IURSUE OI Abe VAT ILeVINID) O1G a GI ba ese: 
ROMISE 
Photo from ““The Gateway to the Sahara,” by Chas. Wellington Furlong: Scribner’s 
A BAREFOOTED BAKER MOULDING COARSE DOUGH INTO ROUNDED LOAVES 
iMetienimianiractire Of paper. lt is 
brought to Tripoli or to Homs (a town 
on the coast eastward of the capital) by 
the Bedouins. In these places, which 
are the centers of this trade, European 
firms have erected machinery, where the 
grass is pressed in packs. “The esparto- 
grass export amounted in 1903 to £76,- 
000; in 1904, £126,000. 
The dates of Tripolitania are not of 
a very good quality and they are not 
in any appreciable quantity exported. 
Date palms grow along the coast and 
in Fezzan. At the end of the summer 
Bedouins of the Jefara go to Fezzan for 
the crop of dates and take to the Fez- 
zanis in exchange barley and wheat. 
More important than agriculture is the 
cattle-rearing. It flourishes in Cyrenaica, 
from where cattle, sheep, and goats are 
exported by ship to Malta and overland 
to Egypt. There is also a considerable 
export of camels to Egypt and Syria. 
The imports to Tripoli consist chiefly of 
foodstuffs, tea, cotton goods, and sugar. - 
THE REASONS OF TRIPOLI’S DECLINE 
Much has been said in the press and 
by Italian political writers about the 
grandiose prospects of the country. 
These prospects are mainly based upon 
the supposition that Tripolitania was 
under the Roman empire, a province 
of flourishing agriculture and enormous 
wealth. There can be no doubt that 
Tripoli once saw better days, although 
the accounts of some of the ancient 
writers seem to be exaggerated. The 
causes of the decline are manifold and 
far from clear. The decline commenced 
