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COUNTRIES and CULTURES of the WORLD, THEN and NOW, VOLUME I

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Berber vegetable vendors, Tangier, Morocco

Typical mud mosque, in San, Mali

Thailand, Yao children Thailand, Akha vendor of opium paraphernalia

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Sri Lanka, boat, no metal

[Excerpt, Countries and Cultures, Vol. I, Africa, P. 51-64]

TUNISIA

Population 9.1 million (1.8 % per year natural increase); area 164,000 sq. km. (63,000 sq. mi.); GDP $37 billion; average income $4250; literacy rate 65%

HISTORY. Berbers ("Barbarians") lived in the area before the Phoenicians arrived in the 12th Century B.C. from the eastern end of the Mediterranean. In the 9th Century B.C Phoenicians founded Kart-Hadasht, or Carthage. Carthage and Rome each wanted to control the Mediterranean. They fought three wars between 264 and 146 B.C. (See Ancient Civilizations, Roman Empire.) Rome eventually won and "destroyed" Carthage. However, Rome quickly helped to rebuild the important city and port. Archaeologists have found hundreds of burial urns in the children's cemetery in the Precinct of Tanit, Carthage. Many believe they were sacrificed by burning alive in flames, to fulfill a pledge by the parents to give a child to the goddess Tanit.

There were several uprisings in the interior against Roman rule. However, Tunisia prospered and the Romans built impressive cities in Tunisia. In the 4th Century Tunisia was Christian. Vandals overran Tunisia in 439 A.D. The Byzantines from Constantinople (Istanbul) controlled it from 534 to 698 A.D. Arabs following Mohammed's Islam religion began to invade in 648. In 670 Okba founded Kairouan, the first Arab city in the Maghreb ("West") --modern Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. In the 8th Century Tunisia was controlled by caliphs from Damascus, later by caliphs from Baghdad, as in Egypt. The Fatamids established a Shiite caliph in 969 A.D. In the 11th Century the caliph sent an Arab army to Tunisia and Algeria to punish them for being rebellious. Normans occupied coastal towns beginning in 1135. In 1159 the Maghreb was controlled by Morocco. Arabs and Jews fleeing from Spain's Inquisition arrived in the late 15th Century. In the 17th Century when the Turks controlled the Mediterranean, a bey appointed by Turkey ruled Tunisia. Later the bey was a descendant of a previous bey.

Mohammed Bey in 1857 agreed to the "Fundamental Pact," that Muslims and non-Muslims would be equal under the law. In 1883 the Bey was forced to agree to a French protectorate over Tunisia. A large bureacracy from France administered the country. In 1942 and 1943 Allies (the U.S.A. and Britain) fought and defeated German Nazis under Rommel in Tunisia. After World War II France continued the protectorate over Tunisia. Nationalists wanted more control, and in 1954 acts of violence caused France to put Tunisia under siege. On March 20, 1956 Tunisia became independent but French military stayed in some areas. Nearby Libya became independent from Italy in 1952, and Algeria from France in 1962.

The constitution of 1959 made polygamy illegal and permitted women to vote. Habib Bourguiba was president. His opponent, Ben Youssef, sought refuge in Egypt, and was supported by Egypt's Nasser. In 1961 Youssef was assassinated in West Germany under mysterious circumstances. When Tunisians tried to force French out of Bizerte, more than 1,000 were killed in 1961. France left two years later, French holdings were nationalized, and France cancelled preferential trade agreements with Tunisia. Bourguiba was declared "president for life." When he was 84 years old he was ousted by his prime minister, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, in 1987. The government actively prosecuted Muslim fundamentalists. Ben Ali was reelected in 1989 and again in 1994.

BACKGROUND. Tunis has nearly two million in the metropolitan area, and Sfax has 850,000. French is the second language, after Arabic. Ninety-eight percent of the people are Muslim, almost all Muslims in Africa are Sunni.

Headquarters for the Arab League is in Tunis. The Palestine Liberation Army (PLO) was in Tunisia prior to its return to Gaza and the West Bank of Palestine.

The constitution provides five year terms for the president, he may be reelected two times. Members of the House of deputies are elected by popular vote. Opposition parties are permitted.

Some 20 percent of the land is arable. There are 271 people per square km. of arable land. Main crops are grains, dates, olives, vegetables, and grapes. Some 75 percent of the exports go to and 70 percent of the imports come from the European Union. Exports are only 64 percent of imports. Tunis' January average high temperature is 14 degrees C, the average low is 6 C. The average July high temperature is 32 degrees C, the average low is 20 C. November through March are the rainier months.

The former typical family of six or seven people is now only four or five. Schools are free. The government helps with family planning. Eight years of education is common for boys in cities. Most of the girls also go to at least a few years of school. Tunisia has built many schools. Tunis has six universities. Health care is free in government clinics and hospitals. For industrial workers there are pensions and payments for sickness or injury.

The tourist industry brings in much hard currency, mostly from European tourists. Tunisia has much to see, prices are reasonable. It is a pleasant country to visit.

TRAVELS. We had good views of the beaches and city of TUNIS as we circled, landing mid-afternoon one day in March, 1994. I changed travelers checks at the rate of one (thousand) Dinar per dollar. After getting information at the tourist office, I negotiated for a taxi to town. Our driver wore a heavy brown wool robe and red fez. We rode down Avenue Bourguiba, named after their first post-independence president, to the hotel recommended by our guide book. The wall wainscoting is of beautiful oriental design ceramic tiles. We had a clean, nice room with bath, but without TV, in the older hotel. The lobby had a TV, where at times we watched French stations with other guests and the family of the French owners. We put our travellers checks and other valuables into the hotel's security box, the clerk had to list each of the many items in duplicate. Our petit dejeuner was typical French: two pastries, bread, confiture, and cafe au lait for each of us.

We went on walks in Tunis. Many men, young and old, mill around or sit for hours drinking coffee at sidewalk restaurants, talking with friends. There is high unemployment. Local women do not sit in sidewalk restaurants. A few days earlier I read an article by Tunisia's president, Ben Ali, pointing out that Tunisia is "advanced" in free health and education, and women's rights, for an Islamic country, but it is still a poor country. Busy Avenue Bourgiba has a pedestrian walk in the middle. Police chased everyone away from the Ministry of the Interior building, important foreigners were visiting. Traffic police are women. In national elections held the day we arrived, more than 95 percent of those eligible, including women, voted. Some 99.1 percent voted to return Ben Ali for a second five year term, according to La Presse of Tunis. Many of the modern green electric trains with three or four cars each, go down the street at the rear of our hotel. They travel to much of Tunisia. Our room was quiet. Our laundry came back, well done, and cheap. We often ate lamb brochettes, with local red Magon wine, at our hotel, or couscous at a nearby Arabic restaurant.

We walked to the medina, or old Arab section, with narrow alleys. The souk (suq or market) had vendors of clothes, textiles, hardware, leather goods, jewelry, spices, perfumes, pottery, hammered copper and brass things, baskets, and carpets, each in its own area. The old city walls were torn down to build a surrounding street and boulevard. A guide attached himself to us, we went to two mosques, and climbed stairways in a carpet shop to a "tower" to view the medina. The most common type of carpets is the knotted with decorative traditional designs. There are also many Berber rugs with bright colors and geometric designs. On parting I tipped our guide. Guides and beggars are much less aggressive than in many Lesser-Developed countries.

After lunch we walked to the south end of the medina, up an alley, past vendors of fish, meat, red peppers, beans, and brassware, to the Dar Ben Abdallah Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions. It was the 18th Century home of a rich man. It has a courtyard with pretty tiles, arches with alternating dark and light stones, several wells, rooms where girls learned to sew and crochet, rooms where boys learned crafts and the Koran, plus a kitchen, living room with manikins clothed in costumes, and a bedroom. Leaving, we wandered north through the alleys with shops, stopping to buy a carry-on bag of camel leather.

We rode a bus north past hospitals, to Belvedere Park, on a holiday. Well-dressed families were there, the little girls often wore white stockings. Many older men wore a red cecchio, like the fez worn in Turkey before it was made illegal there in 1923. They were worn in Egypt until long after 1945. Cecchios are made and sold in the medina. In the zoo we saw camels (they cost about 1,500 dollars U.S.A.), an elephant, hippos, lions, leopards, bear, monkeys, kudu, zebra, and ponies. Signs are mostly in Arabic, a few are in French also. Families ate picnic lunches, vendors sold popcorn, bread sticks, and baloons.

We took a long walk north, past "Wall Disney's Pizza," and a park with signs welcoming the 19 African countries providing a soccer team for the "Africa Cup." The games began the next day. Near the railway station a statue of a young man seemed to say he was "born 1948" but he "died 1925." However, in Arabic one reads right-to-left. He was born in 1925, died in 1948.

On our first day we signed up for a tour, joining a group from Spain and French-speaking Quebecois. My wife and I are fluent in both languages and liked the opportunity to use them. Going south, our driver cussed the traffic in Arabic. On the four-lane road he drove 130 km. (81 mi.) per hour, but many passed him. Traffic police were busy. We saw hills, olive orchards, and vineyards. Italians and French are imported to grow and harvest grapes and make wine. Muslims are discouraged from drinking alcohol, although some do. The villages have masonry buildings, cows, sheep, and goats. Roads were good. Some 70 km. (44 mi.) later we were dropped off in HAMMAMET at a nice, modern, white four-star Hotel. On the Mediterranean, CAP BON PENINSULA, there are many tourist hotels. Fences are usually made of growing cactus. In the large dining room and lobby we heard many European languages. Our guide said most Europeans come to Tunisia for the three Ss: sun, sand, and sex.

