HERE AND THERE IN NORTHERN AFRICA 



61 



tired of living on the high table-lands, 

 where climbing up and down was diffi- 

 cult, decided, about a hundred years ago, 

 to come down and live in the valleys. 



But wood was lacking and water 

 scarce and it was therefore impossible to 

 build houses, so instead they dug enor- 

 mous circular holes in the earth. These 

 holes averaged about 27 feet in depth by 

 about 195 feet in circumference. One 

 enters these great courtyards, which are 

 open to the sky, by means of under- 

 ground tunnels cut out of rock, which is 

 quite soft and can be dug through with a 

 spade, but it hardens on coming into con- 

 tact with the air (see page 7). 



These subterranean caves are so dry 

 that grain will keep indefinitely when 

 stored in them. The dwellings are cool 

 in summer and warm in winter, and out 

 of the way of sand when the sirocco 

 blows. 



The people in these underground 

 dwellings live like the patriarchs of old. 

 The head of the family is lord of all he 

 surveys, and lives with his sons and his 

 son's sons, their wives and their children. 

 Frequently almost 100 people live in a 

 single dwelling, each family having their 

 individual cave to themselves. 



TROGLODYTES WHO EMIGRATE 



The men of Matmata have more en- 

 ergy than most Arabs. Often two or 

 three adventurous youths receive per- 

 mission from their fathers (for without 

 that permission they could do nothing) 

 and start on foot or on donkeys for 

 Tunis. 



The journey is long. Kairouan, Sacred 

 City of the Sands,* is usually visited en 

 route; also the tombs of several cele- 

 brated Marabouts. Arriving penniless 

 and unknown in Tunis, these young Trog- 

 lodytes earn money by carrying trunks, 

 running errands, or going to market and 

 carrying vegetables and provisions for 

 housekeepers. 



When they have earned enough money 

 to buy two or three copper pots and what 

 looks like a large flower-pot, they hire a 

 small shop, hardly as large as a closet, 

 with an open front facing on the street. 



* See the Sacred City of the Sands, Na- 

 tional Geographic Magazine, December, 191 1. 



Here, about 4 o'clock in the morning, 

 they begin frying cakes in their copper 

 pots, which taste something like apple 

 fritters. These they sell tor five cen- 

 times, or one cent. The day laborers, 

 going to work, are their patrons. 



About 7 o'clock the morning's work is 

 over, and they close the shutters, clean 

 up, and go to sleep. About half past 

 three in the afternoon the shop is again 

 opened. The embers in the flower-pot, 

 which is in reality a stove, are blown by 

 small bellows until they glow, and more 

 fritters are fried. The demand seems 

 greater than the supply. 



In about four years' time these young 

 men can lay aside enough money to buy 

 some broadtail sheep, and goats, and 

 several camels, and return to their native 

 Troglodyte town, where they take to 

 themselves a Troglodyte maid and estab- 

 lish a small but happy home of their own. 



II 



THE UNIVERSITY AT THE MOSQUE 

 OF THE OUVE TREE IN TUNIS 



Few people outside of Tunisia know 

 of the Mohammedan University, where 

 about 1,000 students annually study vari- 

 ous branches of history, religion, ethics, 

 and sciences. 



Several years ago the students went on 

 strike because the professors came late to 

 their lectures, and some did not turn up 

 at all. 



Some of the Arab professors were not 

 particularly interested in the instruction 

 they gave. The students desired a larger 

 curriculum that would include chemistry, 

 physics, physical geography, and several 

 of the modern branches as taught in the 

 smaller American colleges. 



The strike was a passive one and 

 lasted about two months. A few of the 

 students were arrested, but almost im- 

 mediately released. A deputation of 

 students called upon the Bey and the 

 Resident of Tunis and begged them to 

 look into the matter. 



The Tunisian government answered 

 that from henceforth the professors 

 would be forced to attend their lecture 

 courses punctually, and that if sufficient 

 funds could be raised some of the modern 



