THE ALGERIAN SAHARA. 41 
southern relatives, as described to us by many African 
travellers. 
I left Laghouat on the oth of April for the Mzab. For 
this expedition I had engaged by way of a Dragoman an 
Arab named Mahommed Belhuri, and another to act under 
him, named Mzoud. We bestrode two mules, and behind 
us came Mzoud on a camel, beneath: whose belly slung a 
goat-skin containing our water for three or four days. I 
had also a joint of meat, a keg of wine, a dozen new loaves, 
six boxes of sardines,a German sausage, a supply of cheese, 
a paper of cigars, the first and second volume of Sclater’s 
“Ibis,” and a new journal-book. Thus armed and equipped 
I proposed to explore the Mzab country, and see if the 
inhabitants were the fiery sons of Ishmael which they had 
been represented to be. By ten a.m. we sallied out of the 
south gate, breathing all manner of slaughter against rare 
birds, and began our journey. As we rode along I shot two 
new to me, the Bifasciated Lark (Certhilauda desertorum), 
and the Bleached Shrike (Lanzus lathora). I never got the 
former again in Algeria, but I saw the latter daily infesting 
every Mzab garden. A favourite perch is the bottom of a 
Palm’s crest, where the fronds are broken short, whence 
they dart off to snatch the passing beetle, or rise into the 
air after the more high-flying locust. But what are my 
guides looking at so intently? A great thick snake. One 
of them jammed its head off with a pole. It was, as near 
as I remember, about three feet in length, but thick in pro- 
portion, with beautifully marked coils, something like our 
common Viper’s. Only on two other occasions did I see 
snakes, There is one sort that the French are very much 
afraid of, called the “Vipére a corne.” An English tourist 
is said to have encased his feet in tin boots as a protection 
against them. 
Though viewed from the highest rock in Laghouat, the 
Southern Sahara had appeared to be a boundless plain, we 
