THE ALGERIAN SAHARA. 35 



Taczanouski this Pipit was seen continually, (Zoologist, 

 p. 2584) "from after the month of March." 



2 1 St. Our route lay between Zahrez and Sebka Zahrez, 

 great shallow lakes, stated by Canon Tristram to be nearly 

 thirty miles long in wet weather. I could not go near 

 enough to them to see the myriads of Flamingos which he 

 saw, but on one of the streams which flows into them I ob- 

 served a Tern, probably of the White-winged species. At 

 Rocher-de-Sel the soil becomes more sandy, while a frost- 

 like whiteness coats the plain. After passing the Salt 

 Mountains (from which the caravanserai takes its name), 

 the country assumes a more fertile appearance. These 

 mountains are worth a visit. At a little distance they pre- 

 sent a blue appearance. 



At Djelpha I witnessed an interesting spectacle. An 

 Arab tribe with upwards of a hundred camels and numerous 

 horses were getting ready for an expedition, and were 

 having a grand review before starting. Tearing as hard as 

 they could go over the plain in pairs, they suddenly caused 

 their horses to swerve — one to the right, the other to the 

 left — discharging, as they wheeled round, their long guns at 

 the feet of the spectators. The white burnouses waving in 

 the air, the clouds of dust, and the cries of the combatants, 

 made this wild fantasia the more like a battle, while the 

 eye was arrested by their swarthy visages and the splendid 

 trappings of their horses. Eight gaudy palanquins (each 

 borne by a camel, and surmounted with a bundle of sticks 

 and a tuft of leaves,) contained the wives of the chief Agha. 

 Doubtless mounted on his best Mahri* camels, they in the 

 hour of battle would be kept in the rear, that they might be 

 ready to escape into the wilderness, should the day go 

 against their Bedouin lord. 



At this place Roman ruins terminate. None are known 



* The tall white Dromedary of the Touareg Arabs. 



