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T1IOHN lil'SIIFS FURNISH TUB FOOD FOR THK CAMEI.3.
(Cnpyrlght. 1!"'7. hy Frank O Cnrpenfor )
1ENI OI-NIF. April 11 -(Spe.-lul
f I C'orre8iiinilincp of Thp liee.) I
..... .... in.- v. iitir-m HI is ti
tho Kriilrst dHrr( on rarth. On
all Hldoc of nic Is thn Sh hum
Hin t, hill to tlm woKt, south iiti.l past, for
Imn.lr.ds of tnll.H. Thp os,.t, kII tol.l. In
IniR'T than tho Fnlt.d Stat.s. It Is UK
that If you couia lift up Its nan.ly. locky
urfarp llkn n quilt and transport It to
our country, It would cover pvcry bit of
It. and hide n part of Canndn and the Oulf
Of Moxlco. It is lnnRrr thnn the Mpdltpr
nnPBn urn. and lilifKPr than all Europe.
In souip pl'irt s It Is 2,'XK) mllns whip. Whprp
I now nm Is inoro than 4v) miles routh of
the port of Oran, ntul about l.i'm tnlleii
from Timbuktu on tho Nlncr, whpre thp
freat fertile belt of Africa bruins.
On the Kilp of Morocco.
This Is on thB very cdse of tlm French
fiahara. Just west of It there are wild
rocky mountains aa bare as the asphalt
of Pennsylvania avenue, and as Jhlrsty as
was Dives when he bcKned Lazarus to cool
his parched tongue. Thev mark the bound
ary between the possessions of the French
and those of thn Moorish sultan; but the
desert Koes farther westward, and at the
outhweat It does not stop until It reaches
the Atlantic ocean.
I came hern on the military railroad, built
by thn French, to guard their people from
the brigands of Morocco. It Is the road
which. It Is thought, may Homo day be con
tinued clear across the Sahara to Tim
buktu, with possibly a branch going off
to Iko Chad. Tho road starts at Oran
nd carries one through the rich lands of
the Tell, u. country as fat us our Missis
sippi valley, which has grain llelds and
orchards, and vineyards which make mil
lions of gallons of wine every year. The
cenes there arc like those of the best parts
of California. We left Oran in tho even
ing, and as tho night fell we were Mill in
tho Tell.
On the Atlna 1'latraa.
Wrapping myself In my blanket, with
my camera under my bead as a pillow. I
lept fitfully all night and awoke on tho
high plateau of the Atlas mountains, be
yond which Is the desert. I was passing
through a great plain of yellow, sandy null,
covered here and there with stones, and
spotted every w her with bunches of dry
nlfa grass. Only In one direction were
there any hills to b seen, and they were
bleak, Imrrcn and rocky.
The alfa was growing right In the sands.
It Is a long, wiry grass, which, gathered
by the thousands of tons and uhlptwrt to
Europe for the making or paper. It Is cut
by tho Arabs and there are companies with
ImniensM capital which handle It. It grows
to the height of my waist In bunches, some
of which are not bigger than one's flst,
while others sprout out of mounds which
would till a half-bushel measure. It looks
tough and dry, but nevertheless large
Hocks of white and brown sheep, black
goats ami camels feed upon it. I aw such
animals scattered over the plains, each
flock watched by n shepherd In white gown
and turban, who looked like a ghost as he
stood among his sheep In the early morn
ing. We passed ninny tent villages occupied
by such shepherds and their families. The
tents are of a course black cloth woven In
stripes. They are so stretched out that
otie lias to get down upon his knees and
crawl In. The cloth Is made of camel's
hair and sheep's wool by the wives of the
shepherds: it Is ui.l us canvas through
out the desert.
Down Into the Desert.
We soon left the Atlas and came on Into
the Sahara Itself. There was still soma
vegetation, but It was only in patches, her
nd there, or along the banks of dried up
streams. Now the land was Mat. Hint now
tt rose Into rocky mountains which were
Muck in the early morning. As I looked
cut over the plains 1 saw the sun rine.
There was first a faint streak of yellow
way off in the east. This grew until it
becume a sheet of light over the horlson.
