File:The gateway to the Sahara; observations and experiences in Tripoli (1909) (14598215899).jpg

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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get their provisions and clear outof Tripoli Harbor and Tripoli Port. This upset things a bit andmeant ruin to some and thousands of d£s loss to others, so I sawhis Excellency, and in two hours had fixed it up, at least until hewired to Constantinople. Afterward I saw him again and thething is fixed up for this season at least, and no bothering throughthe Consulates. Often great strings of sponges bleaching anddrying in the sun cover large portions of thestanding rigging of deposit boats when in port.When dry they are worked up in sand, thenpacked in boxes ready for shipment; a third toa quarter of the crop is sold direct from Tripoli,mainly to England and to France and Italy; thebulk of the crop, unbleached and unprepared,is taken at the close of the season to the islandsfrom which the boats came, where long experi-ence, manipulation, and cheap labor preparethem for the European market. At sundown, after the last descent had beenmade and the sponges put over the side, the ma- (142)
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< i THE GREEK SPONGE DIVERS chine was housed and the crew boarded thePanayea. The smoke from her galley stovedrifted lazily toward the distant low-lying coastof Africa, where was just visible the long palmfringe of the oasis of Tripoli. Until dark, themen lounged around the deck, an occasionalgroup at cards, but most of them absorbed insmoking or conversation. The glittering eyes and bronzed faces of thecrew reflected the light from a lantern and theglow of the galley stove, near which, squattingon the deck, spare boxes, or spars, we ate theevening meal, the only one of the day allowed todivers on account of the character of their work;bi!t the sailors fare better, having at noon a mealof cheese, olives, herring, and rice. To-night wesat down to sun-dried goats flesh, hardtack, ahot dish of lentils, and a pint of wine each. In less than an hour the crew had turned in forthe night—on deck or below, as the case mightbe. A fevv^ paralyzed divers had dragged them-selves, or been assi

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