52 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



resound with joyous carols, while the sparkling Bee-eater, 

 the painted Roller, and the gilded Oriole flicker in the 

 foliage — a veritable naturalist's paradise! 



Nothing can exceed the fertility of the oasis. Vines, sur- 

 passing any which I ever saw in size and luxuriance, were 

 bent with many an unripe cluster, trained from Palm-stem 

 to Palm-stem, and all the Figs, and Pomegranates, and 

 Apricot trees were loaded with green fruit, while high over- 

 head there towered six-and-fifty thousand Date Palms. I 

 saw the last red rays of the setting sun as they shed a 

 golden pathway through the trellissed stems, grander than 

 the grandest palace. 



I had now come, as I calculated, about 430 miles from 

 the sea, in a nearly direct line due south from Algiers — 

 only one or two Englishmen have to my knowledge ever 

 penetrated further. 



An inquisitive mob gathered round us in the market 

 place — brawny men and /ie7ina-sta.med children pressed for- 

 ward, or mounted on the bench of justice with cries of 

 surprise. Doubtless many of the latter had never seen a 

 white face before. The Guest house was in the market 

 place ; it had two doors, and three apertures which did duty 

 for windows. As it was three-storied I used the bottom 

 part for the mules, received guests on the second floor, and 

 kept the top story for skinning and writing. Canon Tristram 

 gives a picture of it (1. c). How strange to be quartered 

 in the same room of the same house where he and Mr. 

 Peed were, fourteen years before ! 



While we awaited the arrival of a negro with a ponderous 

 iron key, I could not help noticing how many there were 

 in the crowd who were blind. Alas! ophthalmia is only 

 too prevalent among them. When we had washed and 

 taken coffee, which is an indispensable ceremony among 

 the Arabs, the chief led the way to the Jews' quarter. We 

 entered the house of a wealthy Hebrew. The Rabbi, as I 



