ere our things carefully overhauled, but the
books had to be examined, as a result of which process Arabic works
are often confiscated, either going in or out. The confusing lack of
a monetary system equals anything even in southern Morocco, between
which and this place the poor despised "gursh" turns up as a familiar
link, not to be met with between Casablanca and Tripoli.

Perhaps the best idea of the town for those readers acquainted with
Morocco will be to call it a large edition of Casablanca. The country
round is flat, the streets are on the whole fairly regular, and wider
than the average in this part of the world. Indeed, carriages are
possible, though not throughout the town. A great many more flying
arches are thrown across the streets than we are accustomed to further
west, but upper storeys are rare. The paving is of the orthodox
Barbary style.

The Tripolitan mosques are of a very different style from those of
Morocco, the people belonging to a different sect--the Hanafis--Moors,
Algerines and Tunisians being of the more rigorous Malikis. Instead
of the open courtyard surrounded by a colonnade, here they have a
perfectly closed interior roofed with little domes, and lighted by
barred windows. The walls are adorned with inferior tiles, mostly
European, and the floors are carpeted. Round the walls hang cheap
glazed texts from the Koran, and there is a general appearance of
tawdry display which is disappointing after the chaste adornment of
the finer Moorish mosques, or even the rude simplicity of the poorer
ones. Orders may be obtained to view these buildings, of which it is
hardly necessary to say I availed myself, in one case ascending also
the minaret. These minarets are much less substantial than those
of Morocco, being octangular, with protruding stone balconies in
something of the Florentine style, reached by winding stairs. The
exteriors are whitewashed, the balconies being tiled, and the cupolas
painted green. Lamps are hung out at certain feasts. As for the voice
of the muedhdhin, it must be fairly faint, since during the week I
was there I never heard it. In Morocco this would have been an
impossibility.

The language, though differing in many minor details from that
employed in Morocco, presents no difficulty to conversation, but it
was sometimes necessary to try a second word to explain myself. The
differences are chiefly in the names of common things in daily use,
and in common adjectives. Th