Our big bus, half-full with people from Spain, left early. Later we picked up the Quebecois. Going northwest, we passed many camels, for tourist rides or pulling plows. Donkeys also pull plows. Windmills are needed, rainfall is 40 to 60 cm. (16 to 24 in.) yearly in the north, the south is desert. We saw many Tunisian army trucks with soldiers, Libya isn't far away. We passed a mountain 620 m. (2030 ft.) high, another near Carthage is 560 m. high. A flock of sheep used an overpass. The apple, peach, and orange orchards often have a windbreak of poplars. A 16th Century Spanish fort was captured by Turks. Women often wear one or two white "sheets" draped over the head, but no veil. In the cities many work outside the home. Average national income is equal to 200 to 250 U.S.A. dollars monthly but the purchasing power is far more. In TUNIS we passed the big university, with modern white concrete buildings, then the casbah or military barracks.

We left the bus to walk through the crowded medina, going first through the gold and silver area, it is often a gift for a bride. Much of the jewelry is large and gaudy. Henna is sold to paint red marks on a bride. A bride is often in seclusion for a month before the wedding, to lose weight and to paint nails and skin. We walked past the perfume area, large mosque, a school built in 736 A.D., and the leather and brassware sections. We walked down Avenue Bourgiba, past the statue of Ibn Habdoun, "the first sociologist," in the 14th Century. There were many red Tunisia flags with half-moon and star, like communist symbols, and CAN (Coupe d'Afrique Nacions), symbols for the football (soccer) games then beginning in Tunis. Turkish doors are arched, with alternate black and white stones. Turkish minarets have three balls on top. Tunis' medina, one of the largest in North Africa, has many gates, mosques, and minarets.

Going north, we saw the ruins of the Roman aqueduct. The Bardo Museum, in a big former Turkish palace, has the "world's largest collection of Roman mosaics," from Carthage. Carthage exported pottery to Greece. Ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians made many statues to protect tombs of the dead. Statues of Apollo usually have the penis broken off by Christians. There are many statues, found in Carthage. One mosaic shows Virgil, the greatest poet of ancient Rome, surrounded by the muses of literature and drama. Another shows the great Triumph of Neptune. A floor has mosaics of Hellenic (Greek) designs. The former harem has a high vaulted ceiling, carved designs in the white marble above, and designs in ceramic tile below. Some of the beautiful tiles show Istanbul's Blue Mosque. A room is full of Punic (Carthage pre-Roman) jewelry. Roman gods had a thick beard and hair. One mosaic shows Ulysses and the sirens, he allegedly stayed a long time on the Island of Jerba, where we would go in two days. The Islamic area of the museum includes ornaments of a Jewish family who lived in the palace. Near the museum street vendors sold many kinds of nuts.

We passed the cathedral built by French "Saint" Louis IX, shortly before he died in 1270. During lunch we had a good view of Carthage and the bay below, and the modern president's palace to our left. There were still many signs, banners, and newspaper articles congratulating Ben Ali for winning the election a few days earlier--he had no official competition. A Roman amphitheater, built for 10,000 spectators, is now used for a summer music festival. Some traffic police wear a Turkish uniform with lots of gold braid. We entered SIDI BOU SAID, a Suffi village. They are Islamic but do not read the Koran. The village has many whitewashed buildings with blue shutters. Many are screened so women can look out but not be seen. We wandered up the steep hill in the village, past souveneir, craft, jasmine, and art sellers, then down for a good view of Carthage and the Mediterranean below. Our restaurant a few kilometers away gave us a great view of Carthage and the port that ancient Romans wanted so much to control.

In CARTHAGE we visited the ruins, near the coast. Vandals in the 5th Century destroyed much. It has mosaic white and black floors, and caves where amphors (urns) were used for burial ashes of kids who were sacrificed. Next door to the main ruins is a military barrack, so we could not take photographs in that direction. There are many ancient baths. Roofs have arches. A Roman villa has a stele in honor of a god. Cisterns collected rain water, which was heated, to provide baths of the usual three temperatures--hot, tepid, and cold. Leaving, going south, we rode past the big port, and a station for electric trains, returning to our hotel.

We rode to the autoroute, past many dromedaries, then south, passing trucks filled with fresh onions, vineyards, olives, flocks of sheep each with one or more herders, castles, fences, poplar and cedar trees, flat plains, and stone buildings and fences. Rubber-tired carts pulled by a donkey, with a family aboard, use the dirt road along the autoroute. A hill east of the highway has a castle. We stopped in SOUSSE, first at the port. It has many big white hotels. We walked around in the new, modern port, with tourist and fishing boats, cats and cafes. Germans used the port during World War II, so it was heavily bombed.

The large medina of SOUSSE is surrounded by a white wall built in the 9th Century. The walls are eight meters (26 ft.) high. The casbah (fort) has several old cannon. The Great Mosque was built in the 9th Century, and remodeled several times. In the STIA factory 210,000 cars and buses are built yearly. Workers in Tunisia are free Friday and Saturday afternoons, and all day Sunday. In villages women don't go to cafes, but in cities they can go there, if they are with a man. We passed a big area that produces salt, the international airport, and many hotels. We rode 20 km. east to MONASTIER, to see La Rabat, the monument, and palace of Bourgiba, Tunisia's president for many years, until 1989. It was closed because he still lived there, age 91 in 1994. Bourgiba is from Monastier, Ben Ali is from Sousse. We saw pictures of Ali everywhere. Monastier's university has a medical school. Some of the houses and walls are adobe, most are concrete, or tile and plaster. All roofs are flat. We stopped at La Ribat, an 8th Century fort, with cupolas for martyrs. The large ribat, or fortified monastery, is for men. It has a tower and overlooks the sea. The smaller ribat for women is at the rear. Bourgiba's mausoleum is closed until he dies. It has two gold-domed minarets and a gold-domed central building. A big cemetery is nearby. Leaving, we saw three of the four types of mosques in Tunisia. We returned along the coast to Sousse for lunch. The commercial fishing port, used by Phoenicians, includes sailboats. We passed Roman catacombs, then the big Sunday market in Sousse. Going south, it became drier and more rolling. Even the two-lane road had many traffic police, it is lined with trees on both sides.

In EL JEM we walked to the colosseum, third in size (after Rome's and Verona's), 148 by 122 m. (485 X 400 ft.), built in 238 A.D. It has mosaics of lions and other animals, and swastikas, as in some Buddhist temples. Many cultures used the swastika, often a symbol for the sun and its rays. The huge colosseum can be seen many miles away on the flat plains. It is equidistant from Sousee, Sfax, and the sea. It was used for gladiators to fight lions, leopards, and cheetahs, but not Christians. We admired the huge system of arches and basements, partly destroyed by Turks in the late 16th Century because Berbers took refuge in it. Vendors, kids, and a man with a camel to photograph were more aggressive than usual in Tunisia. The Roman town of Thysdrus was in an olive-growing area, the olives and the colosseum are still there. Roman roads were usually straight. Their arches had an odd number of stones, Turkish (Byzantine) arches had an even number.

Leaving, we saw many of the 62 million olive trees in Tunisia, the 4th-largest producer, after Spain, Italy, and Greece. A tree produces up to 300 kg. (660 lbs.) per year and lives 400 years or so. Trees are planted in rows all directions, eight or nine meters apart. Sheep graze or crops are planted between. The farms, with tractors, are huge. We saw some nut and apricot trees, and cactus--the fruit of cactus is popular. SFAX has natural gas, phosphate brought from the west, oil, plants for pressing olives, and 850,000 people in the metropolitan area, it is Tunisia's 2nd-largest city. In 1942 there was a big battle, British and North Americans versus Rommel near Sfax. Many of the flat-roof buildings have a sattelite antenna. Phosphate is brought by train from southwest Tunisia to the big plant in Sfaz, it makes much pollution. In Islamic cemeteries the head is turned toward Mecca, southeast of Tunisia. The rich have a dome. There are many vegetables growing under plastic.

In MAHRES, a fishing village (for octopus) a park has a whale's skeleton, and many old scultures. Many houses are under construction for a long time, as people earn money to buy building materials. Olive oil costs 1.0 to 1.5 Dinar per liter. We saw many men wearing robes and big headgear guarding a flock of sheep. Mutton costs 6 Dinar a kg., more than pork or beef, as in most countries. We crossed many kilometers of plains with a plant like sage brush, and mountains in the west. Women often wore white "sheets," rather than the light beige we had seen. A small oasis had date palms, almonds, and figs; henna is also grown. The natural water is hot. Many Berbers live in GABES, the minarets there are different. Some cars had photos of Marilyn Monroe. Rain in Gabes is only five cm. (2 in.) per year.

