Biskra, The Ziban Quee 



N 



565 



ZOUAVES AT SETIF 



sand trees in this oasis of El Kantara — 

 date-palms, oranges, and figs, the first 

 predominating. There is a waving green 

 sea of foliage set down in the burning 

 sand, with quaint Arab houses nearly hid- 

 den in the trees, and square, high watch- 

 towers looming among the palms. These 

 towers are towers for the guards who 

 watch the fruit when ripe, for the Arab 

 has notoriously vague ideas of meum et 

 tuum. Water everywhere, in wells, in 

 pools, in irrigating ditches among the 

 trees, for the Arab proverb says that the 

 tree of the desert "must grow with his 

 feet in water, his head in fire." As sud- 

 denly as it began, the emerald verdure 

 ceases, and there is the golden desert 

 stretching on again in its vastness. Not 

 level though, and here again has the pri- 

 mary geography somewhat deceived us, 

 for in this region Sahara is mountainous 

 and rocky, though this phenomenon is 

 not seen north of Biskra. 



Presently some Roman ruins are pass- 

 ed, fragments of cornices and shafts of 



columns, remains of an aqueduct and 

 masonry, and the ruins of a square fort 

 built in the reign of Caracalla, he of 

 bath fame, who, with his brother-emperor 

 Hadrian, the traveler concludes, must 

 have been a very busy man. Along our 

 way the sand-hills are white with salt- 

 peter, and at the end of a limestone range 

 is the Montagne du Sel mentioned by 

 Herodotus, a hill of bluish-gray rock- 

 salt. The south boundary is the Djebel- 

 bou-Ghazal, and as we approach Biskra 

 the ruins of a Turkish fort are passed, 

 and then, en face, appears the square and 

 sturdy outline of Fort Saint Germain, 

 the French fortification guarding the 

 precious possessions of the "Ziban 

 Queen." 



We resort to Murray for facts, and 

 learn that we are 360 feet above sea- 

 level, that the oasis is six miles long, 

 possesses 170,000 date-palms, beside tam- 

 arind, fig, and orange trees, and likewise 

 possesses what is claimed to be the most 

 perfect climate in the world from No- 