A few minutes later a pale yellow sun
could be seen through this veil. As it
rose the veil disappeared and a biasing
white ball Jumped out into the sky. For a
time a thin fleecy mist hovered over the
sands, only to bo followed by the clear air
cf the desert.
As we went on with our Journey the
Fahara seemed always changing. We
passed for miles over bare rook, almost as
smooth as a floor, and then through re
gions where the rin ks were ragged and cut
tip into all sorts of hupes. At times there
were boulders and again sniall pebbles of
different colors, red brown and black.
Here about Henl Ounlf the desert Is largely
limestone, while farther south, along the
Zousfun.1 rivrr. I passed through rolling
dunes and plains covered with boulders.
ot Flat He4 of Baud.
The old descriptions reprrnented the
6uhara as a dreary waste of barren sand
as flat the "f. H va,t wilderness where
travelers must perish if they tried to go
through it. The real Sahara has vast cx-
ancs of sand. It has plains us tug us a
KOod-sUcd stats of the union, which are
roveied with stones, but u great part of it
is rolling. It Is largely a plateau, broken
up by lofty mountains and rut up by water
courses called wad.lys which are dry the
greater part of the year. Its average
height above the sea Is about as great as
thst of the Ulue Ridge mountains of Vir
ginia, and In many places It Is as high as
the AJleghentes and higher.
The sand dui.es themselves are oir.s
tlmes feet high. nd they rise from the
Aoaeit, crsot-haiel. the horns of ths
M
crescent being turned away from the
winds. The sand Is rolled up by the wind
from tho bottom to the top,' each grain go
ing over and over until It falls inside the
crescent. As this rolling goe on tho dures
Increase In size. They move along slowly
and If a railroad should be in their way
they would swallow It up. I have seen
similar dunes on the great Peruvian desert
at the foot of the Andes, and have been
told that they were the chief obstacles to
railrond building in that region. These
dunes grow hard as the wind blows against
them. Muring my travels through them
here not far from Hon! Ounif. I hive rid
den up them on horseback and the sand
is almost as solid as that of the seashore.
Vegetation of the Desert.
There are large regions In the Fahara
which have no vegetation whatever, but
many other parts have grass during parts
of the year. This Is so everywhere along
the edges of the desert, and also along the
drled-up water courses, the beds of which
contain some moisture. In many places
there is h slight rainfall during certain
months. The least water causes the grass
to spring up. and the Arabs drive tlmir
flocks to such places to pasture. Where
Gossip and Stories
Washington's Best Dressed Sinn,
T IS generally conceded in Wash
ington that Admiral Dewey Is the!
best dressed man there with
Cjt'fJJpl St"'ator Lodge of Massachusetts
I i 'I second. No man ever lived in
the capital who devoted more careful at
tention to his attire than Admiral Dewey.
The veteran's own tailor Insists that his
distinguished patron dresses altogether too
gayly for a man of his years. He claims
that the white flannels, while shoes, white
cup, etc., which the udmlral affects In sum
mer time are not consistent with the
dignity of the hero of Manila bay. Tho
Innate refinement of Senator Iodg; crops
Out In tasteful dressing, but sometimes his
taste Inclines to foreign styles which make
his colleagues in the senate sit up and take
notice or gather around him trying to In
duce him to divulge the name of his tailor.
Spooner and the Swede.
One of the first important cases Senator
Bpooner secured after he had gone from
his home in Indiana to practice law at
Hudson. Wis., was the defense of a
Bwedn Indicted for criminal carelessness,
the penalty of which was a term In tha
penitentiary. The case was an extremely
difficult one, relates the Washington
Herald. and the ambitious young
limb of tho law accepted it under many
misgivings. The senator believes that he
has never since had to work as hard on
any case, and he Is certain he has never
made a more telling plea to a Jury. His
client sat through the proceedings uncon
cerned, and even when the Jury retired to
delllerate on the verdict the stole Swede
showed no Dartlcular Interest. When the
Jury finally returned and anounced its
verdict of acquittal, Mr. 8ooner rushed
excitedly to his client.
"You have been acquitted," exclaimed
the lawyer. "You are now free to go
bark home. Don't you understand what
I mean? I say you have been acquitted
freed cleared und you can walk nut
of the court room to your home instead
of going back to Jail."
The Swede, still unmoved, calmly in
quired to his lawyer:
"Ef aye bane cleared, don't I get some
moneys from the court for my I line In
Jail?"
