I)
THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE i --MARCH 10. 1007.
Through Ruins of Cities Which Were Great Five Hundred Years Ago
(Copyright, 19"7. by Frank O. Carpenter.)
SJIIjEMCEN. Africa. . March ". (Spec
I 1 lal Correspondence of Thfi Pee.)
nwlan dragoman, Mustapha, HnJ
Ink a walk this bright Sunday
morning through the Delhi of North Africa.
fl sro In a city which was famous when
Agra wan at the h'ieht of Its glory, and
one which h.i- mosques ami tombs con
taining Moorish decorations which wilt
compare In their brnuty with these of tho
famed cllirs of India. There are doors of
bronze In tho Moiuo of Sldl Kou-Mdln
n beautiful ns those at tho entrance to
tho cnpltnl at Washington, and equal In
their fine workmanship to those of Ghl-
berll at Florence. There nre temples of
Mohammedan worship hundreds of years
old. which have a beacty greater than the
mrsques of Cairo and Constantinople, nnd
all were constructed when Europe wns still
semi-rlvlllxeit and a hundred years or so
before tho new world of America began to
be. Not far from theso mosques are tho
remains of a ruined city, which surpassed
I'ompell In extent and glory, and In an
other direction Is the tomb cf tho man who
built tnt city, with the Arabs praying
in and about It today.
Rains of Tlemeen.
All this Is not In Italy, Greeoo or India,
tho countries to which we look for tho
monuments of tho past. It Is In this black
continent of Africa, on the edge of savage,
turbulent nnd warring Morocco, thirty miles
couth of the Mediterranean and about 100
miles from Oran, the chief soaprrt of
Western Algeria. It Is so far out of tho
lino of travel that strangers seldom como
horo, but It Is one of the most Interesting
places on tho continent.
Tho Tlemeen of today In a city of, per
haps, 2K,ono, situated In a beautiful valley,
at an elevation about as high above tho sea
as the average height of tho AUeghenles
It has behind It grerft bare, rugged moun
tains, which are capped with huge rocks,
making them look like fortifications thrown
up by tho gods, nnd their strength as for
tifications was probably one of tho reasons
for the site of these ancient cities.
Another reason was tho valley and plains
lying be-low. They are among the richest
In Algeria, Standing upon tho walls here,
as far as the eyo can renoh there Is noth
ing but vineyards and orchards and rich
fields of grain. There are hundreds of
thousands of olive trees londrd with fruit.
There are rich gardens and fields of po
tatoes below the city until It meets the hills
on tho horizon. White roads cut hero and
there through this expanse of green all
lead up to tho walls of Tlemeen.
Fortified City.
The city Is entered by gates. It was a
fortified town In the past and tho Vrench
have fofttfied It today. Tho high walls
have port holes at every few feet, through
which rifles and other guns can. be thrust,
companies of soldiers are always moln
to and fro through the streets' and tue
citadel, where the sultans of the past had
their gorgeous residences many centuries
ego, Is now a barracks, prison and hos
pital for the Algerian troops. Itu old walls
and gateways still stand, and tho min
aret of Its mosque, ninety feet hlsh. over
looks the rest of tho city. About SOU years
go this citadel contained soma of the
Wonders of the world. It had a -.-lock
which was celebrated "two centuries ne
fore that on the Strasburg cathedral was
made, and In one of the galleries, which
was paved with marble and onyx, stood
a solid silver tree upon which were many
' anxaolAM rt ntnorlnir titrris mntte (if crnhl
tnd silver.
Grand Mosqae.
Within a stone s throw or tne citadel,
surrounded by buildings which would nut
look out of placo In any country town in
France, rises the mighty mosquo Djama
1 Kebtr. It was built In A. D. 1130. but
It Is In as good condition today as whon
the Moors first worshiped in it 870 years
ago. The buildings of this mosque cover
about an acre and the roof Is supported
. by a vast number of columns which end
In great arches hung with many c!iand
llers. The buildings run around the court.
In the center of which Is a fountain of
onyx about which, as I passed through,
the Mohammedans were sitting and wash
ing themselves before going In to pray.
' We were allowed to enter the mosquo,
but had first to put on slippers, and we
walked about through the worshipers,
who 'were kneeling on their prayer rugs
and bowing again and again as thoy
looked toward .Mecca.
Unlit to Ghost of Candy Man.
