( 10 ) 



Tlie Coof {F. ntva, and not, vrixtata .') were seen in a few pairs only, n.w\ we wore 

 told they nested on the Isike, where they stayed all the year round. 



In the oasis and gardens no bird was observed of whicdi we c.onld alreofly 

 say with absohitc certainty that it nested thorc, oxcejit the Urey-hea<led Honsc- 

 Sparrow, which is exceedingly nnmernns, nesting in trees and on lionses, and 

 having eggs and yonng already. 



There is a high and steep descent from the plateau downwards, and millions 

 of fossil shells are seen in many places. Some detached rocks iire entirely covered 

 with fossils, and specimens are lying about in many places. According to Holliind 

 {(it'ologie fhi Sahara, IS'.^i, j), ;j.">) they belong mostly to the genera (Mrra (abont 

 half a dozen species), I'/iiafjila, Khabdni'iflarin, Strombus, Cardium, Jitnira, 

 Jlolecti/pus. 



On an isolated rock above El-Golea stands the forsaken and now partly ruined 

 old fortress and town of tiic Berbers (PI. I.). It is apparently oDO or (ino years old, 

 and was built by the Zenata, a people of the great Berber tribe, and of doubtful 

 limits. Evidently the Zeuates are nothing else than a sonthern portion of the 

 Berbers, living in the Saharan oases, who, abont HOn years ago, settled among the 

 .lews, who at that time occupied— and had partly founded — a number of oases from 

 the Oued Rirh (south of Biskra) to Tonat and Tidikelt. These Zenates had 

 jirobably been shifted to and fro by the various Arab invasions, and at last settled 

 down, founding the oasis of El-Golea, as it is now called by the French, under the 

 name of El-Meniaii, and under the latter it is still nnivcrsally known to the Arabs. 

 More or less nomadic, the Zenata for a time lefr their " El-Meniaa" during the 

 summer months, going to the Oued JLegidcn and other placcB, to feed their herds, 

 bnt bj'-and-by they became more sedentary, and have now settled down entirely. 

 Though for native arms formidable and almost impregnable, the fortress was 

 occnpied by the Fieuch for a time, and is now, as I said above, quite forsaken. 



I ascended the old fortress (PI. I.) with some of the French ofticers, and obtained 

 a beautiful view over the oasis and beyond into the wide Western Erg, an ocean of 

 sand-dunes. In an empty half-snbterranean dwelling thousands of Bats, Aiii'llia 

 tri(li'ii.<, were found. 



In the lake and ditches are millions of a water-shell, Mi'lanoj/sis dii/oiirii, a frog 

 {Itaiia c.HCitleHta ear. Miluiricd Blgr.), and the European Tench (Tinrn) h.as been 

 introduced from France and thrives well. 



On March ;iil we left the hospitable oasis, with its flowers and comfort, 

 accompanied by our kind host for an hour or so. As usual in all oases, it was time 

 for our men to leave, who were satisfactory enough in the field, but in the " towns " 

 became debauched and lazy, with a few oxcei>tions. The first jjart of our way led 

 through dreary sebcha, resembling an absolutely bare freshly ploughed field, covered 

 with salt, glittering silvery white in the sun. 



On our right was the Great Western Erg, its higli sand-dnnes sharply silhouetted 

 against the unbroken blue sky. Limoniastrum bushes stood at the edge of the 

 sebcha, where the sand began, in great luxuriance and often eiglit or nine feet high, 

 nr)w covered with reddish violet flowers. 



A/aemoii alautfipes (ind C'«?'Sotom were the only resident birds seen; Hoopoes 

 were observed in great numbers in the oasis. Towards midday we traversed for 

 abont seven kilometres a rough hammada with a little sand, blown over from the 

 Erg, and then descended into a depression where reeds stood in i|nantities, proving 

 that water njiist from time to time run into the place (PI. II.). Here was also a 



