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about three or four in the afternoon, the lion and lioness quit their
lair to make a distant reconnaissance, with the object, no doubt, of
procuring food for their litter. They may be seen upon the summit of
an eminence, examining the douars, and taking note of the smoke
that issues from them, and of the position of the flocks. After
uttering some horrible roars, an invaluable warning to the
surrounding population, they again disappear. It is during this
absence that the hunters cautiously make their way to the cubs and
carry them off, taking care to gag them closely, for their cries would
not fail to bring back the old ones, who would never forgive the
outrage. After an exploit of this nature the entire neighbourhood is
obliged to be doubly vigilant. For seven or eight days the lions rush
about in all directions, roaring fearfully. The lion under such
circumstances is a truly terrible monster. At such a time the eye
must not encounter the eye.
The flesh of the lion, though sometimes eaten, is not good, but his
skin is a valued gift, and presented only to Sultans and illustrious
chiefs, and occasionally, to marabouts and zaouïas. The Arabs fancy
that it is good to sleep upon one, as it drives away the demons,
conjures up good fortune, and averts certain diseases. Lion's claws,
mounted in silver, are used as ornaments by women; while the skin
of his forehead is a talisman worn by some persons on their head to
preserve the energy and audacity of their brain. In short, lion-
hunting is held in high repute among the Arabs. Every combat with
that animal may take the device: Kill or Die! He who kills him, eats
him—says the proverb—and he who kills him not is eaten by him. In
this spirit they bestow on any one who has killed a lion, this laconic
and virile eulogy: Hadak houa—"that one is he!" A popular belief
illustrates the grandeur of the part played by the lion in the life and
imagination of the Arabs. When a lion roars, they pretend that they
can readily distinguish the following words: Ahna ou ben-el mera—"I
and the son of woman." Now, as he twice repeats ben-el mera, and
only once says ahna, they conclude that he recognizes no superior
save the son of woman.
 THE CAMEL.[89]

It was said by the Prophet: "The good things of this world, to the
day of the last judgment, are attached to the forelocks of your
horses;
"Sheep are a blessing;
"And the Almighty has created nothing, as an animal, preferable to
the camel."
The camel is the ship of the desert. Allah hath said: "You may load
your merchandize in barks and on camels." As in the desert there is
very little water, and there are long distances to be traversed, the
Almighty has endowed them with the faculty of easily enduring
thirst. In winter they never drink. The Prophet more than once gave
the following advice: "Never utter coarse remarks on the subject of
the camel or of the wind: the former is a boon to men, the latter an
emanation from the soul of Allah." Camels are the most
extraordinary animals in the world, and yet there are none more
docile, owing to their being so much with men. So great, indeed, is
their docility, that they have been known to follow a rat, that, in the
act of gnawing, pulled a rope smeared with butter, by which they
were fastened. Such is the will of Allah. These apophthegms suffice
to show that the camel is, of all created animals, the most useful in
respect of the wants of the Arabs.
The Arabs of the Sahara can tell the age of a camel by its teeth.
They say it is long-lived, though they cannot give any very precise
information on the subject. They put the case, however, in this
manner. If a camel be born on the same day with a child, it has
reached old age by the time the latter has distinguished himself in
combats, which implies the age of eighteen to twenty-five years.
Camels require much care and experience in managing them.
Whenever it is possible, the male camels are led to a different
pasture from the females. After the 15th of April, they are not sent
out to feed until the afternoon, because it has been remarked that
the grass is covered with a sort of dew that lays the foundation of
fatal diseases. Care is also taken to prevent the camels from eating
within the douar what remains in the morning of the small quantity
of grass given to the horses overnight. These precautions are
necessary during the six weeks or two months in which the dew is
observed. Throughout the whole winter, the end of autumn, and the
beginning of spring, the camels may be permitted, with advantage,
to browse on shrubs with a salt flavour; but in the beginning of April,
and at the end of May, they must not be allowed to do so for more
than five or six days.
The shearing of the camels takes place in the latter part of April.
They are made to lie down, and are operated upon by the shepherds
and female slaves, a woman standing behind them to gather the
fleece which she thrusts into bags. It is a somewhat slow operation.
El oubeur, or camel's fleece, is used in making canvas for tents,
camel-ropes, sacks called gherara, and djellale, or horse-cloths. It is
mixed almost invariably with common wool.
The ordinary burden of a camel is two tellis of wheat, or about
250 kilogrammes. If not over-driven, it can go from dawn to sunset,
at least if it be allowed, as it journeys along, to elongate its neck and
pluck the herbage that grows on either side of its path. In this
manner it will cover from ten to twelve leagues in the twenty-four
hours, and every fifth day it must be permitted to rest. In the desert,
camels are let out to hire, not by the day, but by the journey, going
and returning, according to the distance. For instance, from El-Biod,
among the Oulad-Sidi-Shikh, to the Beni-Mzab, or about fifty
leagues, costs from two to three douros, and from the same point to
Timimoun six or seven douros.
The flesh of the camel is eaten as food. The animal, however, is
seldom killed unless it has a broken leg, or is sick. The flesh is
sometimes salted, and, after being dried in the sun, is kept as a
provision on a journey. The love and veneration felt by the Arabs of
the Sahara for their camels are quite intelligible. "How should we not
love them?" they exclaim. "Alive, they transport ourselves, our
wives, our children, our baggage and provisions, from the land of
oppression to that of liberty. The weight they can carry is enormous,
and the distance they traverse very considerable. In other words,
they further the relations of commerce and render aid in war. Thanks
to them, we are able, whenever we please, to shift our
encampment, whether in search of new pasturages, or to escape
from an enemy. Moreover, we drink their milk, which is also useful in
the preparations of food, and neutralises the injurious qualities of
the date. Dead, their flesh is everywhere eaten with relish, and their
hump is sought after as a savoury dish. Their skin serves as shoe-
leather. If soaked, and then sewed to the saddle-tree, it imparts,
without the aid of a single nail or peg, a solidity that nothing can
affect. Then, their sobriety and endurance of heat and thirst permit
them to be kept alike by rich and poor. They are truly a boon from
Allah, who hath said:—
Horses for a dispute,
Oxen for poverty.
Camels for the desert.
 SHEEP.