When Tlemeen was In the height of Its
glory It had seventy mosques. One of
the most famous was built In honor of a
confectioner saint who preached to tho
children us they gathered around his candy
stall and whom, I doubt not, he attracted
by giving them sweets. lie became so
popular that the sultan made him a tutor
to his three sens. This angered the grand
viser, and he had the candy saint con
demned as a sorcerer and beheaded out-'
Ide the gates. Shortly after this the
ghost of the candy saint appeared before
the sultan and made a complaint, and
the sultan tied up the grand visor, hand
and foot and threw him Into a vat of ce
ment. As the cement hardened the grand
vlser hardened with It. and he was thus
burled alive In a solid block of stone. After
this the sultan built, the mosque, which re
main to this day.l This happened just
ISO odd years before Columbus discovered
America. I have no doubt it Is true, for
I saw the mosque here with my own mut
ter of fact American eyes.
Another mosque built In 1298 was In honor
of an Arab lawyer. It contains some of
the most exquisite Moorish work of the
world and It Is perhaps the finest monu
ment any lawyer has ever had. The law
yer It commemorates Is suld to have been
a man of truth.
Bid I Boa Media.
One of tho most Interesting of the
mosques lies several miles from Tlemeen,
on the aide of the mountains. It Is that
of Sidl Uou Medin, one of the most famous
scholars of the Moorish civilisation of MO
years ago. This man studied ut Granada
and Fes, and then traveled to Mecca. lie
lectured at Itagdad, Seville and Cordova,
and ended his career by lecturing here.
This mosque Is a wonder of line wurkman
ship. It Is floured with mosaic, its doors
F are of bronze and Its decorations are of
Moorish luce work of wonderful patterns.
Near It there was a famous Moorish col
lege, and while I walkid through the
mosque itself I could hear the boys sing
ing out their Koran as they swayed back
and forth, going over and over the Arabic
sentences written on their wooden slates.
I found many turbaned worshippers at
prayers Inside, and the red-faced keeper
grew quite angry when I asked If I might
make their photographs.
On my way back to town I stopped at an
Arab cafe and drank coffee with a half
dosen, dark-faced Derbera who had just left
the mosque. They were bearded and tur
baned. They had taken r-ft their Bllpptrs
as they sat down to drink, and I observed
that their bare feet were clean and the
toe ' nails almost aa well cared for as
though a manicure, or rather a pedicure,
had worked upon, them. The men looked
strangely at me from under their turbans,
and evidently thought me aa much a curl
petty aa I considered them. Nevertheless,
; they were friendly, and we drauk our coX-
iAvLV ill
...... . - - -
INTERIOR OF TUB MOSQUE OP SIDI
ree together. The coffee was brought In
sfnoklng. It was as black as Ink, finely
powdered nnd very sweet. The price was
one cent a cup.
Rained City of Mnnsonrn.
I next drove to tho ruins of Mansoura, on
tho other side of Tlemeen. That city was
built when Tlemeen wus great and when It
hod a population of 15,000 souls. Tlemeen
was then noted as a city of light and genius.
Its kings were lovers of art, science and lit
erature. They had their own armies of dis
ciplined soldiers, and they had a police
force. Judges and courts. They coined their
own money, and had schools and colleges.
This was several hundred years before
America was discovered.
It was Just nbout that same time that
Mansoura sprang up almost fn a night on
the plains. An Arab general, Abou Yakoub,
had beselged Tlemeen and had encamped
with his army about three miles from the
city. The selge lasted seven years, and
Mansoura was constructed during tho In
tervals of fighting by Yakoub. For many
years It was a rival of Tlemeen. Its walls
and forts Inclosed a space of something
Rubber Cultivation
ITH crude- rubber of fine grade
worth nearly . $1.50 a pound and
only 70.0HO tons a year available
for use In a world that could us
double the quantity. It Is no won
w
fBBh
der that plantations of hevea and Flscus
elastics are regarded as so many gold
mines.
Braiil last year provided rather more
than half of the world's supply 3S.00O tons.
Fine Para Is still the market's highest
biandard, and accordingly to the Amazon
and her tributaries men are lured as others
are lured to golden Australia. Moreover,
artificial planting Is In progress all over
the tropics, especially In Ceylon, the Maluy
peninsula, India and Mexico.
Borneo and Java, too, are beginning to
enter the markets with crude rubber, and
so are Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru,
the Philippines, Hawaii, tho Seychelles,
the west coist of Africa and the West
Indies. Uast season almost the whole sup
ply of the African west coast about IT.?)
tons, was sold In advance, owing to the
great demand for tires for automobiles.
