584 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Railway. Biskra has not inappropriately been termed " The Pearl 

 of the Sahara," for in truth it combines much that would tend to 

 make almost any place attractive. Its oasis extends over a linear 

 expanse of nearly five miles, and in its area is crowded a forest of 

 upward of a quarter of a million of date palms, in whose shade a 

 multitude of trees and plants of the European fiora find a con- 

 genial home. Biskra also has its true gardens, which have grown 

 up under Trench rule and domination, and in some of these the 

 rustic chair and table are by no means an unpleasant association. If 

 the truth has to be told, the heart of Biskra might just as well be a 

 town in the interior of Trance as part of an African oasis. One can 

 not, to be sure, overlook the large number of Arabs and Ethiopians 

 who congregate everywhere in troops or marching lines, or lounge 

 in indifferent attitudes before their not wholly lordly manors — some 

 shouting, some bargaining, and all, with the exception of the women, 

 practically indifferent to the presence of the stranger; but with 

 these products of the African soil rise up the outliers of European 

 civilization — the hotels, the cafes, and a number of by no means 

 unstately mansions which constitute the home of the foreign con- 

 tingent of the population. The Hotels du Sahara, de 1' Oasis, and 

 Victoria would do credit to far more important places than this, and 

 while, perhaps, the accommodations and comforts served by them 

 have in a measure been Africanized, they yet provide to the traveler 

 all that is needed by way of relaxation and sustenance. 



We put up at the Hotel du Sahara, where we found a charming 

 hostess in the person of Madame Chabert. Under the amiable 

 method of this lady, supported by the plaisir of her two daughters, 

 we were not long in reaching the conclusion that even a summer day 

 in the African desert can not only be made bearable but decidedly 

 enjoyable. Our arrival in the evening did not permit us to clearly 

 make out the exact nature of our surroundings, but sufficient was 

 visible to indicate that in our entertainment we should be obliged 

 to conform in part to entirely new and interesting situations. The 

 dining room was constituted by the tunnel which opened into the 

 street in front and the court in the rear, and its continuation was the 

 open air-space beyond. Our part of the meal was served under the 

 waving tufts of the date palm overhead, and it was a no mean lux- 

 ury to be fed in good, old-fashioned French style in this al fresco 

 corner of the garden. The thermometer at this time, about eight 

 o'clock, covered the better part of its range of 100°, and thus, 

 while still sufficiently high, it had already lost about sixteen degrees 

 of its column. A steaming heat this, but nevertheless, and despite 

 the fatigue of the day's journey, it did not feel particularly oppress- 

 ive. The two delicacies that were served to us were the grape of 