No cattle are reared in the Sahara, owing to the scarcity of water,

the scantiness of the herbage, the stony nature of the ground, and
the frequent removals from one place to another. But, if the desert
be unfavourable for the rearing of cattle, it is, assuredly, the
veritable country of the sheep. This animal finds there the salt
shrubs eaten by the camel, as well as many fragrant and nutritious
plants known by the generic name of el aâsheub. Water it obtains
from the ponds supplied by the rains, or from the basins formed by
the side of wells, and kept up with great care. The wells themselves
are, for the most part, surrounded with masonry, and sheltered from
the drifting sands. Sheep, besides, are patient of thirst. In spring,
they are given to drink once in five or six days; in summer, every
other day; in autumn, every third day; and in winter every fourth
day. During the great heats of summer, they are not allowed to
touch the pools of water lying on the surface of the ground,—
experience having shown that at that period of the year stagnant
water, rendered tepid by the sun's rays, is very unwholesome. If a
drought happens to have prevailed during the first two months of
spring, and if rain falls plentifully in the third, the herbage grows
luxuriantly, and is called khelfa, or compensation. As if to make
amends for their long abstinence, the sheep eat it greedily, but it is
apt to give them a sickness named el ghoche, or treason. This
disease does not manifest itself until after the summer heats. The
head and lower jaw become much swollen, the animal coughs
continually, and death usually supervenes. According to the Arabs, a
rainy autumn, by causing fresh grass to spring up early, greatly
tends to mitigate the pernicious effects of the ghoche.
 Sheep are very prolific. They generally lamb twice in the year—in
the early part of spring and autumn. The large tribes possess from
two to three hundred thousand sheep, which are divided into flocks
of four hundred, called ghelem or aâssa [a stick]. Wealthy
individuals have from fifteen to twenty ghelem, and the poorest a
half, or even a quarter ghelem.
In the Sahara there is a species of sheep that yields a magnificent
wool, very soft but not very long. This is the wool employed in the
manufacture of articles of luxury. These animals are nearly red in the
head, and the ewes give a great deal of milk.
It is said of the finest ewes of this breed:
They see like an owl,
And walk like a tortoise.

Their wool descends to their hoofs and so completely covers their

head that, literally, nothing but their eyes is visible. In the Sahara
and in the kuesours, a zedja, or fleece, is worth only one boudjou,
but the price is greatly enhanced by the time it reaches the Tell, and
especially the sea-coast. Some sheep have no horns, and are called
fertass [bald]. Others, again, have four, and are known as el
kuerbourb; while others have horns that are bent back, and are
named el kheroubi.
The Arabs take no care whatever of their sheep. They have no
sheds in which to shelter them from the severity of the weather, nor
supplies of forage to save them from starvation. Consequently, in
bad seasons they frequently lose one-half of their flocks, and if
blamed for this carelessness, or offered advice, they answer quite
simply: "To what purpose is all that? They are the property of Allah
[Kher Eurby]. He does with them as it pleases Him. Our ewes give
us two lambs every year. Next year our losses will be repaired."
The following sentiments are ascribed to sheep:—
"I love the close hand, that is, to belong to a miser who would
neither sell us, nor slaughter us for the entertainment of his guests.
 "I love distant market-places; for when they are near to my
master, for one reason or another we are sold, or slaughtered.
"And every day a new house; that is, fresh and more abundant
pasturage."
Sheep are the fortune of the child of the desert. He says of them:
"Their wool serves to make our tents, our carpets, our garments, our
horse-cloths, our sacks, our nose-bags, our camel's-packs, our
ropes, our cushions. And what remains in excess of our own
necessities we sell in the kuesours or in the Tell, when we go there,
after harvest, to buy grain. Their flesh we eat, or give it to be eaten
by the guests of Allah. Dried in the sun, it will keep, and be of use to
us in our journeys. Their milk is very serviceable to our families,
whether as drink or food. We make of it leben or sheneen [sour
milk], and what is over we give to our horses. We also get butter
from it, which enters into the preparation of our food, or which we
exchange in the kuesours for dates. Of their skin we make cushions,
and buckets to draw water from the well. With it we ornament the
aâtatouches[90] of our women, or we dress it for shoe-leather. We
have no need to plough, or sow, or reap, or thresh out the corn, or
to fatigue ourselves like vile slaves, or like the wretched inhabitants
of the Tell. No; we are independent, we pray, we trade, we hunt, we
travel, and if we have occasion to procure that which others can only
obtain by sweat and toil, we sell our sheep, and forthwith provide
ourselves with arms, horses, women, jewels, clothes, or whatever
else affords us gratification, or embellishes our existence. The owner
of sheep has no need to labour, nor is he ever in want of anything.
So Allah has willed it!"
 LIFE IN THE DESERT.

