THE RESTLESS ARABS OF TRIPOLI.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15321, 8 December 1911, Page 8

THE RESTLESS ARABS OF TRIPOLI.

ITALY'S REAL DANGER.

(Ry An Officer of Egyptian Police.)

Out of Kgypt into the Tripoli hinterland a man may go by many routes—there art at least three tracks aci'o&s tho Lybian drfifitr-but. lie is not likely to return unices lie lias been lucky enough to gain the friendship of a Servo uteri chief. The perils und the discomforts of the journey are many, hut tlicy are as nothing compared "with the dangers of visiting tho Senoussis in their own country uninvited. The v.ord "country" does not to our fjiiilish mind convey"anything like a cornet impression of those vast and dcwtlate regions fhat lie behind the Tripolitan cai«tline and stretch in endless repetition scrn-c tho great .Sahara to the marshes of Lake Tchad. It is not a country, it is the waterless bod of a dead ocean) the wilds of which havo been blown into mountain ridges by a million years of wind ever blowing in the same <lir?ction. These sandhills art bring cndltsselv moved to leeward, and in llk valleys 'between brackish water is sometimes to bo found, if one digs for it. Th«e places, which aro few and fnr between, aio dignified by the name of well—but an Knplifh village'pond in the Lybian desert would be culled a lake, and so a puddle ii looked upon as a well. These puddles often lie in a chain of ciqlit or ten along a sandhill valley, and then that valley is called an oasis*. Hut the sandhik move, the puddles evaporate, the palms ami sparw vegetation aro smothered, the oasis ceases la exist, and man, bowing to the inevitable, moves on, seeking frec.h puddles to pitch Ins tents bceidr. —Fatalists of Necessity.— To live—to exist in such a region—required untiring energy, u constitution of iron, and a spirit capable of beating thj •inkmdrst blow* of fate with eqticnimily. The Arabs of the desert are fatalists of necessity. The elaborate puddle, result of 10 vcars' working, (Jic barley patch, the palm grove, nnv be blotted out of eristence by a sis-homs' gale. The Arab tVtf ti',( sit Jmvn fnd weep; he gathers together his wivjs. hi* sons, and daughters collects Ms littlo tlock of .«heep, packs all lib possession* on the lucks of whatever camels lie is lucky enough to possess (or file,>.l), and sets oiit'afoot to seek a new water-hole and to commence life afre-sh. Living the life he does, his two most precious possessions are his rifb and bis camel; the former not enly protects him and his from covetous neighbours, hut at certjin sefMins of the year helps to fid lii.i larder. Ammiuiiticni is rcarco ami pucolrw, so the Arab is an economist; si Mom does he waste a cartvidgo; ht rhoofs to hit. and he invariably succeeds. The Ssnoiwsis arc not a tribe, but a rrligimis society which has proselytised i very Mnhoinniedan between Algeria and the Nile, the Mediterranean, and Lake Tchad. In tho matter of religion the Fe.noijwis are as fanatic u the dervjfihea of the Sudan, but with a. fanaticism hosed upon the pride of Taee ratlnr than on tho lusta of the flesh. Nowhere in all the world is honour such a vital factor in everyday lit" as in this wild icgion. It is not honour sur.h a-t we understand it, but it is a code of honour set up by tho Senoussi Kmii6, and woo betide the* man who violates (hat code. .You may steal, you may kill, vou may lie. but friendship and hospitality are saerod. It was triiftinc in the honour of ?uch a fiiendehip that I travelled safely throagh the hinterland. I lud the good fortune to be of service to a Senoufsi sheikh, one Alxl er-Rnhman ef-fennussi, a nephew of the Mahdi, and he invited me to visit his country. As a white inan and a Christian 1 was the natural prey of all tho world, but .v, an honoured guest of a SeiKMwsi Prince I bore a pacrcil pa&port. The !ocal sheikha viwl with oacli other in extending their hospitality. I was infinitely safer than if I l«id hnd a regiment for an esoort, for I frel convinced that no rogiment in the would coiild ever travcTue the Si nouKM country. —'TTn Effect- of the War— 'the Senou/ifis never ;<dmittcd Turkish rule, and cheerfully murdered' any Turkish troops that came among thorn. Of J later years manv of ibe Turks in Tripoli, | however, havo i>ecomc cccret membeia ot

