union with Arragon-angular masses of silver, weighing an ounce, and rudely stamped with the arms of Leon and Castile. They also produced some coins of the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, and some shekels of the date of the Maccabees; but the prices they demanded were so exorbitant, and my suspicion of their genuineness such, that I failed in securing them.

These Jews afford an interesting illustration of the effect of climate, which, in the course of generations, seems to have produced the dark colouring pigment. They are almost as black as negroes— much darker than their brethren of the M'zab and Wed R'hir. Yet there was not the slightest trace of the negro features; all the lineaments of the countenance were as distinctively Jewish as in any clothesdealer of Houndsditch. They were as dark as the black Jews of Abyssinia, whom I have seen in Jerusalem, but the hair, without being woolly, was grizzled and matted.

The palm-gardens of Waregla, which extend for several miles in all directions, are very different from those of the M'zab. They are full of deep trenches, crossing each other, and supplying moisture to the trees by the irrigation of salt-water, which the palm seems naturally to prefer to fresh, if we may judge by the luxuriance of its foliage and the quality of the dates, considered the richest in the whole Djereed. The wells again are unlike those of other oases. Though there is not a single superficial spring, yet the level of the fresh water is very near the surface; and the wells are shallow and frequent, varying in depth from eight to twenty feet. The machinery for raising the water is simply a long pole balanced on a post, with heavy stones attached at one end as a counterpoise to the leathern

bucket. This pole, worked on a pivot, is easily swung round, and raises the water with little exertion on the part of the gardener.

Beyond the gardens the marsh below swarmed with wild duck, and abounded in rank herbage, on which these migrants were feeding. There were many interesting shells to be found there, and I obtained new species of the genera "Melania" and "Melanopsis." But naturalizing was a task of some little difficulty, the place being in so unsettled a condition, that the Agha begged us to be cautious, and on no account to venture abroad unarmed or unattended by several of his retainers. Especially he bid us beware of wandering among the trees alone, or of discharging both barrels of our fowling-pieces. However annoying it might be to be thus hampered where the ornithology and botany were evidently so rich, there was no help for it, as we could descry from the hills small bands of predatory Touareg or Chaamba hovering on the distant plains.

The Wareglans, by their physiognomy, appear very distinct from either Arab or negro, though, in the lower classes at least, there must be a considerable admixture of negro blood. The broad nose and dark complexion would recall the description of the Gætuli of ancient writers, with a dash of the Melano-Gætuli (or Touareg?). Their language, which differs as a dialect from those of the M'zab and Wed R'hir, is yet, in a great degree, mutually intelligible to those people, and is certainly closely allied to the Berber. Probably it is a patois of Berber with an admixture of Touareg and negro words. They are an indolent race, contrasting strongly in this respect with the M'zab; and, as far as could be conjectured from the wide expanse of the Wed el Mia, their oasis is capable of indefinite extension. There are

many wells on the outskirts of the gardens to the south, utterly neglected and gradually choked, probably from their lying on the side most open to predatory attacks.

Yet the Wareglans have made some attempts at colonization. About three years ago they formed an expedition to discover new settlements to the south in the traditionary halting-places of the M'zab; and at three days' journey, after traversing a region of shifting sand, or "Aregs," as they call it, came upon a depression, where they sank wells and reached brackish water at a depth of eighteen feet. But they found no vegetation, and contented themselves with planking over their wells, which of course the next year were choked with sand; and no subsequent attempt was made to establish the colony.

Unlike most of the weds in this part of the Sahara, the Wed el Mia, as well as the Wed Djidi further north, runs not from south to north, but from south-west to north-east. This peculiar and exceptional drainage may probably account for the abundance of water at a higher level than elsewhere. No doubt the general drainage of the desert is all towards the north, as exemplified in the great channel of the Wed R'hir; but here the water is intercepted throughout a course of near 200 miles by this diagonal channel, which conducts it to the basin of the Wareglan oasis, where a range of rocks interrupts its eastward progress ; and, repelled by these limestone rocks, it is forced almost to the surface, and actually, in the lake below the city, oozes through the saline deposit and forms the salt marsh, which is never entirely dry in the hottest

seasons.

I should conjecture that the wells sunk by the Wareglans, to the southward, had struck the stratum

on which flows the water which, continuing its northern course, becomes at Temaçin, a distance of 300 miles, the Wed R'hir. This may possibly be traceable to the Djebel Hoggar, a pile of mountains with vegetation in the central Sahara, never yet visited by Arabs or Europeans, but the stronghold of the Touareg. If this be the case, a more accurate knowledge of the course of these underground streams might yet lead to an indefinite expansion of the oases of North Africa.

CHAPTER XIV.

The Touareg Embassy to Algiers - Dr. Barth-Touareg passport - Djebel Hoggar - Hidden wells - Mahari, or white dromedaries Costume of the Touareg Arms Language Troubles at Waregla Marocain mountebanks-A tea-party with an Agha — Report of a battle Our host's brother slain - Hasty retreat Preparation of a chieftain's letter Ride to N'goussa - Singular tombs - Arab honesty - A N'goussa feast-Alarms of robbers - A watchful guard.

ONE of the most interesting results of our visit to Waregla was the information obtained respecting the Touareg, of whom there were many, not only hovering in the neighbourhood in their genuine character of freebooters, but also as peaceful traders, or in the guise of hired guards for caravans camped in the outskirts, or bivouacking with their beautiful white dromedaries within the walls. To penetrate further than a ride of thirty miles within their territory we found to be impossible, and in that expedition we saw nothing of them. At Waregla alone had we opportunity of acquiring direct and satisfactory knowledge of them and their habits.

I had been fortunate enough during the previous year to meet with the so-called Touareg embassy, who arrived in Algiers to arrange a nominal treaty, and who, received in that city with a consideration beyond their real position, attracted immense curiosity among a population where not one of these renowned and dreaded riders of the desert had ever before been seen. They arrived on their "mahari" or white dromedaries, which, in a few days, were sent back to Laghouat long before the