A Slnmbllng Block.
Professed politicians who have reduced
public office to an exact sclenre find the
Independent voter a sad stumbling block
a fact which Is amusingly disclosed by a
story found In the recent life of the late
George Munro Grant, the eminent Canadian
educator and clergyman. Toward the end
of Sir John MaclMinald's life he and
Principal Grant, then the head of (Jtieen s
college, met at dinner at the house of th
premier s hrother-ln-la w. Prof. Williamson.
"How I wish." the premier said to the
principal, "that you would be a steady
friend of n ine." "My dear Sir John." the
principal replied. "I have always supported
you when you were right." The premier's
eyes twlnkln l and he laid hi hand urn
the shoulder of the principal. "My dear
man." said be. ' I have no use for that
species of friendship:"
Remembers Whom He Meets.
Congressman Charles Curtis of Kansas,
who was elected to suece'd Ju"ph I.
Rurton In the United States senate, l as
had a career out of the ordinary Not 'h
least interesting thing alut hint Is that be
has Indian blood In his veins.
When 14 he held his first office- prose
cuting attorney of Shawm e county. In
190, ten years after his ihIuiImIoii to the
bar. he was candidate fur congress, and
lost. Two years later he tried ut'aln. and
won. It is said he shook hands with n"1 ')
men lu that campaign, and remembers to
this day the name of each. He has served
fourteen years in the lower house
"Yes. I know most of my constituents."
Curtis bus said, "and I have ulwlays mads
It a point to do so. One dav I was In ths
home town of a senator In the Fourth dis
trict Br. a he took me around to Introduce
me to some of the men In the town It's a
fact that he'd forgotten the names of some
of the men hs'd lived near for twenty
years, and I had to tell him who they
ere. lis enjoyed it, and so did his friends.
mil
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TKNT VILLAGE
the grass will not grow there are some
times thorn bushes which furnish food for
the camelu, and nearly every caravan stops
from time to time upon march for such
food. Along the railroad from here to the
Atlas mountains there is In places a thin
growth of tough grass, and I have seen
thousands of animals feeding upon it. Tlu!
flocks are usually composed of both sheep
and goats, and strange to say they are
fat, although it would seem that most of
them are "grazing upon the bare stones.
As to the oases, I saw many on my way
here. They are chiefly date palms with
mud villages inside or nearby. I have vis
ited a number of them, and will make a
special letter about them In the future.
Ilniv French Control Sahara.
As I have said, the road here was built
for military purposes. It Is an absolute ne
cessity to tho French control of the Sa
hara. The stations nlong it are all forti
fied, and the country for miles about here
is one great camp. Every town has Its
barracks, there are soldiers at every sta
tion, and troops on horseback and on cam
els are moving about everywhere. Renl
Ounif has a garrison of 7i). A few hours'
ride to the northward Is Aln Sefra, where
"When I meet a man I put him and some
particular Instance together. The next time
J lay eyes on him I can cull his name and
tell the circumstances of tho meeting. I
don't forget faces or names."
Tip from the Kaiser.
Kaiser Wllhelm occasionally shows that
he has his own shure of the milk of human
kindness. One day he was walking In tho
Thlergarten, Rerlln, when he saw a soldier
of his own regimen, striding- along ahead.
The soldier met Ills sweetheart, who pro
ceeded to take her young man's arm after
the manner common to engaged couples in
all northern countries. The soldier, know
ing that It was the time of day at which
the emperor generally Indulged in a. con
stitutional along the very path where they
were, was afraid that so loverlike an atti
tude might be regarded as a disrespect to
the Imperial uniform or some equally terri
ble military offense and be punished ac
cordingly. In a shamo-faied manner he
explained this to the young woman, who
rather hutlily withdrew her arm. The
How a
iwEW YORK, April 13.-l.ong Island
I I truck farmers and others cov-
11 clous of a straight road to Man
hattan have reason tn feel pretty
good over what tiny can see by
squinting across at lil.u kwcll's Isiand these
:uys. The long delayed bridge that Is
eventually to link Itavcnsw mil, L. I., with
Fifty-ninth street is now so fur along that
tho sprouting green strip f island Is com
pletely spanned hy It. And cantilever arms
are nosing both ways as las; as truss can
be riveted to truss.
