The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1912. THE TRIPOLITAN WAR.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 28, 26 September 1912, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1912. THE TRIPOLITAN WAR.

The last war correspondent to leave the Turkish forces in the. Tripolitan war was Mr H. C. Seppings Wright, who, for over a year, had been in the field, -and there are now no journalists permitted to remain with the Turkish troops. Mr Wright did not speak hopefully of peace when he reached London, for though the Italians controlled a strip of the coast there had been no .real penetration. Nesbet Bey's Arab army is praised unstintingly by Mr AVright, who says:—"l do not believe that the world has ever seen the like of his Arab army, and the point I want to emphasise is that the Italians, who, though the attacking force, have been operating almost entirely on the defensive, have unwittingly acted the role of instructors to these- men, giving them a practical academy training in the possibilities of modern warfare. These Arabs would never recognise, peace on terms likely to be acceptable to Italy. If they gave up their country to the invader their children would curse them. The policy of the Italian military commanders, moreover, is inexplicable to them, and they are inclined to regard the operations so far carried out as 'powder play.' They believe the real fighting has yet to come, and -they have not had enough to give in yet. They are well fed, and are paid, so much per day, and have ample stores of provisions and ammunition. Cartridges are being manufactured at three different places within the borders of Tripoli." The commander, Nesbet Bey appears to be a soldier and organiser of the first rank, and with his staff works night and day. One important matter Mr Wright deals with, and that is the terrible possibilities of aviation in warfare, especially against a practically defenceless people. He holds that the dirigible is virtually an aerial battleship, to which the aeroplane stands in the relation of scout, and, employed together, the two must necessarily revolutionise warfare. The Turks have hitherto had neither dirigible nor aeroplane, and though they had fired upon the Italian airmen, the latter had always been able to evade their fire pretty successfully. The atmospheric conditions in Tripoli are not abnormally favourable to aviation —indeed, high winds arc frequently experienced,—but the and aeroplanes, manned by clever and plucky men, carried on their operations without meeting with a single serious mishap. The aeroplane scouts ran pretty high risks when they ventured inland over the Turkish camp, for if their engines had failed they would have been bound to come down in the desertj Tripoli was too' far away to be reached by a vol plane. The bombs dropped from the aeroplanes were

small, about the size of a tea-cup, but those which came down from the dirigibles must have weighed about 301 b. At Mr Wright's suggestion the Turkish troops drilled to adopt a special formation when the dirigibles were

about, and by spreading themselves out fnnwise and throwing themselves flat when the bombs came down escaped with little hurt. But the bigger bombs could do terrible execution when they fell among a crowd, as, for instance, sin a market-place. Under such circumstances Mr Wright has seen as many as eight or ten persons killed and thirty or forty injured at a time, women and children being among the! number. Comparatively little authentic information regarding operations at the front has come to hand during the last month, though occasional lighting is reported from time to time. On September ( 23rd, the last cable message to hand reported that the Porte was considering a proposal to end the i war by agreement, but it appears that

if some such course is not taken, hostilities may drag out indefinitely with only loss to both sides.

WEST AFRICA.

A recent traveller in West Africa, who went through the regions embracing Gambia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Togoland, Carmeroon District, to Libreville and the Slave Coast, states that he found the influence of Dr. Livingstone still felt, and that the great explorer's name was a pas-sport through the country and that wherever heard the natives hailed his name with joy. Mr Broome P. Smith, the traveller referred to, has been making his tour on behalf of the British and Foreign Biblo Society, his chief work being a study of the native tongues, with a view to preparing translations of the Bible for these natives. He found many strange customs, and referring to the extraordinary shape of the Ashantee's skull found out it was the practice for the mother to bind a hot cloth round the young baby's head till it was a few days old, in order to l produce an elongation of the skull, and | ■so a development of the brain. They certainly had produced a remarkable elongation of the head. In Tbgoland, children born on a certain day were considered to be dead, and were buried accordingly: not because the parents wished to kill them, but to keep up an old custom. In the interior he had himself rescued two'children who had been buried alive the previous day, but wore .still conscious.., Another custom prevailed amongst the Hansas. Anyone could enter a mosque which had not been paid for with his boots on. ; But once, the debt was wiped off nq one, could enter unless he was bootless, .Communication between the different villages was. .maintained', by. means of "wireless."! A code) of signals by beating a. : drum, a similar |ys* tern to the Morse, code,! .had \ been instituted, by which messages were, sent for any distance up to ten miles. Big game, Mr Smith also told an interviewer,. , was. .still : .yerv, and many an exciting experience he had had 'in the jungle. It was quite common to have roast beef on the table by the side of hippopotamus, buffalo, and elephant steak. Referring to the elephant, he never could understand how ! it Was that the 'elephant would not take kindly to him, although he was- the; representative of the British and Foreign Bible Society. This ■ "devotional" elephant was one which would always'kneel down and bellow—or, seemingly, say its, prayers before charging.; It was always advisable for the luckless traveller to say his prayers at the same time,' for if he waited till afterwards he would not have the chance. But when travelling without dogs it was quite safe.to go up to the elephants and pat them—they were the kings of the forest, and knew it. It was a remarkable fact that when in its wild state an elephant would always die on the left side. Even though it was shot and fell on the right, it would turn over on to the left before dying.