But, like gold, nature guards this com
modity with jealous care and throws about
It the terrors of fevers, poisonous reptiles
and hostile savages. It is believed that the
basin of the Amazon could supply the
whole world with ruhber could only the
natural obstacles be overcome.
The Amazon Indians cure their rubber
for the market by dipping a paddle In tho
thick latex or milk of the rubter tree and
then whirling It over a smoky fire mad,
from a ere'al kind of nut until the water
is evaporated and leaves a thin film of
rubber. This process is repeated time after
time, until a ball of crude rubber larger
than a man's head Is built up.
On cultivated rubber estates the material
Is coagulated In rakes known In the trade
as biscuits. Rubber experts are convinced
that the demand will exceed the supply for
the next fifty years at least; for whle arti
ficial plantations In one region are quite
hardy, In others they have to be cared for
like a delicate child.
As to the demand, there Is perhaps no
article In nature In "more general use,
ranging from a woman's waterproof to
electrical engineering. The last few seasons
of motor vehicles have Increased the de
mand for rubber ' by nearly lU.OOO.OuO a
year.
It Is no wonder that chemists and In
ventors have striven for generations te
discover some substitute for natural rubber,
but all efforts have so far been In vain.
As to artificial cultivation there can be no
nON MEDIN AT TLEMCEN.
like throe hundred acres, and It had a mag
nificent lmsque, with a minaret or tower
1J5 feet high. This tower was decorated
with green iorcclain tiles, and It was a
wonder of beautiful workmanship. The
rulna of It still stand, tho most of the
tower being Intact, but the mosque has
long since crumbled to dust.
The great walls of Mansoura are still to
be seen in some places as solid as when
first built, and In others broken down and
crumbled. The whole space covered by
the city Is now a rich .Ineyard, the vines
growing clot.o up to the walls and huRging
the foot of the great tower. A crowd of
Herbors were picking the large whlto
grapes Into baskets as I drove through the
ruins and tried to people them with the
great army and the' gay throng of 600 years
ago. It was impossible amid such sur
roundings to rebuild, even in Imagination,
the Immense edifices, the magnificent pal
aces, tho groat houses and tho gardens
trnversod by streamlets as described by
the historians; but the scenes recalled to
me some of the verses of Omar Khayyam,
Hie great Persian poet, a!out the evan
escence of all things earthly. Yakoub's
doubt of its profits, one, a really .nature
plantation has been established and the
trees are in trim to be regularly tapped or
milked.
Cultivation in such countries as Ceylon
begins by selecting land for the nursery
with a good Eiipply of water close by.
Jungle growth is cut down and set fire to
when fairly dry. Next the whole soil is
turned over to a depth of fifteen inches
and all stumps and stones taken out and
the whole made smooth.
The land Is then divided up Into beds
of twenty feet by four feet, with inter
secting drains. .The coolies then put the
seeds In by means if polated stakes, and
pUuttd six Inches apart liuse seeds should
Eri?.VfAki. U'iVj here at long Intervals, but now it has
W-AlffiAlA--' "ffi&iJuW . ' Proved that the whole bark can bo
W$tt??''f'ii ,tk&tiUWCW that the latex has very little to do with
P tj , v W fflf5SfiUBM the tree's nourishment, and In one season
...TV
1
:4;
RUINED TOWER OF MAUSOURAx
soldiers finally conquered Tlemeen, but ho
himself was assassinated Just before its
surrender. After that the city of Mansoura
began to decline, and Its greatness was
soon swallowed by Tlemeen.
Amonsr the Kntlres.
But let me describe the Tlemsen of today.
A live dog is better than a dead lion and
tho Algeria of the present is more- Inter
esting than that of the dead centuries of
the past. I like the-swing and go of this
French colony, the Jaunty air of the sol
diers as they strut about In their fat, red
pantaloons and short Jackets and their tall
caps of blood red; the stately walk of the
Arabs as they go on slippered feet through
the streets; and above all the long gowns
and tall hats of some of the native gentle
men of Tlemeen. We think to much to
pay for a derby and J8 a big price for a
black silk tile, but these Tlemeen natives
pay quite as much for straw hats. Their
hats are, however, gorgeous beyond de
scription, and they stand from twelve to
eighteen laches above the crown of tjie
head. They are made of straw as fiivly
Becomes
grow to an average height of six feet In
ten months.
The Ilcvea brasilensls at the beginning
Is ltifblu tp attack by all kinds of insects
and animals. The delicate little shrubs are
transplanted a little later, but they require
great care until they are nearly six feet
high. When a rubber plantation la four
years old very little work is needed; the
trees are much less subject to pests and
diseases than an ordinary orchard.