In studying life in the desert, I have been greatly struck by its

analogy to that of the Middle Ages, and by the resemblance which
exists between the horseman of the Sahara and the knight of our
legends, romances, and chronicles. This analogy will appear yet
more real, this resemblance yet more striking, on a close observation
of the accessory characteristics which I now propose to sketch with
a rapid hand.
By the Arab of the Sahara, I do not mean a dweller in the
kuesours. The latter is rallied by the wandering tribes as much as
the inhabitants of the Tell, and receives at their hands all sorts of
derisive epithets. Grown fat through his habits of indoor and
commercial life, he is called "the father of the belly," the grocer, the
pepper-dealer. This rearer of fowls—the Arab of the tent possesses
no fowls—this shopkeeper resembles the simple citizen of all
countries and of all times. He is, at bottom, the villain, the churl of
the Middle Ages. He is the Moorish citizen of Algiers—he has the
same placid, apathetic, crafty physiognomy.
It is of the master of the tent that I propose to speak: of him who
is never more than fifteen to twenty days without changing his
abode; of the genuine Nomad, of him who never enters "the
tiresome Tell" but once a year, and then only to purchase grain. My
horseman, my hunter, my warrior is the man with a hardy iron-
nerved constitution, a complexion embrowned by the sun, limbs well
proportioned, in stature rather tall than short, but making light of
the advantage of height, "of that lion's skin on a cow's back," unless
adroitness, activity, health, vigour and, above all, courage be
combined with it. But if he values courage, he also pities rather than
despises, and never insults those who "want liver." It is not their
fault, he good-humouredly remarks, but the will of Allah. His
abstinence cannot be exceeded, but, accommodating himself to
circumstances, he never neglects an opportunity of making a good
and hearty meal. His ordinary diet is simple and without much
variety; but, for all that, when the necessity arises, he understands
how to entertain his guests in a becoming manner. When the
ouadâa, or peculiar festival of a tribe, or douar, comes round, at
which his friends will be present, he would not offer them the slight
implied by his absence, and though it may be at a distance of thirty
or forty leagues, he will not fail to go there and fill himself with food.
Besides, they know well that he is quite ready to return their
hospitality, and that they have not to do with one of those stingy
town traders who never offer more than a space of four square feet
to sit down in, a pipe of tobacco, and a cup of coffee either without
any sugar at all, or sugared only after many preliminary phrases,
carefully enunciated in recommendation of coffee without sugar.
Among the Arabs, everything concurs to give power to the
development of the natural man. Nervous, hardy, sober, though
occasionally displaying a vigorous appetite, their eyesight is keen
and piercing. They boast that they can distinguish a man from a
woman when two to three leagues distant, and a flock of camels
from a flock of sheep at double that distance. Nor is this mere
bragging. The extent and clearness of their vision arise, as in the
case of our sailors, from the incessant habit of looking far ahead
over an immense and objectless space. And, accustomed as they are
to scenes and objects always the same and which encircle them
within narrow limits, it would be strange if they did not recognize
them under almost any circumstances. Nevertheless, diseases of the
eye are very common. The refraction of the sun's rays, the dust and
perspiration cause numerous misadventures, such as ophthalmia and
leucoma, and blind and one-eyed men are numerous in many parts
of the desert—for instance, among the Beni-Mzab, at El Ghrassoul,
Ouargla, and Gourara.
 The dweller in the desert, in infancy and youth, has beautiful
white, even teeth; but the use of dates as his habitual and almost
exclusive diet spoils them as he advances in years. When a tooth is
entirely decayed, he is compelled to have recourse to the armourer
or farrier, who is privileged to torture his patient, to break his jaw
with his pincers, and tear away the gums together with the tooth
that was troubling him.
The genuine chief, the real great lord, rarely leaves the saddle,
and very seldom goes on foot, though he wears both boots and
shoes. The common Arab, however, is an indefatigable walker, and in
the course of a day will get over an incredible distance. His ordinary
pace is what the French call the pas gymnastique [which is quicker
than the English "double"], and what he himself calls a dog-trot. On
flat ground, he generally takes off his shoes, if he happens to have
any, partly that he may walk faster and more comfortably, and partly
that he may not wear them out. Consequently, his foot is like that of
