844 
of Ali-Baba to have hidden themselves 
in. Ina niche were large wooden chests, 
and the usual collection of firearms hung 
from the rock wall. At the rear of the 
cave was another cave that served as a 
storehouse for saddles, wooden plows, 
gourbis, and household articles. Judging 
from the sounds, this second cave must 
have communicated by means of a tunnel 
with a subterranean stable, where the 
horses, mules, and donkeys were kept, 
for I heard the snarling of camels, the 
bleating of goats, and the constant bark- 
ing of dogs, and it seemed as if all the 
fleas of Tunisia were jumping over me. 
My bed consisted of two Kairowan car- 
pets and my steamer rug that served days 
as a saddle blanket. 
From Douirat to Chinini the trail is 
very bad and slippery. The mountain 
sides are covered with esparto-grass. We 
passed superb large olive trees that the 
natives told me were the shoots taken 
from the olive trees planted by the Ro- 
mans. Fig trees seem to thrive also. 
As we neared Chinini we saw a very 
large and picturesque maribout to the 
left of our trail. To the right was a vast 
desert of sand and stones. The heat was 
great, and it was a comfort to dismount 
and take shelter in one of the caves of 
the sheik, which was particularly clean 
and attractive. It contained the usual 
arsenal of guns and pistols, cous-cous 
plates and covers, a Persian picture of 
the kaaba at Mecca, for the sheik had 
been there, and an assortment of Touareg 
cushions and decorative rugs from Kair- 
owan and Persia. 
The water for Chinini has to be carried 
from a well in an oasis of palm and olive 
trees over three kilometers from the 
town, situated down in the valley. It is 
brought up by the girls and women in 
great pottery jars or carried up in spe- 
cially prepared goat skins on donkey 
back. 
The dwellings of Chinini (pictures, 
pages 840-841) resemble those of Doui- 
rat—ereat caves dug into the mountain 
side and courtyards and small buildings 
of masonry in front of the caves. 
Perched high above the rest of the 
town was the ksar, fortified citadel and 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
storehouse in times of siege, fast tumb- 
ling to ruins, like all the other Troglo- 
dyte towns. 
Some of the French officers have div- 
ided the Troglodytes of extreme southern 
Tunisia into three groups: 
1st. Troglodytes that live under the 
earth, like Matmata. 
2d. Troglodytes that live in caves or 
dig holes in the hillside. 
3d. Climbing Troglodytes, such as we 
have seen at Douirat, Chinini, Bini Bar- 
ker, and Ghourmessa. 
since I have visited them all and 
studied them in their homes—slept, eaten, 
and lived among them—it seems to me 
they are all originally climbing Troglo- 
dytes who have adopted the dwelling and 
abode best suited to their wants. Almost 
all of the Troglodytes are semi-nomads, 
and leave their mountain homes to wan- 
der in the plains and deserts that extend 
from their mountains to the Mediterra- 
nean, or pitch their gourbis on some 
mountain side far away from any village, 
where their goats and camels can find 
something to eat. 
A number of men had come over from 
Ghourmessa to meet us and escort us to 
their towns, so that about 20 persons 
dined after us at Chinini. Many were 
the stories they told of feats of valor and 
bravery, of wars against Douirat and the 
other Troglodyte towns. The sheik told 
us how 20 years ago, when a woman 
went to fetch water from the well, five 
or six armed men had to go with her, 
and that at night 12 or 15 armed men pa- 
trolled the town lest men from another 
village would attack them. When at- 
tacked all the inhabitants would flee to 
the ksar, where the walls were very thick 
and where provisions of grain, olive oil, 
and water were always kept on hand. 
Some of these ksar have walls from six 
to ten meters thick, with one small gate- 
way, where only one man can crawl 
through at a time, and the rhorfas are 
built one upon another to a height of 
from six to ten stories. One climbs up 
by means of projecting stones stuck in at 
random. 
The sheik asked me if I had noticed 
the guns of the Caliph of Foum Tata- 