We took a ferry for a 20 minute ride in the cool wind to JERBA ISLAND (Minox), where Ulysees' men hated to leave. We stayed in a big, white, modern, nice hotel. The next day we left in the bus for a tour of the island. Romans built a road across Jerba and a bridge. The Berbers who lived there, not being sea-going, had never visited the mainland. In the 15th and 16th Centuries many pirates lived there. Many islanders belong to the Kharijite sect of Islam. Berbers have a long process, about six weeks, to prepare a girl for marriage: the man pays 1500 D for the bride, her parents get gold and silver. The girl tries to lighten her skin by staying in shade, and to get fat! Berber men get more girl for their money. Jews have lived on Jerba since 600 B.C.

In GUELLALA, famous for pottery, we stopped. A man with a potters' wheel made a saucer, cup, and vase. Another demonstrated pitchers, with several spouts and compartments. Candle lamps, incense burners, plates with camels, mosques, and more, was for sale. We talked with Mahmoud, the owner, who showed us his souveneirs of famous visitors. We wandered around in the other pottery shops, which also sell natural brown "sand roses" made of gypsum--they have the shape of a rose but are made by nature. Shops sell leather goods, and carpets. Women wear white over red dresses, skirts, or jeans. The ancient synagogue, built in 586 A.D., was closed the day for a Jewish holiday. Many Jews in Tunisia are rich jewelers. The year was Jewish year 5746, 1414 on the Moslem, and 1994 on the Christian calendar. In AL GHRIBA we stopped to look at a synagogue. Opposite it is a mosque, which is being expanded. We walked past the big plain modern-looking 6th Century whitewashed synagogue, with blue trim. In North Africa Jews have long lived peacefully near Moslems.

HOUMT SOUK is the administrative capital of Jerba Island. Most of the homes are square, whitewashed, with few windows in front, like a small fort. The difference between high and low tide is 1.2 m., "the greatest in the Mediterranean." We passed a Spanish-Turkish fort. Turks built a monument made of 5,000 Spanish heads. We stopped to look at the octopus fishermen. Octopus are caught in amphors (urns), left at the bottom of the sea. Octopus cannot be pulled out, they are flushed out with very salty water. Men worked on wooden boats, nets, or swam in the water. We stopped in a carpet factory to watch women weaving, without a written or drawn pattern. They use sheeps' wool, which has the most knots. They demonstrated several designs and colors, including classic (mosques, olive trees) and Berber (with triangles). A carpet about 75 by 105 cm. (30 by 42 in.) cost 80 D. Many of the designs represent prosperity, health, and success. Standard size is 2 by 3 m. (6 ft. 8 in. by 10 ft.) A salesman quietly told one of our group that the price would be 30 percent less if he came without a guide, who gets a "percentage"--a common practice in many countries.

We rode to the market of Hamt Souk, walking past vendors of pottery, leather, textiles, carpet, and souveneirs. I bought a bag of heavy goat's leather and shoulder strap. A few days later, packed with a heavy load, the strap broke. Most restaurants have a cat but we didn't see many dogs. Every house has a cistern, usually square, to catch rainwater. Springs often have water at 47 degrees C (117 F), with sulphur. At the ferry terminal we watched loading and unloading, truck-drivers wearing Arab headgear, women in shawls and bright multi-colored long dresses, men on motorcycles with goggles and headgear, blind men with a cane, and vendors with radios blaring Arab music. Men pushed and pulled donkey carts to get them aboard a ferry. Going north near the sea, there were many mosques, olive trees, camels, and whitewashed buildings with domes. We passed many flocks of sheep, often guarded by a man, and a woman and girl each wearing red, with a shawl. Nomadic Berber camps had tents, arbors, and fences of brush. We stopped to photograph the Mareth Line Military Museum, where Rommel was defeated in 1942. Germans had occupied forts built by the French, to stop the Italians in Libya, although Germany and Italy were allies. Mareth was a center where Arabs traded black slaves from the south. Police often stop all vehicles, but usually waved on our tourist bus. Roadside vendors sold pottery and plastic sacks of dates. Local dates weren't good because it is too humid--they're much better farther into the desert. Our driver often sang Arabic songs on the bus.

In GABES, we rode in comfortable horse-drawn two-wheel caleshes five km. (3 mi.), through the big oasis. It is irrigated by hot water from natural springs. Date palms, figs, bananas, apricot, anise and henna plants, vegetables, grapes, and wheat are plentiful. Men tried to sell sheepskins. We stopped in a little cafe, tying up the horse. Many people live in villages and work in fields in the huge oasis. Tunisia imports rice and wheat from the U.S.A. The desert, without plants, surrounds the oasis.

Leaving on our big bus, we headed south into the Sahara, with hills in the distance. Berbers live in ghars (caves), or big community buildings (ghorfas), or in tents. We passed a bridge built by Germans in World War II and destroyed by Allies. MATAMATA has 6,000 caves, where people live. The government has built a modern town. Only the young live there, the old prefer to stay in their caves, cool in the summer, warm in winter. The day we visited was market day, there was much activity. A community building is used for the circumcision ceremonies. We were not told whether young females are also circumcized, a common practice in conservative Islamic countries. The dry hills, rocks, "sage brush," and low trees reminded me of Arizona. We saw caves and tents, some with a TV antenna and camels nearby. Much of the movie Star Wars was filmed nearby. We later stopped at an overlook with dry hills and mounds where filming was done. We stopped in the Mahmata Hotel for lunch, of harissa (spicy, red), brik (fried egg sandwich), couscous (semolina), and oranges. Boys pestered us asking for pens, a problem in Tunisia and many other countries in tourist areas.

We visited the private home of a family, dug into a limestone cliff below the level of the plateau. It has a well with built-in concrete wash basin, a cave for their animals, and another for storage. Inside the entrance (with a hand and two fish painted above for good luck and against the evil eye) there is a courtyard with a grinding stone for couscous, and eight individual cave rooms. Some are for sleeping on the floor, one is a living room, two have beds, one has a fire pit, bowls, and pans for cooking. An in-the-ground oven is for baking bread below, and meat above, on live coals. Ceilings in the cave rooms are arched, walls are sometimes whitewashed, and floors often have a carpet. Framed pictures hung from the walls are of family members or politicians. We saw dozens of other big craters, cave homes are dug into the cliffs.

Leaving, we passed fields with row after row of planted cactus, for the fruit. We rode north to Gabes, then turned west. Some towns have natural hot water baths, 61 degrees C (142 F), "good for rheumatism." We stopped briefly, then continued west across the desert. Many married women wear black, covering everything except the face. The mountains just south of us have two geologic faults. We passed a fort built by the French in a small oasis, there is also a primary school and a mosque. We arrived in the big oasis of KEBIL, with 400,000 palm trees, mostly dates. It was a slave trading center before the Romans arrived. The modern white and blue hospital gets many cases of scorpion stings, poisonous snake bites, and sand-caused problems. There are many eucalyptus trees, and black people. Sand keeps moving in from the south; fences are built on top of dunes, and trees are planted to try to stop the desert. Date palms are either male or female; each produces 150 to 250 kg. of dates yearly, and it lives 150 years or so. There are 115 kinds of date palms. We passed a big date market, then crossed part of the Chott El Jerid, a salt lake.

In the south end of DOUZ, a village in the oasis, we stopped in the sand of the desert where about 40 camels waited. Each of us rode one. They get up rear legs first, and go down front legs first. Each had blankets in the middle and rear and a wood pack frame strapped to the shoulder. We sat near the rear and had to hold on with both hands, and the ride was bumpy. There are no stirrups. One camel frothed at the mouth and made rumbling sounds, it was "in love" with another camel. It was a ride on the "ship of the desert" during a storm. After 30 minutes we dismounted, rested awhile, and returned. The camel alongside me rubbed its neck against my leg to scratch its neck. In the bus we rode back north, past hot spring baths, to KEBILI, where we had a nice room in the Oasis Hotel, with our first room TV since leaving Italy. Our hotel's yard with heavy woven fences had several big black tents for the goats, sheep, and chickens, and a few wild rabbits. Inside there are two lobbies and beautiful tiles, but the mob scene in the crowded dining room was terrible, with the maitre'd calling out the names of tour groups. I watched on TV a little of the soccer games, then the news in Arabic, on the one channel.

It is much cooler in the desert at night. After a fair buffet breakfast we left soon after 8:00, going through town, then several kilometers of palm trees in the oasis, and west across the desert. The date harvest is in October in the south, November in the north. We crossed CHOTT (salt lake) el JERID. It looks like a lake, but has many miles of crystallized salt on the ground. A mountain chain up to 997 m. (3270 ft.) high was ahead. Clumps of dirt, sand, and bushes makes the surface rough. The salt lake has over 4,000 square km., and is 25 m. (82 ft.) above sea level. Some lower parts near the road have water, the sea once covered all. We stopped to take pictures where the salt is half a meter thick on top of water one or 1.5 m. deep. A dog from vendors a few kilometers away ran down the road to us. We stopped again to walk on the crystallized salt. Vendors sold purple sand roses, geodes, blankets, and ceramics. We stopped behind a bus load of Italians, a busload of Germans then arrived. To the southwest we clearly "saw" a lake of water with an oasis, trees, and buildings on the far side, but it was only a mirage--there is only salt there. Many roads are paved only in the center lane, with shoulders for meeting other vehicles. Married women usually wear all black, some also wear a veil. Some houses have a cross, but it is only for decoration, they are Muslim. Shiites were chased out by Sunnis during the wars of the 10th and 11th centuries. Many Palestinians lived in the area.

