1 62 Tripoli [1894 



on the horizon. This they say is Calypso's Island, a dreamy afternoon 

 place, lying sweltering in a stagnant sea. 



" 6th Nov. — Tripoli. A lovely white town with walls and minarets 

 and an immense growth of palms. Here there is a natural port which 

 could be improved if the Turkish Government would allow Europeans 

 a concession to do it, but it wisely refuses, knowing the consequences. 

 The foreign population consists of some 6,000 or 7,000 Maltese and 

 Italians. There are many Jews, and a large population of Moslems, 

 mostly of Arab race, manly and fanatical. The Tripolitans are not 

 subject to conscription for the Ottoman army, but form a kind of 

 militia having obtained certain terms of independence when the Sultan 

 took possession, in return for their support given against the Bey. 



" The palm gardens, which extend for ten miles, are wholly in their 

 hands, and Europeans are discouraged, if not forbidden, from living 

 outside the town. Beyond the gardens all is a sandy desert, and the 

 general character of the place is like our own palm district at Sheykh 

 Obeyd. I called at the British Consulate, and found my old friend 

 Jago officially there, who sent his son with me in a covered cart 

 through the palm groves and to the desert beyond. We stopped to 

 see the Wali's garden, newly reclaimed from the sand. It has all the 

 feature of our own garden in Egypt, but without the Icbbck trees. 

 He is making a number of such gardens, using the soldiers to do the 

 labour as is the way in Turkey. Then to a place they call the Hahneh, 

 which is a bit of high, stony ground kept bare for the purpose 

 of assemblies and festivities in the centre of the palm gardens. 

 From it one sees nothing but palm tops all round." [The 

 palm district here described was the scene in 191 1 of the 

 abominable atrocities committed by the Italian soldiery when, 

 in defiance of all right or even pretext, they made their raid on 

 Tripoli, and massacred the Arabs of the oasis.] " Then to the Suk 

 el Jumaa, and the Suk el Thalatha held on the seashore. Here we 

 found a great concourse of Arabs with camels, horses, asses, and 

 cows for sale, several thousands of them on the beach. Some had 

 brought a load of half a, others sheep, others woollen shawls. I bought 

 a grey and white shawl for fifteen francs, more than their market 

 value, though really beautifully pieces, like the best Scotch or Irish 

 homespun, only better. I should say a good trade might be made by 

 importing these to England. 



" After this we went back to a midday meal at the Consulate, a good 

 old Moorish house, but standing unfortunately in the Maltese quarter, 

 which is noisy and filthy in the extreme, contrasting with the Moslem 

 quarters, which are clean, silent and decorous. The Turks keep about 

 6,000 regular soldiers in Tripoli, but count the native militia at as 

 many more. They have Mudirs and Kaimakams in the principal 



