Morning journal and courier., 1888-06-12
TRAvELING IN THE DESERT.
Description of What a Traveller Ex-
 perieneed.

[From Harper's Magazine
 On leaving for Batna, one of the French
 military outposts, take the train the
 railroad. AS happened to be the only
 first-class passenger, I was accorded much
 attention from the native officials. On
 ward we went at snail's pace, the steep
 grade of the mountain preventing quicker
 travel, the air becoming keener every mile of
 our progress. At Batns there is military
 everywhere, and nothing bat the bugle and
 the drum is heard Engaging a seat in 8
 crazy old diligence I start for a two days
 journey to the last military outpost of any importance.
 We pass nothing but clumps of poor
 tents and miserable droves of goats, which
 suggested to me the reason for the barren ness of the country, for not a tree or bush is to be met with, as these animals eat up everything and do not give ths hardest shrub or sapling chance to survive. Ar irving at the mouth of the gorge El-Kantara, halfway to my destination-a grand spot, steep range of mountains and upheayed rocks based with miles of cactus-we pass an old Roman bridge of few colossal stones with inscriptions, and then on once more, the atmosphere becoming gradually uncom fortably warmer as we begin to descend into the valley. We pass plains entirely whitened with alkali and salts, the water partaking so strongly of their qualities ! that the bread made about here is unpal- atable. Still warmer, still dustier, we grow ss we enter the edge of the desert, the plains studded with green oases and date-palns, while the horizon seemed more like the sea than the land. After presenting a letter from the minister of war at Paris, I was most cordially well of the garrison. They took me to pay my respects to Si Mohammed ben Cana, the caid or chief magistrate of Biskra, who was governor of the entire province of Constantine before the French con- quered it. He was very handsome man, with harem of seven wives. His four sons were all remarkably handsome, over six feet in height, and with their fine features and magnificent eyes would make a sensation even in our ungraceful modern dress. After stopping some days at the Hotel de Sahara-rightly so named, for it was desert where nothing could be had I was provided with an escort of Arab cavalry, or spahis, and every facility for transportation With this escort in com pany with party of French officers and lady, visited the tomb of Sidi Okbar, about twenty miles distant, there and back. ceived by the sheik of this oasis, and by l him escorted to the tomb of this ancient ] warrior, who well-nigh overran and con- quered northern Africa with comparatively l but handful of followers. We enter the building, in the center of which is small room, which the priest unlocked with an | air of mystery; in the interior was the I tomb, covered with fine Arab rug, but ! on the ground were one or two of the cemmonest European manufacture, on which ! the natives seemed to put a high value. While the attendant turned to call our attention to something in the mosque,
 the lady of our party, with the curiosity of Eve's daughter, stepped in and lifted \ the cover, only to see structure of com mon masonry. In traversing the village | the women and children hurried after her, and kissed the hem of her garments. \ After being regaled in garden of palms on some milk and dates, we remouuted our horses.