DESERT JOURNEYS. 345 



which require more water. Thus around the springs or wells there 

 are often charming gardens in which grow almost all the fruit- 

 bearing plants of North Africa. Here the vine clambers, the orange 

 glows amid its dark foliage, the pomegranate opens its rosy mouth, 

 the banana expands its fan-shaped leaf clusters, the melons straggle 

 among the beds of vegetables, prickly-pears and olives, perhaps 

 even figs, apricots, and almonds, complete the picture of f ruitf ulness. 

 At a greater distance from the centre lie the fields, bearing at least 

 Kaffir-millet, and, in favourable conditions, wheat, or even rice. 



In oases so rich man finds a permanent home, while in those 

 which are poorer he is but a sojourner, or a more or less periodic 

 guest. The village or small township of a large oasis is essentially 

 like that of the nearest cultivated country; like it it has its mosques, 

 its bazaars, its coffee-houses; but the inhabitants are children of a 

 different spirit from that which marks the peasants or townsfolk 

 in the Nile valley or along the coast. Although usually of diverse 

 race among themselves they all exhibit the same customs and habits. 

 The desert has shaped and fashioned them. Their slender build, 

 sharply-cut features, and keen eyes, gleaming from under bushy 

 brows, mark them at once as sons of the desert; but their habits 

 and customs are even more characteristic. They are unexacting 

 and readily contented, energetic and full of resource, hospitable 

 and open-hearted, honourable and loyal, but proud, irritable, and 

 passionate, inclined to robbery and acts of violence, like the 

 Bedouins, though not their equals either in good or evil. A cara- 

 van entering their settlement is a welcome sight, but they expect 

 the traveller to pay them toll. 



Very different from such oases are those valleys in which a much- 

 desired well is only to be found at times. The Arabian nomads are 

 well pleased if the supply of drinking-water for themselves and their 

 herds is sufficient for a few months or even weeks; and the caravan, 

 which rests in such a place, may be content if its demands are 

 satisfied within a few days. The well is usually a deep shaft, 

 from whose walls the water oozes rather than trickles. A few torn- 

 palms rise among the sparse mimosas and saltworts which surround 

 the well; a few stems of grass break through the hard ground. 



