The Great Sahara: Wanderings South of the Atlas Mountains |
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Africa Agha Aïn Algeria Algiers Arab arrived Atlas barley basin Bedouin Beni Isguen Berber Berryan birds Biskra Boghar burnous camels camp caravan caravanserai carpet cavaliers centre Chaamba Chott coffee colour convoy Coss dark dates dayats descended Desf Djebel Djelfa djemmâa Djidi El Kantara English falcon Family feet French gardens gazelle Ghardaïa Guerrara halt Hauts Plateaux hills horses inhabitants Jews journey Kabyles kadi khalifat kouskousou Laghouat limestone M'zab M'zab Desert marabout mekhasni miles morning Morocco mosque mountain mounted Mozabites N'goussa native negro never night nomads oases oasis Omar palm palm-groves palm-trees passed Reboud ride ridge rock rocky rode Roman round saddle Sahara Salt plains sand scarcely sehaurs sheik side Sidi soon Souf spahi species specimens stones supply tent tion Touareg Touat traces traveller trees tribes Tuggurt Tunis walls Waregla Wed R'hir whole yards
Popular passages
Page 16 - Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Page 96 - ... six weeks, after which the trees are watered once a week in summer, and every month in winter. They begin to bear when eight or ten years old, being then about seven feet high. Each year the lowest ring of leaves falls off, so that the age of a palm may be roughly calculated by the notches on the stem. It will live for at least 200 years, but after a century its fruit begins to decline, and it is generally then cut down for building purposes ; for its timber, however worthless in itself, is much...
Page 117 - So wary is the bird, and so open are the vast plains over which it roams, that no ambuscades or artifices can be employed, and the vulgar resource of dogged perseverance is the only mode of pursuit. The horses...
Page 239 - It is prevented from slipping from its position by two girths ; one just behind the fore legs, the other round the neck. The saddle itself is in shape like a chair, a wooden frame with a high back, covered with leather, and a curious high peak in front, narrow at the base, round which the rider crosses his legs, with a wide and flat top, on which he can lean his body, and round which his pouches are slung.
Page 118 - The hunters set forth with small skins of water strapped under their horses' bellies, and a scanty allowance of food for four or five days distributed judiciously about their saddles. The Ostrich generally lives in companies of from four to six individuals, which do not appear to be in the habit, under ordinary circumstances, of wandering more than twenty or thirty miles from their head-quarters.
Page 390 - The Griffon who first descries his quarry descends from his elevation at once ; another, sweeping the horizon at a still greater distance, observes his neighbour's movements and follows his course ; a third, still further removed, follows the flight of the second; he is traced by another ; and sO a perpetual succession is kept up as long as a morsel of flesh remains over which to consort.
Page 117 - ... is the greatest feat of hunting to which the Saharan sportsman aspires, and in richness of booty it ranks next to the plunder of a caravan. So great is the cost and toil of the chase, that it is generally estimated the capture of an ostrich cannot be effected without the loss of a horse or two. So wary is the bird, and so vast are the plains over which it roams, that no artifices or ambuscades can be of any avail. The only resource is to pursue them with dogged perseverance, and for this work...
Page 84 - He shall feed His flock like a shepherd : He shall gather the lambs with His arms, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
Page 64 - ... houbara, and which I observed on this occasion. As the hawk approaches the houbara ejects both from the mouth and vent a slimy fluid. A well-trained bird eludes this shower by repeated feints, until the quarry's supply of moisture is exhausted. An impatient one rushes in, and gets his whole plumage so bedaubed that his flight is materially impeded, and his swoop when made is irresolute.
Page 96 - ... water in the day from the stream which passes by his grounds, and this right is always specified in the titledeed by which he holds his garden. Before the dates are ripe each family is bound to set apart one tree, all the fruit of which is consecrated for the service of the mosque and the use of the poor. From the juice of the palm-tree is made a liquor called "laguni...