HERE AND THERE IN NORTHERN AFRICA 



95 



us enjoy life while we live" is their 

 motto. 



They are hard workers and nothing 

 daunts them. They remain under the 

 water as long as the human frame can 

 stand the pressure. 



Instead of being pulled up, as divers 

 usually are, they inflate their rubber div- 

 ing suits by letting the air accumulate 

 instead of escaping and rise to the sur- 

 face with great rapidity, almost shooting 

 out of the water. This sudden change in 

 atmospheric pressure often causes pa- 

 ralysis and apoplexy, so that on most of 

 the boats there are at least half a dozen 

 crippled divers recovering from this kind 

 of paralysis. 



The Greek government in days gone 

 by tried to render aid by sending over 

 two well-equipped hospital ships, but the 

 owners of the diving boats resented this 

 interference and hoisted the Turkish flag, 

 thus preventing the hospital ships from 

 being of service. After two years of 

 fruitless effort on the part of the govern- 

 ment, the effort was given up. 



THE SPONGE DIVERS AT PL,AY 



On Sundays and legal holidays the 

 divers, dressed in their holiday clothes, 

 enjoy life as best they can in the little 

 town of Tripoli, where theaters and even 

 cinematographs are unknown. One of 

 their favorite pastimes is to hire Berber 

 horses and race at full tilt up and down 

 the desert just outside the walls of Trip- 

 oli, a harmless pleasure and most amus- 

 ing to onlookers, for they are poor riders 

 and usually fall off. 



At night they go to some native house, 

 where, in the patio, or large rectangular 

 courtyard, brilliantly illuminated with in- 

 candescent lights, they sit about long 

 tables and drink coffee or beer. Six or 

 eight blind musicians play weird strains 

 in a minor key, while man after man gets 

 up and dances a pas seul. The steps are 

 indescribable, but always graceful. They 

 rarely become intoxicated, and toward 

 midnight they go home. 



THE SPONGE INDUSTRY 



The sponges are dried, cleaned, and 

 sent to France and England, where they 

 bring good prices. An ordinary sponge 



takes about five years to grow and costs 

 from 8 to 20 francs ($1.60 to $4). The 

 Biological Laboratory at Sfax, on the 

 coast of Tunisia, is making a study of 

 the diseases and artificial propagation of 

 sponges, as their ruthless destruction 

 over the coast of northern Africa bids 

 fair to exterminate this industry in a 

 very few years. Great progress has been 

 made in these investigations. 



It was my good fortune to be in Trip- 

 oli while the Turkish and French com- 

 missioners were settling the boundary 

 question between Tripoli and Tunisia, 

 and they enabled me to take some de- 

 lightful excursions with them to various 

 oases in Tripolitania. 



The different consulates were on 

 friendly terms with each other, and all 

 vied in lavishing hospitality upon us. 

 Three days in the week were holidays, 

 Friday being the equivalent of our Sun- 

 day for the Mohammedans, Saturday the 

 Jewish Sabbath, and Sunday the Chris- 

 tian Day of Rest. 



In the evening, after dinner, we would 

 often stroll down and take a cup of 

 Turkish coffee at a cafe overlooking the 

 bay, while the waves rolled in at our feet 

 and the stars shown like electric lights 

 in a blue-black sky. The Oriental town 

 about us seemed asleep, but the distant 

 beating of tom-toms and the shrill notes 

 of bagpipes, or flageolets, that occasion- 

 ally reached our ears showed that some- 

 where a fete was taking place. 



The souks, or bazars, of Tripoli are 

 not remarkable, but are interesting never- 

 theless. The souks of the silversmiths 

 are composed entirely of Jews. One 

 never sees an Arab silversmith or black- 

 smith. 



THE EPPECT OP THE HALXEY COMET ON 

 JEWS AND ARABS 



Rain water is the only drinking water 

 used and is kept in huge cisterns built 

 under the houses. During the passing of 

 the Halley comet the Jews of Tripoli were 

 afraid of dying and took refuge in their 

 great cisterns, which they had pumped 

 dry for the purpose. Twenty-four hours 

 having elapsed, they came out of their 

 hiding places to find the world the same 

 as before. 