At DEGEUCHE we left the bus to enter Mitsubushi 4-wheel-drive vehicles, going on a once-paved road northwest across the desert. We stopped to take a picture of wild camels. In Chebika eight days of rain in 1992 destroyed the village. It was rebuilt. Kids waved at us and tried to sell bead necklaces and rocks. We rode over a rocky hill, descending to the stream which springs from big rocks at room temperature. Boys sold clear quartz geodes, fossils, and rocks. We rode up a one-lane concrete road, stopping to see the "Grand Canyon," with rocky hills and a stream. We descended to the big waterfall, with many tourists. After an hour we raced back across the desert, stopping for the drivers to "play" on the sand dunes with the vehicles.

Transferring back to our bus, we arrived in TOZEUR, a big tourist town with many brick buildings with artistic designs. At the big Dar Cherait Restaurant, with a museum complex, we waited in the courtyard. We then walked upstairs to eat. There are many flies in the desert, but they are not so bad as in Australia. In the museum Sufis are shown dancing in a dervish, sometimes killing themselves. In one room the Turkish Bey (top military ruler) is shown, with three of his ministers. Animal or human figures can't be represented in Islamic architecture. The kitchen has big storage jars for storing wheat, olive oil, and other foods. One room shows women friends of the bride, who give her advice during the seven-day marriage ceremony. Another display shows the putting of henna on the bride. A room shows boys learning to write and to read the Koran. Another room has men in a bath and massage. Men go to the public baths in the morning, women in the afternoon. Brides are shown preparing wedding clothes, some dresses have seven kg. (15 lbs.) of silver. Tunisia "no longer has female circumcision," our guide said. A room shows a village woman preparing couscous, and wool for weaving. A nomad's tent shows their daily life.

We walked around Tozeur's downtown for an hour. Vendors sell real camel's heads, stuffed camel dolls, baskets, textiles, leather goods, and a glass of sirups to drink, made of extracts from banana, pomegranate, and more. Little boys rode in or drove carts pulled by a donkey, loaded with green plants, or sticks for cooking fires. Nearly all buildings use many buff-colored bricks, laid in a pretty three-dimensional design. Women wear black overall, including the shawl, but sometimes with red or nylon stockings below. Tunisia won a big soccer game, a crowd of men watching it on a sidewalk TV cheered. Leaving, heading west for Nefta, we continued to see much wind-blown plastic trash caught in the desert plants. Most fences are made of vertical date palm leaves, woven together. NEFTA has 30,000 people, 200,000 date palms, and is only 30 km. from Algeria. An oasis with palms (palmeraie) goes through town. It is the home of the Sufism sect of Islam. The name comes from suf, the Arab word for wool. Early mystics wore woolen clothes. There are many branches of Sufism, but they believe in the love of God, often other saints also. Some Sufi orders train a follower under a master, up a path to higher states. Some sing or dance, and do miraculous feats, including the "howling dervishes." Others write love poetry. In Tunisia believers worship a "holy man" who is said to have "magical powers." Our hotel was modern, with tile floors and baseboards, in a style something like in the southwestern U.S.A.

In the evening we rode to the oasis near Tozeur to see the Berber Folklore Program in thatched buildings in the date palm orchard. We watched women cook traditional 25 cm. (10 in.) round wheat bread in a frying pan. It was good when hot. Many loud musicians and boys in robes played music and danced. A belly dancer had a jug on her head, added another, and 3 + 3 Coke bottles, then 2 more of those sets. Two youths in white robes danced while holding hands. The youths carried bowls of smoke. A man danced with a rifle, a dervish did a wild dance then lay prostrate, then another belly dancer carried a vase of flowers on the head. There were several audience-participation follow-the-leader dances. At the fire-pit I watched a woman remove the sand, concrete blocks, and leaves to get our mutton and potatoes from urns. We also ate fried egg in fried bread, honey or date sweet cakes, and wine. The low tables required sitting on mats--very uncomfortable. I often stood to rest. The music was too loud.

I killed more of the flies in our room. Window screens are rare in Africa and Europe. We re-crossed the desert to Tozeur, then headed northeast, passing METLAOUI, with a big phosphate mine in the hills. Many eucalyptus trees have been planted along the road, most of them died. We had several detours. A military convoy took the right-of-way, some vehicles had effective camouflage of brush or leaves. In GAFSA we stopped for coffee but service was slow so we didn't get any. Women police directed traffic. The brown hills have terraces and small irrigated vegetable plots. Phosphate mines in the hills ship out trains loaded with the fertilizer. We passed a village with a busy souk (open air market), on market day. Romans built many villages nearby. Annual rainfall in the center of Tunisia is 20 to 40 cm. (8 to 16 in.)

A big truck coming from the other diection forced our big bus off the narrow road, our driver gave the truckdriver the "up yours" international sign. In SBEITLA we stopped to see the large 1st Century A.D. Roman ruins, including temples to three gods, baths, monuments, roads, and theaters. Gregory in 647 moved the Byzantine capital to Sbeitla, to escape the Muslims in the Mideast. Later they had many battles with local Muslims. Diocletian built a Triumphal Arch. In an hour we walked through the impressive ruins, with an entrance gate, building for pressing olive oil, big reservoir, roads, a high wall enclosing the forum, and temples to Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva. Jupiter's Temple has fancy Corinthian columns, the other temples have no columns. There are ruins of two Byzantine churches and more than 2,000 stone houses. The river is below, water canals and pipes run throughout, there were 12 fountains. There were tepid and cold water baths, covered for winter and open for summer. Fires were built below to heat the water. There are big bronze water pipes and mosaic floors. The main theater is in the valley near the river.

Leaving, we passed a long bridge built by a local woman engineer. The stream was dry in April but winter rains in the mountains make a deluge. We crossed the Oued (River), where "the longest bridge in Africa" was under construction. We saw a lake formed by a dam, there are several others. Women in central Tunisia wear a bright blue or red dress with a white shawl. Local people have somewhat dark skin in the south, and there are many Blacks, descendants of slaves, in some areas. In the north they are as white as most Europeans. There is much new masonry construction all over Tunisia.

KARIOUN, Tunisia's 5th-largest city, has the Great Mosque, "4th most important in the world," after Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. (People in Samarkand disagree.) The city was founded in 670 A.D. Karioun was the first capital of a Muslim country. We saw the white mosque of the Berbers. A man on a motorcycle wove around in front of us, we hit it, and there was an argument. We visited the Mosque of Okba (Uqbah ibn Nafi), or Great Mosque. It is near one end of the medina or old walled city. The 35 m. (115 ft.) minaret is "the world's oldest." From the outside the mosque looks like a fort. The courtyard drains to the center, with cisterns. In the 11th Century Shiites destroyed the mosque and many others, it was rebuilt. Okba was an Arab warrier, killed in 683. He was made a saint and the mosque was built in his honor. Schools of science and religion were held in it. An elaborate sundial has a line pointing southeast to Mecca. A carved door has quotes from the Koran. The prayer hall has several hundred pillars. Women worship on the left, men on the right, upon entering. Women are not required to pray five times daily. Men and boys age 10 and up pray. (In many areas youths are not expected to go to the mosque and pray.) A few exceptions are permitted, some business people go to the mosque at times fitting their schedules, such as where they must work on Fridays. At 1:30 the Imam gives a speech and sermon.

We rode to the Mausoleum of the Barley, a friend of the first Moslem leader in the area. The fountain and deep pool uses water from Roman aqueducts, restored in the 9th Century. The mausoleum has a beautiful dome, panels showing Istanbul's Blue Mosque, 365 windows as in Spain's Alhambra, floor tiles with the Star of David, and beautiful white terracotta designs. In the courtyard a man sprayed rose water on our hands, then asked for baksheesh. Believers include kids who come here from far away to be blessed by a religious man. Moslems and others must wash and remove shoes before entering the prayer room. The wall around the medina is up to 12 m. (39 ft.) high. We walked through the medina, not so crowded as most, but vendors were as aggressive.

We returned to Hammamet and the same hotel of our first night on the tour. My wife and I walked on the beach, first north, then south, for two hours, in bare feet. The water in late March was too cool for most people to swim. We later flew back to Rome.

[Excerpt, Countries and Cultures, Vol. I, P. 88-93]

MALI (Formerly French Sudan)

Population 9.7 million (3.2 % per year natural increase); area 1,250,000 sq. km. (482,000 sq. mi.); GDP $5.4 billion; average income $600; literacy rate 19%

History ....

Background. Some 50 percent of the people belong to the Mande group of tribes: the Bambara farmers live near the Niger, the Malinke farmers live in the southwest. Some 17 percent are Fulani (also called Fulbe, or Peul in French), they are usually cattle herders, some have moved to cities. Some 12 percent are Voltaic, and 6 percent are Songhai. The 10 percent who are Tuareg and Moor are traditional cattle herders. French is the official language. Some 70 percent of the people are farmers, 12 percent raise cattle, 2 percent are fishermen, and the others live in cities. Some 90 percent of the people are Muslim, 9 percent are animists, and 1 percent are Christian. Bamoko, the capital, has about 800,000 people. Mopti and Ségou each have around 100,000....

