Jnfimale Study of
Npiuiuujsia ao not Know as
I much about the mating habits
. . i,,pjr wuuni uKs 10
know. They are certain that the
eaglea, the hawk and the oll
at'.!!lte.i f0rv,,,ie ,nd, 11 ' trobttb'e
i .t. T.? b " d0 Th0 ,tUdjr
f the mating of birds and their nesting
habits la of great Interest.
June Is the neat building month for most
bird. A few, those that rear more than
ro brood In a season, begin to nest In
lril and May, while the goldfinch and
the cedarblrd ara lazy and wait until July
Vfore they begin their domestic dutlea.
y 'I. v rf.
The nesting season Is at Its height In
Tune, and all the songsters are In full
roloe. In July most of them stop singing,
and people are apt to suppose that the
orioles and the bobolinks, for instance, hava
gone south because they do not hear them
slngtng.
Most birds rear only cne brood In a sea-
son. but the song sparrow, tha vesper spar-
unin,r.n.. th bluebird,
row, tha chipping sparrow, me DiueDira,
tha robin, the phoebe, the house wren and
tha catbird, raise two, three and sometimes
as many as four broods during the sum
mer, building a new nest for each brood.
This aeema to be nature'a method of keep
ing these birds from becoming extinct, for
they ara the species that are most . perse.
suted by cats, youmiui " -
many other enemies. .
Uaually only tha female bird cn"c"
lhe nest and Incutoates tha egga, after
1 which her mats assists In feeding and car
' lug for their young. But with the house
wren, tha robin, tha rose-breasted gros
beak and soma species of vlreos, tha mala
bird is a willing helper In thesa duties, that
la, provided hia wife does not oojecv
'rttmr, nn will sea a. male rose breasted
rrosbuik or a solitary or a yellow throated
reo covering tha egga of his mate and
. .v u .r. n. real Dleasure
to relieve her of tha task and to give her
. 1 . t tr.tch her wings and aeek
Ti " 1 V-J" w,.. i. another
Bj looo.,, jonnujr , "Ii-Tn his
Dia win oue 11"' 7. r
. ,t wouid b
lt, lo all tha housa-vork y . it mmn
. 7. . .v.. .v,l. Kl, world a
.r w nna --
6
t. ......
"f i-""1 u" " "rt "ii.n- whenever
I gtllt wife treata him sbameiuiiy
tree trunk or the bird house that soma
human has placed at their disposal. No
matter what ho doea ha can never aatlsfy
Jenny. 8ha chases him about, acotds him
and hisses at him whenever sha catchea
him In the act of carrying a twig Into the
house.. But he Is a sly fellow and often
watches his chance -and then tries to sneak
.building material in whUa sha Is away,
f Bomelimes she catchea him In the act and
A chases him out of tha house in a hurry.
Vihe follows him a few feet and then re
turns to tho house and deliberately picks
tip the very stick she compelled htm to
droo. and carries It Into the box herself,
From this It Is evident that It Is not tha
materia, that she object, to but she doe.
not want him meddling In household af-
!" . '
Johnny Wren Is an adept at nest build-
Ina.
mule members ef the wren
family are. After he had helped his mate
to complete tho nest that Is to be the homo
" Broper he occupies his spare time In build-
,ng other nests, evidently for the sake of
doing someining. in. n.r.u
.,i, !,,,. flva nesta swaying
in the stems of tha th.ck rusnes m mo
salt marshes along the coast or at the
mouths of tha big rivers.
) After a pair of house wrens have raised
. '. a brood of young ones they throw out tha
ii old lining af the nest and put In a new one
'change the bedding, so to speak Deroro
tho second set of six eggs ara laid.
