of the young United States
Navy made piratical Moors under
stand that his country really meant
g. not one cent for tribute"
And North Africa is Barbary, so
called for the Berber natives. who
remind the Yanks of home. White
skinned, blue-eyed and blond, they
are the regions aborigines. whose
strain has persisted through CEN
turies of successive occupations by
Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, VAN
dals, Arabs, French. Hardy and
democratic. they farm the Atlas
hillsides. City life is for Arabs.
Moors, Jews and European colonists
and traders.
To get today's picture of the Bar
barry melting pot, look back as far
as the 7th century. Then Arabs
from the east began their sweep
into the area. Marrying Berbers,
they produced the Moors. In time
quered Spain, developed a strong
civilization in a weak world. De-
clining in power, they were driven
from Spain in 1892 AS Barbary
Corsairs they ruled the Mediter-
ranean waves until Decaturs cour-
age paved the way for colony-mind-
ed France to annex most of Barbary
to her African empire.
ScribeS and Scholars.
Now stroll with an American SOL
dier on market day through the
old Moorish quarter of Morocco's S
port of Rabat: There you will see
western Barbary types-hooded
Moors in their "nightgoWn" bur-
nooses, robed Arabs on fiery steeds,
Berbers in Sheepskins and sacking,
Jews in black gaberdine wearing
skull caps. You will see scribeS and
scholars, black slaves, beggars and
charlatans, assorted urchins.
There will be women, too, yelled
in Moslem tradition. Only eyes are
revealed, and hours have been Law
ished to make them limpid and en-
ticing. But the rule book is clear
Yanks may not gaze long upon them
Only here in French Morocco is
habitable North Africa more than
100 miles wide. South from Casa
blanca, around inland Marrakech,
farm plains are inclosed between
fingers of the Atlas spreading south
west from Tunis and Algiers.
The climate is MILL the latitude
that of the Southern United States.
Cattle, sheep and goats Craze ON
lower slopes of ridges that reach
to 10000 feet. Fruits and grains
thrive when moisture is sufficient.
But livestock is stunted and wiry,
the Berber farmers are hardy be-
cause recurrent droughts make liv-
ing difficult.
Casablanca, Chicago of North
Africa" is modern city, the first
built by the French. Eastward from
Casablanca railroad runs to
Meknes and Fez to Oujda and Tlem-
cen, where France centered her
North African military control, and
on to Oran, Algiers. Constantine
and Tunis. 1t is paralleled by a
good highway. Evidence of civiliza-
ton increases with progress east
ward.
Mountain BackdrOp.
From Tunis the highway continues
along the changing coast to Tripoli
The railroad tapers to narrow gauge