STRANGE SCENES IN TRIPOLI’S CAPITAL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3372, 11 November 1911, Page 9

STRANGE SCENES IN TRIPOLI’S CAPITAL.

ANCIENT AND MODERN IN CURIOUS CONFUSION.

EDGE OF SAHARA

Tripoli, which seems likely to be the scene of hostilities; or, at any rate, to be a bone of contention between Italy and Turkey, lies far south of the great Mediterranean highways. It possesses little natural weath, and this, no doubt, accounts for its having escaped the European Influences so noticeable in Cairo, Tunis,, and Algiers. The capital is crescent in form, being qbout two miles from tip to tip, and dhe mile wide. The inside of the crescent is bounded by a magnificent hay, and the outside enclosed by huge ramparts, except to the south-east, whence lead the principal routes to the Sahara. Here, if anywhere, is a city of romance. Pirates and oorsairs, doomed by obsolete Turkish gunboats and modern progress to idlesness from their nefarious exploits, still throng the marina cafes. In blue zouaves and loose baggy trousers, faced with brilliant touches of gold and red embroidery, they remain at heart untamed. A maze of narrow, • winding streets lead from the Custom House and ramparts to the business quarter. High, white-washed buildings, quaintly corbelled projections, and perforated casements, whence the harem ladies see, themselves unseen, combine in riotous fantasy of street architecture. Here and there the street burrows through a house, or underneath a series of arches. So, by devious and marvellous ways, do all streets lead to the business centre, Sukil-Turc (street of the Turks), which is half a mile in length, and some 15ft to 20ft in width. Shops and bazaars occupy both sides. VINE-COVERED STREET. Overhead, a latticed roof, densely overgrown with vines, runs from end to end. Brilliant splashes of light flicker down on a moving mass of Orientals. Every race from Stamboul to Morocco is represented—Jews, Armenians, Sudanese, Arabs, and Bedouins bargain and barter in the cool twilight. Donkeys nose their way through the chattering crowd, while beggars appeal silently for alms. One sees a Roman triumphal arch, solitary relic of a previous occupation, cheek by jowl with a barrel organ and a loud gramophone wailing Arab dirges in a wayside cafe. The triumphal arch has now lost the pristine glroy. Delicate carvings adorn the marble capitals and panels; but the sand of centuries, blown horn the Sahara, has swallowed up tire lower half, leaving visible little none than the semi-circular arch. An enterprising tradesman has carefully boarded up the apertures, and a firstrate dried fish and provision shop is the result.

Pas the Pasha’s Mosque, and to the east of the town, lies a long tract of sand, bounded oh one side by the bay, and on tire otter by camel compounds. Here everv Tuesday is held the famous Haifa Market. During the night caravans have been arriving from south and east. Cornels laden with esparto matting and fruit have been unburdened. and formed into miniature camps. By ea’-lv morning the sands have been converted into a market city, with a population of from 5000 to 10,000 people. The permanent population of Tripoli consists chiefly of Arabs, Jews, and Turks, though there is a considerable sprinkling of. Italians and Maltese. The English colony numbers a dozen persons.