THE COUNTRY OF THE ANT MEN 



381 



and was so profuse with his compliment- 

 ary speeches that I found it difficult, 

 through the medium of my interpreter, 

 to keep pace with him. 



The meal was a plentiful one, better 

 cooked and served than is customary 

 among the natives. Nearly all the dishes 

 were highly seasoned with red pepper. 

 The piece de resistance was, as usual, 

 the celebrated cous-cous. The founda- 

 tion of this dish was semolina, cooked 

 so that every grain was dry and distinct. 

 It was served in a wooden bowl with a 

 ragout of meat, carrots, tomatoes, chick- 

 peas, and dried apricots. The fried 

 dishes were cooked with goat's fat, 

 the provision of the Mohammedan law 

 against eating swine's flesh preventing 

 the use of ordinary lard. The bread, 

 baked in round, hollow loaves with a 

 very thin crust, was chiefly remarkable 

 for its extreme toughness. 



The repast ended with several cups of 

 thick black Moorish coffee, boiled with 

 sugar. A glass of lukewarm tea as a 

 sort of "chaser" after each cup was an 

 innovation which I did not particularly 

 relish, but when one is entertained by a 

 host of such sanctity, it is out of the 

 •question to refuse anything that is of- 

 fered. 



The marabout showed me with great 

 pride a silver coffee service presented to 

 him by a former governor general of 

 Algeria. This was a reward for his 

 services in bringing about the capture 

 of the Touareg murderers of the Mar- 

 quis de Mores, a young Frenchman who 

 a few years before had made an ill- 

 advised attempt to cross the Sahara with 

 only a few Arab servants. I was told 

 that in cases of this kind it is not un- 

 usual for the Algerian government to 

 avail itself of the influence which the 

 great marabouts possess among the wild 

 tribes of the desert. 



In a shed behind the marabout's house 

 a number of weavers were squatting be- 

 fore a loom of primitive construction 

 making a carpet for the near-by mosque, 

 of which the marabout is custodian. The 

 colors were gaudy and the pattern rude, 

 yet not unpleasing. 



Next day I rode to El Guemar, ten 

 miles north of El Oued, and the second 

 largest town in the Souf. It was mar- 

 ket day at El Oued, and we passed 

 crowds of men and boys driving laden 

 camels and the sturdy little mouse-col- 

 ored donkeys for which the country is 

 noted. When I reached El Guemar I 

 was immediately surrounded by a strug- 

 gling, clamoring mob, whose behavior 

 puzzled me until I learned that I had 

 been mistaken for a purchasing agent of 

 the Tunisian tobacco monopoly. To- 

 bacco-growing is forbidden in Tunis and 

 the government obtains its supplies 

 largely in Algeria. We had noticed 

 along the road as we came from El 

 Oued many small irrigated patches of 

 this crop. 



There is another marabout at El 

 Guemar, and my interpreter, who was 

 always seized with a fit of devotion when 

 in the neighborhood of one of these holy 

 men, was anxious that I should make 

 him a visit ; but, remembering the rather 

 formidable ceremonies of the day before, 

 I declined the invitation and contented 

 myself with a view of the house of the 

 marabout's son. This had an attractive 

 exterior and was the only dwelling of 

 a native I have seen in the Sahara which 

 could make any pretension to architect- 

 ural merit. 



The morning had been fine and sunny, 

 but the weather was very disagreeable 

 during our ride back to El Oued. The 

 sky was overcast and a raw wind blew, 

 at one moment filling our eyes with sand 

 and the next driving gusts of cold rain 

 into our faces. The woolen burnous 

 which I had had made at Tozer a few 

 days before proved very comfortable, al- 

 though when riding I could never get the 

 Arab trick of keeping its folds wrapped 

 closely about the body while leaving both 

 hands free to manage bridle and whip. 

 The burnous is a very simple garment, 

 with neither sleeves nor buttons. In fact 

 it is hardly more than a blanket, gath- 

 ered at one corner by means of a few 

 curiously embroidered stitches, with a 

 hole to pass the head through and a hood, 