Travels. We finally arrived at the Mali gendarmerie about 4:15 P.M. and waited in the hot sun. One official went over our passports in the shade of a tree. In Koro we cleared the douane on the unpaved main street at 5:15. Boys often carry a sling shot to kill birds. A girl about 16 ate handfuls of dried milk. We passed a mud mosque, a woman wearing a black veil, and a herd of goats. It was 5:30, nearly dark, when we cleared the last checkpoint. CARE reported that Mali is second in the number of infant deaths per thousand, Burkina Faso is 10th in the world. Burkina Faso is 7th worse for malnutrition among children.

We rode 52 km. or MAMBA ("Mile After Mile of Bloody Africa") on narrow rutted roads. I sat in front, helping to guide our leader on the sandy path, called a "road" through the millet fields and scrubby trees, in the dark. We often knocked small limbs and leaves from trees on both sides of the narrow "road." We used my compass and stopped several times to ask directions. We met two other vehicles and tried to follow them, but they sped ahead. We arrived in BANKASSE and found our hotel and its "campground" about 8:00 P.M. After getting down tents and pads from the roof I climbed down and cleared many rocks from a place to pitch our tent. With a few hours' work the hotel-campground could clear away all of the rocks, but business isn't done like that in Mali. There were toilets and showers but city water was turned off. The next morning city water was on a short while. A barrel outside had emergency water and we used a bucketful to flush the toilet occasionally. Most of us had a cold drink at the bar. I found a distant faucet with real water and washed up. We took a sponge bath every night, using a cupful of water. An overly-friendly dog made the round of the campers. There was also an African group camped here, with their cooking fire. In one corner there was the cooking pot, fire-pit, six or eight chickens, and pottery water jars of several families who live at the campground.

The next morning there was much confusion as we packed day bags for four days of trekking. We left at 8:00, riding on a narrow sandy "road" through millet fields, with a Dogon guide, A--, riding up front with the leader and me. At times our tires were a foot (30 cm.) deep in sand, we often used 4-wheel drive. The Dogon moved to the area, perhaps from the Nile River, in the 12th to 15th centuries. They took over houses along the cliff that were abandoned by the older Tellem people. Some legends say they chased away the Tellum. In the isolated area, near cliffs, they were better protected from Islamic horsemen and other raiding tribes.

We stopped at a small Dogon village, then, with day packs hiked to the rocky BANDIAGARA CLIFFS some 140 m. (460 ft.) high. We saw a waterfall, and walked over boulders along a stream, seeking shade. My wife, a physician, warned our group that the fresh water may have snails that carry schistosomiasis (bilharziasis) parasites. However, it was very hot, many of our group waded or "swam." Several later complained of itching. My wife and I did not go into the water, we rested in the shade. One of our Dogon guides had a leather handbag with an extra pouch that had been a goat's scrotum. A typical Dogon home is adobe with a flat mud roof, much like that of the Pueblo Indians (Hopis) in the U.S.A. Southwest. In the village we drank soft drinks cooled in water, while sitting on woven mats in the shade of an arbor. Chickens pant fast in the heat. Few if any have a proper chicken coop, they sleep in a dark corner. A log leans against each building, footsteps have been hacked in it to climb to the flat roof. Vendors sold carved wood statues or brass fetishes like human figures. Millet is mixed with the adobe bricks to make them stronger, almost like concrete. Many kids have a pot belly, apparently caused by parasites. Nearly everyone had a protruding belly button, not sewn up at birth. Several of our campers had one or more skin blisters caused by the poisonous spitting of an insect an inch (2.5 cm.) long, black when it crawls, yellow and black when it spreads its wings to fly.

Our big truck, even with huge wheels and 4-wheel drive, could not travel on paths in the Dogon country. We walked through hot millet fields to the village of KANIKAMBOLÉ, with many baobob trees whose lower bark has been removed to weave ropes for well buckets or for climbing. Our guide said the bark grows back in a few months. The baobob's big green fruit is used to make a sauce. The village has 20 or 30 small arbors used for shade on market days. On the far side of the muddy waterhole with burros and goats and a woman washing clothes is a typical mosque. It is made of balls of mud, placed one on top of the other. It is then plastered with mud, inside and out. The mud is made of wet dirt, millet leaves, and millet. After a heavy rain new mud has to be added. The many rainspouts are long, so walls aren't washed away. In the walled village each wife has a granary; a man has up to 7 wives. The husband also has granaries for all. A man age 19 or 20 pays 2 sheep, 2 shirts, and 2 trousers (or a certain amount of hand woven cloth dyed indigo blue) for a bride, typically 14 years old. Our 19 year old guide A-- was recently told by his parents that they have contracted for an 8 year old bride for him but he must wait 6 years. He was mad at first but then accepted their decision. He said he knows the little girl and likes her. We visited a typical living room. It had beds with mats, small tables, it also sold cool pop to the few tourists, we were the only group to visit in a long time.

Several of our group walked 4 km. (2.5 mi.) to the Dogon village of TELI. I rode in the truck on the "road." Our leader had to cross an "impossible" deep ditch, and to saw off a big tree limb blocking the road. We got stuck in a wide, deep sandy ditch, dug out with shovels, and used our big steel sand mats and 4-wheel drive to get out. Ahead on the cliff we saw many adobe buildings. We were stopped by a big low limb of a baobob. We waited for the village chief to agree on a price for our going through the millet field. Fields are owned communally by the village. When he arrived we used machetes to cut enough millet stalks, almost ready for harvest, for a path for the truck around the tree. Some 10 or 20 black children, mostly boys, without clothes, kept asking "Ça va? Ça va?" ("How's it going?") Each boy insisted upon shaking hands with each of us. I wondered what bacteria I was carrying on my hands, I scrubbed and scrubbed before I helped to cook or ate. Women usually wore only a dark skirt. Our group had, with our three Dogon guides, a courtyard and the flat roof of a building for sleeping in the crowded village of Teli. My wife didn't want to climb the ladder made from a small log so we spread sleeping pads on the ground. Not far away there was a toilet hole beyond a low wall. Smells were bad. We built a fire, cooked, ate, washed dishes as usual, with many Dogon kids watching us from the doorway entrance to our courtyard. Insects weren't too bad.

We got a few more things from our lockers in the truck, we would not see it for three days. After breakfast as we loaded things for our trek onto two burro carts, vendors tried to sell carved flutes and slingshots. From our roof-top the village has a network of adobe houses and square granaries on rocks. Roofs of granaries are made of millet stalks, pointed at the top. Roofs of homes are flat adobe. I saw five girls and boys each with a pole pounding in turn the millet in a hollow log, our people sleeping on mats, burros in the distance, and the high rocky cliffs, with thousands of homes and round granaries of the ancient Tellem people one-third way to the top. A little girl wore earrings and bracelets but no clothes.

With a guide we climbed up the rocky cliff, past the Dogon homes and more girls and women pounding millet, to the older round adobe granaries of the Tellem. Higher is the fetish house and caves for Tellem burials, reached only by ropes. Most Dogons are animists, there is a small mud mosque for others. Now people are buried near the village but animals are buried high in the cliffs. After the January harvest there is a harvest ceremony, common all over the world. Much of the millet looked ready for harvest in late October. There are mud symbols for the harvest and for rain, always uncertain in the Sahel. Rice is exported. We saw up higher the skulls of many monkeys, used by the Tellem for healing. Bones of several animals have been arranged on big rocks and the cliff sides in a manner that had meaning for the Tellum, it did not for me. Geometric designs were painted by Tellum on the cliff and big rocks some five to 10 centuries ago.

In the heat of mid-morning we followed a burro cart with our sleeping pads and cooking-eating gear some 4 km. northeast through millet fields on a sandy "road." From everywhere, sometimes kids in a tree, or a man working in a field, people asked "Ça va?" Everyone, even tiny kids, liked to shake hands with us. We always washed hands in two pans of water before eating or cooking, but the many flies carried all kinds of unknown things. There were many grass stickers, we often stopped to remove them. In the village of ENDÉ we were led to chairs in the shade of an arbor made of millet stalks, where we bought water-cooled cokes for 300 CFAs each. Vendors sold little boxes made of a gourd with a decorated lid, and bags made of a goat's skin. At noon my turn for cooking came around again, we made cheese sandwiches, cut pineapple and grapefruit, and tried to get our people to eat it before the flies did. A local woman brought a basket of da or red sorrel tea, it was sweet. The Dogon guides heated their teapot in a tiny charcoal brazier. Some of our people bought indigo blue dyed cloth, woven locally in long narrow strips and sewn together. The dye comes from leaves. We saw a green chamelon 18 cm. long on a green millet stalk. As we left the village at 3:45, when the sun was less hot, six girls pounded millet in a log, alternately, with good timing. A woman wound raw cotton into thread. We walked northeast along another cliff, met many girls carrying a metal pan or clay pot of water on the head, plus boys. A man offered me a ride behind him on his burro.

