Identifier: gatewaytosaharao00furl (find matches)
Title: The gateway to the Sahara; observations and experiences in Tripoli
Year: 1909 (1900s)
Authors: Furlong, Charles Wellington, 1874-
Subjects: Tripoli (Libya) -- Description and travel
Publisher: New York : C. Scribner's sons
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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theBashaws. A striking instance of a man hanging himselfby his own rope was that of a stevedore who,down in the dark hold of an esparto vessel, cameacross a short length of chain. Stripping him-self to the waist, he wound the steely links roundand round his black body, and, donning his shirtagain, appeared on deck and started to descendover the side of the lighter. Splash! Men ranto the side of the rolling half-emptied barge—a column of spray and some bubbles, that wasall. When they found him he lay anchored se-curely by his prize down among the spongesand sea-coral. Forty-five years ago the trade of Tripoli wasdiminishing, chiefly owing to the suppression ofthe slave trade with the interior by which theTurkish markets were supplied. This was a lu-crative form of investment to the Arab merchantsand others; but as the great caravans with theirblack, human merchandise grew scarcer andscarcer, there sprang up a larger, more importanttraflSc between the Sudan and Tripoli, in which (170)
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A Black sheik THE ESPARTO PICKERS Manchester goods were bartered for gold, ivory,and feathers. But the profits of this soon beganto leak out by the way of the new water routesfrom the Sudan to the east and west coasts. Already the esparto trade had come to thefront and to-day it is Tripolis leading export.But back in the jebel the halfa picker still withruthless short-sightedness tears and rips it rootand all from the sandy wastes. Each successiveyear now entails longer journeys to the coast,with increased labor and cost of transportation.Each year brings smaller returns, three poundsper ton being the selling price in England as com-pared with twelve pounds of former times. A decreasing demand for esparto grass hasfollowed the introduction of wood pulp intoEngland from North America and Norway,naturally resulting in a decreased value in theEnglish market. And many pickers have pre-ferred to leave the gathered grass to the sun andthe sand-storm to transporting it at little profitand, p

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