(20) 



There were theatricals (tlie sons-officiers lieiiij? the art.ors), toralmla, music, ami 

 refreshments in the house of the Comraaiulant, MoiisiiMir Payn. Such a night, 

 in the middle of the Sahara, will never be forgotten by any one who was 

 present. 



Besides the French officers and sous-o(ficiers there is a white trader, or 

 rather a firm of three partners, in In-Salah. One of them, Monsieur Brand, is 

 a great traveller, having visited Air (Asben) and Kano. It was most interesting 

 to me to hear of Kano of to-day. When J was there, in 18S.5, few Europeans 

 had ever seen it, and the journey there was a dangerous undertaking ; but now a 

 railway goes to Kano from Lagos on the coast, and at Air is a French post ! 



No tropical animals occur in Tidikelt ; the Hoggar Mountains, from all 

 informations received, are palaearctic, the plateau of Tanezrouft and Afelele bare 

 and lifeless ; therefore the tropical fauna can only begin south of the 20th 

 degree, near Air and the northern bend of the Niger. That Air is ipiite tropical 

 is beyond doubt. Barth described northern Air (Tidik) as rich in tropical i)lants. 

 the valley of Uni'ui full of luxuriant vegetation, with palms and Talhas 

 (acacias) covered with parasites ; the inhabitants kept numerous camels, horses, 

 donkeys, goats, and also cattle ; while ostriches, lions, and giraffes were found, 

 and numerous birds, herds of monkeys, and masses of i)iittcrflic8 were observed 

 near Agades (southern Air). Mr. Brand assured rac that Air abonnded in 

 brilliantly coloured and glossy birds, in lions and gazelles. Ostriches, he said, were 

 not found nowadays nearer than Danicrghu, half-way between Air and Kano. 



Touaregs, as I have said before, visit Tidikelt in the autumn and winter in 

 numbers. A fine Touareg, with a huge shield and spear, came on a mehari 

 while we were in In-Salah, but left again the same day. 



On April 23 we left our hospitable friends, accompiuiied by some of the 

 officers on horseback, and went as far as Igosten. The way is over hard gravel- 

 soil, with a thin layer of sand recently blown over, and grotesquely shaped hills 

 of hardened soil as " witnesses," as the Arabs call them {chehood), of former 

 times ; evidently the harder portions have remained as hills and heaps, while 

 the softer soil and sand has lieen blown (and perhaps partly washed) away 

 (PI. IX. upper photo). 



In Igosten we caught some Lycaenidae (Zizera lysimoii) and a Ckuidela in 

 numbers. No other butterflies were seen, and of beetles, besides the Cicindela, 

 almost only Teiiebrionidae. Frogs were as common as in In-.Salah. Migrants were 

 still numerous, and we noticed three Tartar turtur arenicola, one Capr'imidgus 

 enropaeus, a number of Phylloscopus trochilus, Ilirundo iirhica and runlica (the 

 latter very numerous), Sylvia curruca, Antkus tritialis. 



The next day we travelled 35 km., leaving Foggaret-es-Zoua to our right, 

 and camped in the barest possible spot, where no live plant was seen, though 

 dead Dhomran abounded. In the dead branches of the Dhomran (though 1 

 doubt if all had been " Dhomran ") a pecnli.ar beetle was collected, and in the 

 evening two Pyralids came to the lamp. The night was cool, the temperature 

 in the early morning only 0'" C. 



Next day we marched to our old camp in the bed of the Oued el-Abiodh, where 

 f Drin " and other grasses abounded. Chelidon rtistica, Turtur turtur arenicola, a 

 Phylloscopus, and Phoenicurus phoenicurus were observed. 



On April 27 we reached Ain Gnettara again, where we camped two days. 

 Here we came once more across two rare birds : Ammomanes deserti mya and 