I walked five km. in sand in an hour and 20 minutes, to the village of YABATALU. Our two burro carts couldn't climb to the village so we, and naked boys, carried our things up. (I learned later that in photographs they look like shadows, even the best color film shows no detail.) After much confusion we were given a small space for a kitchen next to a goat pen, tearing down part of a stone wall to enter. For sleeping we were also assigned three flat roof tops scattered in the crowded village. My wife and I had a roof near the kitchen and toilet, we climbed a log with axed-out footholds. The bare-breasted young woman who lived in our kitchen and an adjoining small bedroom also had to cook and feed her three little children and husband. The toilet hole, like in the previous night's village, was in a separate roofless area with a low wall, if we saw a head there we knew the toilet room was occupied. A piece of broken jar covered the hole about 25 cm. in diameter when not in use. Judging by sounds and smells, the toilet pit was almost full.

I slept well on the rooftop in a breeze. P-- and F-- joined us on the roof. Thousands of stars seemed to move closer. A donkey brayed occasionally and roosters awoke early. A small animal, probably a rat, coming from the adjoining arbor roof over the kitchen, ran into me during the night, then ran away. By the dawn's early light I saw others sleeping on roofs, women making cooking fires, the high cliffs nearby, and the millet fields below. The three little kids who lived in our compound sat patiently, each with a bowl and spoon, while their mother pounded with a pole the millet that would become their porridge for breakfast. The large, crowded village had a well but the pump was broken, so women and girls carried water in big gourds on the head from a spring two km. (1.2 mi.) away, halfway up the cliff. After breakfast and dishwashing most of our gear was loaded onto a burro cart, porters carried the rest. We walked two km. on a trail through the fields of millet, green beans, watermelon, and cantaloupe. A cloud cover made it less hot. We saw another Abyssinian blue roller bird. When we rested a big group of kids, always naked, surrounded us. Our burro driver got lost. We waited. The hot sun came out.

Little boys carried our gear up to a village, BEGNIMATO. We climbed, wet with sweat, through the big red rock cliff with ancient Tellem graves of round mud holes. At the summit we rested on woven straw mats in the shade. Many of the naked kids who came to look at us wore a fetish on a cord around the neck. Our cook bought some mangoes. Kids played with round hoops made of a tree limb, the day before a boy had twirled a button on a string. Axes, hoes, and flails have short wooden handles, requiring stoop labor. Women often bend over while cooking and washing clothes, rather than squatting as Asians do.

In the rocky village with a cross on a rock building (there are a few Christians), and fetishes (including a monkey's skin) on granaries, we entered the chief's house. He is 76, spoke French, and was a World War II soldier in the French Foreign Legion. He sang one of the Legion's songs for us. The hogan is the spiritual chief, with more power than the political chief, as in the South Pacific. The inside walls and ceilings of the chief's three-room adobe house were blackened by smoke from cooking fires. Mats, pottery, and a cast iron pot, plus a bed, were the fixtures. Outside, a few women wore a cross between their big pointed bare breasts. There was also a small mud mosque, but most people are animists. They showed us a block of indigo leaves, pressed together when wet, used to make blue-purple dye. We walked a few hundred meters to the next village, which has a low arbor serving as a men's meeting room. When someone raises up to argue he bumps his head. Would corporate board meetings or congressional meetings be shorter if held in a similar place? The arbor in the first village can be used by all, men and women. Children can marry only within their class, such as a blacksmith. Everyone in a village has the same surname. A man does not live with his wife until she has delivered three children. In the shade a man wove white cotton cloth 20 cm. (8 in.) wide on a foot-operated loom. Another man wove baskets. A man had a leg infection from guinea worms. Tobacco plants grew next to the village walls. The village people were busy making fetishes for the harvest ceremony.

The diviner had a room for his work separate from his home. We spent an hour with him. He shakes rocks in one hand and makes a finger or thumb mark on a board covered with red sand. When sand on the board is covered with marks he forecasts what will happen, but he said he can't foretell the future. He told our guide A-- in Dogon language that he was recently quite angry when told that he must wait six years to marry. A-- later told us it was true. He had not met the diviner before, they lived far apart. The diviner also had birds' skulls and cowry shells. My wife asked him (in French) "How much longer do I have to live?" He diplomatically answered "You will have enough time." In front of the village we saw a stone that our guide said is used to offer sacrifices.

At our rest and lunch stop a man brought a pan of sorrel tea with sugar cubes from the village. Local men carry a small limb with leaves, to swat flies. The Dogon eat only two meals daily, late morning and late afternoon. We rested on big rocks in the shade for several hours. Upon leaving I gave my 20 baloons away, one to each boy. The girls didn't stay long and were more timid. At 4:00 P.M. when it was less hot we walked downhill, then walked four km. through the millet fields to the village of DOUROU. We wound around on the twisting path between high rock or adobe walls, looking for a place to sleep where goats and chickens don't. We considered a big almost-flat rock where women wash clothes. We finally found a vacant flat roof, a guide swept it and leaned a climbing log with steps against the wall. I helped to cook our spaghetti and to shoo away all but the first five of a herd of 200 goats that wanted to walk through our cramped cooking and eating area. The village kids sat all around in the dark on the big rocks and benches, watching us, one to three m. (3 to 10 ft.) away. They were intrigued by the moving second hand on our watches, our odd-color skin, and the scabs from wounds and mosquito bites. They pointed excitedly at the second hand and at the wounds. I went to bed early. H-- and a guide later joined my wife and me on our roof top.

I slept fairly well, getting only a few mosquito bites. When the dog barking and dog fighting ended the roosters began to crow. Goats and burros were also noisy. When it was almost daylight we could see the thatched granary roofs and the nearby cliff. With the sun came the hungry flies. The village had no well, water must be carried from a well with a pump or a well with a bucket and rope, both in the market area a few hundred meters downhill. Women and girls spend much of their time carrying water in a big gourd on top of the head. In one village I saw a red plastic dishpan. In another a teenager had a small transistor radio but no batteries. Those were almost the only signs of civilization that we saw in the Dogon villages. In the last villages there were no toilets, people usually go to the nearby millet fields. We dug cat-holes. Two women pounded millet near us while their little kids, each with a bowl in the hand, waited for their porridge of millet and goat's milk or water. A big rat ran through our cooking area. A girl about 13, wearing only a bright little sarong at the waist, sold fresh millet cakes, two for 10 CFAs. They tasted like tortillas. Our guides ate them with sugar.

We all voted to pack up and leave the village early, to get away from flies, animals, and kids everywhere. Leaving at 8:40, in the warming sun we walked five km. northeast on a sandy trail through millet, da (sorrel tea) bushes, or desert. At each shade tree we stopped to pull stickers from shoes and socks and to drink water, each of us carried about a liter. We saw a cistern to collect rainwater in a field. I was in the first group of hikers, arriving in a village near YAWA about 10:25. Three of our group, not feeling like walking, rode in the two donkey carts, with our water, cooking and sleeping gear. In a small village, almost vacated, we rested several hours in the shade on mats. Our box of left-over spaghetti fell off of a cart and was ruined in the sand. Our cook mixed another lunch, but a sleeping bag fell into it and spilled it. We ate our reserved pasta for lunch. Our cook was amazingly efficient. We watched dragonflies, and vultures soaring high above. A little girl, only five or six, efficiently pounded millet. The wood hinges on gates were hand-carved.

After another 1.5 km. we saw the truck and our leader at the end of the sandy road. His thermometer, in the shade read 50 degrees C (122 F). He said the thermometer was accurate. At 4:30 P.M. we left in the truck, going half an hour up over sand dunes. Our leader had let a lot of air out of the tires, for a broader tread. We bush-camped. In dry grass and fewer (?) insects I decided not to pitch a tent, but we rolled our mats out on the bare ground. Later we learned that hundreds of dry leaves stuck to our flannel sheets. Several pretty women of the Peul (Fulani) tribe, wearing only colorful skirts and necklaces, came to our camp. One had a baby strapped to her back. The Peul men often wear a scarf on the head, which they wet with water for cooling. Our three Dogon guides left with us. They said they have the right to choose up to five wives. The many locusts (grasshoppers) were up to eight cm. (3 in.) long. Beer, though warm, is a good thirst quencher. When we bush-camped we dug a hole to bury trash and garbage. Within a minute or two the local people, who always quickly found our "hidden" camp, dug it up. They searched for anything they might use. We didn't crush aluminum cans, the local people gathered and used them.

I slept well in pants and shirt of nylon net, covering everything except face, hands, and feet, even though there was no breeze. We used the engine-powered air compressor to re-inflate our truck tires. Leaving, on the sandy "road" we sometimes had to reverse the truck and make another run up the sand dunes. We hit so many scrubby trees and bushes on both sides that the truck was half-filled with leaves, limbs, and spiders. Returning to BANKASSE, a town with dirt streets and red adobe buildings and walls, we walked past burro carts, through the busy market with many stalls under arbors, to a tiny sidewalk bar and an anana or pineapple pop drink. We then walked to the hotel-campsite where we stayed a few nights earlier. Our leader in the truck had to go to several bars to buy enough water to fill our empty jerry cans. City water in Bankasse is usually turned off, local people also scrounge for water. The majority, without a car, may walk all day, searching for enough water for the day. We stopped two hours in Bankasse and said goodbye to our guides. I swept the leaves and spiders from the truck. We stopped for a picnic lunch under a big tree. We liked the little green but ripe bananas. Our leader and driver couldn't find the truck documents. Believing that they were left several days ago at the last border crossing checkpoint in Koro, our driver hitchhiked back to get them. Mali has few telephones to use to call the officials.

