ON THE la.M oi' Till': dksert uy 



y' 



W 



about the palm-oTowiiiu' iiidiistry. Il all dcpciids (ni 

 \vat('r-su[>ply. and a. watcr-rinlit costs about I'M! jicr acre, 

 wliicli is a ij-reat deal uku'c than the hind itsrii" is wuilh, 

 and conveys a perpetual right to a copious irrigation every 

 tliree days. A palm-tree comes into ])rofit about five 

 years after it is phmted as a sucker, and, when once it is 

 in full bearing, may produce to the value of ten francs per 

 year. The owner has then little else to do but to open his 

 sluices and sit in the shade. 



Our next move was to Biskra, which has been often 

 described. It is redolent of tlie (h'seil, for tlie Arabs li'tun 

 the country, which may mean two hundred miles south, 

 come here to buy and sell. The sights and sm(dls of tlie 

 market-place are curious. Huge packages of dates jannned 

 into one solid mass are the leading commodity. The 

 public letter-writers sit in the sunshine, while their custo- 

 mers whisper tlnir eoiiv>p(»ndence into their ears. Another 

 functionary, who also pertbi ins in the open, bleeds the Arabs 

 in the head, which the\' think improves their evcsiuht. 

 The subject, wearing a solemn " having my hair cut" sort 

 of expression, srpiats on the ground : the pert'oiinei'. sinii- 

 laily seated behind him, makes incisions, and "cups" him 

 on the back of t lie lie.id. 



The flesh-pots of ci\ ilisation did not detain us, but we 

 struck out again for the Ahmar Kluulou range, a ridge of 

 the Allies niountaiiis, twodax-' ride Ironi Diskra. These 

 mountains are iidiabited b\" the C/iu/rid. n Ijranch of tlie 

 P)erbei-s. the original ownei-s of the hind, but dis]iersed b\- 

 tlu> invadinu' Arabs and dri\cii into these fastnesses. 

 They are a stationar\- laee. and biiild t lieiiiselves sttuie 

 villages, and wherever a hollow in the liill lias accumulated 