As a rule the different species of wood
peckars hew their nests In dead limbs, but " - vvw-r ..,.. i...
soma of them hava been known to exca- Mohammedans. With the influx of Euro
vate a nest In a live limb. In tha south- P'ana ivlg. grows more and more ex
western part of this ceuntry. where trees Pensive, and It costs too much to keep up
ara scarce, they will use a telegraph pole a harem with more than ona mistress.
aa a atta for a nest. In tha bottom of the $
pole on a bed of chips tha white eggs ara ' African Fraaee.
deposited. Notwithstanding all this, African France,
Tha belted kingfisher and the bank swal- as these two colonies ara called, has mora
low tunnel In the bank of a stream. They and mora people from year ta year. It 1.
are often near neighbors and live in per- a big country. Algeria, auUlde the vast ter-
f ect peace. The kingfishers burrows six
or eight feet Into tha sand, but the swal-
'low's eggs can be reached by thrusting tho
hand and arm Into the hole. Poth birds
lay their eggs on msts of grass stems,
dried grass and other soft material.
Few other bird families show so much
fllverslty In selecting nesting sites and
material for their nasts as the swallows,
A. ha. been said, the bank swallow builds
It. nest In tha bank of a stream. The eavo
or cliff swallow makes a globular-shaped
past under tha aaves of a barn or beneath
a Shelving rock on tha side of a cliff.
Jiundreds of tiny mud pellets th size of
, . buckshot ara taken from th road or tha
river bank and welded together until an
Irregular oval la farmed, and In thla tho
U'led grass and feathers for th lining of
nest ar placed. These birds nest In
colonies and tha nests ar placd so close
together that often they Join.
- Th barn swallow attaches his. nest to
4v planking or to a rafter Inside of a barn
' Xr other building. He uses mud also, but
ha mixes horsehair and dried grass with It,
Just as human, mix hair with mortar to
mak It hold tosth.r Inaitad ef con-
siruuiuig n uorow van jm sum or nis
relations, he leavea tit aest open on top
Ilka th nest, of most birds.
Th whit breasted swallow and th pur
ple marten, th largest of th swallows,
build their nests In hpllow trees or In bird
koiiisas. constructing them of sticks, dried
sa, feather, and other soft material.
Ah of thes birds hav sweet voices and
they ar probably th. nnart slng.r. of 'h
wallow family.
T. .1.. innr.tl, .W. th. .... -
- - " w uimm-
pie look. Uk a bunch of coarse sticks as It
rests, among th branohe. of a small tree
or a bush along som stream. It Is sure to
arous your eurloalty and on a close tnspeo-
tlon you find that the bowl of tha nest la
covvred, and that thar i alwaya on and
sometimes two opanlugs In th .id for
tna mra to enter ana leave tne nest,
If the owner la at noma aha slips from
nn iriurpi no oui or mt mrrow pautii
aa you draw near. Then ahe files to a near,
hv tree and scolds vnu in harsh, discordant
nte that aoon calls to her aid a number of
heT kln' nd tn fl tries tta beat to drive
v -av
Most of the eaglea and hawks and many the sooty chimney or fastens to the plank
of the owls' return to tha same nest year ng of an old building. The bird seldom
after year. If the neat needs repairing lights outside of a chimney, and gathers
after the storms of the preceding winter
have racked It the old birds build up the
sides by adding new material, until in tha
. . ;-' V v ''- -" ". ... "'.. - i,
r. ,
course of a few seasons It is three times
tta original size.
In this manner the osprey, or fish hawk,
In the course of a few years will hava a
nest nearly the size of a hogshead. Al
though the osprey Is a true hawk, the
grackles sometimes build their nests In the
' ogprey'g and live in perfect
aecurity, laying their eggs and rearing their
young a few Inches from the huge, awk
ward children of their feathered host.
One curious habit that the hawks hava
Is that of placing on tha top of the nest a
single spruce, maple, oak or chestnut twig
which has a few green leaves attached.
Nearly every hawk's nest examined will
have this solitary dash of green In it.
If one of the hswks Is killed the remaln-
mg.one will soon mate again and return to
tho same nest. In this manner a pair of
red shouldered hawks have been known to
use the same nest nine successive sum
mers. Tha broad winged hawk builds his. nest
In the woods or In a grove, selecting a
maple, oak or chestnut tree. In the crotch
0f limbs a body of sticks is placed and
n this soft materials, such as the Inner
t .,, .,in,,t tr th.n . iinin.
of Arlta ,eave. Iftli.
