512 



THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



alone sounds dismally from time to time through the loud roaring of the storm. The 

 sultry breath of the desert is felt far beyond its bounds. It blows over Italy, where 

 it is known as the sirocco, and crosses even the Alps, where, under the name of the 

 Fonwind, it rapidly melts the snow of the higher valleys, and causes dangerous inun- 

 dations. The dust of the desert, whirled high into the air, frequently falls upon the 

 decks of vessels crossing the Atlantic, far from the coast of Africa, and flies in clouds 

 over the Red Sea — a greeting from Nubia to Arabia. 



When we consider the scanty vegetation of the Sahara, we can not wonder that 

 animal life is but sparingly scattered over it. The lion, whom our poets so frequently 

 name the king of the desert," only shows himself on its borders; and on asking the 

 nomades of the interior whether it is ever seen in their parts, they gravely answer that 

 in Europe lions may perhaps feed on shrubs or drink the air, but that in Africa they 

 cannot exist without flesh and water, and therefore avoid the sandy desert. In fact, 

 they never leave the wooded mountains of the Atlas, or the fruitful plains of the Sou- 

 dan, to wan-der far away into the Sahara, where snakes and scorpions are the only 

 dangerous animals to be met with. The snakes, which belong to the genus Cerastes, 

 which is distinguished by two small horns upon the head, have a deadly bite, and are 

 remarkable for their almost total abstinence from water. When a caravan, on first 

 entering the desert, meets with one of these venomous reptiles, it is not killed, "for 

 it is of good omen to leave evil behind ; " but farther on the snakes are mercilessly 

 destroyed wherever they are seen. Among the animals which inhabit those parts of 

 the desert which are covered with prickly shrubs, we find hares and rabbits, hyenas 

 and jackals, the hedgehog and the porcupine. Several lizards inhabit the desert ; 

 among others, a large gray monitor, and a small white skink, with very short legs, 

 called zelgague by the Arabs. Its movements are so rapid that it seems to swim on 

 the sand like a fish in the water, and when one fancies he has caught it, it suddenly 

 dives under the surface. Its traces, however, betray its retreat, and it is easily ex- 

 tracted from its hole, — a trouble which, in spite of the meagre booty, is not consid- 

 ered too great when provisions are scarce. 



The ostrich, which is proverbially said to drink only every five days when there is 

 water, and to be able to endure thirst for a much longer period when there is none, and 

 the gazelle, which even the greyhound finds it difl&cult to catch, venture deeper into the 

 desert. The chase of the gazelle is a favorite amusement of the Saharians. On see- 

 ing a herd at a distance they approach as cautiously as possible ; and when about a mile 

 distant, they unleash their greyhounds, who dart off" with the rapidity of arrows, and 

 are excited, by loud cries, to their utmost speed. Yet they only reach the flying herd 

 after a long chase ; and now the scene acquires the interest of a drama. The best 

 greyhound selects the finest gazelle for his prey, which uses all its cunning to avoid its 

 pursuer, springing to the right, to the left, now forwards, then backwards, sometimes 

 even right over the greyhound's head ; but all these zigzag evolutions fail to save it 

 from its indefatigable enemy. When seized it utters a piteous scream, the signal of 

 the greyhound's triumph, who kills it with one bite in the neck. 



According to the seasons animal life fluctuates in the Sahara from north to south. 

 In winter and spring, when heavy rains, falling on its northern borders, provide wide 

 districts, thoroughly parched by the summer heat, with the water and pasturage needed 

 for the herds, the nomadic tribes wander farther into the desert with their camels, horses, 



