172 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[Adgust 1, 1900. 



burning climate, where rain is scarce, it is necessary 

 to iind a place containing a subterranean supply of 

 water before the cultivation of the soil is possible. 

 Thanks to the impermeability of the sub-soil, there are, 

 below the arid wastes, distinct tracts along which water 

 is always procurable. It is first necessary to bring the 

 water to the surface and to direct it to the spots to be 

 watered. 



Sahara is not simply a great sea of sand, unsuitable 

 for cultivation. In reality, over large areas the soil 

 is composed of arable land of excellent quality, which 

 solely requires moisture to make it very fruitful. Not 

 only must the water be raised, but the watercourses 

 must be protected against the invasion of the sand, 

 which is a constant menace to agriculture. To under- 

 take such difficult and complicated work, especially by 

 herders who are but little inclined naturally to tedious 

 and protracted labour, these people must have gi-eat 

 interest in creating oases. 



This interest is not far to seek. The deserts of 

 Arabia and Sahara are not habitable without resting 

 places for re-victualling. They are the countries of 

 hunger and thirst, but in spite of all this man has had 

 a prime interest in travelling through *-hese deserts, for 

 it is beyond them that the richest countries of the 

 world lie — the tropical countries that produce perfumes, 

 ivory, ebony, gold, precious stones, gum, and, above all, 

 spices. It was to reach these fortunate regions that so 

 many maritime expeditions were undertaken in the 

 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries — voyages made famous 

 by Vasco de Gama, Christopher Columbus, and all their 

 glorious lineage of navigators. It was in seeking the 

 country of spices by an eastern route that Vasco de 

 Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and discovered 

 the direct route to Arabia and the Indies. It was in 

 seeking the same country by a western route that 

 Christopher Columbus discovered America. Tliese 

 different tropical products were of a character eminently 

 suited for transport, as they were of great value and of 

 small bulk, and the value was formerly many times 

 greater than it is to-day. 



The desert, notwithstanding all difficulties of com- 

 munication, offered more facilities than the sea to early 

 man ; it had, in fact, three manifest advantages over the 

 Mediterranean. 



1. The desert penetrates further into the interior of 

 the countries. It is several -times larger than the 

 Mediterranean, and therefore can tap more countries ; 

 it reaches to precisely those richest countries that the 

 Mediterranean does not touch. 



2. The desert does not oblige the pastor to seriously 

 modify his mode of life. In order to traverse the desert 

 it is certainly necessaiy to arrange the journey in stages, 

 but these stages once created, the pastor can live his 

 old life. 



3. A numerous troop can cross the desert. They 

 travel in caravans for greater safety and defence against 

 possible attacks. Contrast this numerous troop with 

 the smaller number who manned the ships of the 

 Phoenicians and other primitive navigators of the 

 Mediterranean, who in those early days had each 

 evening to find a spot sufficiently sheltered to disem- 

 bark; then they drew their ships ashore, often to find 

 themselves exposed to the attacks of natives. Such are 

 the reasons which caused early man to travel over the 

 desert before voyaging over and utilising the sea. But 

 this crossing of the desert was not possible, and is not 

 possible to-day, without the establishment of resting 

 places. Who could undertake the establishment of 



oases in a society of herders divided up into autono- 

 mous and often inimical tribes? 



One can reply without hesitation. It was a group of 

 men who, in the present and as far back in the past as 

 records go, appeai-ed always as the unique, uncontested, 

 and omnipotent dominator and civilizer of the desert. 

 This group does not belong \o one tribe in particular, 

 but it counts fanatical adherents among all tribes from 

 one end of the desert to the other. It is the group 

 that all conquerors who have tried to penetrate into 

 the desert have found before them ; the English as well 

 as the French. These rulers of the desert are the 

 religious fraternities or zanias ; the members are called 

 khuans, " brothers " ; their chiefs khalifs, sheiks, etc. 

 Sometimes, at certain epochs of inspiration or greater 

 religious fervour, they are called Mahdi, " the well- 

 guided." At these times woe betide those who attempt 

 to penetrate into the desert. As the only point of 

 contact between the difi'erent tribes was the community 

 of the religious sentiment which is so highly developed 

 among pastoral peoples, it was naturally the religious 

 sentiment which became the shield and protection of 

 the traders in the midst of hostile tribes. As the 

 profits of commerce brought considerable benefits, these 

 brotherly protectors of trade developed extremely 

 rapidly and accumulated enormous riches. None can 

 safely traverse the desert without placing themselves 

 under their protection. 



One can better understand this influence if one re- 

 members that in the Middle Ages commerce found a 

 safeguard, support, and an auxiliary in the military 

 religious orders, a fact due to the influence of analogous 

 causes. Then, as in the desci-t, there was no central 

 government, only a multiplicity of petty nilers with 

 limited authority, who could not give general protection 

 to commerce. The military religious orders naturally 

 hastened to take up the role of protectors of commerce. 

 One knows that the Templars, for example, practised 

 it themselves, that they wore the great bankers of that 

 time, and that they thus acquired immense riches. And 

 they declined precisely when the great political govern- 

 ments developed in the west and became able t-o protect 

 commerce from afar. But the desert being by its nature 

 unchangeable, the religious brotherhoods continue to 

 this day. 



The oases serve the double object of jilaces for re- 

 victualling and depots for merchandise. To re-victual 

 caravans and also to feed its inhabitants it is necessary 

 to draw from the soil the greatest amount of food 

 within the restricted areas. The only vegetable that 

 accommodates itself completely to the special conditions 

 of soil and climate is the date palm. Its fruit is truly 

 the bread of the desert; with camel's milk it forms the 

 staple food. Dates present great advantages to desert 

 travellers. They are easy to preserve by desiccation and 

 easy to carry, as pressed into bags they contain a large 

 amount of nourishment in a small bulk. Each tree 

 furnishes about 26 lbs. of dates in a year. 



But the palms yield other products; the crushed 

 date stones supply food for goats and even camels ; 

 the fibre, leaves, and trunk, are all utilized for various 

 purposes. Thanks to the grateful shade they spread, 

 the effects of the tropical heat and burning sun are 

 lessened. There is cultivated under their shade a 

 number of plants which very usefully supplement the 

 direct gifts of the palm. Thus the oases produce beans, 

 cabbages, carrots, melons, tomatoes, egg-plants, apricots, 

 peaches, apples, quinces, etc. Plants that require heat 



