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13
i
1
E
, Across the World's
ACROSS SAHARA. GUARDED . BT SOLDIERS.
fCtopyrigtit, MOT. by Frank-O. Carpenter.)
KNI OUNJF. AlKoria. AorU 18
Bl SpK:ial Correnpondcnc of The
I Hool I lve lust rolurned from
the (treat oaala of Finals, on the
boundary between Algeria and
Vorocco. It liea hera In the heart of tha
Sahara desert, 400 mllca south of the Medi
terranean and 1,10) miles from Timbuktu,
In the French Soudan. If I should aru
vaatward through Morocco about aa far
as from New York to Pittsburg, I would
trlka the port of Mogador, on the Atlantic
ocean, and If I took camels and traveled to
the east I should have to go Nirough tha
Sahara for a distance as great aa from
rhlladelphla to Salt Lake City before I
found anything green and came to the val
ley of the Nile.
Figulg has long been a caravan center,
and today tha freight from a large number
f oases Is shipped here on camels. This is
SO of Tafllet, In Morocco, from where the
feast dates come, and of Twat, a large col
lection of oaaea In the Algerian Sahara,
Bow controlled by the French, 300 or 400
miles to the south of us. Some of this
freight still goes to Figulg, but a large
part of It haa been diverted to Colomb
Bechar and Uenl Ounlf, to be sent north
ward by the new railroad,.
- This point la about aa far north a
earn e la can come without 'danger of catch
ing cold. If they go farther they get sick
Ml die. For this reason the goods from
other 'oasea were once brought here and
then sent to the Mediterranean on donkeys
or mules. The exchangea were made at
Figulg and this caused It to become 'a com
mercial center. Ita merchants were acted
a aome of the shrewdest of the Sahara,
and they sent regular caravans to Tlemcen
and to Melllla, In Spanish Africa, on the
Medlterannean sea. About three years ago
the French completed their railroad to this
point and Figulg Is rapidly lorlng Its trade.
The Heart of the Deaert.
I wish I could take you across the desert
aa I saw It today. My surroundings htrre
are ao different from anything we have
in America that I almost despair of makv
lng rtiy picture a live one. Tou roust
fltst Imagine the bluest of blue skies, out
of which shines a dazzling white sun,
whose heat Is tempered y tho strong
winds which blow over tbe descit olmost
as regularly as over the sea. The air Is
0 clear that 'we can see for miles; and
upqn all sides there are ragged brown
mountains in view. Here and there
ainoag them there are patches of slony
White sand, some aa bare as tho sea
shore and others showing lltCle patches of
thorny green bushes. We start out from
Benl Ounlf, a fortified town with many
Fronch .soldiers and crowds of . jloors,
Arabs and Berbers. Camel troops are
making their way through the streets,
officers In uniform dash here and there
n Arabian horses, and companies of sol
olers. In bright reds and blues, are
marching this way und that. This Is
one of the wildest parts of the Sahara
and Its people are only held In cli;ck by
the military forces. Farther eastward In
tho Algerian desert conditions are safer,
but here, oh the edge of Morocco, no one
cares ta go about without arms, and Just
oyer those mountains the lone traveler
weuld almost surely be killed.
Uaardrd by foldlere.
Indeed, It Is impossible to visit the
eeat . of Figulg without an : armed es
cort. Foreigners have been badly treated
there la the past, and the Christian w-ht
ventured there a few years ago took bra
life in his hands. The French govern
ment will not permit travelers from hor
q go alone Into Morocco, and It as only
Upon my showing Captain Parlol, the
chief of the Arabian bureau, a letter
which I have from our seretary of war
te the governor general of Algeria that
two . Arab soldiers were detailed to ac
company us.
. These men were armed with repeating
rifles, f They ,rode Arabian horsoj and
kept right In front or close behind ua
during our journey. In addition to tin in
I had with me my son. Jack, and . Mr.