In Its fifth yar the heavea ai-eds freely
In clusters, and in Ceylon the February
air is scented with the sweet blossom
of the rubber trees. As to the tapping
for the precloej latex or milk, of course
the piocees differ widely lu the case ot
V .! v
ENTRANCE TO THE
woven as a Panama and of several differ
ent colors. The brims are covered with
silk embroidery, and they extend for six
Inches out all around the hat. Those hats
aro largo enough to bo worn over turbans,
so big that I wus able to put one over my
cork helmet, while my photograph was
taken with my guide, Mustapha, standing
beside me.
Many House Industries.
One of the Industres of Tlemeen Is mak
ing such hats. The town Is quite a manu
facturing center. The natives I mean the
Berbers and Moors seem to be all engaged
In house Industries of one kind or other. I
went through street after street lined with
little shops, lighted only by the doors at the
front, containing men and boys weaving
clothes, embroidering caps for women nnd
hats for mn, sewing on slippers and shoes
and working at the various other trades of
the country. The weaving Is all done with
native wool upon rude hand looms. In the
dirtiest of shops the most beautiful of whits
burnouses are made, and little round caps
Important
wild and cultivated trees The collector of
wild rubber bleeds his trees with a sharp
machete and taps only such giants as he
knows will exude In a few weeks a big yield
of rubber. The reverse Is the case on a
cultivated plantation, where the greatest
care 1 taken of every tree and only a small
quantity of Juice extracted from each, for
the rubber planter does pot think so
much of a trees yield for one year as
for fifty, and accordingly he studies the
tree's health. In tapping the bark Is pene
trated so as to get at the tiny tubes without
Injuring the wood. And it la surprising, coagulation. Then the rubber pancakes
what a rubber tree will endure. are rolled by band or put through a mangle.
In the old days tapping was done cau- and after drying they are ready for slUp
tlously by means of aa laclalon here and ment.
MOSQUE OF TITE CAJS'DV SAINT.
covered with velvet and embroidered with
gold and silver are turned out In places no
better than dog kennels.
The whole of the native qunrtcr Is a mix
ture of the gorgeous and tho squalid. A
man will wear an hat and at tho .wmo
time have bare feet and logs bare half
way to the kneo and a dirty whlto gown.
A woman will go along wrapped in a whlto
flannel blanket much the worse for wear
and on her head will be one of theso gold
embroidered caps, Just about as big around
and of the same shape, as a tin funnel
such as Is used In our kitchens. The cnr
will be hidden by the blanket and she will
keep It so tight about her face that only
a hide the size of a postage stamp can be
seen. Through this hole peeps a liquid
black eye. and It is only when she stumbles
or when the amorous wind tears open her
garments that you see any other part of
her person. Even little girls are often so
druped, although some show their faces.
A Iind of Queer Costumes.
I wish I could tell you Amerlcnn girls
Just how your well-to-do sisters of this
Industry
A series of obllquo cuts aro inadq across
the stem and a cup rut at the end to re
ceive the milk. This Is the herringbone
system und may run from the trie's base
to a point six feet up. Some of the finer
trees have yielded as much as sixteen
pounds of fine rubber in a year, but this Is
exceptional.
The profits of rulber culture are tempt
ing. Thus an Investor who acquires one
aero of 0-year-old trees at say Jl.OnO may
look for an Income of that amount from
the milk of his trees. Th so will live for
100 years, and It seems that the older they
get the more hardy they become und the
larger and more certain thir yield.
It will bo many years before tho new
plantations of Ceylon and Malaya are
ready for tapping, and the most accessible
regions of the Amazon have bern tapped to
diath, as the dealers of Para put it. The
Brazilian export is now stationary, al
though collectors have gone further and
further afield Into the Amazonian Jungle.
Already the Oermans are planting at
Baluafata, near Apia In Samoa; and even
In far off Borneo auO.ooo oung trees have
been planted within tho lout year or two.
The great demand and limited supply ac
counts for the enormous profits dTlved
by King Leopold of Belgium from the wild
ruboer vinos of the Congo forests.
There Is a vast rubber concern operating
In the Upper Congo, which In turn Is di
vided Into smaller concerns. One of theso
operates In a territory 2;,0U0 miles, in ex
tent, and a floO share In It is worth to
day $o,0i). In four years this minor com
pany paid I4.00u.ui0 In net profits.