antique statues, broad and flat, and with the toes wide apart. He is
never troubled with corns, and more than once Christians, who have
insinuated themselves into caravans, have been detected by this
infallible sign and expelled. The sole of the foot acquires such
hardness, that neither sand nor stones affect it, and a thorn
sometimes penetrates to the depth of several lines without being
felt. In the desert, properly so called, however, the sand during the
great heat of summer is so burning hot that it is impossible to walk
upon it with naked feet. Even the horses are obliged to be shod, or
their feet would become painful and diseased. The dread of being
bitten by the lefâ, a viper whose venom is fatal, also compels the
Arabs themselves to wear buskins rising above the ankle.
The most common disease of the foot is the cheggag, or chaps,
which are healed by having grease rubbed in, and by being
afterwards cauterised with a hot iron. Sometimes these chaps are so
long and deep that they are obliged to be sewed up. The thread
used for the purpose is made of camel's sinews dried in the sun, and
split into parts as fine as silk; spun camel's hair is, likewise,
employed. All the inhabitants of the desert make use of this thread
to mend their saddles, and bridles, and wooden platters. Every one
carries about with him a housewife, a knife, and a needle.
Not a few turn their powers of pedestrianism to a good account,
and make it their profession. Hence come the runners and
messengers, who gird themselves tightly with a belt. These who are
called rekass undertake affairs of great urgency. They will do in four
days what the ordinary runners take ten to accomplish. They
scarcely ever stop, but if they find it necessary to rest they count
sixty inhalations of the breath and start again immediately. A rekass
who receives four francs for going sixty leagues thinks himself well
paid. This modest reward, however, is the more highly appreciated
because it is paid in actual money. Specie is rare, and is the smallest
portion of an Arab's fortune. The restricted circulation, and the
facility of providing for the principal necessities of life without buying
or selling, by simply having occasional recourse to barter are far
from lowering the value of coined money.
In the desert a special messenger travels night and day, and
sleeps only two hours in the twenty-four. When he lies down he
fastens to his foot a piece of cord of a certain length, to which he
sets fire; and, just as it is nearly burned out, the heat awakens him.
In 1846, an Arab, named El-Thouamy, a native of Leghrouât, was
sent by the Kalifa Sid-Hamed-ben-Salem to Berryân, a town situated
in the country of the Beni-Mzab. Starting at five in the morning from
Kuesyr-el-Heyrân, he reached his destination about seven in the
evening of the same day. In fourteen hours he had covered 168
kilomètres, travelling at the rate of twelve kilomètres an hour. This
same Thouamy set out one day from Negoussa to go to Berryân, a
distance of 180 kilomètres, charged with an important message, and
accomplished the journey in sixteen hours. During both of these
courses this man eat only a few dates and drank about two litres of
water.
In 1850, El-Ghiry, of the tribe of the Mokhalif, was hunting the
ostrich, and, while wholly absorbed in chasing a delim, his horse
broke down just as his last drop of water was exhausted. All trace of
his companions was lost. For thrice twenty-four hours he wandered
about at random, in the desert, without food or water. During the
day he slept under a bethoum, and walked all night. His family had
given him up entirely, when at length they saw him approaching. At
first they could hardly recognize him, so utterly exhausted was he,
so blackened by the sun, and reduced to such a skeleton. He
afterwards related that he believed he owed his life to his dreams, in
which he beheld his mother tending him, and giving him something
to eat and drink. These visions, he said, had comforted and
sustained him in his sore distress.
Let us now pass on from these examples of vigour and
abstinence, which might be multiplied to infinity, and give a tolerably
correct estimate of the goods and chattels of a Saharene nomad.
This inventory will afford a far better idea of life in the desert than
can be obtained from a long description. I take a man of influential
family, and assume that his household is constituted after the
following fashion. Himself, four wives, four sons, the wives of two of
his sons, each of whom has a child, four negroes, four negresses,
two white men servants, two white women servants: in all, twenty-
five souls. He may also, of course, have daughters, but they are sure
to be married, and are no further trouble to him. Such a household
as this will possess:
A spacious tent in thoroughly good condition, to
make which will require sixteen pieces of woollen
cloth, forty cubits long by two in width, each
worth from 7 to 8 douros, making a total of about 112 douros.

