52 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 
resound with joyous carols, while the sparkling Bee-eater, 
the painted Roller, and the gilded Oriole flicker in the 
foliage—a veritable naturalist’s paradise! 
Nothing can exceed the fertility of the oasis. Vines, sur- 
passing any which I ever saw in size and luxuriance, were 
bent with many an unripe cluster, trained from Palm-stem 
to Palm-stem, and all the Figs, and Pomegranates, and 
Apricot trees were loaded with green fruit, while high over- 
head there towered six-and-fifty thousand Date Palms, I 
saw the last red rays of the setting sun as they shed a 
golden pathway through the trellissed stems, grander than 
the grandest palace. 
I had now come, as I calculated, about 430 miles from 
the sea, in a nearly direct line due south from Algiers— 
only one or two Englishmen have to my knowledge ever 
penetrated further. 
An inquisitive mob gathered round us in the market 
place—brawny men and enna-stained children pressed for- 
ward, or mounted on the bench of justice with cries of 
surprise. Doubtless many of the latter had never seen a 
white face before. The Guest house was in the market 
place; it had two doors, and three apertures which did duty 
for windows. As it was three-storied I used the bottom 
part for the mules, received guests on the second floor, and 
kept the top story for skinning and writing. Canon Tristram 
gives a picture of it (I. c.). How strange to be quartered 
in the same room of the same house where he and Mr. 
Peed were, fourteen years before! 
While we awaited the arrival of a negro with a ponderous 
iron key, I could not help noticing how many there were 
in the crowd who were blind. Alas! ophthalmia is only 
too prevalent among them. When we had washed and 
taken coffee, which is an indispensable ceremony among 
the Arabs, the chief led the way to the Jews’ quarter. We 
entered the house of a wealthy Hebrew. The Rabbi, as I 
