Mohammed accordingly climbed on the wall and looked down. The water was nearly six feet deep! He descended hastily, observing calmly, with a critical look at the wall, “It’s a very old wall. It must be the will of Allah that it does not fall.”
There was obviously nothing to be done, so I retired indoors and changed my clothes, for I was soaking wet. The waters thundered and swirled all about us, and I was thankful indeed when daylight came and the flood gradually began to subside.
The women of Laghouat never go out by day, and at night are closely veiled as they journey under escort from one relation’s house to another; even the lower classes and the dancing women faithfully observe this custom. Only on two feasts, which last three and seven days—the “Aid el Srir” and “Aid el Kebir,” the “little” and “great” Feast of the Sheep, which correspond with the Jewish Passover and killing of the Paschal lamb—do the latter ladies don their finest clothes and strut about barefaced.
Their costumes are indeed splendid—silks and brocades of the very best quality and the most lovely hues, with gold, silver, and gem-studded embroideries. The veils hanging from their bejewelled head-dresses are of cloth of silver and gold, their bosoms are covered with precious stones, and the noise of the numerous bracelets they wear on arms and legs can be heard some way off.
A SCENE IN THE SAHARA.
From a Photograph.
The dancing women of the province of Algiers and Oran are nearly all of the tribes of the Ouled Najls. The women of these tribes have chosen dancing as their profession, and when quite young they go forth to earn their dowry by “tripping on the light fantastic toe.” When they have earned it they generally return home, marry, and make as good wives and mothers as the rest of womenkind.
A GROUP OF DANCING GIRLS OF THE OULED NAJL.
From a Photograph.
There are now about thirty-eight tribes of Ouled Najls, stretching from Biskara to the Djebel-Amour, all pastoral, wandering wherever the blessed rain of heaven falls and grasses grow, without taking any notice of distance or frontiers. The supreme happiness of a Najl is to find a quiet corner where the grass is green and abundant, and there to snooze under the sun’s rays, watching his sheep and camels fatten, and fattening himself as well, for he lives chiefly on their milk. Later he exchanges his flocks for corn, dates, and everything necessary for his existence. Truly these people are still in the age of Abraham.