The Daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1845-1850, 1846-10-07
THE SAHARA OF AFRICA.
NJ. G G.

10 form correct conception of the Sahara,
our readers must dismiss from their minds all the
long and fantastic conceptions which have been
attached from time lmmemorial, to the interior of
northern Africa. Instead OF torrid region.
where boundless steppes of burning sand are
abandoned to the rowing horsemen OF the desert
and to beasts OF prey, and where the last vestiges
OF Moorish civilization expire, long before the
traveller arrives at Negro-land and the savage
communities OF the interior, the Savara is now
ascertalned TO consist OF a vast archipelago Of
GASES; each OF them peopled by tribe OF the
Moorish race or its offsets, more civilized, and
more capable of receiving the lessons of ciyiza-
ton, than the houseless Arabs of the Tell Gull
tlvating the date tree with application and inge.
nulty, inhabitng walled towns, living under
regular government, for the most part of popu
lar origin; carrying TO some perfection certain
branches of native manufactures, and keeping up
an extensive system OF commercial intercourse
with the Northern and central parts of the Afri.
can continent and from Mogadore to Mecca. bv
the enterprise and activity of their caravans
Each OF the Gases of the Sahara-which are d.
vided from one another by sandy tracts, bearing
SHRUBS and plants ut only for the nourishment Of
cattle-presents animated group of towns and
villages. Every village is encrcled by protus-
ion OF truit-bearing trees. The palm is the mon
arch OF their orchards,-as much by the grace of
Its form as by the value of its productions anu
the pomegranate, the hg-tree, and the apricot
cluster around its lofty stem. The lions and
other beasts OF prey, with which poetry has PIC
tured the African wilds, are to be met with only
IN the mountains OF the Tel, never in the plain
OF the Sahara. The robber tribes of the Tauricbs
frequent the Southern frontier OF the Sahara and
the last traces of habltabe land which intervene
between these Gases and the real Desert; but.
In the Sahara itself, communications carried on
alter the fashion of the country are regular and
secure. War is, indeed, OF frequent occurrence
between the neighboring trbes,-either for the
possession of disputed territories or the revenge
oil supposed injuries but all that is vet known
oil these singular communities shows them to be
living in completely constituted state of civil
soclety-emineutly adapted to the peculiar part
OF the globe which they inhabit,-governed bv
the strong traditions OF primitive people. and
luihlllhg with energy and intelligence the strange
vocation OF their life. The population of the Fis-
III, or the most northern tract of the Sahara. he.
tween the 32d and 29th parallels OF latitude l.
more dense than that of the Tell, or region near
the coast; though even there the cases are often
separated by two or three days. march over bar
rem sand The Kifar is the sandy plain bevond
winch produces scanty pasture after the winter
rams and to The south OF that region lies the
3 lalat or sea OF sand, to be crossed without dan
ger ana suffering by none but the dromedary and
tne Arab horsemen. The sedentary population
oil each OF the Gases of the Sahara centres in a
town OF more or less importance, and devotes IT,
sell to the cultivation of the palm and the date, or
to manufactures. Around this town are assem-
bled the dependent ksour, or villages of the
tribes, some pastoral and some mercantile, which
are in continual notion and carry on what NAV
be termed the external relations of the commu-
nifty All the the corn consumed in these villa
ges and towns grows in the Tell. The date.
which is the great edible product of the Sahara.
becomes unwholesome, and even fatal to life. It'll
be eaten without proper admixture of other
food; that the industry OF one half OF the in
habitants Of the Sahara consists in preparing COM
modities for the purposes of trade, whilst the
other half carries this trade in the distant mar.
kets of the north and of these no inconsderable
number emigrate to the coast for long term of
years. Edinburgh ReUiesU.