The milk Is brought to the preparing
house in cans and there poured into pans
with a few drops .of acetic acid to Induce
side of the world aro elothed. If you saw
a party of them on the street you would
think they had picked up their bed blan
ket and started out for a great ma
quorndo. If you were a man you could
not poselbly get near enough to examine
them, but one of my lady friends has told
me Just how they are drossed. Under those)
blankets they hove baggy trousers which
come about half way to tho ankle, and
above theso Jackets of embroidery with one
or two vests under them. They wear
sashes about tho waist and undergarments
of fine guuie.
At home the ladles either go barefooted
or wear slippers of velvet embroidered with
gold. They plait their hair In long braids
and tie It up In knots behind the bead.
They wear the little gold caps I have al
ready described nnd tie them on with
cords of gold thread under the chin. Those
who can afford It are loaded with Jewelry. '
They have bracelets and anklets and soma
wear gold rings In their ears. Even the.
children wear Jewelry. I see little girls
with earrings almost as big around as tho
bottom of a tin cup nnd anklets of silver
as thick as their own little fingers.
The Arab men have gowns of white
woolen material striped with silk bound
In by sashes at the waist. Under this
they often wear baggy trousers and over
It a white woolen burnoose of fine texture.
The richer men sometimes have a sort of
an overcoat of flno navy blue cloth em
broidered with silk and made In the shape
of a burnoose. Some of tho men wear
stockings and some riding horseback have
instead long, red boots of the finest Morocco
leather which are almost as soft as
wool. Over tho foot they have a shoa
covering the boot to the ankle, and to thla
shoe a spur Is attached. The poorer Arabs
wear hiacka, long gowns of a night-shirt
shape, made of camel's hair and wool In
whlto and black stripes.
Many of tho native garments aro made
In Tlemeen. This town has long been
noted for Its good workmanship and Its
lace, hats, shawls and blankets are fam
ous. Among other garments are soma
made for the Jews, and especially tho
bright red shawls which they use hero for
mourning.
New French Towns.
Tho Tlemeen of today Is largely com
posed of new French buildings. Tho streets
French streets. There Is a square In tha
center of the town whero tho people meet
to walk about, and there is a park outsido
It filled with great plane trees and wild
olive trees which Is known as Tlemcen's
Bola do Boulonge. About six years ago tho
city was first -reached by railroad, nnd It
now has two trains each way every day.
On my way hero I stopped at Sldl Bel
Abbes, a French settlement of 19,000 peo
ple, which has grown up within a few
years. Sldl Bel Ahber Is named after a
Mohammedan saint, and It has Its Arab
quarter today. The city is built In the
shape of a rectangle with great walls about
It, and, like most of these Algerian towns.
It has Its military quarter. This Is Inhab
ited by several companies of tho foreign
soldiers employed by the French to defend
Algeria. They are composed of Swiss, Poles,
Germans and such other riff-raff as can
be enlisted at a few cents a day. The
troops there vary In number, at times
reaching as many as fi.OOO.
Sldl Bel Abbes has Its regular concerts
by the military band; It has a theater
whero they aro now playing "Box and
Cox," and also a "Cafe Chantant," where
the songs and dances are even more
wicked than those of Paris Itself. Indeed
things are moving fast In this French seo
tlon of the African continent.
' FRANK Q. CARPENTER.
These Hustling Americans
At a recent gathering In Baltimore two
men from different sections of tho country;
were discussing tho capabilities of "nervoua,
restlcsj Americans" for being most slow
nnd deliberate. Tho Mary lander - claimed
the palm for slowness for the Inhabitant
of the eastern shore of his state.
"It Is a saying hereabouts," said he,
"that If oysters had been created with legs)
the peyplo of tho eastern shore would alt
have starved to death."
"Tho folks around Mount Monadnocte
have a saying that beats yours," remarked
a Vermont man. "Of one man up there It
used to be observed that If you were to give
Iliram Hlgglns forty yards start, stock-still
would catch him!" Harper's Weekly.
Polly and Tom
Folly eight and Tommy ten.
Sister and brother, they
Go to school tho whole week through
Excepting Saturday,
On Saturday they help mamma
About the house, you know.
Tommy sweeps the steps and walks
While Polly kneads the dough.
But soon as It Is afternoon
And the dinner work Is done
They go lu visit some young friends)
And Lave the niostesl fun!
They play and play till almost dark, -
Then home they go to tea,
With toys In their little arms
A havyy as ou U.
AKTCB JA.ME.