Two Arab beds, or rather carpets of shaggy wool,

thirty cubits in length by five broad; dyed with
madder, 20 douros each; if dyed with kermes, 25
douros 50

A carpet, twelve cubits long by four wide, hung 16

up as a curtain to separate the men's apartment
from that of the women. It is dyed with kermes
and costs

Six cushions, to contain wearing apparel and used

as pillows: the price of each is 2 douros 12

Six cushions of tanned antelope's skin, also used

to contain dresses and spun wool, and to lean
against in the tent 6

Six pieces of woollen stuff, made into a sort of

palanquin carried on camels' backs, and in which
the women travel 12

Five red haïks to cover the palanquins 50

Twenty woollen sacks for the carriage of corn 40

Six hamal, or loads of wheat 48

Twelve loads of barley 60

Ten woollen sacks in which are kept jewels,

wearing apparel, cotton-stuffs, gunpowder, filali,
[91]
money, etc., at 2 douros each 20

Fifteen goat-skin bags to hold water 25

Twelve sheep- or goat-skin bags to contain butter,

valued each at 4 douros 48
Four sheep- or goat-skin bags to hold honey,
which is an expensive article, as it comes from the
Tell; at 8 douros each 32

Eight hamal of dates. These hamal are sacks lined

with wool 64

Six tarahh, each tarahh comprising six skins of

morocco leather; in all, thirty six skins, at one
douro a piece 36

Gunpowder 30

Lead 5
Flints 4 douros.

Ten mektaa, or pieces of cotton-stuffs 20

Two meradjen, or vases of copper lined with tin,

with handles, to drink out of 2

Two tassa, or vases, also for drinking purposes 2

Two guessaa, or large wooden bowls for making

or eating kouskoussou 4

Six bakia, or drinking vessels of wood 2

A copper pot for cooking the food 2

Three metreud, or wooden platters for strangers
to eat from 3

Two fass, or mattocks, for preparing the site of

the tent, fixing it, etc., and for clearing wood 2

A kadouma, or small hatchet for shaping wood 1

Ten meudjesa, a kind of sickle for sheep-shearing 1

Two rekiza, or uprights of the tent 2

A âeushut-el-zemel, or tent with carpets,

cushions, etc., for travelling, or for receiving
strangers 30

Total 741 douros.

The wearing apparel of five men will consist of:
Eleven white burnouses, three for the father, and
two for each of his sons: a burnous costs 4
douros 44 douros.

Five haïks, at 4 douros each 20

Five habaya, or woollen shirts 10

Five mahazema, or belts of morocco leather

embroidered in silk 10

Five pair of belghra, or morocco shoes 2

Five shashia, or morocco fessy 2

Five kate, or complete suits, for grand occasions,

consisting of an oughrlila or outer garment, a
cedria or waistcoat, a seroual or pair of trousers;
a haïk of silk, a silken cord replacing the camel's
rope; and a cloth burnous: each suit at 60 douros
will make 300

Total 388 douros.

The wearing apparel of six women will consist of:
Six women's haïks, dyed with kermes 60 douros.

Six pair of morocco leather boots, embroidered 6

Six woollen girdles 12

Six white haïks worn over the head 6

Six benica, or silken hoods 6 douros.

Six aâsaba, or thread cord by which the women

fasten the haouly, or white haïk, over their heads 2

Six pair of kholkhale, or silver anklets, 20 douros

the pair 120

Six pair of souar, or bracelets, 7 douros the pair 42

Twelve bezima, or silver buckles, used by women

to fasten the haïk, 6 douros the pair 36
Six bezimat el gueursi, or throat buckles, used to
fasten the haouly under the chin after it has
encircled the head 12

Twelve ounaiss, or silver ear-rings set in coral.

Every woman wears two pair 24

Six mekhranga, or necklaces of coral and pieces

of money 48

Six necklaces of cloves interspersed with coral 5

Six zenzela, or silver chains with a small circular

plate in the middle, called "the scorpion:" the
chain stretches from ear to ear 18

Six kuerrabar, or silver boxes which the women

hang from their necks, and in which they put
musk and benjamin 18

Eighteen khatem, or silver rings 6

Six melyaca, or bracelets of djamous horn 6

Women in the desert do not wear any ornaments of gold;

the whole of their jewelry is in silver.

Total 815 douros.

The arms for seven men are:
Five guns for the masters, procured from Algiers,
and mounted in silver 100 douros.
Two guns for the servants 20

Five sabres, two of them mounted in silver 40

Five pistols, two of them mounted in silver 35

Four pistols for the negroes 1

Four sabres for the negroes 12

Total 219 douros.

Harness and horsemen's equipment consist of:
One saddle for the master 100 douros.

Four ordinary saddles 160

Two common saddles for the servants 20

One master's djebira of tiger-skin 17

Four ordinary djebira 28

One pair of master's temag, or boots of morocco

leather 12
Four pair of ordinary temag 24 douros.

One pair of master's spurs, mounted in silver and

ornamented with coral 6

Four pair of ordinary shabirs, or spurs 4

Five medol, or straw hats adorned with ostrich
feathers 5

Total 376 douros.

