LIFE IN THE SAHAKA. 319 



If thou knewest the secrets of the desert, thou wouldst think 



like me ; 

 But thou art ignorant, and ignorance is the mother of evil." 



And then, after a description of the natural features of 

 the Sahara, and the stirring incidents of desert life, 

 comes the proud boast 



" We are kings. There is none to be compared with us. 

 Is it life to undergo humiliation ? 

 We suffer not the insults of the unjust. We leave him and 



his land ; 

 True happiness is in wandering life." 



We are very willing to believe it ; and seeing that 

 General Daumas declares that there is a striking re- 

 semblance between the horseman of the Sahara and 

 the knight of the Middle Ages, we are surprised that 

 many more of our wealthy British travellers do not visit 

 Algiers, with the intention of making a brief sojourn 

 among the singular people inhabiting the not distant 

 Sahara. Our invalids begin to appreciate the charming 

 climate of Algiers, where the seasons glide into each 

 other imperceptibly, the range of the barometer being 

 only from 29 T V inches to 30^ inches the whole cycle 

 of the weather's changes indicated within the range of 

 l T 3 (j- inches ! What a contrast to the turbulent mutabi- 

 lity of a climate like ours ! We experience what the 

 Germans call a sehensucht for a land where the trees 

 bud in February and the fruit is ripe in May, which 

 also is harvest-time. 



And should we ever enjoy the equable temperature 

 of the Barbary States, and take a peep at the genuine 

 Arab chief in the Sahara, we shall doubtless experience 

 his proverbial hospitality ; though, by the way, we are 

 startled to find among the schedule of his effects only 

 "three wooden platters for strangers to eat from." 

 We have no notion what they are like, but comfort 

 ourselves with the belief that they must be tolerably 

 big, inasmuch as they are priced 13s. 6d. rather a 



