( IS) 



{Prutincola auet.) nihdi-a, MiiHcirapn Inipohiim (,itrir,ii,iUii nnct.), f.'itriina 

 megarhyncha. 



No butterflies were noticed, Imt a dragonfly was not nncommon in the 

 officers' gardens. Dnring our stay in hi-Salali tiie nights were mostly cool ; once a 

 heavy gale was ijlowing, and very few moths were noticed. Of beetles the common 

 Anthia sexmaculata and many Teiichviomdai: were freiiuent, and a number of 

 rodents and reptiles were brought in. The water-ditches in the oasis were choke- 

 full of a water-plant {Chara foetida var.) and two species of water-shells, Mclanio 

 tiiberculata Miiller and Melntiopnis (hjoiirii Ferussac;, were common. A frog, a 

 new form of Bona escideiita, the same as in El-Golea, was very numerous ; it 

 had, at that time, half-grown tadpoles. 



Although very little rain had fallen for a long time in the neighbourhood, the 

 sobcha of In-Salah still contained some water. Nearly all the water, at least all 

 the drinkable water, is got from the " Foggaras." 



The palm groves arc always on or near some sebcha — except where, as in 

 El-Oued, the roots of the palms, which are planted in holes, reach to the moist 

 layer under the sand, and grow without irrigation. The sebcha-water, however, is 

 not drinkable, and it became therefore necessary to get other water. There either 

 being no wholesome water, or the latter too deep, water found four to si.x metres 

 deep is tapped, and brought to where it is required by long subterranean 

 aqueducts, the " Foggaras." They are often many miles long, and their way is 

 shown by numerous covered openings and wells. These galleries drain the water 

 throughout their courses, and end generally in the jialm groves, which they 

 irrigate. Sometimes huge subterranean chambers are e.xcavated, where uambers of 

 people can assemble. 



The Foggaras are a cause of constant anxiety, bciug watched, repaired and 

 enlarged ; but, what is rather disiiuieting, the volumes of water obtained from them 

 have considerably diminished of late. The Arabs claim to be the originators of 

 this unique system of irrigation, but it is more likely that Berbers or Jews are 

 the inventors, as the Arab, noble and gentlemanlike as he may be, has never been 

 much of au inventor, and Berbers and Jews, with the help of Negroes, have been and 

 are now the workmen of the Sahara. 



It is impossible to say how much influence the early Jewish immigratiou into 

 the West Saharan oases has had on the country. It appears, however, to be certain 

 that in olden times, aj)parently after the destruction of the Terajtle by Titns, Jews 

 poured into the Cyrenaica, and thence penetrated into the Sahara, where they 

 founded colonies, making the Negroes (and probably Berbers) work for them. 

 They seem to have even converted (in the northern Sahara) some Berbers to their 

 religion ; but later on, in 1492 — i.e. long after the Arab immigration and the 

 islamisation of the Sahara — the synagogue in Tameutit (Tonat) was destroyed and 

 nearly all the Jews were killed, unless they embraced the Mohammedan religion, 

 which was done by many; these latter, the islamised Jews, are the present 

 " Mehadjeria." They are still found in small numbers in Tonat and Gourara, and 

 even in the north in Touggourt and the Oued R'hir, but there are said to be none 

 in Tidikelt. (See A. (i. P. Martin, Les Oasis Sakariennps, 1008.) 



The principal food of the inhabitants is the date ; in the summer, when dates 

 become rare, wheat and barley, and in the winter millet {Sorghum) is grown. Meat is 

 not eaten regularly, bnt only on festivals. It may be imagined what a failnre of the 

 "date crop may mean, when it happens, as it has happened this year, that the dates 