The engineers say they're hoping to have
the Rlack well's Island bridge finished by
the middle of but strikes have been and
may he again, and fire lift ions are srHrce
It looks, anyway, as if Ravenswood woul l
be connected with the island before Man
hattan Is.
The tip of the complei,! section projects
5J feet vei 'he. 8 .-anch the Eu.
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MfcTlIUD OF UUii -
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THE OMAHA SUNDAY REE: ArRTL
Guarding
i..)-.,
OCCITIED BY SHEniBUDS AND THEIR FAMILIES.
General Lyote, the commander of the
French army of the Sahara, is located, and
there are other troops farther south at
Colomb Hechar, at the end of the road.
The depots are all of stone, with port holes
for ritles on all sides. Right here Is one of
the most Important military locations.
P.eni Ounif is within almost a stone's
throw of the Moroccan boundary, and at
the gate to a pass through tho mountains
which separate the dominions of the Moor
ish sultan from African Fran. e. The
French have subdued lung since the brig
ands of their own parts of the Sahara, h it
the brigands of tin; Moroccan desert make
raids upon the French oases, and tin y hIm
attack travelers and caravans going to and
fro over the desert. The base of such ex
peditions is the oasis of Tutilot, in Mo
rocco, not far from here, where are some
of the worst scoundrels of this rart of tho
world. 'Those expeditions are known as
Harkas. They are often composed of hun
dreds and even thousands of camels and
men. One which came through here a few
years ago had about 4.(XiO men mounted on
camels and a Harka of Son camels Is not
uncommon. At this writing reports have
come here that the governor of Tatilot has
declared a holy war and that an army on
Abouf People of Prominence
kaiser wag nearer than they thought. Ho
had overheard their conversation nnd,
catching them up, said J.iklngly : "Don't
be a fool, Fritz. If you won't take her
arm I shall feel Inclined to offer mine."
Then he passed on and carefully refrained
from looking back.
A Thrifty oimrcssman.
William T. Tyndall, who ended a brief
career as a member of congress with the
session Just closed ns the representative
of the Fourteenth Missouri district, prob
ably holds the record for thrift In the Fifty
ninth congress, reports the Washington
Herald. Men who have been in his confi
dence declare th.it Tyndall has acknowl
edged to them that he has saved Jll.'ieil out
of his salary and emoluments for the two
ypHrs that he has been a member of con
gress. Tyndall looked upon his situation
philosophically, lie said lie did not expert
to come bark to conrci os ; that his riooiio'i
was somewhat of an accident, ami that
while a man could get into politics easily,
ho could tet out as easily, but " he could
Cantilever Bridge Grows
river, whila the progress from HlacKwoll'a
Island toward New York proper lias been
but 2f0 feet. The Long Island and Man
hattan shores are 3.7-'u feet apart at this
IHiint.
Thirteen hundred and eighty feet of the
bridge Is done so far as the mere trusses
are cor.cei m d. and of the Jo.'piO ions of s:ei 1
that will be required i'O.Otf has already
been used. The gap once bridged, there will
still remain the long sloping approaches
and the laying of trucks and roadways.
The contract for the Manhattan approach
Is not lit yet.
The Idea of a Llackwell's Island bridge
was hatched a long lime ug . A company
was chartered to put it through as far I a k
as lv". The Lorn? Islaad et.d was to bit
the earth two miles Inland, at.d there was
to be ,i branch to Brooklyn. In Manhattan
two approaches were proji-ctc I. ice- Mir'
ing th- vJrand Central static)!, the other
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Sir
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DiNt - J Tlifci iiLACK W i.UL'3 ISLAND CANT1LKVKK URIDGE.
14. lf)o;.
the World's Greatest Desert
j.
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camels will soon march across Into the
Algerian Sahara and attack the French out
posts. Itnttle of Honlar.
It was a Harka like this that brought
about the battle of Figulg. named after nn
oasis about eight miles f.-om here, where
It b'ok place. Flguig is one of the richest
settlements of western Morocco. It has
about n million date trees and Its people
have always been noted for their prosperity
and trade. They are also famous us haters
of Christians, and until lately It wis death
to pilch to ent.'r (heir oases. About three
years ago. when the r.iilroud hud not' yet
reached this point, the governor general of
Algeria made nn expedition from the end
of the ror.d at Dnverler to Henl Ounlf. and
started thence on an expedition to Figulg.