tho-Sisnooesi wet, and this is where Italy nil) find tier (roubles conuttcuoo. The Turku and Arabs fleeing from llio Italian troops down on too littoral will tr.Ce their talr to Jaraloob, ami iho 30 Kimrs -.Till sit in conclave and diecuss the utuation. Then oni, of ] two things will happen. Either the hinterland will bo declared an independent Seiioussi Slate, or else a holy war against tho invaders will bo declared. In tho tirrt ense tho Italians will be .allowed peacably lo occupy th:- succaieion of mud Imps that garnish tlio coast and are marked ae towne on tho map, and to poas'-M tliorasclvce of aa much land as the guile of their garrison* can command. Thoy will nxcb with no fiarioue opposition, but now and then it band of young men from the ■ intaior will sweep'down and obliterate some unfortmiato Italian poet, ftoructi'nMMJ by surpriw, lint inoro often through treachery. Tlitro will bo cud--Icm years markod only by "icgrettablo incidents"—villages looted and burnt, flriiall t&liimnn wiped out, ccnvoys plundered. Reprisals aro absolutely impossible. • If, on the other hand, tho Siaiouceie ra«o tho binner of the Prophet and proclaira a holy war, thev will not only have the arnied support of tile inhabitants of tha coastwise townships, but ex-en , Arab trader, slaver, smuggler, nnd loafer between Like Tchad and tho Nile will trek to Tripoli in the hope of loot in the tirrfnt and Paradine hereafter. II mu<st In icmembnred that tho elave trade and the ivory and ostrich feather trade in North Africa arc practically dead, and Ihe vild men vho used to traffic therein are waiting for jcmo profitable work to do. Thi) looting of ;i army would olkr an irreoistiblc temptntion to all the soum of iho Saharan Itorders. —The Sonoiuisi Forces.— There has been much talk of the available Turkish forces in Tripoli, and many attempts to estimate tins resistance they aro likely to offer. I do not know anything about tbo Turkish garrison, but I do know what foroo tho Scnouesi tribes could nut into tho field if they were S3 rnincon, and this entirely apart from the support of tho '.oastwiflc inhabitants. I estimate that within three months 15,000 hoMomcn and betimm 9000 and 10,000 camel-men, all armed with rifles (mostly Martinis and chaseojiote), could be concentrated within a day's march of Benghazi, and that a forco of equal, if not greater, strength would overrun the country round Tripoli. These, forces would march in email columns and live on tho country, concentrating from time to timo to attack any Italian post. Thcv might perhaps never meet with success, but it is certain that they would never meet with disaster. Their moral would be quite tinaffcetod by casualties, for there, is a Scnousfii proverb: "The fewer survivors tho greater tho share of loot." If Italy ifi prepared to sink wclle, lay down 2000 mi.es of light railway, ana' provide a garrison of 30,000 men und two expeditionary columns of SCOO men each, she may, after five years' campaigning, exterminate tho Scnonssifl, bnt sho will never comjner them and she- will never bo able to inh. .bit their country—it is no place for a white nun I

I foil to sec how Egypt can contemplate the situation with w/uanimity, for within 100 miles of Jaraboob, the •Senouui headquarter?, lies the fertile oacis of Siweh, which owns allegiance to the Khedive. It i« famous for its dates, and ,1 big trade annually troka into tho Delta and the Fayoiim out 0' Siweh across the Lybian desert. If the Senoimsis take tho war path, Siweh is the very first plaeo they will desire to loot, and some sort of * garrison will have to be sent there unices the oiutis ie to be abandoned. At present tho Scnoiiffiis have a great respect for England, hut they heartily despieo the Egyptian. Under these circumstance* a company of the British camel corpe at Siweh would appear the beet way out of the difficulty, but as up to the present timo only four Englishmen have ever set foot in Siweh this would ba a new departure with n vengeance. DoubtlCM Lord Kitchener will do what is necessary; his namo enjoya preetigo among tho Scnoussi already.

Apart from all political considerations the idea of eemling Turkish reinforcement's to Tripoli ie too absurd to merit a second thought. The passage of 100 camel m«n would strain tho.water supply to ite utmost-capacity''and nothing on wheele could ever traverse the Lybian' det crt. The water holes aro often 100 miles apart, and cuttings would have to bo made through tho wihdliill? to facilitate the paeeaj»e of laden camels.

In my opUion it ie merely n matter of weeks before the Scnoussi wolves will' begin to harass the Italiiin sheep pens. The Italian riflee offer a prospective booty that no Arab could bring himself to ignore. In the Cyrenaica hinterland a Mauser rifle and 100 cartridges would bo ample wages for three years' labour. Tho inference is obvious.—Daily Mail.