274 



SCANT RATIONS 



a carved iron -pointed forked stick, and leave the rest to 

 Allah. His crops are not unapt to fail unless there be 

 goodly rains. If there is enough, the soil yields plentifully 

 by April or Ma}^ In the summer there is no rain ; the 

 earth is like a furnace seven times heated, and nothing 

 can grow. The Barbarv fig" is then the saving clause in 



TUNISIAN IIAT 



the Arab's existence. It is lucky for him that generations 

 of scant rations have got him used to eating s})arsely. It 

 is amazing how little the people of hot climates — unless 

 they are of European stock — can get along with. A hand- 

 ful of rice three times a day enables tlie Japanese coolie 

 to drag you in his jinrikisha a good forty miles; or the 

 same footl will carry the Calcutta coal-heaver through a 



