The Desert of Sahara.
We had one little experience, to which I look back with much interest. Staying at Biskra, on the borders of the Sahara, we formed a camp and went four or five days' sojourn into the desert, quite a unique and pleasant tour. We were joined by two American ladies, and our camp consisted of eleven men and about a dozen mules, and four or five camels. We had an excellent native dragoman, who turned out to be a very good cook. The camels carried the tents and bedding, and the kitchen utensils, while we rode the mules. As we marched out of Biskra we formed quite an important cavalcade and all the people in the hotel turned out to see us. After marching about ten miles we halted for lunch, and it was surprising how soon Achmed had a ragout ready for us. We afterwards marched about fifteen miles, and pitched our camp just outside an oasis, and not very far from an encampment of Bedouins.
The days were very hot, but the nights quite cold. Our beds were spread on the ground in the tents, and we required all our blankets and rugs to keep the cold out. An armed Arab slept on the ground outside the door of each tent. The desert at this season of the year—the spring—was covered, more or less, with short grass and an abundance of wild flowers. In many places we had to pass over large areas of sand dunes, which were very trying, and to cross the dried-up beds of rivers. These rivers come down from the mountains when the snows melt and rush along in mighty torrents, scooping out water courses, until they finally lose themselves in the burning sands of the desert. As we got away from the mountains, the desert began to look more and more like the ocean, with its clean-cut horizon all round, the hummocks of sand reminding one of Atlantic seas. The clear blue sky and the translucent atmosphere imparted an enchanting aspect to the scene; indeed, it became fascinating, and I can quite enter into the spirit of the Bedouin, who sees in the wastes of his Sahara so much to love and to attract him.
The intense sense of loneliness is a new experience for an Englishman, and awakens within him strange emotions, giving him new views of his environment and throwing new lights upon the future. The starlight nights were lovely, and on one night we were able to play bridge by starlight up to midnight.
We passed through several oases, which usually consist of a village surrounded by two or three thousand date-palm trees, the houses being built of mud and thatched with palm leaves. Palms constitute the riches of this country, and a man's wealth is computed by the number of date-palm trees or camels he possesses.
The Bedouin tribes we came across seemed a well-behaved, peaceable people. They move about with their flocks of sheep and goats. At night their flocks are tethered about their tents, and by day they wander in search of pasture. The men beguile their time while watching their flocks by doing embroideries, and also in making garments. They lead the simple life.