Horses, cattle, negroes, etc., consist of:
A stallion for the chief of the tent 100 douros.

Four blood mares for his sons 320

Two servants' mares 60

Six asses 18

Two slougui, or greyhounds [not purchasable] »

Four negroes 240

Four negresses 200

Twenty ghelem each ghelem a flock of 400 sheep 8,000

Four ibeul, or droves of 100 camels each: of these

400 animals, 130 are she-camels which command
a higher price than the males, but I value them all
round at 30 douros a head 12,000

Ten he- or she-goats, the only use of which is to

make the sheep keep moving on a march 50
 Two tame gazelles, a young antelope, and an
ostrich [these are never for sale] »

Total 20,988
douros.
The chief of a tent of this importance ought besides to possess, in depôt, in
three or four kuesours, or small towns:
Twelve hundred zedja, or fleeces, worth each half
a boudjou 200 douros.

Thirty white burnouses, at 3 douros each 90

Thirty haïks at 2 douros 60

Forty habaya, or woollen shirts at 2 douros 80

Forty loads of dates at 7 douros 280

Thirty camel loads of wheat 240

Thirty loads of barley 150

Four khrabya, or enormous earthen vessels filled

with butter

Total 1,100 douros.

I estimate at 600 douros the amount of what he
may have lent or sold, to the people of the
kuesours with whom he has business transactions 600 douros.

In his tent he has 600

Buried in a hose belonging to him in one of the
kuesours[92] 1,000

--------
Total 2,200 douros.
--------
He has likewise a house in a kuesour in the
charge of a khremass, containing his most
valuable property 60 douros.
--------

RECAPITULATION.

Tent and furniture, etc 741 douros.