K1,. .h. tn
Wkil. msimn trAm m - hv onA , .
wnue some wras are sny ana prerer 10
.. . ""' "
"V M rar Irom nlan na nl" worK lney
can get, others seeic nis company, me
- -
purp tracW . prefer to Mlect for their
" - r - -
nesting sites the pines and evergreens In
ana a00ut ln ouna 01 "ouaea. Borne
of tha blrda that would naturally nest In
Field for
(Copyright, 190., by Frank O. Carpenter.)
UNIB, June 8. (special forre-
spondence of The Bee.) Uncle
Bam should send his commercial
travelers to Tunisia and Algeria,
Theae two French colonies . ara
rapidly increasing In population. Tunisia
has doubled within the last ten years, and
Algeria U growing both by Immigration
.a Dy tt. , d numb.r of Dlrth,
It were not for the divorce, both countries
would be more populous than they are now.
The most of tb. people ara Mohammedans.
,., i . .i, ,k. .
man can get r(1 of n(B Bulernuou8 wives far
mora eaBlly than the Amer1can can divorce
hl8 onIy on(j ,n South Dakotft or Oklahoma.
There are now about 1J000 dlvorce, in A,
,a . th, aImost nal(
.
the number of marriages. All that a Mo-
hammedan has to do to secure a separation
is to point his wife to the door and say,
"I divorce you! I divorce you! I divorce
you!" and out she goes. It Is not much
better with the Tunisian Jews; the chief
difference being that the Mohammedan hna
the right to four wives, while the Jew
can have but one. At present plural mar-
rltorles of the French Sahara, Is as large as
all New Ekigland. with New Tork, Penn-
sylvanla. West Virginia and New Jersey
added thereto, and it has a population,
larger than any of our statea outside New
Tork. ,
Tunisia I. Just about tha size of Alabama,
and It has as many people as Massachu-
setts. The population of the two countries
is fully one-eighth tkat of tha whole United
States, and tho most of tha people might
b consumers of American goods. Bo far,
our dear Uncle Sam aeem. to be running
hi, consular business hero on the cheap.
w hav, a poorly paid consul In Algiers,
and within tha last few months w have
reduced tha vice consulate at Tunis to a
consular agency. This means that tha
maa wh represents us here In thla city of
aw. ana country or ana mor
roiv pracucaiiy noioing ior omc ex-
pence s, and that his fees amount to only
a few hundred dollar, a year. This Is so.
notwithstanding we are paying our consul
gnral of Morocco several thousand dol
lars a year and hav recently raised his
predecessor, Mr. Oumm
of . m)nl,t.r. with a
mmere, to the rank
lary aeveral tlmea
a larg.
Altogether w spend only $3,000 or W.000
tp pushing our trad In thes two rich
province, belonging to Franc, wher tha
market ta worth many million dollars a
year, and wast thre or four times that
on th wilds of Morocco, from which w
get nothing now and cannot hop for much
until far in th future. Similar condition.
prevaU , Mm. otner parU of
Tunlsla and Algeria ar a part of up-to-
. .. Afrln. Th.u ar. .till h.hl. V. .
tlmM) but thy ar rapidly Introducing all
modArD improvements. Uf. and property
in them from th MsdlUrraaeaa to far
down Into th Sahara, ar safe; ther ar
pollc vrywhr and th popl ar pay.
ng less taxea than ever befor.
Th facilities of communication ar rap.
Bird Life
hollow tree and under th shelving rocks
0f cliffs, the chimney awlft, the rave swal-
low and the phoebe, for Instance, take ad-
vantage of the chlmneya and the protection
..,,..v . . . a .....hnnnin. ..v.. of
hou(lwl for thelr n(,,ta.
nt th. nt th ....v.
ne of th '' nests Is the stick
Tkankpt inn me rinmnev swiri duuos in
his nesting material by flying swiftly over
tha top of a dead tree and In pausing
snatching a twig. Then descending to the
chlm" bird fastens kS twig to the
oot-covered bricks by the aid of a thlrk
glutinous substance that comes from his
throat r "tomach. Other twig, are added
untll a neat twljf ba8kot ma)le ana ,
uniu a
this the four white eggs are laid.