He wus accompanied by a detnehment of
Ppahls, the bravest of those African sol
diers, and three companies of the foreign
legion, under the command of General
O'Connor. It was then well known that any
Christian who went into Figulg did mi at
the risk of his life, and one of the Arab
ofllclals of the town warned the. governor
general that ho had better keep out. He
did not heed the warning, and the result
get out of money easier, and ho did not
propose being out of politics and money nt
the same time. Accordingly, he said, he
saw no sonso In spending money foolishly
while here and ho started In to lay up his
per dle,m for a rainy clay. Now, It is said,
he goes bnck to Missouri to rtart a bank
and become Its president.
A Remarkable Memory.
AltiBworth R. Spofford, librarian of con
gress from 1SSI to 1W. has a wonderful
memory. Until the new system of cata
loguing was Introduced he had practically
the whole library catalogue In his mind
a r.d It- would astonish visitors when they
asked for a book which might not be very
well known to have him say to an usslstant,
"Go to s irh a stark and on such a shelf
Icing me the book (naming Its number)
from the end.'' lie rarely. If ever, made a
mistake and he can give reference offhand
on almost any subject. It was due to Mr.
Spofford's persistent efforts that the con
gressional library remains open on Sunday
further north. Prof. W. P. Trowbridge is
on record as having suggested the can
tilever scheme In IS'ii.
Ground was broken in 1V1. Plans missed
fire, though, until January 27. 1!1, when
a contract for piers for the bridge was let.
Steel wirk'-rs weie on the job by November-
I'll. Hoi!
Almost at the take oCf strikes began. The
worst ot.e, that of the Housesiuith' and
lit i'tg. mi n s nn'.' n, kept things at a stand
still between January 1 and the mi MIe of
May last year. The mil n lost and the
bridge is now "open slcp." Six hundred
men i-re at wotk, not counting tho great
force employed In g. ttlng out the stcd In
(he shops of the Pennsylvania Steel com
pany. t'omlln? approaches, the Rlack well's
l.-Wml leidg' Is g. ing to be tho fourth
.;i-i b'lugn in the world. Its 8 13) feet
will be beaten by the Tay bridge which
-2
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'"j-..i-,5:. ."j'--rv f it ' -. J
THE CAMEL rOMCK ARE NATIVES MOUNTED ON CAMELS.
wna a fight which lasted live hours, after
which the French retreated.
. This battle was entirely with rifles on
both sides, and the Moors thought they
were enual to anything the French could
bring forth. A day or s later the foreign
legion and three squadrons of cavalry ap
peared, their force altogether mmi'ii-ring
4.o. They brought with them a number of
mountain guns and other cannon, and pla
cing thoso more than a milo away they
opened Are upon the oasis, and Its village
with melinite shells. The result astonished
the natives. Their mud brick houses worn
blown to atoms, rind the minarets of their
mosque cut In two.
The Moors had never heard or seen any
thing like this, and they soon enme almost
on their knees to beg the French to desist.
Since then the railroad has been extended
to Renl Ounif, and within two years a
thriving settlement bus grown np hire,
right at the gate of the pans'. Flguig Is
now safe for a traveler, If he Is accom
panied by French soldiers, and the French
sre even building a wagon road to that
place.
The French Subara nlone Is altogether
more than half as large as the whole United
States. It extends from the Libyan desert
nnd In the evening for the convenience of
thoso scholars and lay readers who ore
unable to visit it on secular days and In
office hours.
Mark Twain' Advice,
"It pays to advertise," said Mark Twain
at an advertisement writers' banquet.
"When I was editing the Virginia City
Knterprlse, writing copy one, day and min
ing the next, tried to force this truth homo
In many ways.
"A superstitious subscriber once wrote,
and said he had found a spider in his paper.
Was this good or bad luck? I replied to
him in our answers to correspondents' col
umn ns follows:
" 'Old Subscriber: Tho finding of a spider
In your copy of the Enterprise was neither
good luck nor bad. The spider was merely
looking over our pages to liml. out w hat
merchant wag not advertising, so that It
could spin Its web across his door, and
lead a free and undisturbed existence for
ever after." "
holds the remrd of 10,780 feet and tho
Forth bridge, both In Scotland, and by tho
bridge which spans tho Ohio river at Cairo,
111.