Pascalet. the proprietor of the Kotel du
Sahara and one of the leading merchant!
of this part of the world. Mr. Pascalet
7e4ks Arabic as well as French and
KfiglUh. and he acted as our guide and
Interpreter during
the day. He lias a
t of the larrresX of the
brunch store in one
Figulg villages and has many friends
oBionf the people.
' Backls Arabian Colts.
We started at daybreak.. The sun
ust rising as we left Bnl Outilf. U,
came up a red copper ball out of the east
rp horizon, and to a few moments toak
esi a white heat, only to be lost half an
' hour later by the thick sky which has ;
ended tonight In the sirooco. or wind
torm,' of the desert. . ,
We rode along single file. Each of the)
soldier sat on a red Ar&b saddle, with a
high pommel and back, and their h.res
wr good. Mr. PancnJet rode a a Idle U
rooci) mare, which be said had cost him
fl.OuO and upon which h4 had recently rid
den seventy-five miles l one day. Jack
and myself were mounted with EnglUli
saddles on two pure Arabian I-year-o.ki
Cults which belled the gentle nature com
menly attributed to their breeding. They
burked, trotted and galloped, and at Irrtgu
lar Intervals arted wvrse thaa the averag
western bioncho when ridden by a tender
foot W managed to kiep our seatm. how
ever, notwithstanding the stony desert and
tha wlikllug walla of tha oases Incisure.
It took us about an hour to reach the
Moroccan frontier. We croaaed It fnm
AJgcrta betwrea two high brown rocky
mountain, and at once entered a beautiful
valley filled with thousands of date palms.
Onala of FIkuIk.
This wsa tho oasis of Figulg. It constats
of tills valley and has great date planta
tions. Standing at the entrance, between
Mount Tarla and Mount Zenaga, each a
barren, rocky brown mass about 8.0CO feet
high, we could see a foresrvof green-leaved
palms, mnging In width from two to three
miles and extending up a ravine for a dis
tance of seven mllea or more. On both
sides and beyond were nothing but sand,
rocks and mountains, perfectly bare, thirsty
and dry. The palms formed a great green
aheet In this sotting, with round brown
watch towers made of sun-dried brick and
the yellow minarets of th Village mosques
rising above them. On a hill In the center
we could nee the mud houses of the village
Zenaga, but tlie other towns of the oasis
were hidden In the forest of palms.
This oasis has, I am told, about the larg
est number of palms In one solid block of
any In the Sahara. Mr. Piuwalet thinks
there are more than l.fCO.OCQ trees, and I
am sure I saw 200.000 or 300,000 lying In front
of and below me as I stood on the Jorf,
one of the highest parts of the oasis.
Ghosts Still Stalk Amid Scenes of Early Activity
ONDON, April ll.-We who send
wireless messages through spaco
and. have seen Sir William
Crookes draw flames out of the
air agree generally that nowadays
nobody believes In ghosts. Phantoms prowl
only to disturb the Blumbers of those who
have looked on the red lobster and duskily
rich plum pudding too. affectionately, and
In London there exists a society organized
for the expresa purpose of exposing ghosts
and evicting them from their favorite lairs.
Therefore It Is taken for granted that
respectably educated Individuals regard
banshees, headless horsemen and ladles In
white as extinct as the dodo or the hoop
skirt.
And yet and yet here we are In the gay
girlhood of-the knowing twentieth certury,
and In spite of science and education ghosts
have never been so busy before; at least
In the British Isles, which are singularly
rich In traditions relating to supernatural
manifestations.
