| Show AX OASIS WITH A CASINO The BIskran oasis with its 150000 trees is only about two miles long and extends in half a dozen little villages by the Oued stream The Arabs In their poetic phrase ology style it variously the Desert Queen the Queen of the Oases and the Pearl of the Desert Seen after two days journey through barren treeless wastes with its waving palms and bril liant verdure it Is a sight difficult to rival Biskra has several fine buildings of which tho town hall built in the oriental style with gleaming cupola and a forest or dainty pillars is the gem It cost 6 000 and is cheap at that ligure but of course labor here is had for a song Tho Oued Biskra Hows through the oasis and causes much of Its prosperity The chief Industry Is date raising and nearly all the inhabitants own a little plot or ground devoted to this purpose and generally their only source of revenue reve-nue BIbkra owes much to the Compag ale de 1Oued el RIrh who bored artesian wells and laid out vast date plantations They also erected a fine casino and constructed con-structed a tramway to tho celebrated Hamman Salahine about six miles distant dis-tant springs well known to the Romans whence Biskra was coiled Ad Piscinam II I I In consideration of all these benefits the company was granted various privileges They are to enjoy for ninetynine years the profits arising from the springs and from 300 acres of land besides a large town plot Biskra Js practlcall the key to the Sahara and hence ever since the French entered In 18W has been an Important military station The lover of oriental ism will find it here In a much purer form than In EemiBuropeanizea Algiers and also enjoy an almost perfect climate The district however is not rainless as is often supposed on the contrary in winter there is a fair share of rain though not so much as In Algiers where this Is the weak point In tho climate Like Algiers It Is beautifully mild there Is no snow and for the majority of the winter there Is brilliant sunshine and avery a-very even temperature In the summer however it is almost uninhabitable No ono dreams of staying there unless military mili-tary or other duty compels them The heat Is Intense the water noxious and snakes and scorpions abound whose bite often proves deadly in an hour The country at this period is subject to plagues or grasshoppers the ruination of all verdure and produce A very annoy lag malady called clou do Biskra Biskra pimple prevails which Is said to resist most treatment except change of air Tho Westminster Review |
