HORTICULTURE — HOUSES OF SALT. 105 
of its leaves is very refreshing to the eye. During 
the present season, however, the greater portion of 
the gardens is devoted to onion-raising. Whole 
fields are covered with this vegetable. Parsley is 
running to seed. The korna is also seen in the 
suburbs. Few birds visit the gardens of Fezzari, 
which are all planted with palms. One or two 
groves have been recently added, and are dis- 
tinguished as the " new trees." The irrigated beds 
are covered with palm-shoots, the curving fan-like 
leaves bending prettily over the ground. 
The winnowing of grain is conducted in the most 
slovenly manner. The ripe ears with the dry stalks 
are thrown on the sand, and then half-a-dozen 
donkeys are driven over them — an animated thresh- 
ing machine. The grain, of course, mixes with the 
sand, and is separated from it with considerable loss 
and waste of time. 
The sandy soil of the gardens is sometimes 
mixed with a large quantity of salt, which gives 
it a firm consistence. Of this soil the houses of 
the city are built. Rain would melt them ; but 
this blessing never cools the scorching atmosphere 
of Mourzuk.^ 
In this day's agricultural and horticultural walk 
I fell in with the nymphs of the gardens; or, in 
other words, the washerwomen of Mourzuk. They 
* Showers of rain are subsequently mentioned, however ; and it is 
a mistake to suppose that the hard blocks of fossil-salt mixed with 
earth, of which the houses in the oases of Northern Africa are often 
built, can be so easily melted down. — Ed. 
