THE ALGERIAN SAHARA. 4I 



southern relatives, as described to us by many African 

 travellers. 



I left Laghouat on the 9th of April for the Mzab. For 

 this expedition I had engaged by way of a Dragoman an 

 Arab named Mahommed Belhuri, and another to act under 

 him, named Mzoud. We bestrode two mules, and behind 

 us came Mzoud on a camel, beneath whose belly slung a 

 goat-skin containing our water for three or four days. I 

 had also a joint of meat, a keg of wine, a dozen new loaves, 

 six boxes of sardines, a German sausage, a supply of cheese, 

 a paper of cigars, the first and second volume of Sclater's 

 " Ibis," and a new journal-book. Thus armed and equipped 

 I proposed to explore the Mzab country, and see if the 

 inhabitants were the fiery sons of Ishmael which they had 

 been represented to be. By ten a.m. we sallied out of the 

 south gate, breathing all manner of slaughter against rare 

 birds, and began our journey. As we rode along I shot two 

 new to me, the Bifasciated Lark (CcrthilaiLcia dcsertoruni) , 

 and the Bleached Shrike (Lanius latJiora). I never got the 

 former again in Algeria, but I saw the latter daily infesting 

 every Mzab garden. A favourite perch is the bottom of a 

 Palm's crest, where the fronds are broken short, whence 

 they dart off to snatch the passing beetle, or rise into the 

 air after the more high-flying locust. But what are my 

 guides looking at so intently } A great thick snake. One 

 of them jammed its head off with a pole. It was, as near 

 as I remember, about three feet in length, but thick in pro- 

 portion, with beautifully marked coils, something like our 

 common Viper's. Only on two other occasions did I see 

 snakes. There is one sort that the French are very much 

 afraid of, called the " Vipere a corne." An English tourist 

 is said to have encased his feet in tin boots as a protection 

 against them. 



Though viewed from the highest rock in Laghouat, the 

 Southern Sahara had appeared to be a boundless plain, we 



