ASPECTS OF NATURE IN THE SAHARA. i8i 



and our wheels sank deep into tlie mire. The mud of the bottom val- 

 leys of our Western rivers would have been considered a feeble cir- 

 cumstance compared with this mud of the presumably dry Sahara. 

 Side backwaters added still further to our difficulties, and for a time 

 it looked as though we should hardly pull through; but with enough 

 of " ee-yups " and " ees," joined to the cracking of the great whip, 

 we finally reached the actual bank of the stream and were there 

 helped across by an Arab who had come down from the caravan- 

 sary to guide the horses. The river was running fast, turbid with 

 yellow sediment, but it had contracted itself to its legitimate 

 channel. We pulled uj) to the great portal of the Borj for our 

 first halt, and immediately received the hospitality of the place — 

 which meant stools to sit upon, in place of the gravelly earth, and 

 the supporting back wall, of which the Arabs make such good use. 

 We had hardly hoped to obtain refreshments here, as Ben-Sali had 

 informed us that such would not be dispensed to travelers, but I 

 ventured to ask for coffee, and in a short time we were served with 

 the delicious beverage, prepared with that same consummate skill 

 which is the art of native coffee-making in the north of Africa, and 

 with the daintiest of foreign china. What changes in the civiliza- 

 tion of the world are in progress! 



Beyond Saada the road changes much for the better, and we 

 kept the animals going at a lively pace. On either side was the 

 gently undulating and hummocky sand, crowned by terebinth 

 bushes and salsolaceous scrub, high enough to conceal the straying 

 goats that were in places browsing upon them for their scant 

 vegetation, and everywhere sufiiciently dreary elements in the land- 

 scape. Two forlorn trees or treelets, seemingly olives, were left by 

 the roadside, and the undulating plain, with its closely oppressed 

 horizon, kept on for mile upon mile in its monotonous sweep. De- 

 spite its dreary and forlorn aspect, it had for us its attractions; its 

 peculiar sterility- — one can hardly say absolute barrenness — and uni- 

 formity were, if nothing more, inviting to study, and my mind fre- 

 quently wandered forth in an almost wild contemplation of the 

 scene. Our cabriolet was well suited to the special purposes of our 

 explorations, as we could easily dismount for the examination of 

 specimens, and even with a high temperature there was no special 

 inconvenience in this. There was, however, little need to leave 

 our seats, as, conformably with the landscape and the general char- 

 acter of the country, there was a marked uniformity in the geological 

 and botanical features as well; a study of one section meant prac- 

 tically a study of the rest. 



So far as the heat of the desert is concerned, it is an unquestion- 

 able reality; and yet, perhaps, in the month of our travel, the hot- 



