World: Timbuctoo Was Never Like This

The new West African nation of Mali is noted for little save its peanuts, a pro-Communist political line, and a dusty town that bears the still vibrant name of Timbuctoo.

Last week little Mali established its sovereignty over 26 verdant acres of New York's Westchester County, near another historic spot of no economic significance: Washington Irving's Sleepy Hollow. To create a home that was never like home for its U.N. staff, Mali paid $300,000 for two mansions overlooking the Hudson at Tarrytown: Linden Court, with 19 bedrooms and ten baths, and Uplands, which has only seven bedrooms and six baths. Both were...