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Show A VISIT .10 AN OASIS. LIFE AMONG THE PEOPLE OF AN OLD SAHARAN VILLAGE. A Ksour and Its Inhabitants How the 3fatlTes tlve In tl Green Spots of the Great African Desert They Are Hospitable Hos-pitable aud Happy. M. Hughes le Roux, a well known writer for The Paris Temps, gives in that journal an interesting description of an excursion which he made in the Sahara. Speaking of the ksoure, or fortified villages, he says: Since the French conquest, protected aa they are against the attacks of the nomads, the inhabitants of the ksours are rapidly losing their military character. A century ago they lived in a state of perpetual warfare. war-fare. The construction of their villages alone proves this. Each ksour is built after the fashion of our ancient feudal castles, cas-tles, upon an eminence overlooking the gardens and the valley. Yon enter through military gates formerly solidly fortified. And now all these fortifications are in ruins. As stone and wood were scarce thi ksours were built of mud; but whitewash does not appear, as in Morocco, to enhance the mud walls and terraces. The villagers mix for the construction of their houses a' little dust and water, and consequently tha village itself partakes so much of the color of the soil that it is hardly distinguishable at a distance. It is a sort of ant hill that crowns the rising ground, pierced with holes and regularly formed openings. ' " ' Ordinarily at an early hour in the morning morn-ing we reached these high grounds from which we could see the villages and their gardens. EKCEITIKQ THE G TESTS. We traveled six or seven hours, starting In the night in order to be able to finish the journey before the sun got too high in the horizon. Taib, our spahi, then started his horse at a gallop in order to arrive be fore us and notify the caid of our arrival.. This personage would immediately don his cleanest burnous and advance toward us, followed by a few of the oldest of the tribe. When he reached us he took the right hand of each one of our party, raised it to his lips, and then placed it on Lis heart. That is the usual form of salute. This politeness polite-ness was generally accompanied by a few emphatic complimeuts and protestations of fidelity. Coffee and siesta carpets were then presented pre-sented to us at the place winch wo had chosen under the tree.-. Then the notables of the i'Iai-e came and squatted nil around us. Oi:r visit wiis not made the special occasion oc-casion for this laziness. A 'good ksourian never works. He rises cpiiy in the morning morn-ing in order to enjoy (lie juu'orn. Then lie comes down from the ksur to his garden to inspect his trees and to see if thieves have stolen anything during the night. The gardens are enclosed by nnul walls, and the entrance to them is so low that one is obliged ob-liged to crawl in on all fours. The plants are irrigated by a very clever system of little canals which M ind around the trees and are supplied by a main artery which pr-sses under the wall at eit her end of th3 yarden. According to the wealth of the proprietor, water is given to him twice a day, once a day or even once every other day, and this repartition is regulated with an impartiality and ingenuity that are really surprising. THE RSOCF.IAX. The ksourian is always in his garden at the time when his turn for water conies around. Aided by his slaves he directs the watering of the trees and vegetables. In miniature it is the ancient system of the Egyptian canals which used to regulate the inundations of the Nile. In a few moments mo-ments the little garden is under water, aud when the water official shuts off the source there remains heavy and enriching moisture moist-ure that is gradually dried by the sun. When this piece of overseeing is done the ksourian has nothing more to trouble him. ITo t-dXto a Statf lii "bun o4.-toS Vil in the shade of some house. In this shelter, which is formed by beams of palm trees supporting a roof of laths, benches are placed, and in each one of; these places little lit-tle conversations or debates are carried on During this time the women knit clothes for the coming winter and prepare the couscous in which their husbands dip theii spoons before stretching themselves about noon upon their siesta carpets. Among the Arbaouata we were present at one of these evening meetings. We seated ourselves in the place publiquc, where the entire male population had a rendezvous. They watched the little boye playing coura, a game very much like the lacrosse of the English. When they were tired of that game we proposed a grab combat for a cent. That excellent painter, Dinet, exhibited this comical scene recently re-cently in the salon with an astonishing precision. In a cloud of dust you see a lot of scrambling scram-bling red rags and red caps, while the most unearthly yells and screams pierce your ears. . Aft r this first melee, which set the public in fits of laughter, we made Taib bring U3 a case of alaouat, that is to say, little English biscuits done up in tin boxes. Then there was general excitement, and, as if by enchantment, all the doors of the houses in the neighborhood opened, and upon the threshold there appeared a perr feet swarm of chnrming little girls. rnErrr children. With their arms, legs and necks uncov ered, and their bodies enveloped in a piece of stuff embroidered with flowers red or yellow andrinoples, Persians with large flowers and Louis XV stuffs and theii ankles and wrists ornamented with silver bracelets, they looked like little idols. They were children iu stature, in agility and in their gay laughter, but, by the precocious pre-cocious maturity of t heir forms, they were already women. Their unfinished grace and the light mold of their legs and arms ni ,! t recall the delicate little daueuses of Tan; ;!', but the moment you approach them their rapid disappearance with their varieait'd robes in the crevices of the houses would remind you of a flight of Iizar-S. . We l;i koncd 10 thera and encouraged thejii. Tt.i-v approached timidly, but not close enough to take the alaouat from our hands. It was the little son of the eaid, a toddler of 3 years, clad only in a red and green slnrt, who brought them our presents. pres-ents. He had his favorites in the little troop, and he pushed away the others with the insolence of a young emperor. He only distributed one-half of the cakes; the remainder he stuffed Iry handsfnl into his own mouth. These tricks of a spoiled child excited the gayety of the spectators. Then, emboldened embold-ened by the growing shades of evening, the women appeared outside their houses, unveiled un-veiled like unmade. We sent them their share of the alaouat by the same little messenger. mes-senger. They laughed and displayed white teeth aud black eyes more brilliant than jewels. And thus the old formidable ksour, built like an eagle's nest, with its fortified streets and walls full of loopholes, wns captured in an hour with a case of little biscuits and the complicity of chfldnc and yonne |