Wearing apparel of both sexes 815

Arms 219

Harness and Accoutrements 376

Horses, cattle, etc. 20,988

Deposits 1,100

Loans, etc. 2,200

House 60
--------
Total 26,499
douros.[93]
--------
 An Arab who possesses such a fortune does no work. He attends the meetings
and assemblies of the djemâa, hunts, rides about, looks at his flocks, and prays.
His only occupations are political, warlike, and religious. A poor Arab equally
disdains manual labour. He is not forced to it, for there is no other kind of
cultivation than that of date-trees, which is left to the inhabitants of the kuesours.
Negroes are numerous and cost very little, and, with the assistance of a few white
servants, suffice for the services which the free men refuse to perform for
themselves. Some of the latter, however, mend their sacks and harness, but they
form the exception. There are likewise farriers, but these, in fact, are artists—the
privileges that are accorded to them, of which I have already had occasion to
speak, constituting them a sort of special corporation. The armourers are, in truth,
mere workmen who repair, but cannot manufacture, arms. The Arabs of the desert
are for the most part worse armed than those of the Tell, though their chiefs yield
to none in pomp and luxury. This is easily accounted for. As they obtain their arms
from Tunis by way of Tougourt, or from Morocco through the Gourara country, the
great distance to be traversed prevents them from getting their arms repaired as
soon as they need repairs, and the unskilfulness of those who undertake this
business will not permit them to do their work very efficiently. Many of the
Saharenes are still armed with lances, which they seldom use except when
pursuing runaways. Their spears consist of a shaft of wood six feet long, with a
flat double-edged head of iron, and are usually carried in a bandolier.
The Arab of the Sahara is very proud of his mode of life, which is not only
exempt from the monotonous toil to which the inhabitant of the Tell is subject, but
is full of action and excitement, of variety and incident. If beards grow white at an
early age in the desert, it is not only because of heat, fatigue, journeys, and
combats, but much more from care, anxiety, and grief. He alone does not turn
gray who "has a large heart, is resigned, and can say: It is the will of Allah!" This
pride in their country and in their peculiar mode of existence amounts to positive
contempt for the Tell and its inhabitants. What the dweller in the desert chiefly
plumes himself upon is his independence; for in his country the lands are wide and
there is no Sultan. The chief of the tribe administers and renders justice, a task of
no great difficulty where every delinquency has been provided for and its
appropriate penalty fixed beforehand. Whoever steals a sheep, pays a fine of ten
boudjous. Whoever enters a tent to see his neighbour's wife, forfeits ten ewes.
Whoever takes life, must lose his own; or, if he makes his escape, all that belongs
to him is confiscated, save only his tent, which is given up to his wife and children.
The fines are set apart by the djemâa for defraying the expenses of travellers and
marabouts, and of presents to strangers. Thefts within the tribe are severely
punished. If committed on another tribe, they are looked over, and, if a hostile
tribe be the sufferers, are even encouraged.
The women attend to the cooking, and weave various kinds of carpets, sacks,
stuff for tents, horse-cloths, camel-packs, and nose-bags, while the negresses
fetch wood and water. Burnouses, haïks, and kabaya are made in the kuesours. If
rich, an Arab is always generous; and rich or poor, he is sure to be hospitable and
charitable. He seldom lends his horse, but would regard it as an insult if the
animal were sent back to him. For every present he receives he makes a return of
greater value. Some men are quoted as never having refused anything. It is a
common saying: "He who applies to a noble never comes back empty-handed." It
is needless to speak of alms. Every one knows that next to a holy war, and on the
same line with going on a pilgrimage, alms-giving is the act of all others the most
pleasing to Allah. If an Arab is sitting down to a meal, and a mendicant, who
happens to be passing, exclaims: Mtâ rebi ia el moumenin—"of what belongs to
Allah, O Believer!"— he shares his repast with him if there be enough for two, or
else abandons it to him entirely.
A stranger presenting himself before a douar, stands some little way off, and
pronounces these words: Dif rebi—"a guest sent by Allah." The effect is magical.
Whatever may be his condition of life, they throw themselves on him, tear him
from one another, and hold his stirrup while he alights. The servants lead away his
horse, about whom, if he be a man of good breeding, he will not give himself any
further trouble. He himself is almost dragged into a tent, and whatever is ready to
hand is set before him, until a banquet can be prepared. Nor is less attention
shown to a traveller on foot. The master of the tent keeps his guest company
throughout the whole of the day, and only leaves him to make way for sleep. No
indiscreet questions are ever asked, such as: Whence comest thou? Who art thou?
Whither goest thou? There is no instance of any evil having ever befallen a
stranger thus received as a guest, even though he were a mortal enemy. At his
departure, the master of the tent will say to him: "Follow thy good fortune;" and
after the guest has fairly taken his departure, his entertainer is no longer
answerable for anything. In retiring from the hospitable repast, if the stranger
pass before a douar and be seen, he is obliged again to accept the invitations that
are pressed upon him.
A certain class of men live entirely on alms and hospitality. These are the
dervishes. Absorbed in prayer, these pious individuals are the object of universal
veneration. "Beware of offering them an insult, for Allah will punish you." A
request made by them is never refused. By the side of these mendicant monks,
who so exactly reproduce a particular feature of the Middle Ages, it seems
appropriate to place the tolbas, or learned men, and the "wise women," who fill in
the Sahara the part that belonged in the olden times to the magicians, alchemists,
and sorcerers, and those other impostors celebrated by Tasso and Ariosto, and
ridiculed by Cervantes. It is to these tolbas and aged dames that both men and
women apply for a philter, composed of various herbs prepared with solemn
invocations and awesome or grotesque ceremonies, which is mixed with the food
of the swain or damsel whose love is longed for. It is they, again, who write magic
words and the name of the hated one on a piece of paper and a dead man's bone
taken from a cemetery, and then bury together the paper and the bone, which will
soon be joined by the enemy, "with his belly full of worms." They will teach you,
too, the formula you must pronounce while closing your knife, in order to sever
the life of an odious rival; and that which you must throw into the furnace over
which is being cooked the food of the family you would poison; and that which
you must write on a copper plate, or flattened ball, to be flung into the stream
whither repairs to drink the woman on whom you would avenge yourself—seized
with a dysentery as rapid as the river, she will die, if she do not yield herself up to
you. To effect her cure, the first sorcery must be counteracted by a second.
After these come the long train of spectres, the phantoms of those who have
died a violent death. If one of them pursue you, lose no time in exclaiming:
"Return to thy hole. Thou canst not frighten me. I feared thee not when thou didst
carry arms." It will follow you yet a little, but will soon desist. If you are seized
with terror and attempt to flee, you will hear in the air the clashing of arms, and a
horse in full pursuit behind, with yells and horrible uproar, until you drop
exhausted by fatigue.
In Morocco, on the banks of the Ouad Noun, about twenty days march
westward of Souss, the most famous sorcerers are found. There is there a whole
school of alchemists and necromancers, and of occult sciences, besides a talking
mountain, and many others marvels of the magical world. The common people
alone are debased to these superstitions. The wealthy, the marabouts, the tolbas
of the zaouïa; and the sheurfaa, scrupulously follow the precepts of religion and
read the sacred books; but the vulgar herd are plunged in ignorance, and barely
know two or three prayers and the confession of faith. They likewise pray very
rarely, and only perform their ablutions when they find water. The chiefs do their
utmost to dispel this ignorance. Even on a journey they take care that the
moudden never fail to proclaim the hour of prayer, and they establish schools in
their tents. But a life of fatigue, wandering, and migration, soon causes the Arabs
to forget the lessons of their childhood. Men of all ranks, however, take pleasure in
having them recalled to mind in the garb of poesy by the meddah, or religious
bards, who go about at festivals singing the praises of Allah, and the saints, and
the holy war, accompanying themselves the while with flute and tambourine.
These bards are rewarded with numerous presents.
 THE ARAB ARISTOCRACY.