The gauzy affair at Poughkcepsle, always
played as a headlimr among cantilevers,
can boast of n more than 6.7i7 feet. For
purposes of rm)arison let It be noted that
the entire length of the lliooklyn bridge,
suspension, from Park Row to Sands
street, is G,0.l feet, which makes that
esteemed stiuclure compute with tho
bridge) ut Hlackwell Island about as bush
leaguers do with the Glunts.
Have for tho bridges at Poughkeepsie and
Niagara, this will be tho only cantilever
bridge of consequence In this part of the
country. It will be much wider than the
Poughkeepsie bridge, with room for a
61-foot roadway and four trolley car tracks
on thn lower floor and four ele vated tracks
and two ll-foot sidewalks above. Tho
roadways are to be paved with wo .d
blocks, like those of the Wllllainshurgh
bridge. Pedestrians will walk on cement.
The cantilev.T Idea Is pretty well under
stood, although it has he-cu of practical
use only since the midd'e 'X'S. Starling
from two shore piers, the builders anchor
their first trusses ti the shore in the man
ner of a springboard and begin working
out over the water from buth tides until
ti.e ends me-et.
Tho old way, exemplified at Poughkeepslo
and elsewhere, ' to off. t a junction by
in.- rting a sort of little suspension biidge
hit gesi to the parent stricture. Camel
hack, the style has been iluVihid.
Fr feesthetlc r'.-asons L.idge. Commis
sioi.e r Linde nth.il and Consulting Architect
Hen-y Hr mbostle cut out this feature in
planning the Rlackwell's Island bridge. A
I inexl rocker 1 as bee n found u answer
tl.e haioe j urise; wl.iel, was to provido
r mm for r.fttural contra t;on and exjr.iu
sltvi. Inning a year there Is a vuri itlon
of on Inch In t ve ry hundred feet of bridge
steel.
A plaza approach to the Manhattan end
is to be secured by wle i lnx Second uvenue
on the westerly side and razing the whole
bl.u k bounded by Second and Third bwium
and Fifty-ninth and Sixtieth streets N'.i
Imdy knows for sure yet what elcva'o l or
surface lines v.lil connect with the bridge,
e-lil.er here or ovu across. In lucveoswood
the bridge will ternditute in the triangle at
the junction of J.o ks.ni avenue, J;u.e street
and Slillman av-
The bridge wi not help the R.a k well's
Islanders much, lor It will bo a hundred
fiet above them, with no way of their
getting up. As it is. the gl.lliis have a
hard enough time In ke pu g pris mors iti
the various penal liistltutlons from break
ing away. The lower roadway will bu lii'i
fet and the highest point e,f tie; bridge
& feet above mean high w.iter.
In mom y it Is expc. tol that the Plack
well's Isiand btldge wiil cost HJ.ejcio.iXiO.
In lives it has already o t eleven.
to Morocco and ns far south ns the Soudan.
The French have made this whole region
peace lul. and now It Is possible to travel
almost anywhere through It. They havn
troops stationed at every large oasis and
have cumol soldiers scouring the country
and hellographing the least sign of disturb
ance. Those camel police are natives
mounted on meliarls -beasts which can go
1(0 mile's day after day without tiring.
Many of tho camel police are Tnaregs, who)
Unci It pays better to be employed by tha
French than to rob tho caravan them
selves, as they did In the past: others are
Targhis, from n warlike tribe In the east
ern part of thn Algerian Sahara. Thosn
troops palrol tho country nil tho way from
Tripoli to Morocco. They net as scouts for
the Fri'iieli ollicers. and are rendy to fight
bravely lu time of trouble. A largo number
of them are now watching the pass here.
They go about at wide distances apart nfl
bring l:i reports of tho conditions existing
all along the desert frontier.
Tho French have established a sort of
mall service for tho Sahara. Tho Arab
postmen curry mall bugs on these fast me
baris. Kvery military station Is thus served
and In some places, such as e'nlomb Rechar
nail Adrnr, thern are ostomi es, where,
money orders are Issued nnd a regular mall
service Is given. Among the Important sta
tions are those of Tunt, which Is a Inrge
series of oases several hundred miles south
of hero. There nre soldiers also at Tldl
kelt, at Igeli and at many other places.