In the truck we climbed the Bandiagara Escarpment to the plateau. Most of the villages had round adobe huts with thatch roofs. At a police checkpoint our leader gave the official a package of chewing gum rather than our missing truck documents. We rode through an area where the truck was noisy in the red gravel, then through a sandstorm. In a town with a busy market and women in colorful blue dresses, we saw Taureg, Bozo, as well as Peul (Fulani). Some had a stick stuck through the nose. Tuareg women dressed in black had hands and faces colored blue from indigo. A rain shower ended just ahead of us. The rough dirt road changed to smooth pavement for the last hour before Mopti. We rode through huge flat fields of rice near the big Bani and Niger Rivers. We stopped in a market to buy eggs. The vendors include girls selling slices of watermelon carried in a tray on the head. Along the Bani River, as wide as the Mississippi, are long narrow pirogue boats, men and boys bathing or swimming, and women washing clothes. Many of the women, like the swimmers, wore no clothes.

In MOPTI we stopped at a hotel, and in its side yard we pitched our tents and negotiated with a boy to do our laundry. I joined the line, as no. 4, for a shower in room no. 26 that our leader had rented. I slept well, the four mosquitoes in our tent weren't hungry. Earlier than 6:00 A.M., before I came out of the tent, a boy about five, hearing movement inside, asked "Ça va? Ça va?"("How's it going?") After awhile he went away. There was a pretty sunrise, red from dust in the sky. While we waited for others to get up we watched the hundreds of dragonflies, always present. They catch and eat little flying insects. Several pirogues were nearby on the Bani. Our driver got back during the night, he had good luck hitchhiking in both directions and in finding the truck documents. I organized our people to keep youths who wanted to be guides and other hustlers out of our cooking-eating area. Local people, as in many lesser developed countries, have no concept of the right of privacy or the problems of noise. The "guides" were obnoxious. One said "Mamma, I'm here." Our leader said "We know you're here, you've been a bloody nuisance." When my wife and I left the hotel, walking south along the river, a youth said he was our "guide." We met three others in our group, to whom another "guide" had attached himself. We tried to ignore them. We wandered to the post office. A list states where mail goes to or comes from six days weekly in Mali. Our "guides" finally left. We wandered by the big boats, naked women washing clothes, and boys swimming. At the Bozo Bar we met others in our group. A man tried to sell us blankets. Long blankets are made to sell for a girl's dowry. We looked at a cottage industry under a thatch roof, including several blacksmiths making big square nails, with a boy turning a bicycle wheel powering a blower for the forge. Some 150 years ago nails were made by hand in the U.S.A. and Europe. We bought the Bamako L'Observateur, with mostly local news. Vendors sold bright textiles and dresses, and big slabs of salt, some 10 cm. (4 in.) thick and 30 by 50 cm. (12 by 20 in.). They were once more valuable than gold, when brought across the Sahara on camels. Each tribe along the way charged a toll for passage or robbed the caravans. We walked on a dike past swampy rice fields to Old Town. The first thing we saw is the big mud mosque, with hundreds of drainpipes sticking out. like big penises. Streets are narrow, walls give privacy. We returned to the newer area.

After lunch all 19 of our group boarded a pirogue about 16 m. (52 ft.) long and a beam of two meters or so, with a partial thatch roof. A man in the bow and another in the stern poled us south near the shore, past naked women washing clothes, swimmers, and the river boats. We then went through tall water grass to an island and a Bozo village. They are fishing people. Villagers asked us to take their photo for money. Several teenage girls pushed out their breasts, grabbed my hand, and asked for a bonbon. Unfortunately, I had no candy. A girl about 17 with long pointed breasts like tail fins on a 1959 Cadillac also asked me in French to take her picture, but I was low on film. After the first baby the breasts drop to below the navel.

We visited another village on an island. The rectangular woven walls and thatch roofed huts had been built by Tuaregs, but several years earlier during a drought they moved to Burkina Faso for more grass and water for their cattle. Their slaves, the Bella, stayed in the village, with the consent of their owners. There are also Bella fishermen and boat builders. We walked across the island to the Niger River, which is wider and clearer than the Bani. The two rivers meet near Mopti. On boy who said he is of the Sauret tribe also said his French school tombé (closed), so there was no school.

After another ride in a pirogue we walked two km. across the desert to KABARO, a Peul (Fulani) village. Our guide said that a few years earlier many plants grew in the area, but the goats and cattle had eaten any plant that dared show itself above the dry surface of the earth. One of the two boys who walked with us across the desert rolled a truck cleverly made of heavy wire, with a long steering wheel. When he came to a little ditch and bank to climb, he shifted into low gear and made the sound of a laboring engine. We walked through the clean narrow street as it wound between high adobe walls in the village, to the mosque, to meet the imam, who was also the chief. It reminded me of an Arab village, with high mud walls around each yard. Women had a tatoo around the lips. Some wore huge gold (?) earrings. They pounded corn (maize), still on the cob, to make cornmeal. They tend donkeys, goats, and grow rice. Girls plait their hair and wear it several inches long in the back. Near the village is a polluted pond, providing water for animals and the people. Our guide said that when the U.S.A. or Europe sends money to Mali it doesn't get beyond the capital, Bamako, and nearby towns, where politicians live. Leaving in the pirogue, we saw a big bird carry its fish to eat on the roof of an abandoned building near the shore. We almost got stuck in tall water-grass. In the evening we walked a kilometer in the dark to a Chinese restaurant, for a fair group dinner, in a hot room.

The next morning we rested in the cool hotel lobby, then went to the market. After lunch at the truck in the shade, we left about 2:00, passing the Général Soumaré, one of three large boats that ply the Niger River, in several countries. The next big town downstream is Timbuktu, but it is a few kilometers north of the shore. The dock was busy, with passengers and cargo. In the truck we rode southwest on a good road, passing a village with round adobe huts, but most villages have rectangular adobe huts. We stopped to buy firewood, then rode past red gravelly desert, scrubby trees, and a few villages with donkeys. We turned west on a narrow road, for Djenné. We passed several Dogon villages, some have moved away from the cliffs, with a rapidly-increasing population. At the Bani River, with unusually high water, vendors offered for sale brass earrings and bracelets, and toy cars, trucks, or cranes cleverly made from "tin" cans. The little ferry soon took us across. A nearby pirogue took a load of goats across. On the far shore we drove a short distance to bush-camp. A boy helped me pitch our tent, he was a fast learner, I gave him a Bic. A few of our people swam in the cool Bani River. I didn't, afraid of bilharzia. The lights from our parked truck attracted thousands of locusts (grasshoppers), often five to eight cm. (2 or 3 in.) long, and the flying blister bugs. Our leader said the poisonous blister bugs sometimes poison a granary, killing everyone in a village who eats the millet. We turned off our truck lights and kept lids on cooking kettles. Many flew into the fire, the next morning the ground was littered with dead locusts and blister bugs that had jumped or flown into and out of the fire. We served and ate in the dark, and postponed dishwashing until morning. The nylon net suits that my wife and I wore protected us from the blister bugs. One landed on my wife's hand, when she touched the skin it came off. The bugs aim for the hairline, some women in our group received five or six blisters each evening.

Kids arrived at our campsite early the next morning. An 11-year-old girl and several others helped take down the tent, My wife gave her the blouse and pants (shalwar kamis) she had worn in Pakistan. Pirogues were poled early on the nearby Bani. In DJENNÉ, population 8,000, we rode past the famous mud mosque rebuilt in 1905, and we parked in Campement Hotel de Djenné. Many of the mud buildings have heavy studded wooden doors. We walked to the mosque, trying to ignore the youths who said that a guide was necessary. Rain drainpipes project far out from the mosque's walls. It is called "the world's largest mud building." We returned to the Campement for cold drinks at the bar. A tree had dozens of nests of black head yellow weaver birds, which enter the nest from below. Geckos and colorful lizards were all around. A turkey, honking, chased a dog all around our patio. A waiter grabbed the turkey to protect the dog. I went for a walk and bought cookies, again I was followed by a swarm of boys who said I had to have a guide. They tried to break the cameras of two young women in our group. The women stopped and complained at the police station, followed by the "guides." The police refused to do anything.

With a guide in the truck we rode 5 km. to SENNISSA, a Peul (Fulani) village, known for women with big gold earrings. A woman put on a traditional dress with a big bright head scarf and the big earrings (but they were aluminum, painted with gold paint) and posed for us, for 100 CFAs each. Men and boys then demonstrated the village's independence day dance, held on September 22. The lead two dancers each wore a headdress of mirrors and dolls. Only two km. away is archeological diggings of DJENNÉ-DJENO, a 3rd Century B.C. village. Leaving, we again crossed the Bani River on the little ferry. We drove southwest and made a bush-camp in the brush. Hard rain and wind began while we were pitching tents. When the rain stopped locusts were like being in a blizard, if we held up a hand 10 locusts might hit it at the same time. Mixed with the locusts were blister bugs. Six of our people had new blisters.

