g v tea the better pleased 

 j5 £ appears the host. 



5 | OASES OP NORTHERN AE- 

 £ £ RICA AND THE SAHARA 



g-g Many oases of north- 

 ern Africa and the Sa- 

 £ Z hara owe their existence 

 £ | to large, springs of hot 

 or cold water that bub- 

 •§•5 ble up close to each 

 £g other, forming a great 

 pool or natural reser- 

 voir, whence runs the 

 stream that irrigates the 

 oasis. This stream, called 

 by Arabs an oued, is di- 

 g*3 vided and subdivided a 

 •g g great many times, so that 

 ns as much land as possible 

 can be irrigated. The 

 i -§tS sand of the Sahara is 

 <j •§ c not like that of the sea- 

 g shore, for when irri- 



►2 gated it becomes as fer- 



w jj? tile as virgin soil; hence 



< 6 g£ the fortunate owner of 

 S.S a garden with water 



>h u g privileges in an oasis, is, 



2j .S*."6S as a rule, a wealthy man. 



* "S3 In the thirteenth cen- 



< I'S, tury there lived at To- 

 g v £ zeur the Arab historian 

 «.> "5 a Iman Ibn Chabbath, who 



3 



^ o 



- Oh 



o 



planned and carried out 

 i=£ the simple system of ir- 

 rigation that one sees to- 

 day when roaming 

 through the oases. The 

 river (oued) that runs 

 > q from the springs was di- 

 ~ t! vided into three streams 

 of equal volume ; each 

 of these three main 

 streams was again sub- 

 divided into seven 

 smaller streams of equal 



CD O 



1) 



.S3 OT 



bJO - C 



sew volume, so that the oasis 



g of Tozeur was entirely 



t5 g | irrigated by these 21 



" « o streams. 



S g.« The Iman Ibn Chab- 



fe'l^ bath died in the year 



5 § ° 1282 A. D. and was 



« a buried at Bled-el-Hader. 



H"S5 His system of irrigation 