The I-'orclftn Legion.
Horn at Renl Ounlf Is a branch of th
foreign legion, madn up of nermann, Swiss,
Italians and Americans. There ore also
several companies of military criminals who
havo Jieen deported from Franco and sent
down from other parts of Algeria for pun
ishment. ThoBO men nre put to making
roads, brielges and all kinds of hard labor.
I met one lust night In a Moorish cafe who
told mn he wus an American. Kin com
plexion was that of a mulatto, but he woro
thn red trousers, blao Jacket and tall red
rap of the spohl, and I took him for an
Arab. I w;:s dt inking coffee at fine of tho
tables when ho sat down beside mo and be
gun to speak Knglish. He told me that ho
came from Han Francisco, that ho had
served as a marine In the Franrh navy
and had finally drifted Into thn army. Ha
said that tli" food and treatment wero
so bad that he could not stand it, nnd that
he deserted and succeeded In getting to
thn Mediterranean, where hn bad hidden
himself away in the hold of a Oermon
steamer. Just as thn ship was raising
anchor tho military police came on board
and discovered blm, through a Hindoo
cabin boy, who pointed out his hiding place.
He was then put lu prison ot the port Of
N.tinoujs. where tho sheriff set him to
cleaning his horses. One day he took tho
bi'st horse In the stable and rode across
Into Morocco to Melilla. There ho again
tried to get off, tills time on a Spanish
ship. He was again caught, however, and
shipped clown hern into the heart of tho
Sahara. Ho Is expecting to be sent on Into
tiie desert far from tho railroad.
Tn ireas Police.
I understand that the Tuaregs are doing
the best work of ull thn Arabs employed by
thn French. Tin y have bee n cjrgunlzed
into con, panics and have been given good
modern guns. They havo plai llcully given
up In iKurnbtgc, and they now sweep over
thn desert mounted on camels, aiding tho
French In keeping the natives in order.
The French captain who Is chief of tho
Arab bureau hern tells me that they uro
by no means a bad people, anil that their
bloodthirstluuss is largely a matter of
imagination. Jt Is true they have been
rolibeis in the past, but now thut they uro
employed by thn government they mako
splendid soldiers. They aro tald from
twenty to twenty-four dollars a month, anil
this is a foi tune to them. K icli man owns
his own camel and tukes caie of It and
himself; but as tho food for both man and
beast costs practically nothing he con
siders himself rich.
Mulders Who Wear Veil.
These Tuaiegs aie descendants of tho
Iierber or white raco of the Atlas moun
tains, who havo been crowded off Into tho
dcseit. Tin y have long been noted as tho
brigands of the Sahara. They are especially
distinguished by the fact that they wear
veils night and day. Their ve ils are black;
and they wind them about their heads Ilk
a luth.in and then puss them over thn noso
and loouth arid across tho forehead, so
that oniy the eyes can b seen, li Is said
to it the veil wu.s originally adopted tc
kOep
out the iln.-t, but that It Is now a mark of
fashion ii.d modesty. Another story told
me H that tin Tuareg men lirst put
on
veils as a, matter of cowardlci
and shame.
Tin y we n- s ii prised by then enemies
and
were so Irlghleiied that they iluew
down
their in ins ami i an, leaving their families.
'Hereupon tiie women picked up the
swoins, si jis nnd daggiis. and defeated
the enemy. I'ioiii tlmt day until now tho
ti.e n. to slew their udmliaiion for the con
duct if llali hi.', have adopted the veil.
aiii the limriit women tit 1 1 1 gij with
bat
f:u i s.
Mtny if tl.e Tcki'Ka live lii tent
vll-
lag-s, moving ulemt from place tu
duce.
They l..c-.c c,i:ic is an I she, p, mid
somo
of them bavH g.ird.ns. As a general thing
they u;e: miserably poor, and the money
they iicelve from the French Is far muio
ti.ni most if tl.eiu n.i'ie when their solo
p.. fi ssion was robbing tho travelers whllo
cio.-sir.g tl.e desert.
FRANK Q. CARPENTER.
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