oumo u,rUB, iikb some people, are aniri-
less In their work. The herons and tha
ill n.oir
cuckoos make mere platforms of sticks, so
loose and flimsy that often the eggs can
be seen as one stands on the ground and
American
Idly growing. The two countries have In
me neignDornooa or d.wu miles or rail-
road, thousands of miles of good country
roads, and hundreds of miles of electrlo
tramways. One can now travel through
Tunisia and Algeria for a distance aa
"reat as from Washington to Seattle in
automobile, and that over roads better
than. nine-tenths of the country roads of
"'adaS
rn tA h. Vw
,a
l irireiain.v; hjmiuuu.,
wire now In use In Algeria would make a
girdle around the earth, and the telegraph
poles are enough to supply a line through
lts center. A telegraph route across the
Sahara has Just been surveyed, and, within
a anon nine, tne rencn provinces or me
Soudan will be Joined to Algeria by 2,504
miles of wire
Good Postal Service.
Both ' these countries have a good pds-
tal ?rvlce. There are postofflces In every
town- and- ot late- tne mall have Deen car"
riti on cancls to many of the oases of the
desert. The letter rates to Algeria, Tunis
and France are 3 cents, and postal order,
up to M may be gotten for 1 cant, and
up to 10 for 5 cents. I can buy a postal
order on America to the amount of $2 for
2 cents, and the same rate Is Kiven for
England, India, Canada and Japan. There
are almost dally mails from here to Eu
rope, and France can be reached front
either Tunis or Algiers In Just twenty
four hours.
The postal business Is rapidly growing.
There are something like (0,000,000 packages
sent through the Algerian malls every
year, and fully half that many through tha
postofflce of Tunisia. . '
Money and Hanks.
Both of the provinces have excellent
banking facilities. Every town of any sir
has Its banking establishments, and the cit
ies are represented by the chief banks of
France. I was able to draw money at
Biskra, down In the Sahara, and I hava
had no trouble anywhere In getting my let.
ter of credit cashed. Tha Bank of Algeria,
which is connected with the government,
has a capital of W, 000.000, and Ita paper
notea are exchanged for gold In any part
of these French colonies. The Credit I.y
onnals haa branches In all of th Algerian
cities, and the same la true of tho Bank of
Xun,la at ,0 the cities of that province.
Th money U8ea French , Algeria and
Tum.n Tunisia, but It Is all on th
French decimal system, and there la no
trouble in making Chang. In addition to
the banka above mentioned, there ar ag
ricultural banka In both Algeria and
Tunisia, which make loan, to farmer, and
settlers, and, Algeria haa' seven saving.
banks. with deposits of mora than 16.000.000.
Bo ... banking hera Is in Its Infancy.
n, native have not been accustomed to
taking cara of their money that way. They
do not Ilka to go to th banks for fear
th1r friends- will think them hard up, and
that their business la borrowing. There
fore, they hide their savings under tha raft,
r. or build them away in som part ot
their houses. Many of them put their sur-
P!u mto JewlrJr this is .specially so
of th Bedouin, and Kabylea, th richer
women among whom ar often loaded wtta
rld and silver.
Tha chief money lenders outside th banka
ar th Jsws, who charg exorbitant rates
t Interest and take not, for much mora
than th amount, loaned. Th Jsw come,
to th- man's bous and makes th loan
TIIE OMAITA SUNDAY BEE: JUNE
During
- '
ooks up between the twigs.
On the other hand, the humming bird.
the blue gray gnat catcher, some of the
flycatchers, the vlreos, tho oriole, and many
j .v . ... . D .1.0 Tiicua, 1 i hj Uliuirs null IllUily
other b)rd buJd n(jBta uh . . .
care as to excite your admiration. Of all
nesis trie orioles s is the most durable, be
cause It is nractlcallv n. woven n f
string, horse hair and other strong fibres
Although the oriole never uses his nest a
second year. Ave years of winds and storms
Made GoodisyJrt'. Tunisia and Algeria
there, and at the end often gets both
house and money. In the French banks
the office hours are from 8 to 11, and from
j untll 4. At noon every one knocks off
for a reg,
simllRr hour. thn TrK hninns.
hougP8 but th c eftr, an, wUh the
exc.tIon , r . ' .
f French
section", with tore, Ld bu.lnes.
ments like those of Europe. The great bulk
of the trade, ho ever, la done In bazaars by
thousands of nettv nnerrhani, wh
- - - r
cplls no rger man a good-sized piano
box, and who sit on the floor while they
w't tor their customers. . Such establlsh-
monts open shortly after daylight and close
long before nightfall. The streets where
iney are located are poorly lighted and
there Is no business whatever after dark.