' No census has ever been taken of the
well authenticated family ghoBts of Great
Britain, nor have any statistics been com
piled as to the number of haunted houses
that the United Kingdom boasts. Still it
Is safe to say that the figures. If they could
be given, would not .only surprise the aver
age American, but prove that ghosts die
hard In England. I
It Is the peasant and. the aristocrat
who refuse to deny ghosts both shelter
and respect, and what Is a little overwhelm
ing to some Americana Is to find how very
seriously by the laborers and the Lords
ghosts are considered. Active middle clasi
fr.'- do not ordinarily have much time to
UrAfojojf CASTLC.HOHSE
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CAST 'I e rrtbl IMS A VZW Vtt
Greatest Desert Into
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CHIEF
Many of the oases of the Sahara He along
dritxl-up water-courses, which are flooded
during a part of tho year. Figulg Js fed by
hot springs, which rise out of a hill In al
most the center, and are conducted by un
derground drains about a foot square, mode
of stone and cement, through the 16,000 or
20,000 acres which are covered by these
trees. Some of theae springs are lukewarm
awl others have a temperature of about 100
degrees Fahrenheit.
There aro seven villages In the oasis, and
the largest of these springs are found In
the date plantations on the highlands of
the town of El Abld, In about the center
of the oasis. Who first constructed these
underground drains which carry the water
from level to level no one seems to know.
Mr. Papcalet has asked many of the Arabs,
but their only reply Is: "Wo do not know
when they were built, but It was many,
many years ago." It may have been two
centuries ngo and It may have been longer,
but how long no one knows.
These drains are kept In order today and
new ones are constructed from time to
time. There must be hundreds of miles of
them for they reach every part of the
oasis, being connected In each of the vll
large "plantations by great reservoirs where
spare even In England for speculation en
the supernatural.
Yet It can be shown that even in this ex
cessively Incredulous day some of the
busiest and most highly regarded ghosts In
Oret Britain are still conducting their
blood curdling business at the old stands
where they have been practising as spectres
for hundreds of years past
There Is, for instance, the Gray Woman of
Windsor. Nobody knows how long she has
been haunting the royal castle, except
perhaps the royal family, who could tell
when she first appeared and the tragic cir
cumstances out of which, In good orthodox
fashion, she was evolved. But the royal
family refuse to discuss the Gray Woman,
whose duty Is to herald the approaching
demise of any resident of the castle.
She comes always In the Horseshoe
court, ono of the oldest ar.d quaintest parts
of Windsor, and her materialization takes
place at dusk. Nobody can deny that the
tradition concerning this slim creature, clad
In gray and wearing her. gray hair flowing,
has always disturbed and distressed the
owners of the great pile.
Windsor Is not popular with King Ed
ward and In the later years of her life Quen
Victoria never found herself' happy In the
castle. To avoid It In winter sho went to
Osborne house and to avoid It In summer
she dwelt in Balmoral castle.
Until the time of her husband's death she
was very much at the castle. Ono after
noon, thoiiKh, on happening to look down
from her window Into the Hnrsesho? court,
she saw a gray figure standing In the dusk
under the shelter of the clolster-llke gal
. lery that runs around the enclosure.
SfVQS CLOfSTCf
THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: Ari?TL
T7
BUSINESS SQUARE OF AN OASIS TOWN.
the water Is stored when not needed for ir
rigation. Each tree, I am Void, gets a good
drink at least twice a week.
' During my stay I visited El Abld and
these springs. The palms grow all about
them. In aome places they are only two or
three feet apart, and the branches meet
overhead, shutting out the sun. Some of
the springs are In great vats, some art In
hollows) or ravines anA others In wella or
square tanks. During our visit the Arabs
were bathing In onef the springs and
crowds of white gowned men with rags
about their hrads looked out at me over
their long beards as I took these notes. At
one place Jack attempted to take a photo
graph of them, but Arabs protected and
looked angry, only to smile again when
Mr. Pascalet told them that we were tak
ing pictures of the palms and springs, only;
and that we had very good looking men In
prance and America and hence did not need
to tako home pictures of the natives of
Figulg.
Ainonsr the Date Plantations.
Fifteen thousand acree Is a pretty big
farm, and,, as I estimate it, that la just
about the extent of these oases. This
Figulg farm, however, Is like nothing you
t
The queen sent to know who the woman,
was and why she was there, but no woman
could be discovered by her lady of the bed
chamber. A week later the' prince consort
was dead and then for the first time the
sorrowing wife heard what the appearance
of the Gray Woman portends.
