HERE AND THERE IN NORTHERN AFRICA 



93 



swarms of locusts arrived and devoured 

 every green thing. The Caid watched the 

 locusts eating, and improvised a poem, 

 without trying to drive them away. When 

 my friend saw him he asked the Caid 

 if it were true that the field had been 

 planted with wheat. 



"Yes," answered the Caid, "but 

 swarms of locusts arrived, armed with 

 pitchforks (legs) like the gleaners. 

 They have gleaned everything and have 

 not left a thing. Praise be to Allah, who 

 permits such a small and feeble animal 

 to destroy everything !" 



IV 



IN TRIPOLI OF BARBARY 



Tripoli of Barbary has an area of 

 about 400,000 square miles. The capital, 

 Tripoli, is one of the most Oriental towns 

 on the Mediterranean, and combines a 

 mixture of Moorish and Turkish ar- 

 chitecture. 



The low, flat-roofed houses resemble 

 those of Tunisia, but, instead of being 

 creamy white, the Turkish population 

 have painted them red, pink, orange, or 

 blue. The numerous minarets of the 

 mosques are round and have graceful, 

 pointed spires, covered with copper, that 

 glisten in the sun. 



Before the Italians took possession, 

 the population consisted of about 1,200 

 foreigners, including Italians, Maltese, 

 Greeks, French, English, and Germans, 

 and over 36,000 native Turks, Arabs, 

 Berbers, and Sudanese. 



An extremely high stuccoed wall of 

 stone and cement, many feet in thick- 

 ness, encircles the town of Tripoli like a 

 half-moon. It was built to keep out the 

 wild tribes of the Sahara and has aided 

 the Italians in protecting the city on 

 three sides. The wall only stops on 

 reaching the emerald and sapphire waters 

 of the Mediterranean. (Compare page 



Tripoli lacks a natural harbor, but 

 there is a series of great boulders and 

 rock islands that would enable the gov- 

 ernment to build, for less than $1,000,- 

 000, a splendid harbor where the largest 

 steamers would be safe. Now when Nep- 

 tune is angry all sailing ships and steam- 



ers have to leave the harbor and put out 

 to sea. 



Small craft, with raking masts and 

 huge lateen sails, anchored in the har- 

 bor, remind one of the Barbary pirates 

 that less than a century ago were the 

 dread of all Europe. 



Other picturesque boats are those of 

 the Greek sponge fishers, that under full 

 sail resemble huge "Portuguese men-of- 

 war" or Physalia, a curious species of 

 jellyfish that floats on the water and raises 

 at will a thin membrane that acts as a 

 sail. One sees them in summer near the 

 coast of North Africa and in the tropical 

 waters of the Atlantic Ocean near the 

 Canary and Cape Verde Islands. Their 

 iridescent colors make them a thing of 

 beauty, but their sting, which is like an 

 electric shock, often proves fatal to the 

 swimmer. 



THE GREEK SPONGE DIVERS 



The sponge divers come from Greece 

 and are men of superb physique. Their 

 calling is a difficult and dangerous one. 

 In civilized countries the limit of depth 

 for diving is placed somewhere around 

 130 feet, but here it is not unusual for 

 them to work at from 180 to 200 feet 

 under water, and the pressure is, of ne- 

 cessity, enormous. 



The sum paid to each diver on his 

 arrival from Greece is 60 pounds sterling 

 ($300). After he has gathered enough 

 sponges to pay for the money advanced 

 him, he works on a commission, and each 

 sponge that he brings up nets him a few 

 cents. 



After toiling weeks and accumulating 

 a large quantity of sponges, it behooves 

 the diver to have a brother or friend to 

 manage the pump for him on the diving 

 boat ; otherwise the captain has been 

 known to pinch the air tube. Pressure 

 for a few seconds suffices, and the diver 

 is pulled aboard, dead. 



The commissions and the profits in the 

 sponges go into the pocket of this un- 

 scrupulous Shylock, and another "acci- 

 dent owing to tremendous pressure" is 

 reported to the authorities of Tripoli ! 



These divers are a jolly, happy-go- 

 lucky set of young men, hardly more than 

 boys, who spend their money freely. "Let 