"Take a thorny shrub," said the Emir Abd-el-Kader to me one day, "and water it
for a whole year with rose-water, and it will still yield nothing but thorns. But take
a date-tree, and leave it without water, without cultivation, and it still will produce
dates." From the Arab point of view the nobles are this date-tree, and the
common people that thorny shrub. In the East, great faith is placed in the power
of blood and in the virtue of race. The aristocracy is regarded not only as a social
necessity, but as an absolute law of nature. No one ever dreams of revolting
against this truism, which is accepted by all with a placid resignation. The head is
the head and the tail the tail, is what the lowest of the Arab shepherds would say.
In addition to this long descended and sacred nobility composed of the sherifs,
or descendants of the Prophet, there are two distinct classes of aristocracy—the
one the aristocracy of religion, the other the aristocracy of the sword. The
marabouts and the djouad—for such are their designations—the former deriving
their position from their piety, the latter from their courage, the former from
prayer, the latter from battle, regard each other with an implacable hatred. The
djouad reproach the marabouts with the offences which in all countries are eagerly
attributed to religious orders that aim at the direction of human affairs. They
accuse them of ambition, of intriguing, of underhand proceedings, and of an
insatiable covetousness for the good things of the earth masked by a pretended
love of Allah and of Heaven. One of their proverbs declares "From the zaouïa[94] a
serpent is ever issuing." From this it appears that the Arabs, while chaunting the
praises of the aristocracy, do not hesitate, sound Believers as they are, to speak
the truth with regard to their priesthood. The marabouts, on the other hand,
charge the djouad with violence, rapine, and impiety. This last accusation furnishes
them with a terrible weapon of offence. They stand in the same relation towards
their rivals as did the clergy of the Middle Ages towards the lay nobles who,
notwithstanding the imposing appearance of their warlike power, could yet be
reached by an anathema. In like manner, if the djouad exercise an influence over
the people through the memory of perils encountered and blood shed, and all the
prestige of military achievements, the marabouts on their part are armed with the
omnipotence of religious faith acting on popular imagination. More than once has
a marabout, feared or loved by the people, imperilled the power and even the life
of a djieud.[95] Nevertheless it is the djieud whom I now propose to portray,
because the life of the desert is especially the life of the warrior. To exhibit at one
glance a noble of the Sahara in all the pomp, noise, and animation of his
existence, it is necessary to depict the interior of a great tent at the moment when
the day begins, from eight o'clock to noon.
The poets of antiquity have many a time described the crowd of clients who
were wont to inundate the porticoes of a patrician palace in ancient Rome. A great
tent in the desert in these days resembles in its way the luxurious mansions
painted by Horace and Juvenal. Gravely seated on a carpet, with that dignified
demeanour which is the peculiar privilege of Orientals, the chief of the tribe
receives in their turn all who come to invoke his authority. This one complains of a
neighbour who has endeavoured to seduce his wife, that one accuses a wealthy
man of refusing to pay a debt, another is anxious to recover some cattle that have
been stolen from him, while a fourth demands protection for his daughter whom a
brutal husband maltreats in the most shameful manner. The first quality in a chief
is patience. Assailed on all sides by violent recriminations, he lends an attentive
ear to each, and strives to heal the wounds of every description which are
disclosed to him. "A man in authority," says an eastern apophthegm, "ought to
imitate the physicians who never apply the same remedies to all diseases." In
these "beds of justice" that recall the primitive manner in which our ancient kings
disposed of the private interests of their subjects, the Arab chief employs the
utmost sagacity, the greatest force of character, with which he may have been
endowed. To some he gives orders, to others advice: to no one does he refuse the
aid of his wisdom and influence. Nor has he need only of the quality that Solomon
demanded of the Lord. Wisdom must be combined with generosity and valour. The
highest praise that can be awarded is to say of him that "his sabre is always
drawn, his hand always open." He must never weary of practising the somewhat
ostentatious, and yet at the same time noble and touching, charity, enjoined by
the Mussulman law as an obligation on all Believers. His tent must be a refuge for
the unfortunate, nor may any one die of hunger in his neighbourhood; for the
Prophet hath said: "Allah will never accord his mercy but to the merciful. Believers,
give alms, if it be only the half of a date. Whoso gives alms to-day shall be amply
recompensed to-morrow."
If a warrior loses the horse that was his sole strength, if a family is robbed of
the flocks that furnished its subsistance, it is to the chief, and to the chief alone,
the sufferers address themselves. However strong may be the love of pelf, it never
goes so far as to make him risk the loss of his influence; and the Arab noble, while
in so many respects resembling the Baron of the Middle Ages, differs from him in
one essential point—he abhors gambling. Neither cards nor dice ever wile away
the leisure hours in a tent. An Arab chief may neither indulge in play, nor lend
money at usurious rates of interest. The only way in which he may turn his money
to account, is by indirect participation in some commercial enterprise. He hands
over a certain sum to a merchant, who trades with it, and, at the end of so many
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