The Spahis had supplied me with a small but powerfully-built brown horse, capable of pacing between five and six miles an hour when so inclined. At first it wanted to hurry on, but I restrained it, and we walked past the village of Menzel, and traversed the palm groves, where the birds twittered, and the smoke from huts and tents rose to the tree-tops. It was bitterly cold, and we wrapped our burnouses closely about us. When we rode out of the oasis the sun had risen, and cast our shadows in long lines on the undulating golden-grey plain.
Far away to our right the rays of the sun were reflected from the whitewashed walls of a Marabout’s tomb, built on a hillside. There also stood the poste optique, which is in communication with another on a mountain near Medinin, the southern military station.
We allowed our horses to break into a hand gallop that refreshed us in the beautiful morning, as, with a keen sense of enjoyment, we followed the tracks that, with countless windings, led towards the west.
There was little vegetation; the land lay before us barren and desolate.
IN THE MOUNTAINS—ON THE ROAD TO AIN HAMMAM.
Before reaching the summit of a slight rise we pulled up our horses to a walk, and presently looked back from the top of the eminence.
A haze hung directly over Gabés; the palms of the oasis extended as far as the sea, and behind them glittered the bright waves. Away towards the south we could distinguish the blue peaks of the Matmata mountains. Here and there on the plain blue-grey smoke rose into the air.
The heat of the sun became scorching, so we allowed our horses to go at foot’s pace during the remainder of the way. In Africa one finds but two paces—a walk, or rather an amble, and a gallop; but on a long summer journey the gallop or canter is rarely used; Berber horses, therefore, are trained to walk fast. It is expected of a cheval de la plaine that he should be un bon marcheur, that is to say, that he can be depended on to cover his five or six miles an hour, and to keep up this pace the whole day long.
When we had ridden about a third of the way, we crossed the river; near it is an ancient well that has been used since the time of the Romans.