Openings for Unci Sam.
Tunisia haa a foreign trade of about
tSO.OuO.GOO a year, but Uncle Sam gets al
most none of It. We sell but little to
Algeria, and that, notwithstanding Its for
eign commerce, amounts to mora than
ruo,000,OW par Annum. Tula la a largo trade
'Hv
.'i:V'.-
, 1.' .
3 f
it
-t
H1& HIGHNESS THH BET OF TUNISIA, WHO IS RULED BY TIIB FRENCH AJH.
DRAWS A bALjLKY OF tAO, A 1KAR.
16, 1907.
Building
cannot vhtD. 'Jt' ' pieces.
Tnung blrrts are unnl,l to build as neat
had :erar years' exLrlence iCn soma
before their young have left It. A hnvr
rainstorm will sometimes wash away tha
rim nt fhn mnrt hi thaf v, rKi ii...
m rtri. cn.. .n .v,. ho. xM. it
up mnm. 1 anil u. 1 1 y tub oaillti iiuiik Dome
t, happens to the nest of the cliff swal
. . .nli. . n-., .1 1 1 w. . . . I
low,
it Is Interesting to watch a bird -searching
for. a suitable 'nesting site. A bluebird,
for Instance, (lies' to the'openlng In a hol
low limb and cautiously, pseps ln.ias though
half afraid that the hollow. Is occupied. Sat-
for a colonial possession,: and It-seems tha
larger when It Is remembered. thkt 'the pop-
ulatlon here Is almost altogether, agrlcul-.
tural and that It. dresses In cottons.. I see
some American meats In the stores,, and not
a few of the' French establishments .carry
canned salmon. There' are Windmills' from
Chicago scattered here' arid there 'through
out the Tell', and there are American sew
ing machines .working away: in many, of
the bazaars. As to the cotton : goods ,fpr
these 8,000,000 or 10,000,000 people, they .coma
chiefly from France, dermany and England,
and the same Is true' of machinery, both
of which, lines ' are specialties of 1 our own.
The most of the trade of all kinds Is 'with
France. . i , -
. Our vice cops.ul, .Mr. Proux,.who Is one
of the bankers of Tunis, and whose opinion
Is of considerable value,' tells, me that, there
ts an opening here for all kinds of Amer-
lean . machinery and tools , lie says .our
windmills have been more successful than
any of the others and tliat several hundred
have already been. sctld., , r , i :;.
As to American machinery and the tools
In which we are so 'Strong-elsewhere, tha
peopl of Tunisia . bardi , know .tham
'V-
. I
V;
ij. b r i
- ft
! -1-..,.
'..".1
' a . ". " j.
I s
- i
and Mating Time
lsfled that It la not, she fills the entrance
and stands there looking down. Finally
she hops out of Sight. If she is satisfied
with the cavity sho begins at once to bring
in nesting material.
A vnhln sill allfrht In -nffh In tree.
a . . m .-
lurn una, n u"7"
fw-eoond. a- though calou.at-
Turn arouna again ana nnauy tnussio uuwn
cnange inr minas mier .'
finished a nest, and for no apparent reason
will! abandon It and begin another one a
few feet from It. '
1 un iiianiii ui m iinoi. uuv ..w.
and tedious a Job as one might suppose,
Fetv birds' are more than a week In house -
building, and ,when .both birds assist In tha
work a nest can easily be built In threa
days. 1 , k :
In, the marshea. bordering tha lakes' and
rivers of the northern United States , and
This I. shown by our sales of .1(04, when.
they amounted to only about 16,000,,
whereas France sent In similar goods. to;
the amounts of more than $500,000. Eng-
land Is. now selling something like U.-
000,000 worth of cotton goods to the
Algerians, and 'France about half thatj
amount. Tha timber of north Africa
ccmes ' chiefly from Norway. It might
be sent: from our southern states. The
country . Is .almost treeless, and all . the
wood ot value has to ba brought in from
abroad. , . . . . . . . '.
