730 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
‘FRUIT VENDER: TUNIS 
~which covers their face and is held out in 
front by the arms of the wearer. All she 
can see is a few steps in front of her 
feet. These wealthy women are usually 
‘followed by several female attendants. 
Place Bab-Suika is one of the most 
animated scenes in a town where every 
street teems with life. The great domes 
of the mosque form a picturesque back- 
ground for a multi-colored throng of 
moving humanity, so dense that it 1s diffi- 
‘cult to walk about. 
Here early in the morning are to be 
-found great piles of freshly picked fruit 
and vegetables brought in from the sur- 
‘rounding country. 
A tiny donkey with paniers filled with - 
oranges shoves you up against the wall 
of the narrow street as he passes, and 
we wonder what the vender is crying.. 
It sounds weird, but translated means 
only “Oranges—sweeter than honey.” 
Passing through the .~“Porte de 
France,” one of the numerous gateways 
into Tunis, we walk up the crowded and 
narrow Rue de l’Eglise, where Arab, 
Jew, Greek, Italian, French, and tourist 
rub shoulder to shoulder. At the end of 
the street is the large “Mosque of the 
Olive Tree” (Djamma Zitouna). A sign 
in large letters warns one in French, 
English, German, and Italian: “Reserved 
for Moslem worship. Entrance forbid- 
den.” The glimpses one has of the in- 
terior make one long to enter. 
Leaving the mosque, to our left we 
come to the Souk of the Perfumers. 
Here in small niches sit the venders, 
looking like live Buddas. . Attar of rose, 
jasmine, amber, and rose geranium are 
the favorite scents. Should one be un- 
fortunate enough to have a guide, in- 
stead of the oriental perfume a coal-tar 
product will be substituted, which comes 
