766 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
A CARAVAN ARRIVING AT TANGIER FROM THE INTERIOR 
Note the shaven head of the central figure. 
spectator. 
as high as possible to keep them out of 
the water. The scene at some of these. 
fords, when various caravans were cross- 
ing, was always interesting and some- 
times very amusing. In arranging their 
attire for a deep ford, the country women 
seemed to adopt the philosophy of the 
ostrich, for they appeared to deem them- 
selves sufficiently and modestly protected 
from gaze so long as their faces were 
carefully covered. 
Just before reaching the mountains to 
the north of Fez we crossed the most 
barren plain that we encountered on the 
journey. From early morning till late 
in the evening we toiled on, looking in 
vain for a little water to give our fam- 
ished animals. Although it was nearly 
the first of November, the African sun 
had lost none of its strength, and in spite 
of our cork helmets all three of us were 
nearly overcome by the broiling heat. 
Hour after hour we rode on, hoping to 
The single tuft of hair is turned from the 
Photo by Thomas L. Blayney, Ph. D. 
find at least a cactus plant to afford us a 
slight bit of protection, where we could 
choke down a bite of lunch; but there 
was no sign of vegetation more than a 
hand high. A chafed horse caused us 
delay, and it was not till the middle of 
the afternoon that we reached the dry 
bed of a stream, under the banks of 
which we could crouch in a few feet of 
shade and attempt to strengthen our- 
selves with a little food. To make mat- 
ters worse, when our caravan arrived we 
found our great jar of boiled water 
empty, the excuse being that “it had 
slipped off the mule’s back and been 
spilled.” We had our own opinion, how- 
ever, as to where it had gone. But as 
we watched our muleteers trudging 
along on foot, urging on the unwilling 
animals, we could not begrudge them 
the water in spite of our own parched 
throats. ‘To avoid fevers we were com- 
pelled to be very careful about our own 
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