Evening star., 1902-02-25
RECORDS IN THE SAND.
Prints Made by Man or Beast That
Convey News to Desert Dwellers.

From the New York sun.
In the Sahara little gusts of rain some
times occur. On these unusual occasions
each drop leaves it's impress the sand,
these thousands of tiny indentations being
proof positive that rain has fallen. If it
happens that calm in the air follows so
that the sand is not disturbed for a number
of days the marks of the rain drops remain
as clear when they were first made.
The sand is the record of all that ha ppens
it's surface. Just the waves oblt-
crate the markings on the beach so the
winds of the desert. blowing the sands here
and there sooner or later wipe out the rec
ords stamped on the surface; but they
often remain for quite a while. and as the
desert residents know how to read them
they derive information that is useful to
them.
When they see sinuOus, unbroken
groove along the sand they know that a
serpent has passed that way, and by follow
ing up the track they often catch the var
mint before he finds hole into which to
crawl. They can tell how many feet an in
sect has by the marks on the sand. In
fact. they are as thoroughly Versed in the
lore of sand marks as our wild Indians
We're In the mysteries of Woodcraft before
they were gathered upon reservations and
lost much of the cunning of their fathers.
every species of animal that travels on the
sand. They become wonderfully quick in
detecting differences in the sand prints. As
long IL man keeps afoot the story of his
doinSS during the day is written for all to
read. The natives can tell the foot prints
of every person OF their acquaintance
They know every one of their camcls or
horses by the marks they make.
When they see tracks that passing car
avan has made they detect peculiarities in
discernible to all bat the desert dweller,
which reveal to them the tribe to which the
travellers belong When they turn their
animals loose to Craze where grass has
sprung up among the wells they will per-
haps pay no attention to them for days. but
when the animals are wanted they will
surely be traced by Indications so Slight
that they would escape the notice of an
ineXpert observer. In fact, great variety
of information is impaired to the natives by
sand markings that others would not OBJ
serve.
Among the Oases near the northern edge
of the desert there is no such thing as
property in land. The sands are every
where. and man may use any part of the
surface just as long as he chooses to oc-
cupy or cultivate it: but his claim upon IT
ceases when he stops using it. There is no
individual property in water. In many
places water underlies the surface at a
depth of ten to thirty feet. and he who
chooses to dig for It and bring it to the
surface to nourish the date palm Is at lib-
erty to do But he does not own the
water. Any one is at liberty to use it fc 4
his palm trees. but he must not plant a
tree within about thirty feet of those
hpwn..ry his neighbor.
The is, in fact. individual ownership
only in the tree itself If the tree dies and
the owner does not replace il with another
any one is free to plant one in it's place
The result is that mans date palms may
be scattered around in number OF groves
He may sell his trees If he desires. but he
cannot sell the ground in which they are
planted nor the W~eer that WHITES them.