THE Sahara may be likened to a vast ocean separating the negro kingdoms of equatorial Africa from the more civilized states of the north; and the numerous oases① with which it is studded are like so many islands in the midst of the desert waste. This waste, however, though destitute of everything helpful to human life and comfort, does not consist solely of barren sands. There is a vast extent of dry, stunted herbage, on which the camel can pasture; and thus a passage across the desert is rendered practicable, by routes which would be impossible were the Sahara what it is often represented as being-one wide sandy plain.
In the desert, a route through the sand is always chosen inpreference to any other; because in the sandy tracts springs are most likely to be found, and because the sand presents a soft dry bed on which the traveller can repose after the fatigues of the day. It is this preference of the natives which has led Europeans to suppose that the whole of the Sahara is a sandy waste. The character of the desert is very much the reverse of this, there being hundreds of miles of hard, firm soil, while hundreds more are a mixture of stony fragments and pebbles.
Travelling on sand, there is of course no visible road, as the fierce winds that frequently recur soon obliterate all trace of footsteps. The guides, therefore, find their way by land-marks, which they carefully renew when necessary. These are often the most trifling objects, such as a tuft of herbage, a single plant, or the summit of a swell in the soil. In places where the plain is one void and arid flat, even such objects are wanting, and their place is supplied by heaps of stones or cairns, piled at great distances. Sometimes the route extends for ten or twelve days over a plain affording not a single drop of moisture!
OASES
Along nearly the whole length of the northern shores of the continent there extends a fertile belt of land, called by the natives the Tell , the cultivation of which yields the means of life to the populations of thecoast. In the neighbourhood of this fertile belt there are n u m e r o u s o a s e s e x te n d i n g into the interior; while others, fortunately for the purposes of commerce and civilization, exist within practicable distances across the whole desert.
AN OASIS IN THE DESERT
Farther eastward, near the limits of the Sahara, a line of oases extends from its northern to its southern boundary. One of these, the Great Oasis of Thebes, is one hundred and twenty miles in length. It is watered by a pleasant stream, with groves of palm and acacia on its banks.
The oases invariably lie in the lowest levels of the soil, and doubtless owe their existence to the moisture which naturally gravitates② towards such localities. Mast of these isolated spots, even though hundreds of miles apart, enjoy a constant supply of water, and are favourable to the cultivation of the date palm and other fruit-trees, as well as of various kinds of vegetables.
The date palm supplies a large proportion of the food of the dwellers in the desert. The tree is thirty-three years in coming to maturity; after which it will bear fruit for seventy years more, the annual crop of each tree averaging from three to four hundred pounds weight. Not only man, but all the animals of the desert can feed on the date. The fruit is easily preserved by packing it closely in woollen bags; and when thus compressed into solid masses it may be kept for several years. Sometimes a tree is tapped for the sake of its sap, which is much relished as a beverage, and which, when allowed to③ferment,forms a drink resembling cider. A single tree willyield fourteen or fifteen quarts a day for two years, but will dieif the drain be continued longer.
Every part of the date palm is turned to profitable account. The wood is used for building, and for every kind of carpenter- work; the fibre is twisted into ropes; baskets are made of the branches; and sheep are fattened with the pounded stones of the fruit.
The population of the desert is necessarily sparse and scanty, in proportion to its enormous area. It consists of various tribes of two distinct nations; -the Berbers, made up of descendants of the ancient Lib"yans, of the Romans, and ofthe Van"dals; and the Arabs, originally invaders, who yet retain, in no small degree, their original characteristics.
The Berbers are the settled inhabitants of the oases, where the men cultivate the ground, and the women manage the manufactures. They maintain amicable relations with their nomadic④ brethren, to whom they are in the habit of confiding the care of such cattle as they possess, and of whose property they undertake the custody during the wanderings of the owners. The oasis generally contains a village (ksar ), which is built of stone, and, together with the gardens, is walled in. Nothing is grown but what will produce food of some kind, and the utmost use is made of every foot of land and drop of water. At the same time, provision is made for defence, and sentinels are kept continually on the watch for an enemy.
Outside the walls are the marabets , or sepulchres of thedead; upon which are lavished far more expense and taste than on the abodes of the living. Near each tomb rises a little sepulchral chapel, executed in a finished style of architecture, by the most skilful artisans that can be procured. These buildings are universally held sacred; and even the foe who would slaughter the living and make a prey of their property, leaves the resting-places of the dead inviolate.
