352 THE LAND OF THE SUNRISE. 



the word " Sahara " seems rather to mean, the " land 

 of the Sehaur " '(otherwise " Sahar ") or sunrise, perhaps 

 because the sun seems to rise out of the plain, as it 

 seems to do out of the water at sea. The " Sehaur " 

 indicating the brief moment dividing the night from 

 the day, that immediately precedes the " Fedjer " or 

 dawn. The Sehaur is the last moment during which 

 it is still lawful to eat, drink, and smoke during the 

 month of Ramadan or sacred fast ; while the " Fedjer " 

 or first dawn indicates the moment when a white 

 woollen thread can be just distinguished from a black 

 thread, from which time until sunset (El Moghreb) the 

 most rigorous abstinence is imposed upon the faithful. 

 According to Mohammedan ecclesiastical law every 

 true Moslem is supposed to be up and ready at El 

 Fedjer, this being the hour of Morning Prayer. It is 

 regarded by strict Moslems as a great sin to be still 

 slumbering when the sun arises. 



Then as regards " the desert, " there are three words 

 in general use among the Arabs of the Sahara, to 

 denote the various kinds of country most usually met 

 with. " Fiafi" indicates the habitable desert, such as the 

 oases where permanent water fountains exist "Kifar" 

 or " Khela, " " the abandoned country, " comprising 

 the wide and sandy plain, mostly consisting of pasture 

 land during and for some time after the rains, but 

 which want of water causes to be subsequently aban- 

 doned" lastly " El falat" is the uninhabitable sea of 

 sand, sterile and bare, whose eternal waves, raised by 

 the scorching breath of the simoom into billows of 

 drifting sand, not unfrequently bear a strong resemblance 

 to those of a stormy sea, suddenly turned to stone. * 



* See Lt Sahara Algerien^ par le General Daumas, 1845, p. 3. 