Among th Farmers.
. . Tunisia' and, Algeria once' supplied' tho
bread for Italy, and they are now 'ona
of the - bread ' baakets of - Eurono. They
nroduce Quantities of wheat and other
grains;-but the farming Is so poor that
the average wheat yield of Algeria is
iesa tham eight' bushels, per' acre whereas
ouril ia thirteen bushels, and that of tho
wheat belt . of Canada something Ilka
twenty-five .bushels. . With proper m-
chlnery this' yjeld .might be doubled. The
dry lands of northern .Africa need deep
cultivation .to preserve the, moisture, and
It uiay.be that'a vast amount of new land
can be brought Into, use. by what Is' now
known asa dry. farming. ' At present the
surface is. only scratched. The plows ar
so light that you can' swhng one around
your head as' easily as a well loafled In
dian ''club, ' and the 'farmers often carry
them' to and from' the fields on their
shoulders. 'They 'are little' more than
forked' Sticks 'shod with a' thin piece of
Iron. ' They have but one handle, and ara
so 'made 'that the plowman does not need
to' press upon thsm' as he walks through
th furrows. The result Is that large
bunches of weeds; or bushes cannot be
plowed up,' and - th farmers work thMr
way In and out through the brush. They,
hava to cut ' most ;of their grain with, lb
sickle, aa it would be- Impossible to run
a mower through .the. field. (
Farming Machinery. ,
'It Is'only the French settlers, and now
and then an Italian, who have modern,
machinery, , and it Is only, in. Algeria that
our machinery Is used. W sell a hun
dred i thousand dollars worth or so of
agricultural Implements there every year,
this ' being .our share of th two million
dollars' ' worth of machinery annually
imported. Ther Is no reason why ther
should not b a good demand for Ameri
can plows, .end also for, our mowers, reap'-,
ara, and threshing machine... At present)
the grain 1. either" trodden out of th
Straw by horses, . oxen, or donkeys, or , t, interesting to know how the French han
ground out . by driving heavy aleds about dla theiT dependency in this part of North
ever It. The chaff Is blown way " by I Africa. Tunisia was conquered by them
throwing the straw agatns the wind.' '
-Within the last few . years .th most of
th Tunisian wheat haa bean exported to
Franca,' while' the Tunisians have bought
Russian wheat for their own us. The
reason for this Is that Tunisian wheat, lns-
much a. it comes' from one of the French
colonics. Is admitted to France free from
duty, whereas ail other foreign wheat paya
a high tariff. - Such wheat aa Tunis itself
Imports pays practically nothing, and so
the people have been bringing In Russian
whsat and sending their own off to France
. and making thereby a big profit off th.
difference In the respective tariffs. The
, French government has , now discovered
this inck.-ana i unaersiana mai wiu
soon lax Tunisian grain jumi aa u uuea iui
' grain from ether countries.
i . ... . . . 4 , , .
. Oar Mia lac . Maealaery.
Qur. manufacturers. of mining machinery
should ' keep their . syes - on - thla part . ot
8
Canada the grebes build floating nests of
dried rushes, mere rafts that rise and fall
with the water. These ducklike birds ara
expert swimmers and divers, and when
they hear an enemy approaching through
the weeds they slip silently off tho eggs
and, half submerged In the water, swim
away, to return when they are confident
that all danger is passed. The young
grebes sometimes follow their mother's ex
ample. Many of the ducks that pass over tha
United States In the splng nest In Canada.
Soma build nests In the tall grass and
reeds In the, marshes and lakes and along
the rivers, while others select hollow tree
trunks or hollow logs In which to build
their nests. Among the latter class ara
the American golden eye or whlstlewlng,
the wood duck or summer duck, the Amer
ican merganser or sheldrake, and tha
hooded merganser.