The next morning we passed villages with many abandoned adobe houses, the people died in the last drought, a few years earlier. Several hundred thousand people quietly died from lack of food and water, like their cattle. The world paid little attention. The semi-desert cannot support so many people or cattle. Date palms had been planted. In SAN, with many plastered buildings, we stopped in the shade for an hour. My wife and I volunteered for truck security the first half hour. Curious youths peered into the truck. Later we walked to a hole-in-the-wall cafe for an Anana pop drink, then I took a picture of the mud mosque. Every town has a mud mosque, the one in Djenné is the best-known. In the shade a game of flip-the-ball is popular. A homemade pinball game made with nails is also popular. People were friendly without high-pressure vendors. The market was busy, with sellers of woven mats, pots, pans, buckets, kerosene lanterns, bicycle and motorbike supplies, fabrics, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Most stalls are covered with sheet metal. We bought water to fill our jerry cans. Girls sold watermelon slices or green bananas from a tray on the head. We drove west on a tarmac (paved) road, pulling off for a picnic lunch under a shade tree. The sun is always hot, hot, it was often 50 degrees C (122 F). We passed more palms, planted deciduous trees (for lumber ?), watermelons, peanuts, and the usual millet.

In BLA we stopped for cold pop. Along the street people had cooking fires and cast iron pots, and little teapots on charcoal braziers. At night they sleep there. Many women and little girls had a baby strapped to the mid-back. Two big loads of calabashes (gourds) awaited buyers. Women sold tangerines from trays. Flies were bad. Leaving, we saw many trees with big colonies of weaver bird nests. I saw a barbed wire fence, the first in West Africa.

A big dark cloud moved in from the north. A strong wind brought it to us. Sand and dust soon filled the air. There was no rain. We rolled down and fastened the flaps at the rear of the truck. I took the big bandana from my day bag and put it over my mouth and nose. Our driver could no longer safely drive. He pulled far off of the road and parked. It brought back memories of when I was a boy in the Dust Bowl of the U.S.A. in the 1930s. In half an hour it was over. We shook ourselves, dusted off each other, and swept sand and dust from the Sahara out of the truck. Soon we were on our way. Our driver said it was only a "minor storm."

In SÉGOU, population 50,000, a former capital (17th and 18th centuries of the Bambara Empire) and French colonial town, with many plastered and concrete buildings, we looked for the Mission Campement. We passed the Palais de Justice (court house), Hotel de Ville (city hall), Mairie (mayor's office), and the Niger River. At 6:00 we found the mission and pitched tents as darkness fell. On the second floor of the building is a toilet and two showers, with real water. We ate in the yard, trying to chase away dogs and kids.

I slept well, despite barking of dogs that run loose, motorbikes, a radio that blared until 3:00 A.M., roosters crowing, the imam's calls to prayer, and frequent ringing of nearby church bells. Kids lined a porch watching, we took everything out of our tents and locked them in the truck for security. For a long time our leader negotiated for a trip on a pirogue. Finally we rode in the truck to the wide Niger and boarded a long boat with a mat, covered roof with blue plastic, and a quiet motor. We stopped in a village of round thatch or adobe huts, with women washing clothes or corn (maize) in the river. They did not pay much attention to us, but none of our group wanted to go into the village. We then went up the river, passing Brahma cattle and millet fields, stopping at a village with all thatch huts, in higher water they have to move huts. Our boat operator didn't understand any French, the official language. All villages near the river are of the Bozo (fishermen) tribe. Our pirogue, like many others, was built of big planks on each side, flaring out, attached to ribs of limbs tied together, continuing upward in a big circle, supporting the roof. The planks were painted black with old engine oil. All pirogues have a bow and stern far out of the water, the waterline is not so long, making the boat more maneuverable. We returned along the other shore, passing people washing clothes or washing sheep in the river. Leaving the boat, in Ségou, we walked along the busy river front to Hotel L'Auberge, where we drank pop. A herd of goats and sheep were driven by men and boys in conical hats to the river. Apparently they wouldn't swim across because they came back half an hour later. In a nearby village each December several hundred thousand cattle are driven across the river, to better pastures. We rode in the truck to the Mission for lunch, which included sesame seeds boiled in sugar water.

The truck dropped us off between the large and the small markets. My wife and I wandered around, walking back along several sewage-filled ditches. A black cloud with whirlwinds of red dust and trash hit. We walked past women aggressively selling watermelons and men selling liter-size cans of motor oil. A boy on a bicycle pointed us toward the Mission Catholique. We stopped in the Surprise Cafe for a cold anana each. It had a real TV, with a Mali channel of singing and dancing like MTV. At the Mission I took a shower, to find the door locked. Someone got a priest to open it, others of our group were also locked in by error. They lock the door to keep out kids but didn't check to see if we are upstairs. I rested on a concrete patio near the truck and tents, and pulled off dry leaves and stickers that stuck to our sheets.

The dogs tried to see which could bark longest and loudest, until 2:00 A.M. I believe the two dogs near us won. They must have awakened the roosters. After breakfast, leaving Ségou, we passed a long file of two-wheel rubber carts loaded with goods for the market. The road was smooth enough for me to read more of my novel in French. We rode through forests of scrubby trees of many types, and fewer villages and millet fields. At a "loo" stop in the bush I saw a tree like mesquite with green seed pods 25 cm. (10 in.) long. The few towns we passed, such as FANA, had adobe buildings, metal roofs, a few scrubby trees, a market under little shade arbors, and much trash everywhere. Trash pickup is rare in lesser developed countries. After a hard four hour ride, near Bamako we passed a cattle market in the open, without fences. On a four-lane highway we rode downhill to the wide swampy Niger River and crossed on a high bridge into BAMOKO. Our leader failed to yield and paid two policemen 2,000 CFAs to avoid a ticket. We stopped at a hotel south of the Niger. Several of us signed up for rooms in the hotel's bungalows, others chose to camp near the truck in the yard. In the evening we rode in several taxis to Le Fleuve, an Italian restaurant. One taxi ran out of gas, the other wouldn't start for several minutes, but ours had no trouble. My spaghetti Bolognaise arrived after only two hours, they can cook only a few things at a time.

We walked a few hours in the city. It is on the north or left bank of the Niger River. Downtown, the main north to south streets are Boulevard du Pueple (the People) and Avenue Marmadou Konaté (which runs into La Liberté). The main east to west streets are Rue Kamoko Diaby (which runs into Rue de Sotuba) and Rue Gouraud, which runs into Rue Ensigne Rouge. The Grand Marché (Big Market) and most of downtown is within the intersection of those four streets. When rains come far upstream the Niger floods each year, like the Nile. It brings more rich soil to the land, but part of Bamoko is under water each year.

The next day several of us took a taxi north, across the Niger on the Bridge of the Martyrs (there are two bridges), past the busy market, north on Avenue de la Liberté, to the National Museum, near the zoo. The first building has exhibits about women in Mali, marriage, and how women do most of the work. There are many wooden masks, of Dogon and other tribes. Pretty blankets include those of the Fulani for a girl's wedding. There is a typical round adobe Bambara (Bamaman) hut with mortar and pestle, cooking chimney, and pottery. Objects typically put with the dead are shown. The second building has neolithic artifacts, and exhibits of the Copper and Iron Ages. Djenné-Djeno, founded 300 B.C., traded with Timbuktu. It was abandoned around 1400 A.D. The Tellem lived in the Bandigara Cliffs area from the 11th to the 15th Centuries. They made many things, including pillows, of iron. Gao (in eastern Mali) had stelae with Arabic inscriptions before the 16th Century. Exhibits show the circumcision of boys. Carved wooden Dogon granary doors are shown. There is a collection of big wooden carved masks for ceremonies. For the Dogon the crocodile symbolizes protection. A carved "gazelle" is worn by a dancing man during an annual all-night dance. R-- of our group said that in Padstow, near her home in rural England, on May Day, for 24 hours a man and a "virgin" dance in a similar cage like a horse. If the girl becomes pregnant she says "the horse did it." A museum guide said there are more girl babies but in primary school there are more boys. Girls and boys age 18 can vote. Circumcision of girls is illegal but is common in rural villages.

We started walking, then the four of us took a taxi to the Phoenicia Salon du Tea, operated by Lebanese, for a nice lunch. Vendors of carvings, bronze figures, bracelets, casette music tapes, and more came in, one after another. An African said he wanted to give me a juju good luck necklace, with a cowrie shell. I gave him my pen. He wanted much more. I cancelled the deal, with the help of others in our group. We looked for a taxi, turning down the first because the driver looked suspicious. The second taxi had a flat after going two-thirds of the distance. I said we could walk from there but he flagged down another with his company and shared the 500 CFA fare, I tipped more. While we waited in the nice bar patio by our hotel, looking at African murals, a fat rat ran by. It would be a real treat for dinner for a local family. We left in the truck for the long ride to the airport for our Sabena flight scheduled to leave at 10:30. We were early, our plane left early, stopping in DAKAR, Senegal. There we picked up a load of French tourists, tanned all over after a week on the beach. Their Air France flight was cancelled due to a strike.

Soon after we returned home we began to get requests, from our travel agent and from laboratories in Europe, that we see our physician. Many people in our group had bilharzia, apparently caught from tiny snails in the water in Mali. Luckily, we had not gone swimming or wading there. We had no symptoms.

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