At Intervals King Edward stops at Windy
or, but never for long. He prefers Sand
rlngham, Balmoral castle, Buckingham
palace or his friends' houses to this home
of his ancestors overlooking the Thames;
and persons who boast their ability to
draw conclusions from certain royal move
ments Insist that the orders recently given
for the enlargement of Sandrlngham house
are the direct result of the Gray Woman's
moet recent nppcaranco and the excessive
nervous fears from which the delicate
Trlnceas Victoria suffered in consequence.
A few weeks ago a terrified groom In
sisted that In the February dusk he saw a
gray figure eliding in the shadows of the
Horseshoe court Several days later a
baby In the castle mews died, which ex
plained the phantom's appearance.
Nevertheless, as Princess Victoria cannot
stop at Windsor for more than a few days
at a time, the money that was to be snent
on the castle Is now to bo devoted to tho
king's Norfolk place. Sandringham houso
wilt now be made quite large enough for ail
purposes of royal entertainment and more
and more will Windsor be ignored for the
new house, where no ghost has ever been
seen.
While there are those who smile blandly
and unbelievingly at the Gray Woman of
Windsor, few treat lightly the ghost' of
Catherine Howard at Hampton court
h'.'',f.&Y Yz'.
4
I II Tl l BJ Ml IIll I 1 I - ' i "I TW II "1,1.1 III '
21. 1907.
the Wilds
ft.
; .... fe.''-V , ,
can imagine. It Is divided up Into little
pens or gardens, each of which Is a date
plantation. Many of the holdings are not
more than a quarter of an acre In size and
each Is surrounded by walls from eight to
twelve feet In height. The walls are of
sun-dried brick plastered with mud, and
they usually face upon the roucU, so nar
row that as I rode on my hrso throuph
them I could eaBlly touch the mud bricks
on both sides. Here and there a wall was
broken at the top and I could look over
and soe the date trees and the gardens
within.
Many of the date palms reach htoh above
the wall, but others nre not more than six
feet In he gilt, and still they bear dates.
The trees are nlwjut eii;ht Inches In diam
eter and they seem to carry an even thick
ness from tho ground upward. The highest
were, I Judge, not over twenty feet tall. At
the top they branch out In great fan-like
green leaves, and from the roots of the
leaves hang the clusters of red and yellow
dates. The fruit Is long, flat and smooth
and of much the same shape as a butter
nut with the Bhell on. I saw many clusters
any one of which, I am sure, held a half
bushel of dates, and not a few trees bore a
half dozen clusters or more. Some of the
She foretells nobody's demlBe, -but walks
tho corridor that looks out on the lovely
fountain court, walling and disturbing the
comfort of the ladles who are privileged
to live In the old palace.
" It was In this corridor, almost 400 years
ago, that Catherine, the fifth wife of Henry
VIII, waylaid the king on his way to his
chapel to beg for her life. Henry flung off
the poor pleading creature and went merci
lessly on to his prayers. There used to be
a venerable guard at Hampton court who
would solemnly assert that he had heard
the whole Interview one night; the woman's
cries for pity and then her scream of
despair when the king spurned her with an
oath and slammed the door In her face.
Tho old guard's h's were as ghostly as
his tale, but he used to tell It so veil It
was hard to doubt him. Tho fact, however,
remains that the nightly noises from the
corridor became so disturbing that eventu
ally It was thrown opes, to tho public. The
trampling of tourists' feet is usually dis
tressing to r;hosts, and Catherine Is less
noisy than formerly.
Hut the roynl ghosts are as a drop In the
bucket to the private family phantoms that
prevail In England, Ireland, Scotland and
Wales. Perhaps the most thoroughly
haunted spot in the little bunch of lswid
that goes by the name of Great Britain Is
tho Leap castle In Roscrea, Ireland.