That huge scavenger bird, the turkey
buzzard or turkey vulture, lays its eggs
on the ' ground or In a hollow log or
stump. It makes scarcely any pretense at
nest building, but will sometimes scrape
together a few sticks and leaves and lay
two eggs on them.
Most birds are loath to leave their nests
when they are incubating, and the turkey
buzzard la no exception. Sometimes she
will nermlt one almost to touch her be-
for .w. t.Wp. wl' .n(, th.n ..umillT
beating her wing, she flops through the
---
r - .
advantage the graceful curving flight for
which she Is noted.
- Soon after tha young buzzards break
viiiuukii 1.110 rgg biicii 1 1 . ' 7 . . r-. . u ..1 w
downy chickens, save for their curved bill.
. Even after they are a month old. and
half the size of their parents, they still
retain tha snow white down, although tha
large quill feathers on tha ends of tha
wings may hava begun to show the ra
selves.
North Africa. Both Algeria and Tunisia
are developing their minerals. Algeria has
already given eighty concessions for mining
Iron, zinc, silver, lead, mercury, copper,
antimony and coal. It produced about I'JOO,-
000 worth of Iron last year and something
like 60,000 tons of zinc ore. There was also
a considerable output of copper and sliver,
Within tha last few months petroleum has
been found in Oran, and phosphate bed
ara being developed in different parts of
Algeria. I am told that there ara phos
phates all over the southern part of Tunisia.
I know of a phosphate company at Sfaax
whose shares hava Jumped up 1,000 per cent
within tha last two or threa years. Tha
phosphates are near Oafsa and they ara
now reached by railroad. They are brought
on the trains to Sfaax and are sent from
there at the rate of about a shipload per
day, the bulk of the product going to Eu-
rope. Tunisia sold mora than
worth of phosphates last year.
12,000,00a
Overran by Italians.
I find that the French Tunisians ara
somewhat alarmed at the large influx of
Italians. The Sicilians and Neapolitans In
large numbers are coming over to Tunisia
to buy lands and to take advantage of tha
Inducements offered to colonists. Boats can
go from here to Naples In thlrty-slx hours
and the voyage from Palermo Is made In
a night.
The Sicilians -Just now are terribly poor,
and the taxation Is such that they can
make no money In farming. They ar
thrifty and do well on these poor lands of
North Africa.
As It Is now there are perhaps as many
Italians as French In Tunisia. The French
peasant loves his home, and he will not
leave without he thinks he Is going to hava
things all his own way. .
The chief trouble with farming. In this
part of the world, is the scanty rainfall.
Centuries ago the land was heavily wooded,
and In the times of the Romans there was
a great olive forest extending all the way
from Tunis to Algiers, a distance about as
great aa from Philadelphia to Chicago. Thla
has long since been cut away, and the only
vegetation now on the mountains is scrub
oak, with here and there a forest of cork.
Every bit of wood available la used for
fuel, and even the roots of the olive trees
and the trimmings of the grape vines ars
sold. A large part of th wood la turned
Into charcoal, and this forms the chief fuel
of both Algeria and Tunisia.
How Tunisia Is Governed.
Now that we have coloniea of our own, tt
. 0nly a little more than twenty-flve years
aeo. amj they have been the real rulers ot
jt ever since. At the same time the Arab
j,ave been deluded by the Idea that they
nave their own rulers. Inasmuch as all
the order, affecting the native, go out
through the bey and his Arab officials. Th
ey, however, la only the monkey on tha
atCk, and it Is the French resident general
' wo pulls the string which makes him act.
indeed, he has very little opportunity to
act at all. except in special Instances and
a to natives. Ills army. Including both of-
flrera and men, has been reduced to a regl-
ment of VA. and nis Income, which was
Iormerly millions, is now cut down to t300,.
M ft ear Ha aUn occupies the fin old
palace ef the Bardo here on the edge ot
the city, and he has in addition aeveral
smaller palaces outside. At present ha Is'
living in one at Eldl Bou Said on th alt
(Continued on. Pag Flv4