aoto by 1' rec.io.j 



The fate of the ouled nail, or dancing girl, of Biskra is often that described by the 

 prophet Jeremiah : "Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with 

 ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thy- 

 self fair; thy lovers will despise thee" (Jeremiah 3: 30). 



and on turning saw an old woman pitch 

 headlong into the abyss below. She had 

 come out to throw rubbish down the 

 precipice and had lost her balance and 

 toppled over. 



She hit the boulders and rebounded 

 like a rubber ball, and brought up at last 

 almost out of sight in the valley below. 

 We all thought she was dead, for a fall 

 of about 900 feet surely meant death, 

 and it seemed as if every bone in her 

 body must have been broken. 



Her relatives and family went down 

 to pick up her remains, and two hours 

 later she was brought up, more dead than 

 alive. I expressed my regret to the 

 sheik of the village, and he said she was 

 only a woman and an old one at that, 

 and that her time had come. 



This accident darkened my day's en- 



joyment, and for several days it was a 

 very vivid and unpleasant memory. Im- 

 agine my relief on hearing later that she 

 had entirely recovered, and that not a 

 single bone was broken. 



From the Troglodyte caves of Guer- 

 messa to the valley below, where the 

 springs of drinking water are situated, 

 is a drop of about 1,800 feet. The path 

 is over 3 miles long and zigzags all the 

 way up. 



CAVE-DWELLERS THAT LIVE BY THEM- 

 SELVES 



From Gabes to Dehibat, and from 

 Matmata over the Tripoli border, one 

 finds, scattered here and there, small 

 groups of cave-dwellers living in caves 

 in the mountain side, sometimes only one 

 family. 



13 



