134 SHORT STALKS 



faces, like most African animals, and in marked contrast with 

 the bold and high-bred exjDression of their smaller name- 

 sake of Sardinia and Corsica. Pliny describes the animal 

 as the "goat hart," which is also rather apt. The pendent 

 mane and sand}' colour I have already referred to. On the 

 knees he has patches of bare callous skin after the manner 

 of a London cab-horse, which 1 suppose enables him to kneel 

 and reach his food on steep places and in the crevices of 

 the rocks. The Arabs say that these animals do not 

 drink more frequently than once in five days, and this 

 enables them to traverse long distances on these thirsty 

 slopes. They are unknown nearer to the coast, as, for 

 instance, where the climate is moist enough to su|)port the 

 cedar forests, nor do 1 Ijclieve they are ever found out uf 

 sio'ht of the desert. 



The knack of keeping himself out of sight, and getting 

 out of it when surprised, is the most oljvious characteristic 

 of the animal. The lial;)its of the iVrabs, continued through 

 countless generations, have helped to form the hal)its of 

 the a)-(itn'. These nomad tribes pitch their tents neces- 

 sarilv within reach of one of the scantv sprino's of water. 



^ *■■■ L O 



Here at uio-ht, within the circle enclosed bv their black 

 geitouns and a small zareha of loose thorn bushes, they 

 herd their flocks of goats. In the early morning numerous 

 thin columns of blue smoke mark the positions of such 

 camps, generally placed for shelter in dry watercourses. 

 With l)arking of dogs and shouting, the flocks move off up 

 the mountain, and as the day advances they work up and 

 over it, so that no cliff or corrie is safe from their intrn- 

 sion. The wild sheep have no means of escaping from 

 them, as every mountain within reach of water is similarly 