The ghosts jct lean are multifarious, and
those members of the Tsychlcal Research
s.T'let.v who have tried to pluck out the
heart of Leap's my:.tery have retired from
InveKtisation, ready to aree that there are
still some things beyond tho touch of the
finger of sci'.nce. At Leap ghosts In human
y'iit J'. - :
t
of Western Sahara
WATCH TOWER AGAINST DATE THIEVES.
dates are now ripe and we ate them fresh
from the trees. They are us sweet as honey
and their flavor cannot be Imagined by
thoso who have only tasted the mushy
black dutes of our grocery stores.
Under these palms, apricots, peaches,
pears, jHimoKranates and other such fruits
were growing, and below them In some
r-luces were vegetables, three crops being
produced on the same soil at the same time.
Outsk'.e the date plantations were unirrl
gated fields in which grain had been planted
to take advantago of the slight rainfall
whietr comes hero near the mountains dur
ing certain months of the year. I believe
that these fields are also given some water
from the springs.
Lumber of the Onses.
As we went on with our Journey, we could
see how Important the date pulm Is to these
people of the desert. It Is their bread, lire
wood and lumber. The ditches here and
there crossed the streets, and In such
cases there were bridges of ralm wood.
I observed the doors which go Into the
walls of the date gardens. Each has but
one, and that not higher than my waist.
Indeed, some doors are so low that the
common razor-back hog would lose his
form do no appear very often, but In broad
daylight a ponderous book will softly close
or open Its covers, bells ring, though
touched by no human hands; locked doors
and windows fly open and at night lights
glimmer under shut doors, or women's
voices are heard whispering, giving vent to
halr-curllng laughter and sometimes sob-
bing dismally.
The Leap castle is an antique stone build
ing and picturesque, but few there are who
envy Its owners, though Leap Is a Jolly and
peaceful old homestead In comparison with
its Scotch prototype. ' The famous, the
fierce and frowning northern stronghold of
the Lords Strathmore Is Glamls cnstlo
(pronounced Glams), and, while It may seem
flippant to say so, Glamls has ghosts from
'way back, from the ilme of King Duncan
and bloody Maobeth. from before the com
ing over of William tfie Norman. .
Beside them those of Leap are Just
trlcksome brownies. Nobody In England
but takes Glamls seriously and nobody dis
putes the existence of some frightful mys
tery hidden for generations In the dun
geons or the secret tower chambers of the
brutal looking pile of masonry.
Even Dean Stanley acknowledged a feel
ing for Glamls' ghost. He wasn't so sure
It was a fake. The dean had a way of
digging up the royal folk and others who
sleep In Westminster abbey, Just to see If
they were all there and doing comfortably;
and he was not a nervous or foolishly
credulous person. He got a shock, how
ever, when he happened to blunder Int "
thu lo.nb of that Lady Strathmore of whoi
(Continued on Page Five. 1
-
1
v.
bristles If he should tiy to go through
them. Theso gates are of palm planks;
they are sawed out by hand and pegged
rudely together. Tho date trees forms the
pillars which uphold the house roofs. It
Is used as beams and rafters and It is
mudo Into ladders for the watch towers.
TheKe towels are of mini brick, but there
Is more or less palm word In them, and the
platforms, on which the Bples Hit at time
of dute harvest to guard the crop against
thieves, are made of the sumo material.
I was much Interested in tho palm trees.
They looked ragged and rough. On the
taller trees there aro no leaves except at
the top, and I a'm told that each ring
of bark represents a yoar's growth. It
this Is true many of the palms inut be
a century old. They begin to bear at
ten or twelve years and yield crops there- '
after every two years. Tho dates here ,
are not as good as those of some other
parts of the Sahara. There are better ones
In Tuat, in Tougurt and Biskra. 1 shall
learn more about them as I go on with
my travels. i
Village Itejpabllo of Flaniir.
Stranger even that the palm trees are
the people of this out-of-the-way land.
