cn.xxiii.] Summer Qiuirtcrs of the Anazeh. id 



is a good type. The varieties of these are numerous, 

 but their value as pasture is very unequal, some 

 being excellent for camels, others for sheep, and 

 not a few being absolutely worthless. On the better 

 soils, too, after rain many kinds of grasses and 

 flowering plants are found, while in the Northern 

 j)arts of Mesopotamia and the Upper "Syrian" 

 Desert the country is not very different to look at 

 in spring-time from the great rolling downs of AVilt- 

 sliire, where these have not been ploughed up. Only 

 the resemblance is superficial, for there is no per- 

 manent turf in any part of the desert. It is in 

 these upper plains that the Bedouins congregate in 

 the spring, shear their flocks, and hold commercial 

 intercourse with the towns ; for here, even during 

 the extreme heats of summer, sufficient pasture of 

 one sort or other is found for their cattle. When 

 in June the grass " turns white " and is withered, 

 new leaves appear on the wild lavender and its 

 kindred shrubs; and the first autumn rains bring 

 back a fresh growth of greener food. Nor is water 

 ever wanting. In seasons of great drought the 

 Euphrates and Tigris valleys are always open, and 

 then receive the whole population, whose camels 

 find pasture in the great tamarisk l^eds fringing the 

 rivers. 



With the first frosts the Anazeh move south- 

 wards, and by December not a camel is to be found 

 north of the hill rano^e. The reason of this is not 

 entirely nor directly due to the cold. Camels will 



