59° 



The National Geographic Magazine 



Bedouin camps, where no doubt "fair 

 Zuleika awaits in her tent," we gallop 

 back to Biskra, the apathetic "ships of 

 the desert" scarcely looking up from the 

 sage-brush as we pass. With eyes trained 

 to peer for big game in American for- 

 ests, the writer looked in vain for ga- 

 zelles or ostriches, each moving speck on 

 nearer view always proving a camel. But 

 gazelles and ostriches do abound, says the 

 Arab, and also at some seasons the ser- 

 pent a come, whose bite is said to be 

 fatal, though these last are seldom found 

 near Biskra. Dried ones, souvenirs of 

 what one did not see, may be purchased 

 for a franc, and seem rather more desira- 

 ble than the live variety. 



A story is told of an Englishman who 

 was "doing" the desert, and who wished 

 to protect his legs against the reptiles. 

 He provided himself with tin boot-legs, 

 and a pair are shown to travelers ; but a 

 delicious doubt exists as to whether the 

 Englishman left them or whether they 

 are all that is left of the Englishman. 



Beautiful Biskra with her crown of 

 palms rises before us in the sunset as we 

 approach. The grace, lightness, and yet 

 the suggestive strength of the wonderful 

 trees is difficult to describe ; the glow of 

 sunset on the stems, the shadows of the 

 sharp-pointed leaves, all need a subtler 

 pen than mine. The sands are dyed deep 

 purple now, with high lights of brilliant 

 rose, and over the Sahara bends the even- 



ing sky, its blue blending into saffron and 

 green, washed thinly with streaks of 

 crimson. Until one has seen the sun go 

 down over the African desert one can 

 never conceive what brightness of color 

 Nature carries on her palette. 



The clear musical tenor of the muez- 

 zin's call floats from the minaret of the 

 Biskran mosque: 



"Come to prayer, come to prayer ; 

 It is better to pray than to sleep;" 



and looking eastward the faithful fall 

 prostrate. "Allah il Allah" (God is 

 great) is the substance of their psalm of 

 praise, and the motionless figures and 

 the solemnity of the scene are beautiful 

 in their suggestiveness. What though 

 the heaven prayed for and the prophet 

 worshiped seem unorthodox, there is 

 faith, devotion, and adoration. It is an 

 honest, earnest faith, be it right or wrong, 

 a religion of duty and of following to the 

 letter the law laid down by Mahomet. 

 Even though on deliberate examination 

 the whole system of Mohammedanism 

 does break down, one must admit that 

 the fervor is sincere. With the desert for 

 their temple, their altar-fire the setting 

 sun, their faces toward Mecca, and their 

 hearts toward Allah, their every attitude 

 breathes faith and devotion. Benighted 

 they are, and unregenerate, but earnest, 

 nature-loving, and sincere wherever the 

 Goum surrounds the tri-colored standard 

 of the Prophet. 