Each of these oases has Its own little Vil
lage, and every little desert settlement Is a
community of its own kind. The villages
of Figulg are seven. The first and largest
contains more than 3,000 people. It 1
known as Zenaga. The next largest Is El
Oudaghahlr, and the third is El Abld, which
I have described as having the hot springs
and aa furnishing water for the greater
part of the Figulg plantations. In addi
tion to these villages there are four others.
They are named El Maiz Foukanl, El Mali
Tahtanl, EI Hamman Foukanl and El Ham
man Tahtanl.
These seven Figulg villages have alto
gether about 15,000 inhabitants. They are
separate towns, but together constitute a
little United States of their ownk with a
congress but no president. Each village
governs Itself and a common council of
tho combined villages governs the oasis.
The village governments each consist of a
council of seventeen members, five of whom
are land owners and twelve of whom are
laborers. They are all elected by the peo
ple of the village. Three members of each
council are elocted to a general council of
twenty-one, which passes only upon mat
ters which relate to the whole corporation
of Figulg. The village councils regulate
all things affecting their respective vlllaisra.
They appoint the local judges nnd make
the town laws. As to matters of peace and .
war with villages outside Figulg, these are
dealt with by the oasis council, and the
same body regulates ail matters regarding
the water supply.
In'TaAbld.
But come with me and look at one ot
theae oasea communities. Wte shall go
through the town of El Abld, obscrvln
some of the things I saw there this after
tvc.n. The municipality contains about
2,000 souls, but it is nothing like any town
of that size In our country. In the first
place I doubt whether it covers more than
twenty acres, and, as ono looks at It
through the palm trees, he seea only the
mud walls which Inclose It, with the flut
roofed, wlndowloss mud buildings rising
here and there above them.
V.'o enter the town by a gate In the wall,
it is not over ten foet high and alout five
feet In width, and it Is shut at night by
rough doors of palm wood hung on rude
wooden hinges. There are two gates to the
town, and outside one of them some earn
els, a part of a rarav.in ' which lies Just
cjiiw from the desert, are now lying tn the
ground chewing their cud while their Arab
driver sits meditating among his freight,
wldch ho haa unloaded for the time. As wo
go In through the gate v pass donkeys
loaded with grain ami sura- end, turning
this way and that, fir.l ourselves in ilark,
covered streets, lu which we might loo our
way had we not our coldlurs and Mr. Pas
calet to guide iis.
' Tho town of El Abld reminds one of the
catar,rm.lB. There are houses built over
the streets with only here and there a hole
for tho UgM. Outside is tlio fierce glare of
the Afrlc-m fun; here. In the main street
of El Abld. It Is almost d uk M iu aome
subterranean cavern or In tho tomb of Tl,
above Cairo, In the valley of the Nile.
The streets cut the towri ut all tsoits of
angles. Some are too narrow f r hcrjes
and one has to get down an1 go through
them on fo t. Tho houses have no windows
facing the street and they are entered only
by low doors of palm wcod. in mine cf the
wider streets ledges have been built r.lotig
tho walls, and upon these shrouded fluiei
He and sleep or sit cross-legged and rhnt
Here and these men squat on the ground,
hugging tho walls while working away at
their trade. I noticed several tailors mak
ing jowns, a cobbler or bo sewing on yel
low slippers and also one or two pedl!erv
There were many little boys with sore
heads closely shaven, and sore eyes with
file playing about them. They stoppe J and
tared at us, and as wo, panted many Arabs
with beards scowled at us and the camera.
There were no women to be seen, although
I now and then caught a glimpse of sheeted
figures which ran out of our way. In the
Jewish quarter I saw some barefaced girls
with earrings as big around as the bottom
of a pint cup. The Jewish men were
dressed like tao Arabs.
With tho Moors at Homo.
The town of Zenaga, which We next vis
ited, was of about the same character as
El Abld. save that Its streets were a little
wider and It had a business section. This
ran about a square which could not have
covered more than a quarter of an acre. I
have seen many a stable yard quite as
large. Around this were a number of small
stores with a motley crowd of Arabs st.op
JJlBeT and chatting outside them. Soma of
JContlnutd. on I'M Five.)
