318 THE ARAB HORSE OF AFRICA. 



by General Daumas and Abd-el-Kader, demand a few 

 words of explanation. 



The man is the descendant of those colonists of the 

 Arab race who permanently settled in Africa during the 

 sixth and seventh centuries. The region into which, 

 eventually, they have been driven is the Sahara or 

 Great Desert, strictly so called, seeing that it is the 

 most extensive on the surface of the earth its area 

 being estimated at 2,500,000 square miles, or two-thirds 

 that of Europe. For hundreds of miles the eye only 

 rests on bare sands in flats and hillocks, or on naked 

 and rocky tracts, destitute of vegetation, and seldom 

 exhibiting any of the forms of animal life. Neverthe- 

 less the Sahara contains numerous fertile tracts (pases), 

 watered by perennial springs, and containing a numer- 

 ous population, consisting of two nations of Berber 

 origin (the most ancient inhabitants of North Africa, 

 according to some, and descended from the Phoenicians), 

 but divided into numerous tribes, all Mohammedans. 

 The fauna of the Sahara is as deficient as its flora; 

 and, notwithstanding the frightful heat during the day, 

 the nights, owing to excessive radiation, are so cold 

 that ice is frequently formed. 



In this sterile region there are patriots and poets and 

 warriors, all ready to die for fatherland, and calling on 

 the nations of the earth to believe that they are the 

 people favoured of Allah 1 



Our learned Emir can wield the pen as well as the 

 sword ; and aspiring, mayhap, to be the poet-laureate 

 of his tribe, he indites a poem in which we are told 



' ' Two things are beautiful in this world, 

 Beautiful verses and beautiful tents." 



Addressing him who condemns the love of the Bedoui 

 for his boundless horizons, our poet asks 



" Is it for their lightness that thou findest fault with our tents ? 

 Hast thou no word of praise, but for houses of wood and stone ? 



